Hemingway's Cuba — Restaurant in Asheville

A mixed-bag experience each time I come, but the views are wonderful, and the food is consistently good (but not great).

Atmosphere: This is a great place to take people visiting from out of town because you can show off the wonderful view, although the online reservation system does not allow you to specifically request outside. The interior can sometimes be loud, and doesn’t have a great atmosphere, but the outside rooftop with the views is excellent.

Service: this really varies. On my latest visit, however, the server was excellent, and although we were clearly taking our time ordering drinks, and then really enjoying the view of the sunset, he said there was no rush to order.

Food: the Cuban is a standard Cuban. It’s fairly good, but again, not great. The ceviche was a bit of a disappointment in that it was just such a small amount, and did not seem creative. Was I expecting the type of creative ceviche available at other local restaurants with three different types of ceviche and different herbs/flavor profiles? No. But this didn’t even seem to have much of a enzymatic, lime, citrus, taste going on, and hardly any sort of flavor. It just felt like some chopped up seafood. And again, the portion was small. It looks larger because they serve a lot of plantain chips with it. But it’s really a small serving. I understand it is an appetizer size and not an entrée. And a smaller size would be fine if it had more attractive flavors.

I’ve had other menu items as well, and they’ve all been… Again… Good.

Drinks: lots of fun. Consistently good. On the expensive side, but they are festive and match the festive nature of the restaurant. They’re not exactly making dozens of their own shrubs and bitters and over-the-top, high-end cocktails, but they are good for what they are, which is a fun variety of festive cocktails.

So I continue to come back over the years. Especially if I have friends in from out of town, so we can enjoy the rooftop.

Oh, I dance, salsa and merengue and Cumbia etc and used to shut down the night clubs on the West Coast. But I had to ask the server to turn the music down. These were songs that I knew! Songs that I could sing along to and had dance routines memorized to, and I still felt that the music was obtrusive. He did turn it down, but it definitely inched its way back up. It was to the point where we really could not hear each other. Am I getting old and becoming a loud music hater? I hope not. And if it was just a bar, I would love loud music, but it was dinner, and it was only 7 o’clock and really hard to hear.

The views really are worth it, even if the food is not exceptional, the views are...

We had high expectations for a restaurant that was rated “best Cuban food in Asheville”. Unfortunately, I cannot begin to express how bad our experience was.

Our food took over 40 minutes. I understand it was a Saturday evening, past 8pm, however, my husband and I ordered basic items off the menu. If you are a Cuban restaurant, it shouldn’t take over 40 minutes to get a cuban sandwich. When our food finally arrived, we were extremely disappointed. Mind you, we rarely ever complain about food or request new dishes, but when our server came to check on us we had to say something. She already acknowledged and apologized for the long wait, which is something out of her control. I showed her how half my Cuban sandwich was missing meat (seen in the picture below). We expressed how my husband’s sandwich, the Frita Cubana, appeared to be nothing more than a hamburger patty with onions and an aïoli sauce. Our server told her manager, and when the manager came over, we felt that she lacked compassion, was rude, and didn’t truly listen to our complaints. Again, we never do this at restaurants. When I showed her my half of the sandwich she said “the meat must have slid off when they cut the sandwich.” She was very quick, almost interrupted, my husband when he expressed how it appeared to be nothing more than a hamburger patty. She offered to take some off our bill, and said she would speak to her kitchen staff. We explained how we were going to pay for the food, and were just very disappointed in our experience. Once our server brought our check, she apologized again. None of this was her fault, and we recognize that. We left paying $60 plus tip, still hungry, and disappointed.

After talking to some of our friends, we find out, all who have been to Hemingway’s Cuba, had also had extremely disappointing experiences. I can say, we will not be back and will not be recommending this restaurant to any...

Don't bother! We made a reservation for four at 4:30 in the afternoon and arrived at 4:25. We were promptly told by the hostess that the restaurant did not open until 4:30 and that they would not be seating anyone until 4:30 and that we could wait in the waiting area which had visibly dirty carpets. We waited with a few other customers in the dirty waiting area until 4:32 when they told everyone that they would be seating and we rushed up to the hostess stand to stand in a single file line and wait for our table. When the hostess finally arrived to seat my party we requested to sit outside ( which was the only reason we we went there to begin with) and she explained that all of the outdoor seating had been reserved and that we would not be able to have a table outside. We still decided to stay and eat since it was a special occasion for us. We noticed that there were approximately 4 tables sat inside and maybe 3 tables outside but continued to try to enjoy ourselves anyway. About 10 minutes later, a party of 3 was sat down beside us and apparently had the same experience as us at the hostess stand but unlike us demanded to see the manager who promptly sat them outside at one of the MANY open tables. 5 minutes later, a party of 4 then sat down beside us and same thing. Complained and were seated outside. After a very lackluster dinner my wife requested to see the manager who was nice enough to offer us a seat outside to have some cocktails at one of the still MANY open tables at 6:00. We were done at that point and wont go back for sure. Our server was good but that's about the only good thing I can say about this restaurant. We spent $192 to eat here. Save your money and eat...