El Puro Cuban Restaurant — Restaurant in Charlotte

Let's begin with it was my birthday and I drove with my spouse from a neighboring state and paid to stay at a hotel to visit this place. The food is particularly good and arrived quickly, but for the price the portions could be better, as a single dish can set you back 30 to 45 dollars. If you don't like loud environments, then it is not for you. It is hard to hear inside the restaurant because of the live music.

However, what earned them a lone star, and less if it was possible, was the subcontractor they have taking random, unsolicited photos of people and their family. As soon as we got there, a random lady with a camera started shooting photos and was even aggressively telling us how to pose. It was very awkward and uncomfortable. I thought that the photos were part of promotional content for the restaurant.

Well, I was wrong, as in the middle of our meal the same lady returns with a small stack of frames, spreads them on our dinner table and then proceeds to interrupt our meal to try to sell them to us in much the same aggressive manner as when she took the photos with no permission and no regard for our time. At this point I was fed up and asked her to go away and she ignored me and instead continued to try to sell to my wife.

In the meantime, I had put my fork down for a minute and there was a restaurant employee asking to take my plate, and I had not finished my meal. I had to stop him too! At this point I got up to find the manager/owner because I had had enough. We were there barely 15 minutes and soon were overwhelmed. I had to ask for the owner twice before she became available. I was livid and explained my situation. Her best explanation was that the photographer was from a company separate from hers and she has no control over what they do. She suggested that it is not worth it to be angry and to try and have an enjoyable time, which I found to be condescending and as disrespectful as the photographer. She also offered to give us a pair of the framed photographs the photographer attempted to sell us. This did not solve the problem.

A reasonable answer besides a sincere apology would have been to bring the photographer to the discussion and let them know not to bother us and to in the future ask people permission before taking their photos. Even comping part of my meal for my terrible experience and my birthday would have helped. Instead, I was given a more of a roundabout "deal with it and get over it" message with a small and halfhearted apology.

I had the worst evening and dining experience of my life on my birthday. Inadvertently my wife felt very embarrassed, as she was the one who planned my birthday, and now our relationship is hurt. She's hurt, I'm hurt. This whole thing has put our relationship in a bad place, we are not talking to each other. So, for my birthday, I now have nothing but heartache and sadness. My suggestion to the owner is to get rid of the photographer. People come to a place to have a good time, eat, dance, and make memories, not to be harassed and sold from the moment they step through the door...that is tacky and disrespectful. It makes the restaurant look like a gimmick, like a side show. I have an extended family, and we number about 35 people and more if you count cousins and friends, who I was planning to invite to this place, but after this...NEVER WILL I EVER. Dine at...

This has to be the worst experience i’ve ever had at a restaurant. I came here on New Years to celebrate my birthday at 7:15pm. No where on booking or the website did it have that time listed as a New Years menu. So I was already upset. There was no drink options on the menu ie. Sprite, lemonade, Pepsi, etc. only options were water of which we had to ask 3 times for an extra cup. And alcohol which surprise surprise were all price increased for new years. The appetizers were even worse. I was amazed at how empanadas which are originally $4 all of a sudden were $11.50. And it wasn’t just these appetizers. All of them had a severe price increase that made no sense. Five items in and I think we’re already at $50 or $70 and all we had on the table was water and appetizers. Yeah, upon ordering food we had four of the most expensive options off the original menu. With no options for people who didn’t eat fish, pork or beef. each entrée was worth $40 and up. It was noted by our server that the food was cooked for eight hours, and nicely seasoned. But upon getting the food, it was sugary sweet and might as well have been mush. Never in my life have I had oxtail that had not tasted like it was an oxtail. On top of that the meals description did not match what you got. Instead of getting oxtail with asparagus, we got oxtail on a plate of plantain mush with six peas. The plantains were burnt and had absolutely no flavor but sugar. Thankfully they switched it to the short rib dinner which was just as bland, but tasted a whole lot better than the oxtail. But this was only after questioning if I was even gonna like the food. After ordering a piña colada, I was shocked by the fact that there was three different cup sizes for one drink. One the size of a coconut one, the size of a milkshake glass, and another one that was even even bigger but you’re all charged the same price you just get a random cup. By this point, our table was $400 in the drain. To make matters even worse for a party of six there’s a 20% gratuity for our server who we saw maybe three times our entire dinner. Then, whether it was intentional or not, when they came out, and did the birthday song, he deliberately went to the wrong person at the table. Our total came out to $462. For the bare minimum. Our bill looks a hot mess with us being charged for things that were fixed and or should’ve been removed. And what really put this experience over the edge is that everyone in our party got food poisoning by the time we got home. With people throwing up and or getting sick within an hour of leaving that place. I would never recommend this place to anyone. There is nothing I can do to get back this ruined experience. But just give me my money back for the time I wasted and a ruined birthday dinner. And if you’re thinking of giving me a gift card to come back, don’t I will never step foot in this...

Our family dined here last week Sunday for our daughter's 16th birthday. Thankfully we were able to make a reservation online literally the day before. We had another restaurant locked in that was nearby but when I called to learn what dessert options they'd offer I was told only flan at the moment but also that they didn't sing happy birthday. That was a deal breaker as we wanted our daughter to feel special, especially her big day. I called that morning to confirm our online booking went through and I had the pleasure of speaking with Francisco. He was super sweet and assured me we'd have the best time and the birthday girl would feel special. We originally booked our reservation for 4pm but changed to 4:30pm as he informed me they'd be changing over from brunch to dinner so we'd have to sit tight with appetizers for a little bit which was fine with us.

We finally arrived at the restaurant and it was oh so cute and lively. I fell in love with the decor. Once seated, a sweet lady came over and offered to take our photo. She took about 5 different shots and we were eager to see them. She quickly returned with each photo printed and in a glass frame. They looked great and we purchased all 5.

Laura was our attendant and she was awesome! We started with their Tapa Cubana, Ceviche De Camarones, and Masitas De La Loma to share and it was oh so good. That crab spread oh my goodness! 😋 My husband and myself each had El Churasco. My mother-in-law had their Cuban Sandwich. The birthday girl ordered Rabo Encendido. Her boyfriend ordered La Frita Burger and our younger daughter ordered Milanesa De Pollo. Everything came out so fresh and so delicious. I had a normal pina colada and the kids had virgen ones. For dessert, we shared their cuatro leche and their flan. Bringing the dessert to the table was a real treat, there was singing, sparkles, and a big birthday sign. Even the band joined in.

While eating, our live entertainment was Carlos Vargas singing and Freddy playing the congas. Oh what talent! They were amazing and I was in my Latin feelings. Had we not had to leave to get our daughter's boyfriend to a soccer game, I would've been on the dance floor. We are absolutely coming back and I really hope they are performing again. Thank you for having us and making us...