Caribe, Miami. A Misdirected Uber Turns Into a Discovery

Caribe has no pretentions but is popular with locals

by Andrew Chalk

A funny thing happened on the way to lunch in Miami. There is something wrong with Uber's database. Ask for a cab to Islas Canarias Restaurant, one of Miami's most famous Cuban restaurants, and it selects the location of Caribe, an unrelated Cuban restaurant. I thanked my Uber driver as he dropped me, not realising where I was. First, I tried to get back to where I wanted to be. Since Uber thought I wanted to travel to where I already was ("stupid customer") I used Lyft, which understood where I wanted to go but had its own problem -- a 20 minute wait.

As I twiddled my thumbs in this possibly sketchy neighborhood I took a look in the murky windows of Caribe and got interested in what was inside. An unpretentious cafe buzzing with locals. Elderly women looking like they were competing for the chattering class in the Olympics, families with boisterous children, groups of workmen relaxing from their physical labor, a few singles, and a few couples.

The menu read like a compendium of every dish that ever made cultural or physical contact with the island of Cuba. There were even pictures so that ignorami like me could envisage what we were getting.

I cancelled my Lyft ride and went inside.

What I found was the delicious and, I will assume, authentic Cuban experience I had wanted. I chose a couple of Croqueta de Jamon, a Chicken Empanada, and Papa Rellena (ground beef enclosed in mashed potato). All washed down with a Mexican beer. After a near three-hour flight it was a welcome relief.

This didn't just fill me up, it did it for $14. When the bill arrived with the, now commonplace, suggested gratuities, it started at 15%. After seeing too many places starting at 18% or 20% for rudimentary service commitments this came across as brazenly honest. Like the integrity in the food. My waitress, Victoria, deserved more, and got it, for being patient as I pored over the menu and cross-examined her on it. Caribe went from fortuitous find to the kind of place I would like as a local if I lived in Miami.

As I waited for a Lyft ride to my hotel I looked at the map of Miami. Uber's database mistake also found me a place half the distance from MIA as my original choice. This was going to be a good day after all.