Eileen Andrade / Finka Table & Tap

When you think of West Kendall, dining hub doesn’t typically come to mind. That is quickly changing though with the addition of Finka Table & Tap from the family behind Islas Canarias and the popular CubanCube food truck. Chat Chow TV sat down with the restaurant’s head chef and owner Eileen Andrade to learn about her inspiration for the restaurant, the cocktail program and why they chose to make its home in Kendall.

The restaurant is the brick-and-mortar variation of the CubanCube food truck with the addition of a plenty of seating and an extensive bar program, created by the guys behind Bar Lab Elad Zvi and Gabe Orta. Bar manager Eddie Fuentes oversees the drink program that offers ten different cocktails and a tap room with eight different rotating brews, which the neighborhood is quickly embracing.

“The reaction has been really good,” Andrade adds about the drink program. “We’re running out of beer every day.”

Living and growing up in Kendall, Andrade realized that she would go to the other side of town to drink and eat so she decided to open her restaurant in the area, right down the street from her family’s restaurants, to bring more dining options to the area.

“Kendall needed something different,” adds Andrade. “CubanCube was something different but we wanted somewhere people could come whenever they wanted.”

The restaurant serves a unique blend of Cuban, Peruvian and Korean cuisine with fun inventive twists on classic dishes. The restaurant is open daily for lunch and dinner now but has plans in the near future to launch a brunch, happy hour and late night menu.

Curious where Andrade gets her inspiration from? Or what famous film prop is on display at the restaurant? Find out these things and more in the video above.

4 comments

  • It’s incredible how this place gets such glory. I decided to bring my boyfriend here for his birthday. I had a large party, 27 people total. They were very professional about booking the reservation. I had to pick out the menu so that it would be fixed the day we were going to have dinner, to avoid chaos. I also had to pay 1/3 of the bill in advance, precisely one week before. Everything seemed ok, until the actual night of the dinner which was a total DISASTER!

    To begin with, our reservation was for 9pm. We walked in at 8:45 and our table was not even set up. When the majority of our party was there, they proceeded to set the table but only put 25 seats. My last 2 guests arrived and had nowhere to sit for a good 20 minutes. The manager proceeded to tell me that they were extra; however she had failed to count the 25 places instead of 27 which I had reserved and PAID for. But I’ll get back to the manager in a few.

    When we arrived at the table, the entire menu was placed on each place setting, after I so carefully planned the menu like they asked me to. I brought it to the attention of the waitors but they were absolutely clueless. The manager came over and apologized.

    Then, when it was time to order, it was absolute chaos. The waitors weren’t aware of the choices I had picked. The appetizers came out “family style”, which was NOT anywhere close to what I was told. There were not enough appetizers for everyone. One table ate more than the other. Then the manager came to ask about the service. He knew I was not happy and brought me the owner, who was another young girl (no older than 30). She was extremely rude and did not care to accommodate my needs, as I mentioned earlier about my last 2 guests arriving and they had nowhere to sit for 20 minutes. I ordered a drink that I didn’t receive until 30 minutes later.

    Then dinner. Oh my God. My food was cold. Someone else ordered churrasco but they ran out and brought him something he didn’t ask for. Half of the table finished eating when the other half of the table received their food.

    I was extremely upset. I ended up getting a full refund. I called the next day to speak to the owner to address my concerns because the young girl was a relative of the owner and she never came to the phone.

    This place has great potential but unfortunately I will never spend another dollar there. They lost a customer in me for life!

  • If your party is under 20 get ready to wait. No reservations accepted and the wait is over 2 hours. You need to get a little more sophisticated and accept reservations for parties of 2+ Not worth the drive.

  • My girlfriends and I went there for our anniversary we had a wait time of 1:15 minutes and 1:30 minutes. But we were waiting for 2 hours in the bar and we still had not been called. We decided to eat at the bar and we ordered causas de pollo and the tortilla chips were stale and the causa ingredients were way to spicy. As a Peruvian born native I did not like the causa balls at all they felt cold like they had been waiting in the fridge all night. My girlfriend ordered the marguerite pizza the pizza had grease surfacing the cheese… The bartender we had not the bald one the younger looking one was great with the pisco drinks and purple rain martinis. After 2 hours of waiting at the bar we left with a high bill and a stressed night.

  • My experience at Finka has been amazing, I have been there with the wife and baby several times and am always impressed with the level of expertise and the menu.

    Kendall really needed a place like this.

    I recently attended with a large party of 10 and the service was flawless. We are always greeted warmly by there friendly staff and it feels like family.

    Popular restaurants of this caliber will almost always have a wait so I just attend a bit earlier.

    I look forward to watch this restaurant succeed and evolve!

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