There are a lot of little eateries in the States that get famous by word-of-mouth. Paseo Caribbean Restaurant is definitely one of them. Mom and I were told by Cousin D to visit this place, and to visit it early. So the next morning, Aunt Aggy, Uncle Walken, Mom and I woke up (relatively) early and took the 30 minute car ride down to the Fremont area to check it out.
The restaurant did not have a sign. But it wasn’t like we needed it. That’s the lineup right there.
And it had only been open for an hour or so. It was also raining and grey and cold. Yet people still come. We stood in line for about 15 minutes or so, then Uncle Walken called them to order take-out (Cousin D had told us to do that but we forgot), and we got to go back into the car and do the 25 minute wait in the warmth of the car.
Not sure why not more people order take-out instead of waiting in line. It’s much faster that way.
The restaurant also does not have much in the way of seats. The picture above is all that there is of the restaurant—the rest is the kitchen. They DO however have one bathroom.
Cousin D recommended the Caribbean Roast Sandwich ($8.5) as the must-try. It’s also advertised as their most popular choice on their website. It comes with “Pork shoulder coated in Paseo Marinade & slow roasted ’til falling into succulent morsels.”. All their sandwiches are “on a lightly toasted baguette slathered with aioli (seasoned mayo) , fresh cilantro, pickled jalapeños, crisp romaine lettuce & crowned with caramelized onions.”
So was it worth it? Well, yes and no I guess. The sandwich was indeed moist and juicy (mostly…some morsels of meat were still a bit dry for my liking). Loved the big slices of thickly cut grilled onions, and the sandwich was messy and greasy. But was it worth the drive?? Ya, but it was too far to come back again regularly. If I lived closer, I probably wouldn’t mind getting a Paseo sandwich again, but I won’t go out of my way to get one.
Still glad I tried it though because it’s always fun to try something so revered by word-of-mouth.
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