Sophie’s Cuban Cuisine

Eh… It’s hit-​or-​miss based on who know’s what. That said, the portions are decent and the prices are low so you get what you get. This place gets a lot of volume so service is uncoordinated and stupid, but when they get it right (like the roast pork sandwich I had the other day) they *really* get it right. That said, when they screw up (like the roast pork sandwich I had the other, other day) it’s tragic.
But they’re close to my office so I visit often. Roll the dice and see where you land.

Came here on a Friday around lunchtime so as expected it was packed especially the sandwich line. Got the Pernil with a Twist, it was very good. Make sure you know what sandwich you’re going to get. There was only one guy making sandwiches and he was in beast mode cranking out sandwiches left and right. They also have this green spicy l sauce which is also good, they put 2 cups of the sauce in my bag. I got the chicken empanada and my friend got the beef, beef was way better. Definitely would come back for lunch.

Went here for lunch and ate in. Did not have to wait and was not super crowded. BUT was super uncomfortable the whole time because the place was so darn cold. No one cared to turn on the heat and the doors were constantly opening and closing. The food was decent though, had their goat stew with plantains and yellow rice. Does not blow your feet off the ground but tasty enough. Definitely use their green sauce generously over all your food. Portions were generous and price was reasonable for new york (~$ 15).

Place gets super packed so in the winter with those automatic sliding doors– BEWARE cause all you will have is the front tables to sit in.
Its a place you sit down and can order but its got all the food out thats already made so you can see what they have. They make sandwiches and offer soups too.
Cuban sandwich was good, rice and red beans and the spicy chicken was good. I LOVE the flan!
Pretty decent prices and I would come back for a quick bite to eat. Plus I heard the green sauce is where its at but I can’t handle that much spice and i heard its def. up there !

Blah, what I had here was not very good. The beans and rice tasted canned or from a box. The plantains were real dry. The oxtail was not very flavorful; the meat was tough and there was not much meat on the bones. Service, eh. Atmosphere, eh. Overall, just a lot of eh.

My coworker ordered from here today. The sweet plantains were uncooked inside, so much so that we couldn’t even eat it, and trust me I tried… I love sweet plantains but today this was so disgusting. Will be posting a picture of it.

Cuban sandwich was good; I’ve had better but this will hit the spot. Smaller than most but that gives you a chance to load up on the great sides. Rice/​beans, sweet/​fried plantains, white bean/​avocado salad, and empanadas were all excellent. The best part was the homemade green sauce. I used more than half the bottle it was so good.

Lunch delivery for 6 people — right on time! I ordered at 11:30am and it was delivered promptly by 12pm.
Chicken and beef empanadas — great outer shell, didn’t love the olives. Ham and pork croquettes — delicious, falling apart because they were so soft. For the entrees we had baked chicken — super moist but hard to eat because of the bones, pulled pork — slightly dry but great taste, and the Cuban sandwich — large and really tasty.
Service was fantastic, they included like 12 green sauces and lots of forks and napkins. I added a note for avocados on the Cuban sandwich and they added it! Food was hot and packed neatly.

This place is pretty damn good for a quick grab n go place to eat. My wife n I are having a great meal. Must say their «GREEN» sauce. It’s the way to go. Kinda like a «Halal» white sauce. Put it on everything!

Working in midtown doesn’t leave you with many affordable lunch options, unless you want to order at one of the cafes located on every street. This place is affordable and has pretty decent food. It’s not super fancy, but a great takeout spot or place to eat at and grab a quick meal. You can pick an entrée and two sides for around $ 10-​$ 15 for a reasonable amount of food. They normally have a few rice options, vegetables and plantains as sides. They also offer beef, chicken, and seafood options as proteins. I normally get take out because they are quick and the food is fresh because it gets busy around lunch time. Of course you can go to the hood and get twice the amount of food for half the price, but for the midtown area it’s a good buy.

La selección en el menú era numerosa sin embargo tengo unos problemas que decir. Primero, si ustedes tienen un restaurante auténtico cubano, dónde está las coladas? Los cortaditos? Y el café con leche que tenían fue una mierda. Solamente materva y no ironbeer ni jupiña ni nada? Esto no es cubano, esto es una farsa. El pollo frito estaba riquísimo pero la porción era demasiada grande. El arroz amarillo estuvo bien pero con los plátanos maduros blejjjj ni siquiera estuvieron calientes! Los plátanos eran fríos y duros! Tomen mi consejo, vengan a Miami en el sur de la Florida (yo soy de allá) y vengan a unos verdaderos restaurantes cubanos con cocina 100% auténtica cubana! Van a ver lo que les faltan! Y el mesero no sabía lo que es una colada ni un cortadito? Qué comemierdería es esto? Me río encima de todos ustedes. Soy de Miami y yo sé y conozco bien una cocina y gastronomía auténtica cubana, y esto no me sorprendió para nada. Los nuevayorqueños no saben nada de la cocina cubana. Y más el mesero muchacho que me atendió ni siquiera terminó con mi orden, él cambió de ropa y se fue a comer con unos conocidos suyos. Yo tuve que pedirle a la otra mesera que me cerrara la cuenta de mi orden. Si estuviera yo en Miami esto jamás pasaría. Jamás voy a volver aquí.

YUM! I tried this place for the first time a few years ago when I worked from my New York office… it was my first time having Cuban food (we don’t have many Cuban options in SF!) and now I try to hit up a Cuban restaurant everytime I travel to NY.
Sweet plaintains were my favorite. Their baked chicken is BOMB, fall off the bone tender, and super flavorful. Just simple food done really well. YASSSSSSSS.
Multiple locations across Manhattan. Just a very casual, fast-​food style, restaurant serving good, simple food.

Had the pernil, yellow rice and beans. Not that impressed… but than again I’m coming from working in the Hunts Point area. Where the food is well seasoned.
Pernil was very dry and they just bought out a new pan. My lunch was $ 14…too bad much.
Best thing about the meal was the yellow rice and green sauce.

I ate here tonight for a quick dinner date with my boyfriend who works nearby. We ordered take out but ate in the restaurant because other reviewers had commented the service is a little slow. We got our food and paid pretty quickly all without issue.
The place was pretty empty at 6:30 on a Tuesday which leads me to believe it’s more of a lunch joint. I ordered roast pork, fried sweet plantain and avocado. The roast pork was ridiculously tender and juicy, cooked to perfection, and a really decent sized portion. The fried sweet plantains were also amazing, not too crispy or burnt, still warm, and definitely sweet! The avocado was good too, but obviously a little irrelevant. The pork tasted heavenly with a little bit of avocado and the juice from the pork also gave the plantains a nice added flavor.
Overall it was really good food, decent price (especially for the area) and we were in and out in less than 30 minutes (yeah we eat fast, save your judgment).

Sophie’s is an excellent lunch spot! I’ve been to this location and the one on 23^rd street numerous times. I order the Steak sandwich with a twist and it’s so tasty! Also, the plantains are some of the best I’ve had. There’s always a line and the one thing I’ve seen happen across both locations is the long wait times. It’s awful! I’ve once waited over 20 minutes for them to make a sandwich. Obviously the food is good though… if people are waiting that long for them to make it! Love it here just make sure you have enough time to order and wait for it to be prepared.

Sophie’s is where I would go to get my quick chicken and rice fix. I have been to different locations of Sophie’s in Manhattan for I have always worked/​went to school nearby. I am very hesitant to report that this is probably the most disappointing location I have ever been to. Yes, the food is still taste good but the portion is pretty sad here. Other locations I have been to had been pretty fair with the amount of food you get in a platter. This location charges the same price, if not more; but gives noticeably less food. Price is acceptable for Midtown but the value could not be justified.
Baked Chicken with Yellow Rice and Sweet Plantains. I loved the taste of fresh chicken and yellow rice. It was done right. But really now I literally got only 2 scoops of yellow rice to attempting to cover the bottom, tiny half chicken with just one layer of meat and many layers of skin, and finally 3 pieces of sweet plantains. My container was barely half full.
Enough said, I’ll walk further to the one on 45^th Street between 5^th Avenue & Avenue of Americas instead.

I visited this place with a bunch of co workers since we work just a block away. I noticed this Cuban restaurant and was intrigued to try it because I love their cuisine.
The first time I came here, I got the shredded pork with rice and beans and some tostones on top. I think it went for about $ 11 but they give you a good amount of food so I feel like it’s worth it. It’s definitely a little bit greasy and I feel horribly after, but it’s so good. Don’t forget to ask for their famous green sauce! It contains jalapeños, garlic, salt, pepper, and a few other ingredients as well.
The second time I went (guilty to say a few days later), I tried their empanadas. I ordered the beef and the chicken ones. Thy messed up my order and gave me 3 chicken and 1 beef instead of 2 and 2, but didn’t bother me too much because to me, the chicken ones are way better. Decent size, and definitely need the green sauce for dipping.
I will definitely continue to keep this place on my radar whenever I’m on my lunch break.

It makes no sense to me when a staff member doesn’t honor a customer’s request.
As a business owner, the goal is make current customers happy and bring in
new customers. How do you do that? You provide customer service from beginning to end. Simple.
In addition, it’s also important to match the portion size to the price. Yes, I know where the location is, nevertheless, there are competitors around you.
On one occasion, the ropa veija was too hard to chew. it’s supposed to be soft shredded beef and I strongly believe it lacked flavor but still edible enough to eat. On a recent occasion, I ordered pernil. I was told «No»! after requesting the hard skin of the pork. Now, I’m bilingual so I tried repeating myself 3 times. 2x times in Spanish and once in English. Clearly, this staff member ignored me because I saw he had plenty of skin left to give away.
The girls working the register… need acting lessons! Smile. Show appreciation. Welcome customers back. Say something enjoyable. Or just smile. Smiling works!
Also, snatching credit cards from customers isn’t cool. And I think it’s ok to ask all customers if they want a receipt or not.

Great Cuban comfort food. Lots of variety and everything tastes spot on. For those of you not familiar with Cuban food, please don’t use Mexican as your frame of reference. If you have to compare it to something common I suppose Eastern European would be the closest (think German, Polish or Czech).
Anyway, I love it. Give it a try with an open mind.

I love Sophie’s but this one is just not very good. First of all, the department of health gave them a B rating. I normally don’t care about the ratings but I always find it strange when a semi-​faceless/​soulless chain can’t scrape up the cash to make the necessary changes to get their joint up to snuff.
But anyhow…
Once you walk in, it’s not really clear where you’re supposed to go. They have a sign for table service right in front of where you would order food to go from the hot food line. The ladies that work behind the counter look suicidal so they’re not especially helpful.
Finally, the food. All the usual stuff. I got the pork entrée which is my go-​to dish at Sophie’s. I don’t know if it was just the serving I got but it had a lot of those dried out end pieces that were left poking out of the «jus».
One star for the green sauce which is still killer.
Overall, quite disappointing. I think I’ll try another location next time.

This place is by my office and a solid lunch option. I usually go for the Cuban or Chicken sandwich. Both are tasty and the Cuban is authentic.
This place does have variations in their grades on a regular basis, so that does concern me but has yet to stop me from enjoying this unhealthy goodness.