Havana Café. — Restaurant in Oak Ridge

My husband and I tried this restaurant for a casual lunch date out. I had found the restaurant online, food looked amazing and there were some great reviews. We couldn't wait to try it out. It was a busy week for us and we were doing quite a bit of activities requiring reservations, so I wanted to make sure this one didnt require a reservation as well, or to at least make it over the phone if needed, prior to our visit, to ensure a smooth day. When I tried calling the restaurant ahead of time, there were several occasions where either the phone kept ringing, the automated service was in Spanish only, then when someone answered the phone, they only spoke Spanish as well. I wasnt sure if it was a mistake so I tried saying, "piqueto espanol," the next time, only to have the person hang up on me. The third time, my daughter figured it would be wise to use a translator from her device, so she had it ready to go for me, and had the translator ask if there was anyone who spoke English who may have been able to assist me, only to have the person hang up on me again. I was rather annoyed, and couldnt believe that people had businesses in the U.S., where although its a diverse culture, you would think that English would be used at least for the phone and customer service, so that they can cater to a larger scope of people. I wasnt sure if to still try it out but had already paid some funds towards the meal ahead of time, and although it wasnt a lot, I figured, since we've already paid we should still try it out.

We went to the restaurant, the food was behind the glass where you could see it, and everything looked and smelled very good, and the restaurant was clean. There were 2 servers, one spoke more English than the other one, so she was able to assist us when the other one wasnt sure what we were saying. We were able to dine in. They had avereage sized booths, bathroom was also clean. They sold Spanish food, quite a bit of pastries and beverages. We only tried the food. We both got different types of chicken, I got yellow rice and my husband got white rice. Presentation wise, everything looked appetizing, but my meat and rice were very high seasoned. I couldnt eat all of mine and threw away the remaining because it was too salty. My husband said his own was fine; however, so at least one of us were satisfied. All in all, I will not be back. I may have still tried it again if I had a better experience over the phone, even if my food wasnt good when I went to visit.

Pros: Decent prices, great presentation and various food and sweets options. Also, clean restaurant and restroom.

Cons: Not ideal for non-Spanish speaking persons for the most part, especially if workers on duty only speak Spanish, horrible customer service over the phone, and should have English option for automated service and live person, average customer service in store, limited parking; inside...

Started our one year engagement anniversary at Disney springs , that unfortunately got rained out shortly after arrival. As Cuban is my fiancé and I favorite , we decided to try this place out as it was on the way home. Previous reviews made us try it out.... not a good way to end our night. Quite didsapointned actually. We gotthere around 9 pm. Not very busy , gotseated quite quickly . The waiter we had didn't do his job very well. When we ordered we ordered everything at once. Drinks, appetizer & entres . It wasn't till after our appetizer that we received our beverages , after asking a different waiter to grab them for us. We got the empanadas for appetizer & that was probably overall the best food we had of the whole meal. I ordered the tour of Cuba . The pork was a bit bland & 4 of the 5 chunks hard as a rock and dry as if it sat out all day , not fresh or made to order. The rice and beans cane premixed (which I don't care for to begin with) but was not allowed to substitute it for a regular side of rice and beans not already premixed) . The tamale was decent but as I've traveled all over the world , I've had premade frozen tamales that were better then these. Decent flavors but 98% cornmeal. Not much meat at all. The yuca was boiled had good taste , but had to ask twice for mojo sauce . My fiancé got the steak and onions. The steak was seasoned well but very very very tough and chewy. He also said his rice and beans was dry. White rice / red beans . Our waiter was non existant as he stood in the corner and played on his phone., but when it came time to paying for the check and receiving a tip he hounded us like a vulture on its next meal. Our drinks remained empty & the experience was horrible. The selection was slim to none , did not offer any kind of Cuban bread before our meal & didn't have any lunch/dinner specials. We will NEVER be returning again. For those of you looking for the ultimate Cuban cafe try Cuban oasis...

I think the major reason for this restaurant rating being this low was less to do with the quality of the food than it was our expectations. We are unfamiliar with Cuban food, but tried it when my daughter-in-law asked for a Cuban sandwich. Those are available in many places, but we settled here for a new experience.

I enjoyed the interior and after figuring out that we wanted to sit and order our food, instead of to-go, we did so. Our waitress was very nice and enjoyable, especially to a group of uninformed diners. She told me about Ironbeer, which I had never heard of, and almost tried to talk me out of it, but I got it anyway. It was actually pretty good. So much so that I look for it elsewhere, now.

The food order consisted of Bistec de Palomilla, Fajitas, and two Cuban sandwiches. The food was good, but not amazing. The fajitas were not served in a manner we are used to for Mexican food, without tortillas. The Bistec was thinly sliced, so it was cooked to what I would call medium-well done. As a result, although the flavor was good, it was a bit on the chewy side. I didn't sample the Cuban sandwiches, but was told that there had been better sandwiches elsewhere.

It is unfortunate that I wasn't more blown away by this restaurant. I enjoyed the banter with our waitress and the setting. It may be worth another shot - especially once you've seen their pastry selection. Those did look absolutely amazing, but at the time, we were already full from the meal. Perhaps...