The Cuban — Restaurant in Canterbury

Absolutely appalling behaviour – RACISM and ASSAULT by a member of staff. I had a shocking experience at The Cuban in Canterbury that I feel needs to be shared. My friend and I were standing near the windowsill inside with our handbags next to us when a tall African bouncer approached us aggressively. He began waving his finger in our faces and acted confrontational without any clear explanation—apparently just because our bags were resting on the windowsill.

What made this worse was that he targeted my friend, who is Black Caribbean, with clear and disturbing racial bias. It was painfully obvious that this man—despite being Black himself—was prejudiced and aggressive toward us, especially her.

I spoke to the head bouncer who confirmed there was no issue as long as we were standing next to our bags. We returned to where we were, but the same bouncer came back, told us to get out with no explanation, and when I asked why, he refused to answer. I began recording for my own protection, and he snatched my phone, was physically aggressive, and later threw my drink all over me and broke my phone strap.

This was a clear assault, and I have reported the incident to the police. Another bouncer just said, “we don’t need to give you a reason—he’s worked here for seven years,” which is absolutely unacceptable.

This was not just poor treatment—it was racially motivated, physically aggressive, and deeply unprofessional. The Cuban seriously needs to review who they employ and how they deal with incidents like this. I will never return and strongly advise others—especially people of colour—to be cautious before...

Came here for tapas and cocktails with the girls, would never recommend it. The food was forgettable, the cocktails were very below par and the service was unbelievably shoddy. I asked for a frozen strawberry daiquiri but was given a standard one...Ordinarily I would have just had the drink as it came (not mainly considering I'd waited about 15mins for it to arrive but also because I'm not one to normally make a fuss) but the waitress's attitude was really off. She stood at our table and shouted back to the bar girl to check whether or not I'd actually asked for it to be frozen (which I had) and she said I hadn't asked for that so she hadn't made it frozen. Knowing full well what I had ordered, and not appreciating the attitude, I sent it back. This was met with an eye roll. Then another drink arrived and was slammed down on the table so that it spilled everywhere, no acknowledgement made whatsoever and nothing brought over to help clear it up. Waited for the bill for absolutely ages, no staff to be seen upstairs at all so went downstairs to order another drink and settle the bill there. I asked for a cocktail and was met with a blank stare. I stood for a while until a good few mins later the bar girl said I'd have to go to another part of the bar to order my drink?? I wouldn't normally mind any of this but the place isn't cheap and you don't expect behaviour like that from staff!

It was during the daytime and not even remotely busy so there is no reasonable excuse.

I probably won't be going back here...

(Thursday night only) Only positives I can give you are the women and music. The rest... where to start? If you fancy being a human pinball machine after 11:30/12, then you might enjoy getting knocked about like a ragdoll on the dance floor. Want to get from one side of the club to the other? Don't be scared to barge through people like someone stole £200 worth of gear. For 1 second, I thought I was in London when I was charged £11 for a double Disarano coke. Go tesco and get there own branded bottle for £3 cheaper! I hope you've washed well and bought coins for the aftershave man because with no air con, I feel like I'm dancing next to a pizza oven. Too hot in the summer! There's another floor, why not use it when it gets so busy? Too short staffed perhaps? I give the staff 5 stars for putting the best shift in they can because clearly not enough staff around! See I'm nice. The toilets couldn't be in a more inconvenient place. You will be taking a trip to what feels like the top floor of the Shard to these toilets which I think are also unsafe! Very tight corners. I could add more but I think I said enough. Simple things like opening other floors, bringing more staff, having air con, easier accessible toilets could make this place a real blast! Until this happens, I think I'll be avoiding. Because after I left tonight, I was actually looking forward to writing this review...