Restaurante snack bar Vernissage — Restaurant in Cárdenas

We went to this place to try their lobster, advertised as XXL for 6000 pesos. In reality, they serve it whole with the head, but the only edible part is the tail. So, from XXL, it drops to a mere M-L, at best.

After a couple of bites, I realize the lobster is mushy and tastes awful. I call the waitress to point it out, and a senior waitress comes over, explaining that the lobster is "fresh and young," and that's why it's like that. I clearly say I don't like it, and she takes the plate and walks away.

I wait for 25 minutes, thinking they are preparing a new lobster. Instead, another "boss" who doesn’t speak a word of English shows up and says the lobster was whole, that I ate it, so it doesn’t count. I insist that I haven’t had dinner, waited an hour for inedible food, and haven’t touched anything else.

The most ridiculous part? The waitress returns, showing me a picture of the plate in the kitchen to "prove" that I ate the lobster when it was obvious they had dumped it and cleaned it out themselves. And then the grand finale: the "boss" starts threatening to call immigration. Really? Over a 6000 pesos lobster? Does it scare me? No, I didn’t swim to Cuba.

In the end, without wasting more time or risking my health, I walked out. Horrible restaurant, horrible service, horrible lobster. If 6000 pesos are what keep you afloat, you might as well close down. You can’t handle criticism, and in a tourist area, at least learn to...

Scam alert!

They use an incredibly low conversion rate which essentially makes it three times more expensive than it should be. But that's not all...

We arrived and I asked the waitress if we could have a table for two. She reacted annoyed and made a shrugging gesture as if we could pick out any table we wanted. After we then picked a table she yelled 'no!' at us and pointed to another table.

The menu was with QR code, which obviously didn't work in a country with highly unstable internet. My girlfriend asked for a normal menu to which the waitress replied by commanding her: Give me your phone! After she had grabbed it from her hands and typed in the wifi password, it still didn't work. We ended up having to take a picture of the menu on the wall and checking it from our phones. She kept standing next to the table impatiently and we had to ask her to leave us alone so we could pick out our meals in peace.

Horrible service and a...

Currently, Jan. 19, 2024: The place is a MONETARY SCAM aimed at foreign tourists. Beware! If you pay in any hard currency; you are paying double for your food. Exchange your dollars for Cuban Pesos in the informal market, use the Cuban pesos to pay the bill. By doing that you are saving 50%. The intricacies and complexities of the Cuban economy, sadly allow private businesses (such this one) to deal in bad faith. They are using a 'legal' loophole in the exchange rate. The bank exchange rate is only half of the informal market. Always avoid paying with foreign cards for the same reason. Totally avoid places receiving payments only in cards for the...