RESTAURANT REVIEW : Service Takes a Holiday Over Hearty Cuban Fare

The cooking at La Cubana might be OK, but the reception and service aren’t. The maitre d’ must have had something other than the customers on his mind the times I was there. On one occasion he didn’t bother to leave his table to greet and seat our party. On another, he was completely unhelpful in dealing with our request to put together a table that would seat five comfortably. And he walked by other new arrivals without even acknowledging their presence.

Also, don’t expect to be served exactly what you order. One evening the soup didn’t arrive and the shrimp and turkey dish contained peanuts instead of the requested walnuts. But you can count on one thing: You’re not going to leave feeling hungry.

No one’s ever accused Cuban food of being too light. Indeed, if “light dining” is what you’re after, La Cubana is not your kind of place. Order a main dish here, and you get a hefty load of meat and a substantial dose of starch. There’s rice, black beans, moros y cristianos (rice and beans), yucca (cassava root), French fries and plantains, which may come from the banana family but seem awfully starchy when fried in their “green” or unripe state.

As at other Cuban restaurants, the cooking at La Cubana shows some Chinese influence but leans more toward hearty, Mexican-style food than to sophisticated Cuban cooking.

There was a disappointing similarity in many of the main dishes. Too frequently they were made with some variation of an onion and tomato-based sauce, and the results were mixed. Costilla de Rinonada , a T-bone steak, was tender and flavorsome. Tasajo , shredded dried beef, however, was unpleasantly stringy. Then again, Rueda de Serrucho , fried kingfish, was tasty. Go figure.

Two unusual dishes were poles apart. Rabo , oxtail in a well-seasoned tomatoey sauce, was the best dish sampled. The meat was tasty, moist, tender and well-complemented by the spiced tomato mixture with which it was joined. It was almost a stew. The real oddity was camarones con pavo , shrimp and turkey made with either walnuts or peanuts. This seems less weird if you think of it as a Chinese stir-fry dish; like many wok preparations, it contains chopped scallions, green peppers and onions. However, it had none of the subtlety and balance of Chinese cooking, and saying it was weird to the taste would be kind.

Side dishes at La Cubana varied widely in appeal as well. The traditional ensalada de aguacates was superb. The perfectly ripe, sensuously buttery and fully flavored avocadoes were united with cut raw onion by a simple oil and lemon juice dressing. Of the soups (there are two on the menu but one, fabada Asturiana , was never available when I was at La Cubana), potaje de garbanzos was pleasant, the chickpeas augmented with smoky chorizo and a little hot chile pepper. And although the fried green plantains were close to cardboard in texture, the ripe ones ( platanos maduros ) were sweet and soft.

Desserts included two common guava preparations: cascos de guayaba and mermelada de guayaba. The first is guava halves cooked to a semi-soft stewlike consistency; the second is a jam. Both were served with cream cheese which goes strangely well with guava.

Soft drinks at La Cubana are of the intensely flavored, less-sweet Caribbean style. Iron Beer (non-alcoholic) contains tamarind flavor, Jupina is pineapple-based and Materva is made from a tea-like leaf. Since they are new tastes to most people, try one or more. You may well find one that appeals to you.

La Cubana, 720 E. Colorado Blvd., Glendale. (818) 243-4398. Open noon to 9 p.m. Tuesdays through Sundays. Beer and wine. MasterCard, Visa. Parking lot. Dinner for two, food only, $25-$40.