Congress Cafe is Now Encuentro Cafe - Same Owners and Menu

On a recent drive thru Old Town while doing my Saturday errands, the same day I noticed that Cocinas del Monte had replaced Mariscos el Cata, I noticed that the signage for Congress Cafe had been changed. It had been a while since I last visited Congress Cafe, I used to drop by every so often and get the Arepa Pabellon and check out Heritage Park. But for some reason, I just tailed off at the end of 2022.

I was a bit worried that the place had changed ownership and returned the next morning.

  But upon parking my car and walking over, I was relieved to see the sign that said "same owners, same menu, same flavors." I guess it was time to reacquaint myself with the Arepa Pabellon.

I walked over and the nice young lady at the counter greeted me. I took a look at the menu and the sticker shock hit me. The Arepa Pabellon was now $17.95! Whoa.....like $4 more expensive than in April of 2022! The Combination Plate, called the "Latin Lover" was now $22!

Oh man....but here I was, so I decided to go ahead and order the Arepa Pabellon to go. I just gave them $21 and went for a short stroll.

Returning 10 minutes later, the owners who are so nice and friendly had my order. It had just come out of the kitchen.

Instead of Heritage Park, I headed over to Western Hills Park which is on the way home and ten minutes away. It was a nice sunny day and I got one of the tables and opened my Arepa.

    First thing I noticed was that the arepa was super soggy and actually started falling apart. I like my arepas on the crisper side...Congress Cafe was already teetering on the edge of too soft for my preference, so this kind of pushed it over the edge. There was perhaps a bit too much cheese on this, but the folks here had really gotten the proportions down the last couple of times I visited. There's the seasoned beef, with nice pungent flavors and was very tender if a bit greasy; the sweet and starchy plantains, the black beans, mild garlic, cumin, smokiness, though this was a bit on the salty side. The tangy, but not very spicy salsa verde helps cut the salt and richness.

Still, it was hard enjoying this as it fell apart.

 Still the mushy arepa was hard to manage and enjoy. No wonder the included a fork in the bag?

Well, needless to say this made me miss Mi Pana. I really like the folks working here and I understand the cost of doing business in Old Town is not cheap, but can you imagine spending possibly over $25 (with tip) for an arepa and a coffee if dining in?

As much as I like the folks at Congress Cafe Encuentro Cafe that'll make me think twice before returning.

Encuentro Cafe
3941 Mason St.
San Diego, CA 92110
Current Hours:
Mon - Fri 8am - 2pm
Sat - Sun 8am - 3pm

Comments

[kat]

bummer

[Junichi]

Soggy arepa is no bueno. I'm priced out at $18.

[Kirk]

It was Kat!

Man, talk about inflation of the prices and deflation of that arepa Junichi!