Asia de Cuba

Sadly, it appears this restaurant has taken a dive since the last time we dined there - 2 years ago. The calamari starter salad could very well have been served out of a massive tin bin (nyc style street bins), prepped the night before. The thai beef salad was really a plate of carpaccio (difficult to lift off the base of the plate) with a tossed salad on top ... and the lamb main really turned out to taste more like what we expected of the thai beef salad.

Service wasn't on par either - they managed to take our coats/bags without giving us a ticket - and later giving us a hard time for not having a ticket ...

Best part of the meal was the wine ... a £45 bottle of gewurztraminer ... which any restaurant can get right.
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Henry R
Overall rating
Food 1 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 3 | Value for money 1
Saturday, February 14, 2009

Went to asia de cuba last night with a group of friends, we went for the bento box for £10 a head which was exceptional value for money. The food was excellent and the venue and interior was superb. However we were all left lost for words by the rude service, firstly they were quite pushy and tried to steer us away from the £10 offer, but we held our ground and we were all glad as it was very nice, salmon, beef dumplings, havanna noodles and avocado salad with good portion size. It was ideal for pre-theatre or night out.

We ordered 4 x tiger beers at £5 a pop, quite expensive but as the food was such good value we didn't mind so much.

After we finished our meal we declined the dessert menu and had a chat whilst drinking our beers, no longer then 5 minutes i would say. Then the waiter came over actually clicked his fingers and pointed towards the door! he said 'thanks for coming guys, next time order a dessert!"

I've been working in the the catering industry for over 10 years in the west end and have eaten in most of the best restaurants, and i have never ever come across such rude service. The waiter needs sacking!! spoilt what would have been an enjoyable experience and they won't be having my custom again.
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David
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 6
Thursday, January 29, 2009

I took a group of friends to Asia De Cuba for my birthday. We had the most amazing time! The food was delicious and the service not to 'in your face'. We were on the party set menu which saves everyone fussing about what to order as the food is served in a sharing concept. There was so much food to go around, as my friend put it we walked in and rolled out. I'd definitely recommend this restuarant.
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Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 7
Tuesday, January 13, 2009

we were there last night and were hugely disappointed. We had heard so much about this restaurant and had been to the Light Bar before - but it was not at all what we expected. From the word 'go' the service was shocking; the staff seem more interested in their computer screens than the customers. Our waiter could hardly speak English and when asked questions about the menu, we got 'attitude' in return. No-one took our drinks order until we hailed someone down - and when we got our wine, most of it seemed to get spilled on the table by the waiter! starters were fine.... but then our rice and black cod were cold. when we asked for warm rice, we just got attitude again. Found the whole eveneing unpleasant and will NOT be returning - and will NOT recommend any of our executives or clients go there - or stay there. Too much arrogance from a bunch of unproffessionals who think they are trendy.
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Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 2
Friday, November 28, 2008

Went to Asia de Cuba for the first time last week. We were led to the bar first which was fine, we were pretty early. Drinks are overprced, 12-13 pounds for a vodka ginger ale, the bar is small and not sure it deserves its reputation as a destination, it was also dead.

When we went to the restaurant we were talked through the food, we shared some starters which were ok, nothing amazing. Had the calamari, again, ok.

Main courses, we ordered the black cod, some rice and were recommended a side of beans with pork mince. Cod was a pretty small portion for something supposedly for sharing, cooked well enough and tasted pretty good. Rice was rice, but stodgy. The beans with pork were so salty they actually made your eyes water, completely inedible.

We had a couple of mojitos at the beginning of the meal and some water.

The bill, for two of us came to an eye watering (again) £220 !!! I looked over the bill and found that a £50 bottle of wine had been added to the bill which I pointed out to the waiter. He went and brought us a revised bill but still, £170 for two people with no wine was just completely unjustifiable.

It is overpriced, is not by any stretch a fine dining place and even most of those would be more reasonable, the atmosphere in the restaurant was dull as well.

Incidentally, we mentioned the inedible beans, but they were still charged for, and we got no apology for the gaffe over the wine.

Take my advice, there are many many better places than this, with far better food, for alot less. There is little pleasure in the food, and the service is more fast food chain than anything else.
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Jai Arora
Overall rating
Food 6 | Service 2 | Atmosphere 2 | Value for money 0
Thursday, November 13, 2008

Thought it all pretty pretentious and self-important – in a young, cool (look at me - m'a tu vu) sort of way. When you walk into the hotel, you are accosted by some guy (young, smart, etc) who asks if he can help. It’s obviously to keep out any undesirables (i.e. normal people). Drinks were expensive – but then so was dinner. Dinner was interesting – cuban and asian combined . Hit and miss quality. Some of the dishes were excellent (tuna) but some were just (and only just) ordinary (pork). The dishes themselves are huge and so, with 5 of us, we ordered 3 starters and 4 main courses. The wine waiter began by being charming but this soon disappeared when I declined his recommendations! Chose a reasonable Sancerre to begin with but was told that he had none left. He then proceeded to recommend the two most expensive whites from that part of the list (£80-£90 per bottle, and one slightly less expensive). Thank goodness I looked carefully at what he was suggesting. Still, the evening was quite interesting but frankly, antique as I am, it’s outside my comfort zone: didn’t really enjoy its glitz, self-awareness. But then, horses for courses: it was pretty full everywhere. Shall not return in a great hurry: over £400 for 5 including drinks in the bar.
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gvkl
Overall rating
Food 6 | Service 6 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 3
Tuesday, November 11, 2008

All the positive reviews I've noticed below are from girls. They love this place. It's a good date restaurant. If you fellas want to get in the good books, take your missus (unless she's a seious foodie)
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Nick W
Overall rating
Food 6 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 6
Thursday, September 04, 2008

Friend of mine booked the table for my birthday and this was my first visit at Asia De Cuba restaurant. I have to say that the atmosphere inside is great, lots of people at the bar and in the restaurant.The staff is so friendly, so open and helpful.The food is made to share, big portions and selection of food just perfect- fish, beef, seafood,chicken, lamb,duck,etc. I was nicely surprised when the dessert was brought to our table with the message happy birthday.I felt really special that night.I do reccomend the restaurant.
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Angelika
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 9
Wednesday, June 04, 2008

In short... Don't do it!

Overpriced food/ drink and obnoxiously rude staff.
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Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 3 | Value for money 3
Wednesday, May 28, 2008

We booked a table for six at 830 on a Wednesday, were made to wait until 10 past nine.

The lychee mohito was perfect for the thirst we built up, though my wife felt it was a bit too minty. The waiter talked up the food quite a lot, but the starters were a bit of a disaster: the calamari salad came without calamari and we had to send it back, the thai beef salad lacked beef and the leaves were totally wilted. The seared scallops were very nice but the sauce was too sweet.

The main courses were a big improvement. The chilean sea bass was cooked and salted just right, it had a good serving of lightly pickled vegetables and a superb savoury custard. The fried rice it came with was ok, but the plate of fried plantains a bit on the heavy side. The beef ribs were beautifully cooked, fragrant with coconut, star anise and maybe some palm sugar, but the beans and rice and chewy pancakes that came with it were totally unnecessary. The duck confit was quite good though one has had better. For such a swish place there was a little too much stodge. I am not sure what to make of the fact that there was plantain or banana in almost everything that we ordered.

Overall, we had mixed feelings. To make up for the calamari salad snafu, they did not charge for the drinks. The waiting staff was friendly and helpful. But we cannot say that everything was exceptional. In fact, perhaps only the fish was, while the duck and beef were very good.

The decor was too self-consciously hip, and the noise level made it difficult to talk across the table, though overall the surroundings are pleasant. It helped to be assertive both with regard to the table and the calamari salad.
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Subir Sinha
Overall rating
Food 6 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 6
Wednesday, April 16, 2008