Vicente’s Cuban Cuisine — Restaurant in Detroit

Don't get me wrong this place is for the most part great!!! unfortunately tonight was not as it should have been Allow me to explain Called earlier to make a reservation and between 7 to 7:30 on a Friday and very polite the hostess informed me that they did not have a place a that time but they did at 8 pm in which I happily agreed, she also said that in order to be seated at minimum half of the party should be there and also that they will not hold the table for more than 15 min... Anyway, of course I definitely understand After that I called again to order a couple of paella ( which I have been told that it is a must) and for those who do not know, if you order a paella at the place you have to wait for an hour to get it to your table.... That is why I ordered it 3 hours in advance... Which the hostess over the phone ask me if I would like it to be at the table at 8 or 8:15 Of course I said 8:15 So we got to the restaurant 10 min before 8, we were promptly seated But... Waited a while to get our orders taken... Around 8:15 we got the drinks, and we ordered tapas,.... Around 8:25 order the main course, 8:35 more drinks, 8:45 we get the tapas, 9:05 main course....... ( which by the way with some mistakes on the order) By 9:20 we got the paellas that I had order at minimum 3 hrs in advance and left a credit card on file and I was promised to be at the table at 8 15...... To make matters worse, of course I did got it to my server attention.. And her answer, sorry but we have had to many orders... ( inside of me, I am bursting into flames because for starters I am not blind, and I know that around my table NO ONE is having a paella) it was an INSULT!!!! This is without saying the lack of bussing the table and of course some of the order was incorrect and also she forgot my kid apple juice and when I asked for it, ( 20 min later) she said ohh sorry we run out of it...

Normally I would have let it go and called it a day BUT!!! When you have visit coming from out of town ( specifically out of the country) and they ask, What would you recommend?? And blindly you say, Of course I know a place that you are going to love and then this happens....

I strongly believe that if you have had a great time you should pass it on and let others know, but that also applies to the contrary....

Tonight was very disappointing and insulting

My wife and I will visit again in the future, Because let's face it ( they have great food) but I will think twice about recommending it...

Vicente's was always a go-to when my mom visited me in Detroit. We LOVED the food, sangria, and the staff was consistently friendly, helpful, and welcoming. We visited this weekend and were both so excited to get back to our favorite spot while staying downtown. We called two days before being in town to check if they accept reservations for 2 people, they don't, but the woman on the phone offered up the information that they shouldn't be too busy around 5:30 Saturday evening. We showed up at 5:30. It looked somewhat busy, but all the tables weren't full, and a high-top bar table was also available. We were asked if we had a reservation and said we didn't. Instantly, the woman at the host stand turned incredibly rude and practically tried to usher us out the door because we could not be there without a reservation (not verbatim, but that's how she projected it!). We said we called a couple of days ago and were told that we couldn't make one for 2 people. Knowing the bar table was open, we mentioned that option and she said, "you can go see, but I doubt there's anything." We walked over to the empty, clean table and sat down. She ran after us and scolded us for sitting there because it was "reservation only!" I became pretty frustrated that we literally called to double-check that we wouldn't run into this situation. A few minutes later, the host put us at the sidebar where all staff behind it were clearly servicing their tables/sections, and we weren't going to get service any time soon! An actual bar spot opened at the main bar and luckily we snagged it. The bartender was so awesome. We told him we had to leave pretty soon to get to a show at the Fisher (which we wouldn't have been rushing to get to if we weren't practically kicked out and then put in a corner!), he accommodated us so graciously, gave us a lot of smiles, great conversation and service. All-in-all, the experience ended up being just how we remember it and why we love it! To Vicente's, I would highly suggest making sure the reservation requirements are communicated to all staff- and consider allowing 2- person reservations since many of your tables are two-tops. I understand that we all have tough days, so I won't blanket this review by blaming the host, but instead, I'm hoping to point out issues that may be easy to...

I’ve been coming here for years but haven’t been since Covid. Recently we decided to come back but was so upset to see some of the new changes that aren’t for the better. I hope the owner will take this into consideration.

The atmosphere: Way too bright! The light is so harsh and only magnified by the white walls with the basic black palm leaves painted on them, the place needs more color in the mural and less bright white lighting.

Food: calamari was still amazing and best in the city however we always get ropa vieja, this time there was no olives in it and it was dry and tasted of tomatoes more than anything. Olives make this dish stand out and I was pretty disappointed by the fact they didn’t have any in either mine or my husbands dish.

Service: friendly but the waitress brought out our appetizer and salad then 3 minutes later brings out our main dish so everything got really cold which wasn’t at all enjoyable for how much we paid for our meal. Also it made the table so packed it was hard to eat.

Music: WHAT HAPPENED TO THE BAND?! that’s what made this place special, live music, the DJ playing music WAY too loud to even have a conversation. The music was abrasive and gave a cheesy nightclub vibe not fine dining vibes whatsoever. People should be able to hear their date talk and should be able to hear the waiter. We opted to sit on the patio because of this but we went for dinner and dancing so that was a disappointment. His song selection was terrible and not Cuban. The electric slide, the Macarena, Shakira?! Really? This totally cheapened the experience.

Bathrooms were also dirty and had no toilet paper.

Come on Vicente’s. This use to be our favorite spot. Please do better. $200 for dinner and I...