Equelecua Cuban Cafe

I loved eating here. I ordered quite a bit of food while I was here, but was informed that I might be getting a little to much (yes, it would have been). I got a cuban (what else?) and it was great. Both members of the staff that I talked to were very friendly.

As a side note, the side I got with my sandwich was rather salty. I'm not sure whether this is cuban food in general or just the dish that I ordered, but I ended up having to wipe some of the salt off, I just couldn't take it.

This is something very minor, though. I will be happy here to return to try more in the future.

It's great to find, among the ocean of veg options in the LA area, a standout little eatery like this - especially so close to LAX. Intriguing menu, cozy dining (outdoor patio plus one table inside), and great flavor. Recommended.

There's ample free parking in the lot.

Enjoy!

After a mini-photoshoot outside the restaurant, we entered and were warmly greeted by one of the owners (a female). We were seated on the enclosed patio area, which was kept warm (it was in the evening) by heat-lamps. The female owner was super sweet, helpful, and patient in answering questions from all of us, including the small children at our table.

I ended up ordering the Potato Ball, Alitas (the spicy agave wings), Camarones al Ajillo, Cuban Nachos con Picadillo, y Yucca Frita.

Potato Ball - huge ball! Crispy on the outside and lleno de papas inside. Being a saucy individual, I'd prefer to have a dedicated dipping sauce with this dish, just to give that extra "ummph."

Camarones al Ajillo - I enjoyed the garlicky vegan butter sauce in which the shrimp were doused, however, I felt that the saffron rice could've used a bit more seasoning. Maybe if I asked for extra garlic sauce that would've been sufficient for me. (Again, I'm "saucy.")

Cuban Nachos (con picadillo) - a nice island twist to American nachos. They use plantain chips instead of tortilla chips. It had lots of flavor and was enjoyable and filling.

Yucca Frita - perfectly prepared with sea salt and served with a delicious garlic aioli-like dipping sauce. Yummy!

ALITAS! They come in 2 different flavors, but of course, I got the spicy agave flavor. ¡QUE SABROSA! These babies were such a hit that I immediately regretted ordering just one. Obviously, I needed about 4 or 5 orders in which to drown my gluttonous desires. They weren't really spicy (to me), but the superb flavor was so titillating to my taste buds that I couldn't focus on anything else; I only wanted these Alitas for the rest of my life, 'til heaven do us part.

DD got the Cuban Sandwich. She is a fairly picky eater, but she loved this sandwich so much that she's been begging me to drive back to Cali for it. I did not try it, so I cannot comment.

On the night we visited (Friday, 18Mar16), they were playing salsa. As usual, with good food I tend to dance. I was joined on the patio by one of the servers, and we got our salsa on! How fun!!

It was a great night, with great food, great friends, and an awesome VEGAN CUBAN dining experience. ¡Muchisima gracias pa todo! I will certainly return.

We stopped in for lunch with another couple during the recent AR Conference. We were seated outside on the patio. The service was friendly. We were very excited to have all vegan Cuban. For appetizers, we shared the wings and the potato ball special. For entrees, two of us got the Cubano sandwich with yucca fries and the other two got the tamale and the arroz con pollo plate. We also got lilikoi sodas. The plates were very good, better than the sandwich. We ordered cupcakes, lemon and rum raisin, to go. Overall, we enjoyed our meals and hope to visit again soon.

Happy to report I had a really great meal here.

Ordered Arroz con Pollo and it was full of flavor, very fragrant and just a hot delicious meal!
The Tostones are perfection and compliment the complexity of the arroz con pollo.

ALL MUST EAT HERE! vegan or not, the food is on another level.

The food was so amazing! My brother (not vegan) and I(a vegetarian that doesn't eat dairy) both really enjoyed our food! It was a very cute place and I can't get over how amazing the food was! Will def go back whenever we are in the area!

When I debate what was better, the food or the service, I know I found the right place. Just outside of lax airport, this restaurant is everything you look for. Excellent food, premium ingredients, and lovley service. All the plates we ordered were fantastic, and the chef and the waitress were the kindest ever. They even chase us down to give us a free desert (delicious. We didn't order because we were full already) when everything is in the highest level like this place, don't miss it. Highly recommended! Thank you for a great meal and time! Will definitely come back if I have the chance!

This place has really delicious food, however I wish that the plates were served with more veggies. He owners are so nice, however I feel like they kind of forget about you. It would be nice if they would refill your water, and actually bring the check to your table, instead of making you pay at the counter.

I have not yet tested this restaurant for NOGO cuisine yet but the experience I had there was great. They make their own soda pops on the premises and I liked the coconut soda. They are truly nice people that work there and the patio is wonderful on sunny breezy days under the umbrella with soft Cuban music in the background. They speak English and Spanish with no problems and run a clean, superb ethnic cuisine gourmet restaurant for affordable prices. This may be the only Vegan Cuban Restaurant in California. Experience it before it gets discovered at its hidden precious location.
Updated from previous review on Sunday October 04, 2015

our new favorite restaurant! will visit again.

This is a place I've wanted to try for sometime! Just before going vegan, my kids and I were on a Cuban sandwich kick after watching Chef. I found this place and was excited to try it. Last Tuesday, I drove up to LA for a hike and decided on my way back home I'd stop in for a sandwich. I made the almost hour drive from Griffith Park (thanks to good ol' LA traffic) and to my dismay, found out that starting the previous week, they decided to close on Tuesdays until the Summer. (See photo) I was disappointed but am now starting to realize that it's a good idea to call any of these restaurants before going since they are mostly privately owned and make changes like this on the fly.

I had the opportunity to try again this past Sunday as my family and a friend's family were meeting to pick up relatives from LAX so we invited our non-vegan friends to come eat with us.

We arrived and they were open (yay) there were six of us and sitting is somewhat limited but we squeezed into a large square table on the patio. Here, I had another instance of what unnecessary rudeness from restaurant staff. Our server came over and the first words out of her mouth were, "ok, so you know we're 100% vegan here, right? No one is going to be asking me for steak or anything?" I refuse to believe that she greets every party like this so again, I feel it has to do with us not fitting the "normal vegan profile". There are MANY less argumentative ways to ensure we know that we are dining in a vegan restaurant. I told her yes, we are all well aware that it is a vegan restaurant, but since the menu says that there are non-faux meat options, could you review those with us? Again she seemed a little bothered by the question (yet it says to ask, right on the menu) and she says yeah, it's beans and rice and yuca fries or tostones. My son's girlfriend is the one who was interested in that so that's what she ordered. Between the rest of us, we ordered arroz con pollo, Cuban sandwiches, and the garlic shrimp. As we placed our order, I noticed our server was one of those that likes to memorize the order instead of just jotting it down. This is a pet peeve in that something inevitably gets missed. In this case she took the order, then left, then came back to double check it, then still forgot that our friend ordered one of their homemade sodas and never brought the rest of us water.

My wife and son liked the Cuban sandwiches but again, did not like the cheese (it seemed like watery Daiya was used here again) They scraped the cheese off and it was much better. I loved the arroz con pollo our non-vegan friend said she like it too but did not finish it all so not too sure on her take. Her non-vegan dad that ordered the shrimp are it all and said it was great!

Lastly, I do want to point out that there was a male server that helped bring out the food and noticed our waitress had not gotten our water, who was very nice and friendly. He apologized, and got our waters for us. It helps me realize that like anything, sometimes there are just certain individuals that have a chip on their shoulder and maybe our waitress was one of them. We ordered cupcakes for desert I had the pineapple which was delicious and my son and his girlfriend got mango. They loved them as well.

So, this place has great reviews here and on every site they're on. I had one bad experience but because the food is so good and is a nice change from you average vegan cuisine, I still recommend you try them out! I'm not sure the attitude is worth me driving an hour to get there again it it was nice to get a chance to try them out.

Omg I'm so glad I found this place today. ALL VEGAN AND TOTALLY AMAZING!! I drove 10 miles at lunch for this all vegan spot and was not disappointed. I order the classic Cuban sandwich, black beans and rice and some cupcakes. Ha! Not all the cupcakes were for me. However I over order but will have plenty for dinner later.

I will be back and I highly recommend this spot to anyone who loves great Cuban food and especially vegan Cuban food.

The guy and girl who work there are really cool too.

Delicious! We had the tostones, arroz con pollo, and picadillo. Plenty of food-- enough to take home leftovers. Reasonably priced. And did I mention delicious? Added bonus shot of espresso if you come between 12 and 2 on Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday. We'll be back!

Very happy with my order, and the delivery person was polite. I also approve of their packaging! Their fries are excellent, let me just start there, and the plantain nachos with picadillo was delicious, I almost forgot it was vegan. I liked the Cuban sandwich, but it had a bit of a. ..Daiya? ..aftertaste? Or maybe leave off the vegenaise? Not bad, I ate 3/4 of it, but I think it might be the combo of "cheez" and mayo that left a bit of an aftertaste.

After a fantastic, but poor vegan option trip to Cuba, I was able to come home and try vegan Ropa Vieja, which was amazing.

My boyfriend and I met for dinner at another favorite vegan restaurant, but they were closed for the evening. So I whipped out my HappyCow app to save the day! I found this restaurant less than 2 miles away! It's a cozy little café with the patio in the back. The food is amazing and flavorful. We had three wonderful dishes and share them all! We had the Arrog Con Pollo, the Camarones Al Ajillo and the Picadillo. My non-veg come Padres were very impressed with the faux meats! Carolena, the owner, can make any dish without the faux meats. They both had one of the handcrafted sodas and I had tea. This is quite a little gem for the community and so close to LAX!

growing up I had a lot of friends who loved Cuban food, but when I went with them I had a hard time finding things to eat. now I can finally try all the Cuban dishes I was missing!

the food is excellent and very tasty. Service is top notch. Try the Yucas Fritas, best I've ever had!

This is reportedly the only vegan Cuban restaurant anywhere. Excellent food. The classic Cuban sandwich was great, as were the yucca fries and fried mashed plantain. Good find.

I stopped by this place for lunch. This restaurant is not easy to find, as the entrance does not face the road, so it will be much easier to find if you have GPS. They plan to get better signage soon.

I met the owner and chef upon entering the restaurant. Lovely, conscious people.

The food is excellent, and reasonably priced. I ordered Ropa Vieja, "a vegan version of a Cuban classic, shredded vegan beef strips simmered in traditional style Cuban Sofrito and wine based tomato sauce, with strips of onions & bell peppers, and green olives. Served with Black Beans and Rice.". Delicious and satisfying, but when the owner told me they had a vegan shrimp dish, I couldn't resist!

I ordered the Camarones Al Ajillo - Vegan Shrimp tossed in a savory butter garlic sauce, served over a bed of saffron rice. This dish is superb, and was even more delicious than the first dish. I couldn't finish all of it, so they brought me a take out box.

The indoor area of the restaurant has just a few tables, and I was impressed to hear that the owner built the tables herself.

I was also very impressed to hear they buy all organic ingredients where available.

The outdoor seating area is worth noting!

I will be back!

Read about this place on happycow, and when my partner was in the area, he stopped in to get some to-go food for me. Here's my Equelecua Cuban Cafe review.

I had the picadillo wrap, which was a red colored tortilla filled with black beans, pineapple chunks, ground soy, salted olives. Cost $10. The flavors was good, although the wraps overall was on the salty side. I would be interested in trying other menu items next time.

Probably the best vegetarian meal I've ever eaten. Truly delicious!

I'm in heaven , vegan Cuban food. I live this place.