Twisted Taino Frappe Bar & Grill

The food was amazing! Service was great. I highly recommend Twisted Taino! Great job and much success to my friend Jose and the entire staff!

I went on a Saturday afternoon, before the dinner rush. It was the perfect time to go, because we didn’t have to wait in line and there wasn’t many people. It was a little tricky to find how to get inside, but I see that they’re new to the location. I ended up with the Trifongo Rice Bowl, with pernil. It was set up to be the perfect meal because it has everything I love, but it had waayyyyyy too much garlic. Unfortunately I couldn’t finish it. My friends liked the empanadas that they ordered, and one tried out a Snickers frappe. The frappe randomly came with pieces of cake, and cookies maybe as decoration. It’s a great location, and I want them to succeed.

I went in yesterday(08/29) with my girlfriend but we had a hard time getting in because there was no sign outside on the building from the main road and we drove passed the place before we finally saw the flag style sign on the sidewalk. There is a second restaurant located inside adjacent to Twisted Taino.

When we finally entered, there was no sign on the door indicating that Twisted Taino was inside, we just walked through a random entrance on the same side and happened to see an employee with a twisted shirt and then knew we were in the right place. There was a line but that was to be expected as it was a busy Saturday afternoon. The menu was on two screens mounted high up and weren’t very clear on what you were ordering but perhaps it was because it was our first time. My girlfriend found paper menus on a table. These still weren’t clear as my girlfriend ordered and the cashier was not helpful at all and had an attitude with us because SHE(cashier) made a mistake prompting us to change the order. We waited an entire hour for the food to arrive(and we had ordered to go).

As we stood and watched, we quickly realized that there is NO organization in the kitchen. The cashier had to keep being assisted by a woman from the kitchen who looked to be the one in charge. The woman in charge had to keep stopping in between orders to address customers whom had been waiting. Tables were left dirty as the one person cleaning was bouncing between cleaning the patio tables and the dining room. Not much room to stand(only because it was crowded for a short time, otherwise there was some space) and idiots were coming in without masks though signs were posted. Luckily there was a security guard present and he was enforcing the masks and “social distancing”.

We ordered to go because we didn’t want to eat inside with the crowd and we ate outside on the patio. It was like night and day because the atmosphere outside was much more relaxed. The food was amazing. I ordered El Cubano sandwich with tostones and my girlfriend ordered El Jibaro bowl with tostones as well as a Nutella Frappe. It’s hard to say if it was worth the wait in our case because the service was mediocre but the food truly was great.

They need to improve on the system of how orders are prepared because we watched a number of people going up to speak to the head cook and the cashier several times. I also had to go up to the cashier twice to find out about our order and the second time she just said “they’re working on it”.

We drove an hour and a half(one way) from Shelby just to try this restaurant and return home. Frankly, unless we are in Cleveland again, we won’t go back. And for a future visit, we will call and place our order over the phone. The food was ten stars but the SERVICE was three. It’s a real shame because as a Puertorican, I want Puertorican businesses to thrive and I hope this place lasts many years but they definitely need to change some things with the service and structure. Once again, the food was amazing.

The food is amazing ! The “Bandeja batey” is perfect for a group of 4. The frappes are awesome too.

Great food! ? ? Fresh selections, can't wait to try other items from the menu. Pictures next time!