Alma De Cuba

First things first: If you don't say Cuba like coobah then I hate you.

So, the stupid place wasn't where I thought it was. And I'm pretty sure that counts as strike one because generally nosheries should be placed in convenient locations to me. It took away from the atmosphere or something. Also, there was a movie being shot somewhere in Philadelphia so all the goddamn street parking was reserved or some stupid shit so we had to walk like 4 extra blocks which is ridiculous.

Anyway. We got into the place. The hostess was pleasant. I suppose. She seated us at at a table suitable for like four people even though we had six people even though our reservation was for four. Which made me pretty unhappy because I was touching knees with people and I'm very sensitive in my knees. Also, there was just loud enough salsa music and the smell of burning paper in the air which I'm pretty sure evokes book burning in communist Cuba so the atmosphere was just right. The lighting was moody and our fellow patrons spoke in hushed tones giving the entire experience a sort of super classy copacabana kind of feel. Which, unsurprisingly, is what I think they were going for. So. Success.

On an unrelated note, I'm relatively certain I saw Patrick Clarke eating at two tables over. I gushed. No one else gave a shit.

We ordered appetizers for the most part because the food was 25-35 for an entree and there was peer pressure to order appetizers. However. I made up for that by simply ordering a lot of drinkies. I do love me some sangria. Sangria always makes me think of Rome, the way the sun hits the buildings in the afternoon. Or something. And then I ordered some skewers of pork and shrimp. Excellently plated and quite delicious. Very tiny. They also had these cheese ball bread things with garlic olive oil. Or something. Also those were delicious. But also tiny. Probably from the rationing of foodstuffs in communist Cuba. Other people ordered some food too. And they also thought it was delicious and tiny. But, again, we all ordered appetizers like misers. And I don't even care. By the time I was done with my fifth glass of sangria, I wasn't all that hungry (drink dinners are the best dinners).

After dinner, most of us got some sort of desert thing. I, however, decided on more booze, specifically a flight of after dinner wines. Man. I'm going to rave about those. Fortified wines are the shit. Best things in the world. You can sip them for forever and they're strong enough to kick but they're so delicious and wonderful and mine were beautifully presented. I'm not entirely sure what I got. The nice lady brought them to me and I consumed them. Delicious.

Things I liked: Tasty food. Good company. Good atmosphere. Location is pretty sweet (there's stuff to do afterward). Patrick Clarke. Desert wines.


Things I didn't like: Price price price. Honestly thought the menu was a bit limited and nothing really jumped out at me like I had to have it.