Cubana

First time at Cubana and had a brilliant evening. Great cocktails (2 for 1 at Happy Hour so advise you go then!) Had 2 courses on the Pre-theatre menu which is a great deal too. Very busy but this adds to the atmosphere. Will definitely be going back!
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Ben
9 Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Thursday, December 20, 2012

Just back from an appalling meal at Cubana tonight, pre-booked for a Christmas works party. Where to start…? Dire service - surly, unhelpful, uninterested, lazy waitresses. Deathly atmosphere. Tasteless food. Horrifically loud music.

14 of us were crammed into a tiny annex on rickety primary school sized chairs at equally rickety undersized garishly painted wooden tables - so tightly packed you couldn't cross your legs or get out to the loo without either pole-vaulting over the next table or getting 8 people to stand up and move along to let you out - a la cinema style.

After unpalatable starters, including dry fish cakes, which tasted like cat food, we waited over an hour for our main course, which had been ordered 3 weeks previously. (Hilariously enough, after the starter, we had been told to hold on to our dirty knives and forks to use for our main!)

During the long wait for the main course we were informed that even though 4 of us had pre-ordered chicken dishes, only 2 portions were actually available so 2 of would have to order something else, as long as it was from a short list of 2 other options! There was a delay in the main courses being presented simultaneously so we couldn't all eat together. In fact, several diners had finished their main course before some others had even started upon theirs.

The pork dish ordered by 6 brave diners looked awful - tellingly, hardly anyone touched it. A brown, congealing tasteless sludge was billed as a spicy black bean sauce.

Because the waitress couldn’t physically manage to walk around the tables, we were hollered at to pass our empty plates along to be collected by said waitress who stood with a large plastic bucket at the end table to collect the used crockery and left overs, reminiscent of the slops in 19th century work houses.

On to pudding – again we were told to pass a pile of plates around, then 15 minutes later, told to hand them all back in again, to be dished up in the kitchens! Ehh?! Some chocolate mousses arrived for a quarter of the lucky diners – the rest had to wait. When the final puddings arrived, the mousses were so watery that one diner sucked it up through a straw.

The final insult was having to argue with the manager over payment who didn’t want to deduct the deposit we had already paid from the total cost.

At no point did the staff apologize for the wait or lack of food, nor come round to ask us how the food was – perhaps they knew they’d get negative feedback.

Please do not darken this establishment’s doors. I can safely say this was the worst Christmas night out I have in over 20 years of festive celebrations with my colleagues. Overall – sorely disappointing.
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virginia maw
0 Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 0 | Value for money 0
Saturday, December 08, 2012

Tried to dine at Cubana today after a friend recommended it and we simply couldn't! 2 waiters outside were chatting and after 10 minutes trying to get hold of someone we had to ask them to clean our dirty table. Then, when we asked for the menu, and we were told to order inside...ok...

Allright... so, as my friend and I want to have a relaxed dinner, we decided to go inside. As a friend would join us later, they did not give us a table for 3, but insisted that we have to be in a table for 2 and then, we would move to a different table later (?)

Detail: it was 5.40pm and the restaurant was almost completely empty. So, we decided to go to a different restaurant.

Service was completely confused and useless. For this reason, I am not coming back.
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Chris Sanchez - View all reviews by this user
3 Overall rating
Food 3 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 3
Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Cubana is a gem- definitely worth a visit! The menu was varied and scrumptious (everything was freshly made- we had traditional Cuban dishes Pollo Criollo and Ropa Vieja) and the cocktails and smoothies were delicious too! Friendly service and a fun, buzzing atmosphere made the whole experience extremely enjoyable. I've been introduced to a whole new food world and I'll definitely come back again- a new favourite in London!
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Charlotte
10 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Thursday, April 19, 2012

I came for dinner last night with a friend. The waitress' weren't extremely friendly and they didn't seem to be very confident; this would have not been a problem if the rest of the night would have been okay. We ordered a sharing plate which was okay and for main course I ordered one of the plates the waitress suggested (Ropa Vieja) and my friend ordered a plate of chickpeas with chorizo.

I couldn't eat my dish as it was too rich and dry and my friend's chickpeas were absolutely undercooked. No one came to ask how our food was at any time and since we stopped eating our main courses we had to wait about 20 minutes (no joke!) to get the attention of one of the waitress'. I mentioned and apologised myself for not being able to eat my food as it was dry and too rich and the only answer I got was:" really?" and she took the plates and walked off. I thought someone would come and ask if I would like something else or they would bring the dessert menu... well, no one came for another 20 minutes and I was about to walk off without paying, as I couldn't believe no one approached us to apologise or just offer some coffee or desserts, as it should be as part of the normal dinner service. When we got the attention of another waitress and we explained the situation, she argued with us saying that we should have said if we didn't like our dish before (really????); we kept saying we already explained that and she kept arguing... She finally decided to speak to her manager just to shut us up, not because she wanted to make us go home happy and they offered a 20% off the meal and they still included the service charge!!! we didn't want to pay for the service charge and again, we waited for someone to come and take the money and explain we weren't paying the service charge, but again, no one came. So we decided not to pay and walked off without saying anything.

I am definitely NOT COMING BACK AGAIN!
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Amaia
1 Overall rating
Food 1 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 2 | Value for money 0
Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Had dinner at Cubana on Saturday night. The restaurant itself was good; great decor and a fun atmosphere (though this was down to the other diners, rather than the staff). The food was good, but the portion sizes were pretty small and none of us really felt like we had eaten a two course meal. The service for us was the low point. Both the waitresses serving us were rude. They did not come over once during the meal, to see if everything was OK, or take orders for drinks, in fact there were no pleasantries at all. They didn't even ask if we enjoyed the meal at the end of the evening. The fact that we were still hungry at the end of the evening wouldn't have mattered as much if the staff were more welcoming and friendly. Would not recommend this restaurant.
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Diamond
5 Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 5
Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Awesome mojitos and not expensive and some more than passable tapas. We'll be back!
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john derrick
9 Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 9
Friday, March 25, 2011

Went for lunch with colleagues and we had a main course each for £4.95 - mine was a sesame tuna dish, the others had a Cuban beef hash. Very filling and tasty. One of us had a lime meringue pie for pudding and the others had a sort of passion fruit muffin/souffle thing with coconut ice cream - all good. Best of all, we were only charged £1 for the coffees! Very nice food and drinks and surprisingly inexpensive.
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ann simpson
9 Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 10
Friday, March 11, 2011

Amazing cocktails and decent, fresh tasting food - very good value. Service friendly, if a bit hit and miss. Colourful and vibrant with some great live music later on.
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daniel harden
9 Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 10
Thursday, March 03, 2011

Overall, a good place. Inexpensive food which appeared to be made to order, judging by the open view of the kitchen, which is a nice thing for a restaurant. Excellent steaks and a very filling Cuban spicy chicken main course - the tapas were pretty good as well, but some of them also very filling. The ceviche and the chicken, chorizo and guava skewer were higlights. We had smoothies, which tasted very fresh and were some of the best I've had anywhere - no Cuban beer was available, which was a shame, but they said supplies from Cuba were not reliable so we had a very good Spanish beer and some house wine, which was good value and very drinkable. Cubana is a good place for an inexpensive and fun night out and the quality of the food surprised me.
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jay redway
9 Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 9
Monday, February 28, 2011