Critic's Review
I was in the mood for Mexican food, but Jalisco is the only actual Mexican restaurant that's any good around and I didn't want to go there. I didn't want to go too far, so I settled on some Cuban food. I hadn't been to Padrino's in over 3 years.
First impression is that they have a new sign and awning and it's a lot nicer than before. Originally they just slapped a sign on the existing awning and it didn't really look right. The new signage is very sharp.
As I walked inside I was greeted by a hostess with no mask; the first time that's happened since March 2020. As much as we like to hope this is over, the bar area told a different story.
Nothing going on there. I was seated in the corner at a table I had once before. Away from people is the game; and distancing in restaurants is one of the good things about this so-called pandemic.
Something bad that seems to have taken hold is the dreaded QR symbols; I wasn't given a menu and I'm supposed to pull up the menu on my phone; further ruining the overall dining experience. I asked for paper menus because that's how it's been done for 100s of years since the printing press was invented.
I've expressed my distaste for bench seating, as you just seem like you're dining with other people. Social distance alleviates that somewhat, as the dopey hostesses now don't seat someone right next to you in an empty restaurant.
I ordered the churrasco lunch special, which is a hefty $17. Meat is expensive currently; I get it.
Music here is Spanish festive; Oscar D'Leon, Tito Fuentes; the kind of music you'd expect in a place like this. The food came out in just a few minutes.
I sub'ed out the useless white rice for better yellow rice and ordered the steak medium rare. It's difficult to cook a steak this thin medium rare, but it was a little pink inside; close enough.
No salt here, but the steak was seasoned so I could do without it. The chimichurri wasn't the kind you get at the Argentinean places, but it was very good. Sort of like a cilantro cream dressing. Not too garlicky; it worked well with the steak.
I ate about 2/3 of the rice and everything else; easily the best thing I've ever had at a Padrinos in 5 or 6 visits.
Conclusion
In a world where restaurants get jaded and worse over time, Padrinos has seemed to grow a bit; even if their prices have grown with them. This restaurant is a pleasant place that serves decent food from an authentic Cuban menu.
Review 2/6/18
You'd never know it from any of their information available, but Padrino's in Fort Lauderdale now has a lunch buffet. I felt like some Cuban so I called them first to confirm; there's no mention of it on their web site or facebook page.
Outdoor dining is up and running, but I didn't want to deal with smoke or have to keep going inside to get to the buffet. Outdoor dining on US1 has limited value regardless.
There were only 2 tables inside at 1:45. Someone mentioned that "Latin" lunch is later, but then why do they end the buffet at 2:30? I got here a bit earlier than I usually do for lunch so I didn't get the leftovers on the buffet.
They didn't try to seat me at a mini-table today, I got a nice table in the corner.
I told the hostess I was doing the buffet and ordered an iced tea and I was off. Still no lemon. Padrino's rrefuses to assimilate into America. How can you run a full bar without lemon? You can't get a lemon with your $15 cocktail? It's not like their food is authentic or anything. They really can't accommodate their customer base?
The buffet was pretty well stocked and the food looked relatively fresh.
The big criticism here is that there are no labels. I happen to know what most Cuban dishes look like, but I still didn't know what was in the closed containers. One of them had some sort of soup and the other had black beans.
I'm low carb'ing, so I stayed away from the rice.
Let's take a closer look:
Salad with Italian dressing and properly steamed brocolli and cauliflower. The ground beef in the upper right is "Picadillo"; I never order it because it usually contains green olives or raisins, and I don't want either of those in my beef dishes. This version had green olives. Not very tasty; kind of bland. The Ropa Vieja was equally bland; it should be garlicky good, but this was under-seasoned. The chicken was equally uninspiring; a bit dry. I dropped a couple of tablespoons of black beans on the Ropa to add some fiber. This plate served to provide protein and vegetables, but no real satisfaction.
Music is purely Spanish lyric, with El Bodeguero, Cachita and Una Aventura playing.
I was almost done with the plate when a runner brought out some bread. Why did it take so long? Of course I'm not eating bread today, so it didn't really matter.
Back to the buffet for a 2nd plate of stuff.
When I got back to the table, the plates were gone, along with my bowl of black beans, that I wasn't done with. So I had to go back to the buffet to get another bowl of beans.
I took some Moros rice (mixed with black beans) and it was dried out and not fun to eat. I trade to save it with some additional black beans, but it was no use. I got more salad with the "other" unmarked dressing, which wasn't as good as the clear dressing. Get the Italian if you're getting a salad.
Without labels, I thought I was taking breaded chicken, but it turned out to be fish. Totally unseasoned, I had to ask for some salt; there are no condiments on the tables. The fist was decent but why not season the breading or salt the fish?
The pork chunks were properly cooked, but again, completely unseasoned. No taste at all.
As I was just finishing up, a manager was making the rounds (for the second time) asking everyone how everything was, and she spotted my empty tea and asked if I wanted a refill. I told her I was ready for my check, which she acknowledged but didn't convey to my server. When my server came by a few minutes later, he was unaware I wanted my check.
$15. for the buffet with a soft drink. No bargain compared to normal Cuban lunch specials; it wouldn't be unreasonable if they had better tasting food.
Conclusion
The buffet features good looking but under seasoned food that would fail to convince me that Cuban food was something good if I was trying it for the first time. If you're looking to load up on carbs or protein and you're hungry, you can eat all you want here. But the food lacks the spice that makes Cuban food interesting.
Review 7/11/17
While I like to wait a week or so after a place opens, there so little else going on around here I figured I'd check it out. One advantage of going to a place when they first open is that the hostess opens the door for you as you enter. That usually ends after a couple of weeks.
They're all excited about the fact that this place has a full bar; their only location that does. But nobody really wants to eat at a bar.
I thought that they might have a buffet, so I got here at 1:45 rather than my usual 2:30. Of course there is no buffet here (yet), and the dining room was largely empty except for a table in the back that appeared to be hosted by one of the managers as she kept getting up to fix things.
The hostess tried to seat me in a little table in the corner; "could I have something less uncomfortable please?".
Unfortunately the place doesn't have too many comfortable tables. High tops in between low tables, big tables for 5 and 6 in the back. I opted for a larger table, which was actually 2 small tables pushed together.
This place used to be a Melting Pot with all private booths; they've torn them all out and now there is no privacy anywhere. Open booths, bench seating along the wall. It looks nice but I hate eating in a big open room.
It reminds me a bit of El Tamarindo. The other side of the room has a big old-style chandelier and bars on fake window which don't quite elicit the feel of dining in Cuba.
The hostess made a point of touting their "full bar" and including a drink list with the menu; do most people drink at lunch? When my server came by I ordered tea with lemon, fuguring that with a full bar they must have lemon.
The tea arrived with a lime. "You don't have lemon", I quipped. "Yes", and he pointed to the lime. "That's a lime", I pointed out. "No, we only have lime". "You have a full bar and you don't have lemon? OK". I wonder if they have olives or cranberry juice?
I ordered the Ropa Vieja because that's what I always order in a Cuban restaurant. I can't get into the pork chunks and a Cuban Sandwich isn't eat-in food.
A few minutes went by and some bread was dropped off. I guess they don't have a press as this location, because the bread was uncharacteristically thick for cuban bread.
Carlos Vive's "La Gota Fria", followed by the Gipsy Kings and more Carlos Vive.
12 Minutes later the food was delivered.
A lunch size portion, but plenty of food for the $10 price tag. I don't eat the plantains so it looks like more than it is. The presentation was a bit bland; compare this to what I got a few years ago at the 
One advantage when they give you the ropa in a side bowl is that you get some of the liquid; this was a bit dry and I couldn't splash some sauce on the rice.
Nothing great or terrible about any of the food (although I didn't care for the bread). Not a great version of Ropa.
My server was very good, however; swooping in with a refill at the right time and picked the sugar wrappers off the table as he walked by.
One thing that was interesting is that quite a few people came in after 2:30, including a couple of families with small children. Kind of the opposite of most places that die off after 2pm until the 7pm rush.
Conclusion
The difference between places like this and the Mexican/Cuban places like Jalisco and La Bamba is that the Mexican/Cuban places also have Mexican food. This place is just like Las Vegas Cuisine with a nicer restaurant; the same menu with the same pedestrian food that does no more than satisfy your hunger.
A better choice than Mario's Catalina, for what that's worth.
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