And by the way, Millie R. on Yelp posted a 5-star comment about the food. She was working the bar Saturday night.

6 February 2012: I was so excited to read in the Frederick Maryland Online web site (which I subscribe to and sometimes post comments) that a new Cuban restaurant was opening in town. It’s called Sabor de Cuba and it’s located on Patrick Street in downtown Frederick Maryland.

This past Saturday was First Saturday, a monthly event held in Frederick. We decided to try Sabor for dinner. We arrived at 6:30pm (no reservations) and were seated immediately. We went in expecting slow service, as Sabor only opened on 1 February. We know that restaurants take some time to work out any kinks and we were not in a rush to leave.

The restaurant was full, a good sign I think. There is a small bar with about 5 bar stools and the dining room for about 50 people.

The menu looked great with lots of typical Cuban dishes, although I did review it on their web site.

Appetizers range from $2 to $10 and include items such as empanadas (beef or chicken), tostones (green plantains stuffed with either beef or shrimp), croquetas de jamon, etc. Two items of note were the bread and butter or bread with garlic butter appetizers at $2. Unlike many Cuban restaurants we’ve been to (and even most other restaurants) you pay for your bread if you want any.

There’s a soup and two salads ($4 to $8), and four choices of sandwiches ($8 and $9) including the Cubano (one of my favorites).

Entrées include a nice selection from Bistec de Palomilla, Picadillo (another favorite), Ropa Vieja, Arroz con Pollo, etc. Price for dinner range from $14 to $18.

We ordered the Empanadas de carne ($5), the Pollo a la Plancha for myself ($14) and the Bistec de Palomilla ($16) for Tony. I also ordered a glass of Pinot Grigio ($5.50) and Tony had a soda.

As I said, we know service can be slow with a new restaurant but I felt 40 minutes was a little on the long side to receive our empanadas. It even took some time to get our drinks, although I saw them sitting on the bar.

The empanadas were wonderful! Nice and meaty inside and very flavorful. The dough was golden brown and not greasy at all.

Our dinners arrived 15 minutes later. Tony’s dish included black beans and rice, as well as sweet plantains. The bistec, which is pounded thin and grilled, was hidden under the plantains. It was a small 2.5 to 2.75-ounce piece of overcooked, dry meat.

My chicken (citrus marinated and grilled) came with sweet plantains, not green plantains I was expecting, as stated on the menu. It was also supposed to come with black beans and rice. My chicken looked to be about 3 ounces total. It took at 15 minutes to get my rice and beans after the young waitress told me my dish did not include rice and beans, and after I asked to see a menu and pointed it out to her. Most typical Cuban meals include rice and beans. It shouldn’t have taken 15 minutes for her to bring out my food when the mistake was discovered. In fact, I had to ask the hostess, who saw what was going on to bring me the food, which she did.

Tony and I were very disappointed in our food. To be charged $16 and $18 for our entrées with meat portions no larger than 3 ounces was unacceptable. This is a Cuban restaurant – foods that are simply made with wonderful flavors, and with inexpensive ingredients. I noticed other dishes that came out of the kitchen and the portions looked much bigger (i.e., the Picadillo, Camarones Enchilados (sautéed shrimp, and Ropa Vieja). Our bill arrived and I was charged $23 for my glass of wine, the price of a bottle. The bill was corrected. After dinner, we sat at the bar and hand a round of drinks and chatted with two bartenders (mother, daughter). At one point Tony made the comment about how small the meat portion was but was shrugged off by the employees.

We will return to Sabor after the dust settles and to give it a second chance. We have to believe our dishes were just not properly prepared with the correct size portion of the beef and chicken. And I want my green plantains! After all, their web site states, “Simple food, complex flavors.” That usually means good food and reasonable prices to us.

After dinner, we walked around town checking out the various ice sculptures. Fire and Ice was the theme for February’s First Saturday.