Charanga Review

Charanga served us decent Caribbean-inspired food, including many black beans. The best dishes were the fried yucca and its chipotle aioli dip and an Asian-inspired dish of sauteed shrimp and calamari.

We ordered some yucca fritas while deciding what else to get. These light golden chunks, hot and crispy, were like good quality potato fries. They had a hint of a mushy, mashed potato inside that we found appealing. The spicy chipotle dipping sauce went well but we'd even call these fritas good without it.

We also ordered "tostones a la Tica" (fried green plantains), which arrived as big "slices" of fried plantain several inches across stacked to form a tower. (I call them "slices" because each was clearly wider than a natural plantain so must have been created by mashing plantains into shape.) In between each slice was a smear of goat cheese and some pea shoots. Under the tower lay a bed of mashed black beans. Although visually interesting, we didn't find this dish appealing: we didn't like the plantains themselves, nor did the cheese go well. The beans were the best part of the dish.

Bread was delivered at the beginning of the meal. It was perfectly average and we didn't give it much attention.

As for our main courses: 

• "Picadillo Cubano estilo Elena." Not a Cubano sandwich; rather, this had three distinct sections: ground beef mixed with olives (okay), black beans (eh), and fried bananas (good!).

• Sauteed shrimp and calamari, tossed with pea shoots, served over rice, and topped with with lots of dried red chiles. Fairly good. We liked the sweet sauce, which felt vaguely Asian and which collected in the bottom of the plate; we imagine it dripped off the seafood.

• Steak. Although parts had good, charcoal-grilled flavoring, most was over-salted, dry, and medium, not medium-rare as we'd ordered it. Served with more pea shoots, rice, black beans, and a tomato-onion mash.After eating our entrees for a while, we were full and bored. Since we could eat a little more, we decided to order a dessert. From past recommendations, our first choice was the Mexican chocolate almond torte. They had run out of it. Our second choice was the ginger cake. It was also out. They had our third choice, rum-raisin bread pudding. I wouldn't call it a pudding. Rather, it was thick and cakey, more like bread than a bread pudding. Although the bread generally didn't excite us, we all liked the quality caramel sauce. I found myself finishing the pudding, if only to have the caramel sauce. We also appreciated the assorted fresh fruits decorating the perimeter of the plate: peach, blackberries, cherry, mint, and kiwi.

We tried some drinks with dinner. All were decent; the best was the merengue margarita. 

• Sangria. Fine. Surprisingly bitter for a sangria. Or at least not sweet at all -- certainly less sweet than versions most places serve. (I appreciate that: it's better not sweet enough than too sweet.) Sadly, there wasn't much of the fresh fruit liveliness here that sangria ought to have. The only fruit in the glass itself was one slice of an orange, died purple from the wine.

• Passionfruit mojito (made with soju, since Charanga doesn't have a hard liquor license). Decent. If it were made with rum, we think it'd be good. As it was, the soju didn't lend the drink an alcohol bite. I felt the drink was a hybrid between a passionfruit cocktail and a mojito and really the bartender should make a choice. If it were one or the other, I think it would be good. As it was, with more mint than passionfruit, it was near the middle, leaning slightly toward the mojito.

• Merengue margarita (also made with a hard liquor substitute). Good. Served in a big glass. We liked it. Sorry for the lack of better description; I didn't write down anything else. The menu lists the ingredients as "Sweet & Sour, Los Cabos Agave & Lime on the Rocks with a Salt Rim."Charanga is a small restaurant in a space made lively by the music (mostly Caribbean rock) and the fact that every table was occupied. I enjoyed observing the diversity of the crowd, ranging in age from early twenties to probably sixty-something.

The service was perfectly fine, though our waitress kept apologizing throughout the meal. We're not quite sure why. When the chef came to deliver the tostones (fried plantains) and noticed that all our main courses had just arrived, she offered to deliver them elsewhere and give us a fresh batch when we had more time to appreciate them. That's a nice touch.

The only notably irritating service incident happened while we were chatting after dinner: people came by half a dozen times to pick up the bill. You'd think they'd be smart enough to notice that the check hadn't moved so clearly we hadn't looked at it or paid it. Or at least be astute enough to realize after this happened a few times to either pay attention or come by less frequently. Nope.

The total was $28/person, including tax and tip but not including drinks.

Original Announcement

We've all been traveling recently or will soon be traveling. Let's take a brief moment to catch up on Wednesday while eating some Cuban/Caribbean food at Charanga in the Mission.

http://www.charangasf.com/

Please tell me if you plan to come.

Comments from Other Attendees

Nearly everything from Charanga's short menu received praise from online reviewers. There's no particular dishes that I would say one must try on another visit, besides, of course, the desserts they were out of during this visit. -mark

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