Cubacan Restaurant & Bar

Reviews 5

AL

Alex J.

Absolutely terrible! Went there with wife and kid for lunch. The only one who did anything was the bus-boy. He gave us our bread (which was pretty good) and water. After that, no one acknowledged us for 20 minutes. Then, finally, I called the bus-boy over and asked if anyone was going to take care of us. He then went to the front area and talked to the many servers that were just walking around and setting up tables for later. I was shocked that no one came to us. There were only 2 parties in the entire restaurant, as far as I could see; and a few scattered people in the other side by the bar area. After he talked to the other employees, a snubbed nose girl came to us with an attitude. She looked mad to even be tending to us. We then proceeded to order the ceviche appetizer and the octopus as well. Both came out after waiting quite some time. These dishes were so tiny! Taste wise...they were ok. I know I only ordered appetizers but these were like $13-15 each! The ceviche was mostly all tomato and I think we ate it in like 3 spoonfulls. The octopus had like three tentacles and the rest was all lettuce. I did not want to stay there for the full main course. I decided to end it there after asking my wife what she thought. She was truly disappointed, as was I. Will NEVER go there again. It may turn out to be be a better experience if you go for drinks, maybe. I dont know. All I know is I will not find out. This place sucks. I usually tip 20% even if the place is subpar. This time I tipped 18% and I actually felt like I did the wrong thing. I really should have just left a dollar so that this girl/server realizes that she should actually work for her money and not have it handed to her for being lazy, unfriendly, antisocial and inefficient. BTW, Ive been in the restaurant business for 20 yrs myself. I know what service is. These guys are very far off. I hope they fix their act, Asbury is getting popular and they will be left behind once people see how bad they really are.

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CA

Carol Lynn Rivera

I dont believe that one bad experience means a place is bad, but Ive given this place enough chances to be better than it was, so Im pretty comfortable saying that this place is terrible. They get a star for being nicely located on the boardwalk so if youre walking by and want a glass of wine or a beer, go ahead and enjoy it. The staff has been decent, too, and I dont have any complaints about the service. The food though, holy cow. Heres a summary of my last experience. Mojito: undrinkable. I can only imagine it was made with a mix and no actual fresh ingredients. Plantains: the ripe ones, that are supposed to be soft, were so hard that one literally flew off my plate onto the floor when I tried to stick a fork in it. Rice: like eating a box of Lipton stovetop rice. Inedibly salty but that was the only flavor I could detect. Chicken: overcooked, dry and flavorless. The manager walked by and asked how we were doing and we told him the truth. He apologized and explained that it can be difficult to find the right ingredients. My opinion of that is if you cant find good ingredients, dont serve the food. He went back to the kitchen and miraculously found better plantains, which he gave us for free. They were soft, so that was a plus, but drenched in some kind of sauce that doesnt belong on plantains. In the end he comped us our dinner, minus the drinks, so it seemed like they cared. I just dont know what to say about a place that keeps getting these kinds of reviews and doesnt change anything. Maybe its capitalizing on its location on the boardwalk and there is enough tourist turnover that it doesnt matter as much. Unless something major changes, they throw all the chefs out, come up with a new menu and start over, I would never go to this restaurant again.

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RA

Ralph M. Rivera

Ive been to Cubacan several times. My last visit there was explicitly to see if it was as bad as I remembered it. It was. Everything about this restaurant defies even the most liberal of anticipations. Heres how my last trip went: I ordered a pork dish with plantains. The pork dish was so salty that it was inedible. The plantains were spoiled and should never have been cooked and prepared. My wife ordered chicken with rice. That dish was also overly salted and the center was refrigerator cold. We spoke to the manager, who graciously comped our meal, but he didnt put us at ease. He said that they sometimes could not source the right ingredients so they had to use whatever they could find. This is absurd and insulting considering the dish I ordered was $23. Compare that to the same dish at $13 at my favorite Cuban restaurant in NYC. Why on Earth does this restaurant think it can charge premium prices for ingredients they admit are not suitable? Aside from the food, if you are a lover of a good mojito, you will not find one here. Its essentially sour mix with mint. Despite this, the staff was friendly and Im sure the manager and our waitress were mortified during our last visit. But friendliness cant make up for the sub par dining experience. Heres my wish: I want this restaurant to succeed. I want them to produce good food that I will happily pay for. But they need to re-imagine the culinary experience that they present. Its not good enough to provide a niche Cuban experience that is otherwise unavailable locally. They have to do it well.

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CH

Chris Esser

So its a big mixed bag here. Atmosphere is great due to the location and the decor, both are excellent. Service was excellent, attentive server and equally attentive bus staff, the table was watched and attended to perfectly. The empanadas and other appetizers were excellent The night fell apart with the entrees. Poor quality product all around. The roast pork tasted boiled and completely flavorless and the portion was simply tiny. The pulled beef was only marginally better. The arroz con pollo was just very bland and a bit overcooked. The accompanying rice with all the dishes is bulk industrial restaurant fare, basically the equivalent of a box of Uncle Bens. The rice is important here with a Cuban menu...why they did this Im not sure. It was the final insult to all the dishes. Spanish cuisines in general are fairly subtle in execution and if you miss the mark you fail quickly. These entrees completely missed the mark. To add insult to the very mediocre product is the pricing. The food product involved in Cuban food is extremely low cost, this is peasant food, yet the entrees described above were $18-$22. Small portions, poor execution and really high pricing sum to a value ration so low I will not return. The cocktails and the appetizers were worthy however, so if you just want to stop in for a drink and have a few empenadas, it would be worth a shot, just dont stay for dinner.

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KA

Kaylin DiPiero

My boyfriend and I visited here on July 2nd. The hostesses here are horrible. We were told it would be a 45 minute wait. We tried to put our name in and the hostess wouldnt take our name. Each time we spoke to them, we were blatantly ignored. We stood there and continued to wait. People coming in after us without reservations were being seated before us and there were multiple tables that I could see that were empty. When we asked how much longer our wait was, they told us another 45 minutes and then continued to ignore us again as if they didnt hear us. I am a hotel manager and would be embarrassed if my staff treated our customers like this. Finally, we spoke to a manager and he was quick to get us a table which was VERY much appreciated. The hostesses need some customer service training and need to be more organized. They are the first people your customers are seeing and instead of being happy and welcoming, they look miserable and act like they hate their jobs. Aside from that, the food was good and our waitress was wonderful. The manager and our waitress definitely made up for our initial experience.

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