We both had the lechon asado as a main course. We should have ordered one since they do give you lots of food. The lechon asado was fairly most and did not need a knife to cut but the taste was rather bland for me. The plantain Mash was excellent.

We shared a Flan de la Casa & seasonal fruit and Budín de Pan. The flan had hardly any flavor and the Budín de Pan was rather decent but I have had better at Local Pubs.

We never were once asked how the meal was or if we needed a refill on our drinks. All though the restaurant was not busy upon are arrival it still took almost 2 hours to have our entire meal served.

Perhaps I did not order there signature dishes the restaurant is known for but I was not very impressed.

I may try it one more time if I am in the area.

Atmosphere 4/5
Service 2/5
Food 3/5

I have been a customer of Charanga's since they first opened in the early 90′s, going often and turning many people on to their great food and charming place. About 3 years ago I stopped going to Charanga when they changed their menu because it used to be much much better (and cheaper).

I can't fault them for raising their prices but sadly all of my favorite dishes are no longer on the menu. I've had dinner there only twice since the menu change 3 years ago and the food is nowhere nearly as good. So when I saw that Charanga was reviewed on Check Please Bay Area I decided to go back and give it another chance, especially since all 3 reviewers loved it. Unfortunately, I was disappointed again. The food is no longer an A plus, but a B minus, just like the 2 times before.

Last night I went with one other (who used to love the original Charanga menu too) and we had the ribeye steak, which was completely forgettable and boring (not to mention very tough!). We also had the shrimp and calamari (with jasmine rice), which was better, but not great. We had the fried potato (yucca?) layers with goat cheese and pea shoots with black beans too, very boring and not worth the wait. I am not going back.

I realize that restaurants like to change things up, but I really miss the shrimp (heads on) with the vanilla scented sauce, chicken with the green sauce, a different version of the yucca with a dipping sauce, and the chocolate sugar cane cake. There were other dishes that I loved too, but those were my favorites.

Had Charanga stayed the way there were originally, I probably would have beat out Mark (above) for bringing Charanga to the attention of CPBA. Charanga was one of the best restaurants in SF for many years and I mourn the loss of their original menu.

It is really pleasant to know that a lot of people are enjoying the food we've known since we were small kids, not to mention all the amazing cuban food.

We are really thankful, because even though she lives so far away and she's all by herself, she has found many wonderful people she can also call family.

I've had the oportunity to see how Charanga has grown over the past few years. Starting as a small latin restaurant, a restaurant where we can share our delicious food with the entire world.

Every time I come back from San Francisco I increasingly miss Charanga's spirit, the staff, the food and Gaby´s astonishing cooking, but more than anything I miss Gaby herself!!!

Her sister who loves her,

China