Cuban Crocodile

I was loving this restaurant when it first opened but since then my experience there has been less than great. Since the summer I have been here a few times and each time I keep hoping to be pleasantly surprised, and have it live up to my earlier visits. I would say at this point, Cuban Crocodile is just another satisfactory restaurant in LB but from past experience, it could be so much more.
This place isn’t without its redeeming qualities. The interior is intimate and warm, great for a date night. The cocktails, especially the mojito, are delicious. One dish I have had quite a few times and have loved is the gamba’s al ajillo (shrimp in a garlic sauce).
However, the food and the service are inconsistent (with the less than notable points occurring more recently). For example, I’ve had the pernil and loved it but I’ve also had it and was not impressed. Likewise, I’ve encountered staff that seemed genuinely excited about the restaurant and Cuban food and then others who don’t seem to know the menu at all.
Since I’ve seen the potential of this place, I haven’t given up on it yet.

Best vibe in long beach. Excellent food and great service

The food was surprisingly good for it being Long Beach! NYTimes recently had a glowing review of the place, so we had to try it out.
The coconut martini was interesting. It was lined with dried coconut which is not something that you want to drink, but the coconuty-​ness of the drink was awesome!
We shared beef empanadas which were served with the most amazing dipping sauce, which we devoured quickly. We also ordered a Cuban Sandwich cut four ways so that we could all have a taste of it.
I had the pernil and ordered a side of avocado, and enjoyed it thoroughly. I kind of regretted eating so much of the appetizers as I was half full when the entrees came! Boyfriend really liked his red snapper, and our friends really enjoyed their meals as well.
Would we go back? Definitely. It was FREEZING in the restaurant however — they had the door open and the fans going, so I was wishing I had brought a scarf and jacket!

Review from an actual Cuban here.
Is this the best Cuban food I’ve ever had? No. Not even close. HOWEVER, bear in mind: 1. There are almost no real Cuban restaurants on Long Island, and definitely none near Long Beach, 2. The décor/​ambiance is/​are really lovely, and pleasant surroundings go a long way, 3. The owner was very involved in the operations and made a point of speaking with all of the customers and making sure everyone was well taken care of.
So, food is just ok. But it’s good to support nice people and places, so I will be back.

Giving it 3 stars because food was pretty good. Seems authentic, and is pretty tasty. I will go back for the food. But not for the service or for a great time.
The decour is really cool and spot on. well done by management. It seems like a great place to chill, like your in the city. Til the young staff starts tripping over their feet. But hey you get what you pay for. a 17 yr old hostess and waiters with little or no experience = problems.
— table not ready
— people seated before us
— kept us waiting without drinks. you dont want us to spend money? ask us if we want a drink! who cares if we are being seated soon (which we werent) and this section is different than that section. figure it out and get customers drinking. especialy when you seeing us waiting for your staff to correct their error.
–bread never brought to the table
— sat for very long and hungry with no waitor, then the waitor i flagged down was like «oh you guys dont have a waiter» uh no dude we dont, you tell me!
— manager ignoring us rather than coming over and breaking the ice. cmon dude. dont be scared.
— wrong drinks coming to table
in the end they took two drinks off the menu. but who knows. maybe it was a mistake? How do I know. the manager seemed so scared to approach the situation that he didnt come over at all. cmon man. our poor waiter was cool, cant blame him, he apologised for the rough start. I just felt the manager should have handled the situation.
It wasnt that busy guys. you had one two top (us) waiting for a table and all the tables were full. this is what you want in a restaurant. so dont run around like chickens without heads. it makes the customers uncomfortable. if you cant handle it hire more staff /​experienced staff. Hate to see you guys fail. the food was good.
cheers
AB
Long Beach

We went here this past saturday nite. we made a reservation for 8pm. we walked in and right away they were bringing us to the table. i thought this was good start until they brought us to the table in the back. right outside the kitchen door. i know the place is small BUT COME ON. i made a reservation! sit practically in the kitchen… im not here to cook! those kinds of tables are usually the last resort for someone without resv… we dine out enough to know this. ok, so anyway, we said we’ll wait for another table. the place was very very warm, it felt like i was in cuba. hot! lol. they def need to get the air conditioner going! the drinks were very very weak and they don’t have good liquor… no grey goose. no kettleone and so on and so on… they did have brooklyn vodka… lolololol…the worst!!! they said they want it to be authentic with a cuban vodka. i go to authentic Italian restaurants and i can pretty much get whatever drink i want! so please bare me the bullshit and spend some money and get good liquor and make some good drinks! as for the food… the beef empanadas were good. they don’t have many fish choices. i know its cuban and they are known for the their pork but its 2012 and you can make some more fish dishes with cuban flavor and maybe use some brown rice for a lot of us who are looking to still eat good tasting food a little on the healthier side. my boyfriend’s dish was the red snapper and i have to say it tasted very good. for dinner i had an appetizer dish. i asked if they can make it dinner portion… and they did! it was shrimp in garlic sauce but it was very very bland. the empanadas. my mouth was on fire but you couldn’t flavor up the garlic sauce on the shrimp a little. just a little!?! lol. the music was good. cuban music. overall i have to say the place is just ok.

Overall very good. Had the chicken needed to be a tad more tender. Stuffed pepper was good. Would come back again

Came here on a Saturday night with a friend, if you come early there’s no wait but later on you’ll be waiting. The place is very small. Ordered a pitcher of sangria which was good. Ordered their cheese empanadas which came 3 to an order and they were huge, loved the sauce they came with. My friend and I both ordered the shrimp salad which was ok. I would’ve preferred if the shrimp were grilled to give flavor to the salad but they were sauteed. Loved the after dinner drink they give you. Amazing! Definitely a nice place to eat at the waitress was nice and didn’t rush us. We were there for over 2hrs.

When you walk in, you have just step into Cuba. The decorations are amazing, from photos to the fans. The services was great. The appetizers were great. We had MARIQUITAS! MARIQUITAS! and VACA FRITA (Va-​Ca-​Free-​Ta). For entrees we had EL CUBANO REGULAR, ROPA VEIJA, PERNIL ASADO, and BISTEC MILANESA. Everything was great but the ropa veija one of the best. Finally, i can have ropa vieja in new york. For dessert we had DULCE DE LECHE Cheesecake. All i can say is that it melted in my mouth. Highly recommend it.

i’ll preface this review by saying that though i understand the long island niche for cuban faire is lacking, the brooklyn niche is not. and cuban crocodile won’t be giving any of the brooklyn eateries a run for their money anytime soon.
onward.
cuban crocodile received a lovely review in the new york times recently:
prompting my long beach dwelling senior parents to take note and request that their conjoined mom’s birthday/father’s day annual dinner be there. i obliged because happy parents makes for a less stressful dinner. anyway.
the restaurant is more than adequately staffed with hostesses, servers, busboys, and the owner running every which way. the narrow staircase in the middle of the restaurant seeing plenty of traffic with all of the commotion including strollers being hauled up and down and elderly grasping the handrails for dear life.
mom and i ordered mojitos, i asked for mine coconut, sans simple syrup because with a stick of sugarcane as a garnish it certainly didn’t need any additional sugar. i was obliged and the cocktail was delicious and minty and fresh and less sweet, just how i wanted it.
we ordered the ceviche appetizer but before doing so, i had to both explain what ceviche was to mom, and teach her how to say it. no mom, it’s not sir vichey. it arrived in a giant margarita glass topped with a sprig of mint and surrounded by waffle cut plantains. the fish was tender and citrusy, the mangos had bite, and the peppers were crunchy. the plantains were a little greasy and lacked crunch.
for main dishes i had the shrimp, papaya, avocado salad. i asked for dressing on the side. it came fully dressed. it also came with the server’s fingers all over the avocado and shrimp which were placed at 11:00 on my dish. check minus, boys. they were young, i think they’re still learning the ropes. the shrimp was warm, but didn’t appear grilled. there was no papaya on my salad, only mango, and the avocado slices were not quite ripe enough. i wasn’t thrilled, and it bears mentioning that this was the closest one could get to a vegetarian item on the menu but still maintaining some protein. there was a strawberry salad which looked lovely, but there wasn’t much else to it.
mom and dad both ordered some dish that came with hunks of pork and white rice and beans. the beans were canned. the pork unimpressive. i’m glad i opted for the salad, even though it was drenched in dressing.
mom and dad had the opportunity to make smalltalk with the owner, who seemed lovely.
our meal concluded with tiny shots of chocolate liquer topped with cream and a marachino cherry.
i think i really like the idea of the cuban crocodile more than the actual restaurant. i’ll give them a star for concept and another for the cocktail, but until their food is on par with cubana café, i’ll stick to brooklyn.

Way way way overdue. Nassau County on Long Island FINALLY gets a Cuban restaurant, and the days of having to cross the traffic-​clogged toll bridges into NYC or hop a plane to Miami to get a plate of ropa vieja and a decent mojito may thankfully be over. We got us a certified contender here at Cuban Crocodile. Nice casually intimate place with great drinks (toasted coconut on the rim of a martini glass is a beautiful sight to behold), some cool polyrhythms emanating from the speakers, and a solid lineup of Ricky Ricardo’s diet staples. The kitchen bangs out some great food. Our group had the pollo ala brasa (marinated chicken), the picadillo (hard to find even in a lot of Cuban joints in Florida), the pernil asado (roast pork), and the snapper filet — not a clinker in the bunch. Rice and beans with all the entrees — just as the good lord intended. A special app of scallop and mango ceviche was worldbeater. Yuca frita (sorta french fries on steroids) ain’t gonna help you lose any weight, but you know you can’t live without ‘em. Ditto for the dulce de leche cheesecake for dessert — (it’s a big slice and thick as wet cement — well worth clogging a couple of arteries for). Your check comes in a cigar box (sorry – no cigar) along with a complimentary apéritif with a maraschino cherry on top to ensure that you get your minimum daily requirement of red dye #3. Good bang for the buck and a friendly vibe from the staff.
In a reversal of the Bay of Pigs, the Cubans have finally landed on OUR shores here in the land of red-​sauce Italian on Long Island’s southern shore. So Viva the Mojito and full speed ahead.

Since my boyfriend already reviewed this restaurant, I will not reiterate his review. I think the big takeaways were that:
1) The interior is pretty sleek. We decided to eat outside because it was dimly lit inside, but for dinner or drinks, the atmosphere would probably be great.
2) The food was good. I had the shrimp salad, that wasn’t the tastiest, but it was a good portion size and had a decent amount of shrimp.
3) Your bill comes in a wooden box. I thought that was pretty cool. We also got ‘shots’ of a sweet drink in the box as well. I’m not sure if that’s because the service was a bit slow or if they do that routinely. If it’s the latter, that is a nice added bonus to the meal.
4) Linking to #3 about the bill, at the end of our lunch, after we waited a long time for both our food and our bill, the credit card machine «wasn’t working.» That was extremely frustrating, and while I understand it happens sometimes, it put the icing on the cake of bad service.
I believe three alcoholic drinks and two entrees was around $ 55 + tip.

Not sure what the hype is about — some of the reviews on here seem very over-​the-​top. I had been talking about going here for probably a month or so before I was able to corral my girlfriend and finally get around to making it happen. I love Cuban food, and figured at the very least it had to be decent. Then, after reading a few of the reviews on here I got overly excited about trying Cuban Crocodile out, which may have unfairly set the bar for my expectations.
First, the food: Good, but not great. The bread was dry and crumbly to start, but the butter was very good. For an entrée, I had the steak sandwich, which was a bit tough. Either you bit into a piece of the meat and pulled half of it out of the bread, or you weren’t able to pull any of it out. The flavor was decent, and the fried potatoes they had inside the sandwich were very good. I would not get this again, but it wasn’t awful. The side order of plantains were actually very good — definitely would recommend these.
Second, the drinks. They have a great selection of various beers around the Caribbean — I don’t remember the name of the one I had but it tasted very much like Amstel Light (although the server said it was akin to Stella Artois. Not so much, but I enjoyed it regardless). My girlfriend had the sangria which was great.
Third, the service. The place was absolutely empty, and the weather was great so we opted to sit outdoors. This may have contributed to our server’s amnesia — it took forever to get the check and leave. She was polite, but didn’t check on us to see how the meal was and was generally not very helpful. Then when it came time to pay (finally), the credit card machine was down and she unapologetically asked for cash. Which we left on the table and walked off, seeing as how we had finished our meal about 30 minutes prior to receiving the check.
I didn’t get to see much of the interior décor, but it seems like a pretty nice place and the food wasn’t bad. I hope it succeeds, and I might end up back there to try something else. Or for drinks — the prices were fair for everything I saw on the menu and both the sangria and beer were fantastic. I definitely would not sit outside again, as it would be easier to flag down the waitress if she was walking around inside.

Good food, the ropa vieja is delicious. was not a fan of the empenadas, very dry. but everything else I tasted was great. Amazing sweet plantain. The coconut martini’s are unreal… the best part of the whole place really. Wish there was not such a long wait, or I would be back more often!

Excellent addition to the Long Beach dining scene. Personally I usually head into Brooklyn for good food & drinks. I didn’t know what to expect behind the red curtains. My husband & I went on a Sunday evening to try their mojitos. The restaurant had a nice crowd for 10:30 p.m. I learned that the kitchen was open until 11 p.m. on a Sunday night!
I decided to try the food after a good start: DELICIOUS MOJITOS. I do not eat meat so this Unilocaler cannot comment on those dishes but I did order: Ensalada De Camarones, Melocotones Y Aguacate: which was grilled shrimp, peaches & avocado salad served with light vinaigrette. There were no peaches but a wonderful surprise of papaya. I was told that the peaches were not looking so worthy at the market but the papaya was. Personally, I love papaya so no problems here. I thought the salad was outstanding. The dressing on the greens was such a treat. The greens were not only properly dressed (the right amount, no need for drenching) but the taste was delightful. This is on my list for one of the best salads that I have eaten out and I take my salad seriously. For dinner I ordered the red snapper which was prepared with a tangy, citrus glaze. It was cooked to perfection: fish done right, moist and fresh. It was accompanied by a side of rice and black beans. I was thoroughly satisfied and impressed.
The Cuban Croccodile is a must try. The interior is cozy, the music festive. As I am writing I wish I was drinking a mojito! I can only hope that the 2^nd time is as good as the 1^st!

For many, food is food, but in my book, there is food and then great food. And then in rare instances, there are food experiences that can’t be missed. Cuban Crocodile is that rare gem. For a few months, this place had been on my radar to check out, courtesy of Unilocal, but the distance was factor me. Craving authentic, yet good Cuban food, i finally ventured out hoping the drive be worth it, and I’m not going to lie, i was hesitant. All I’ve got to say, from the first moment arriving at Cuban Crocodile, the decision seemed right and the evening only got better.
The owners did a great job decorating the place by keeping it simple, yet elegant. The place was packed and I honestly felt the wait was going to be long, but we were seated immediately. The menu consists of authentic Cuban food and I truly wish i’d come here when i was a bigger size, simply because everything looked amazing on the menu. Finally, we decided on Mariquitas! Mariquitas! as an appetizer and for the entrees, Caribbean Salad, Gamba’s Al Ajillo, Pollo Ala Brasa, and of course, the infamous Ropa Vieja.
Wow, not expecting Mariquitas to be amazing, we were simply amazed at how good fried plantain slices could be and having lived in the caribbean for several years, now I regret not eating plantains there. the garlic mojito sauce on the side complimented the plantains well. All of the entrée’s were great, meanwhile the Caribbean Salad and the Ropa Vieja was just AMAZING!!! I honestly fell in love with Ropa Vieja a few years ago and thus far only a place in Annapolis, MD could satisfy me, but that was till now. The rope vieja was soft, juicy, and simply so delicious, i had a hard time putting the fork down to come up for air. The presentation was nice and was served with rice and beans on the side.
Overall, the place is amazing not simply for serving amazing food, but their service is top notch. The servers made frequent visits to the table to make sure everything was great. The house manager (Christina, i believe) too stopped by to introduce herself and ask about our experience, along with some others, thus definitely showing care and dedication to the authentic experience. The prices and the portion sizes are more than reasonable. Truly, a great experience!!!

We went last night for a Bday dinner, and we really enjoyed it. The food and flavors were right now, black beans a little on the salty side and I like salt. The only downfall was the service was very slow for a place that didn’t have that many people.
It is a nice new addition to Long Beach finally some good food! We will 100% be back. THe atmosphere is great also, very relaxing and warm.

The food was GREAT! My husband & I thoroughly enjoyed everything we ordered. I had the vaca. . Which was very good & the pernil. My husband had the croquettes which he enjoyed & the pork chops. The chef/​owner is wonderful. Chef Ramsey would be proud. Glad I found this place on Unilocal & will DEFINITELY be back.

How many times do you go to a new restaurant in Long Beach that actually lives up to the hype? Not often. The Cuban Crocodile has it all!
The atmosphere is tremendous… we actually didn’t want to leave. It’s romantic and relaxing. The décor is awesome and the music is tremendous.
The food is authentic Cuban food. They are going for home cooked Cuban food and they nail it.
We had the empanadas for our appetizers…3 medium sized beef empanadas… aka fried good stuff. I liked these… my my loved them.
I got the Pollo Ala Brasa… the grilled chicken was excellent… and it came with white rice and beans. Very good.
Courtney got the Picadillo… which was basically some sort of beef mash that was delicious. Huge portion.
We got the Indulgence for 2 for dessert… um…WOW. This was an amazing pudding with cream and berries on top… in a chocolate shell. One of the best desserts I’ve had on Long Island. (comparable to the Chocolate Box from Thom Thom’s in Wantaugh).
Last but not least the prices were outstanding. Our bill was less than $ 50 for an app, 2 entrees, and the moat expensive dessert on the menu. Now that’s worth coming back for.

My boyfriend and I went here for our anniversary a few days ago. The ambiance was cozy, though I’d like it to be a teensy bit darker for a sexier, more romantic vibe. I started with a mango mojito, which happens to be the best mojito I have ever had. Seriously, try this thing. It was $ 9 and worth every penny. If you closed your eye while drinking this thing you’d swear you were on some tropical island with the Cuban music playing.
Now for the food. I had the stuffed pepper as an appetizer and it was delicious. Boyfriend had the empanadas, which he only sort of liked (he’s an empanada snob). For the main course I had the palomilla, which I thought was just okay. He had the red snapper which he said was delicious. We were given complimentary cocktails at the end called Angel Kisses, which were quite good. All in all I look forward to returning to Cuban Crocodile in the near future.