La Tambora Cafe & Nightclub

I wouldn't recommend coming here for food on a weekday. The food is wonderful, however it is very clear that the place is primarily a dance club and not a cafe (or restaurant as the signage suggests). I came here with my girlfriend and her family on a Monday night, we came here because the other Portuguese restaurant in the strip mall was closed on Mondays.

We arrived to a completely empty room sans 2 chairs, occupied by 2 of the workers. We asked if they were still open for dinner and they said yes, but didn't give any menus until we asked for those. I suppose one issue was that there was definitely a communication barrier, as we spoke mediocre Spanish, but no Portuguese.

Once we had ordered some drinks, along with our food we sat around and talked for at least an hour before we started getting somewhat restless. We mainly got restless because we had no idea what was happening to our food or if we were still getting it, also we had finished our drinks between 30-45 minutes into our experience. Despite having finished our drinks, nobody came to speak with us about either the food or drinks until about an hour in. Even then it was only to ask if we wanted more to drink, never did we hear about our food.

After about an hour and a half our food began to come out of the kitchen. I can easily say, that this resolved all of our issues. The food was beyond delicious so, I'll just call it scrumtrulescent. I ordered the paella, which came with enough seafood and rice to easily be two meals, even despite the hunger pangs of such a short time prior.

It quickly became apparent that the 4 dishes which we had ordered were all made very specifically for us, because not a single person had entered the building to eat besides us during all this time. It became even more apparent, when we found out that the only chef/cook/etc was brought out to us. We tried to compliment the chef greatly, because we all greatly enjoyed our food (and the feat that was getting all 4 dishes prepared within minutes of each other). However, this was another spot where our lack of communication shone through. We felt bad because the food was so delicious, but we didn't know how to properly describe it in compliments to the chef.

Again, overall... This place had some wonderful food. However, I don't think it could have been made much more apparent that this place is a restaurant second to its primary goal of being a club. So, unless you've got some time to kill while you have a single person cooking you a wonderful meal, you may want to pass. And if you do want to eat here, make sure you speak more than just English. Some Portuguese, or Spanish knowledge is a definitive must if you're eating here!

Feel like hearing or dancing to a little Merengue? Want to get some of that Dominican 'sabor'? Well this is a good place to merengue the night away. Haven't tried the food, but I think it's a afterthought.