A Piece of Havana — Restaurant in Charlotte

Hard to know where to even begin with this review.We called a week ahead for a party of 20 so they knew we were coming. We got there at 6:45 pm and were seated immediately at our reserved place and the place was pretty empty (it grew fuller and fuller and time passed). We were served three to four plates of food at a time and I was in the last group to receive and my plate came at 9:05 pm. The food was cold and I don't say that lightly. Cold to the point I could not eat a lot of it. Everyone I am sure can relate that Cuban food is awesome when hot, but not so much when cold. Their food (the food I did eat) was pretty bland so don't expect authentic like in Miami or Key West. The maddening thing was tables of three and four people around us who came in way after us, kept getting their food on time as we were kept waiting with our food trickling in three or four plates at a time. We got our appetizers with the meal at 9:00 pm when our food came when we ordered at about 7:15 pm. That is just ridiculous. I watched as three females employees stood at the front near the hostess doing nothing and talking. Males employees standing doing nothing. They looked like they wanted to be anywhere, but there. I blame the owner/manager who we politely complained to (but not until after two hours) and he was useless and I don't say that lightly either as I know the restaurant business is not easy. No explanation and did not even go check on his kitchen until after quite sometime. The best he could do was offer us two free flasks of sangria that probably cost him a couple of bucks. Seriously? Musicians were great, but don't plan on having any real conversation at all during your three hour wait for a meal because the music is way too loud ALL night long and you can't talk to the people in front or you and you have to talk in the ear of the person next to you (literally) to be heard. It really does not need to be that loud to be good and fun. Not fun when you are waiting over two and half hours to eat and you are getting hangry. I read other reviews who say the same thing. How many bad review do you need before you lower the sound volume on the band's speakers so patrons can enjoy the band and the people they are with having dinner. The only thing that made this enjoyable was the people in our group who all did our best to take it in stride. A less polite group would have seriously raised hell over the lack of service. The owner seriously needs to get his act together because it was not for a lack of staff, it was due to a lack of training and organization on his part...

I rarely leave reviews. It either has to be a damn good place or a warning. However, last night’s visit to the restaurant got under my skin. First I want to mention that I myself am Cuban. It was my birthday yesterday and I wanted to go, given that the last time we visited we had bad experience with the service, BUT, I will mention the first 2 times we’ve gone, never had a problem. Last night, my husband, 2 daughters and I placed our orders. My daughters and I ordered the Palomilla and husband wanted the Cuban Paella. Great. Shortly our food comes out except for my husbands. Server stated his will take another 10 minutes. 😠Umm, excuse me? THEN WHY THE HELL BRING OUT OUR FOOD instead of all being served together? RIDICULOUSLY UNPROFESSIONAL, & RUDE! NO restaurant does that ! NO 👎! I felt so horrible that everyone had their food before their face while he had nothing. We are mannered people and where taught to wait to eat until everyone got their plates. So, we waited just a tad only because our steaks were already cold to begin with and had to start eating the tasteless steaks. SHOCKER! His food came about, supposed to both seafood n beef w chicken. LEGIT HAS TINY SHRIMPS the size of a pinky nail, lobster meat that was stuck to the tail and like 2 clams. The rest was all beef n chicken. Also, ordered Sangria as well. FYI!!!! Sangria is supposed to have fruit INSIDE the pitcher with ice. Had 3 tiny pieces of fruit IN THE GLASS he was drinking from. I am beyond disgusted with the place. The manager wasn’t even called after we advised the paella was horrible and due to wait of the good to come out. Not that we asked, but 98% of servers would definitively advise if table was unsatisfied and manager would walk over. I decided to give this spot one last chance, we did, and we are FOR SURE not recommending this place (which we have been) and nvr coming back. I’ll stick to the Havana Carolina Grill in Concord. I also have a pic of the ginormous shrimp they added to the paella. Additionally, do ur customers a favor and keep ur canned sodas in the fridge. Once our matervas and ironbeers were put in a cup with ice, it melts and everything is watered down. Thank you for a horrible dinner experience. I do wish...

I would really give it a 3.5 if google allowed it. The food was really, really good. Flavorful, great portions, everything tasted really fresh & well seasoned. The kitchen team definitely makes great food. I was able to make a reservation for 13 people on a Saturday night with no problems, and our table was ready when we arrived. Now on to the negatives. While the staff was friendly, they are in desperate need of more training or better management. We ordered drinks by the carafes, they arrived at the table after maybe 20 minutes with a few appetizers. We still had no silverware or cups for our drinks. The server then proceeded to bring 2 cups at a time, for a party of 13 we had to remind him 2 more times that we still needed more cups. We had to remind him about appetizers 2 times. Some members of our party received their entrees before others had even received their appetizer. There were so many additional employees just standing around the bar & it wasn’t that busy. I couldn’t understand why no one was helping the one server with our large party. We were brought food from different tables more than once. Several reviews mention how insanely loud the music is but I did not expect it to be THAT loud. Not only was it so loud I could not hear the person directly across the table with me, but we had to yell at the server, and he had to pull his mask down and get uncomfortably close to my face to respond. When we asked if the speakers from the live music could be turned down he said “someone got fired for that in the past so I’m scared to ask.” Weird thing to tell a customer, weirder thing for the manager to tell employees to ignore customers comfort. In the end the server took 20% off our whole bill without us even having to request a manager, which I really appreciated. I would come back during a weeknight for a date & probably just sit at the bar, might get faster service that way. Definitely open to giving it another chance with a...