Casa Cubana — Restaurant in Raleigh

I am not one to normally post a bad review. My experience may not be the same as someone elses. A group of us (10 total) went out last night to Casa Cubana for dinner and drinks. I have to say, I am disappointed with how the transition of owners has impacted the quality and service of what was one of my favorite restaurants. The DJ.. he was amazing! 😊 When we arrived we let our server know there were 5 couples, and each of us needed separate checks. He was told this each time one of us ordered and he said not a problem. At least on 5 occasions if not more he was told. The restaurant was not busy, but getting our orders and food took a long time We were told several items were not available when we ordered. Food was either cold or not prepared according to the description of the menus. One of the members in our party ordered a rum and coke which was on the drink special, he was told they were out of rum and coke. My husband right after went up to the bar and ordered 3 with no problem. Another member of our party ordered wine, was told they didnt have that type of wine so she ordered the $2 beer that was on promo. When it came time to pay, the bills were NOT itemized or separated, things none of us ordered were on there, items that were sent back because of poor preparation or told were not available were charged. After the first 2 couples paid their portion for what they did order, anything that the server felt he should charge he put on the rest of our bills. All the items that none of us ordered or sent back were put on one couples bill giving them a bill of almost $250!. Some items were things the rest of us paid for but they were being charged additionally for it. I understand this management team is new, employees are new however there were employees that have been there long term that should of been assigned to our table if it was too challenging. The owners did after several disputes and explanations fix one of the bills with a refund and another with a gift card, this could of been avoided if the server after the last couple reminded him the bills were separate, separated the bill. When he was cleaning the table, he knocked over my drink, and some got on my phone. When I asked for a replacement as I had not finished it and it was nearly full, he said no he can't replace for free and would need to charge me. I was not the one who spilled it, nor was it in a place that would of been easy to tip over. After I asked again, he brought me a new drink, however he said i drank half and therefore, i only get half a glass. So he brought me a smaller glass that was half full. Several of us ordered the taste of Puerto Rico, there were items missing we had to keep sending back to have him get. The pernil not only was it cold but they served us large portion of only skin and fat with no meat. This was not the experience I am used to here and was not expecting. I hope with time and feedback from clients they figure out the best way to improve and are successful. I wish them nothing but the best during their transition and hope that this feedback helps them educate and train their staff and help...

Being new in town we thought we would check out the local Cuban place. I’m married to a Cuban, born in Cuba so we know our Cuban food. Not to mention NJ, where we’re from has the largest Cuban population next to Miami. I’ve been to more Cuban reataurants than diners. We went on an early Sunday night and there was what seemed like a party in the parking lot. Music and dancing, all good signs. Walk in and there were some patrons sitting at the bar and a few patrons at tables. Some of the tables were full of dirty dishes, again good sign that theyre busy so it must be good. We figure the tables just havent been bused yet and will be before we’re seated. We stood by the bar waiting for an employee to greet us as we did not see a sign saying seat yourself nor did we see a hostest stand. After 10 minutes we finally get the attention of a waiter and he says you can sit anywhere and someone will bring you menus. So we find a somewhat clean table albeit wobbly. We sit and we wait and wait and wait a few more minutes. 20 minutes in total before my husband gets the attention of another waiter and asks for menus. After receiving our menus we waited another 15 minutes before getting the attention of the guy who told us to sit anywhere and told him we’re ready to order. We’ve now been at the reataurant 45 min. None of the dirty tables were bused in the 45 minutes we waited. After giving our order which included appetizers, entrees and drinks we waited another 15 minutes. Our waiter comes over and asks us if we ordered cokes and said yes 15 minutes ago with our food. He said he would be right back with our drinks. He comes over with 2 glasses of cokes and 1 straw. My glass was half full of soda. I told him this glass is only half full can you fill up the glass? Im not paying for a half glass of soda ($3 ea). At this point it has now been an hour and I’m hungry and getting annoyed and said to my hisband, nope I’m not doing this anymore. I don’t want to be here. My husband signaled to the waiter and told him to forget it, were out. I ahould also mention that while we waited the hour there were 2 other tables that got up and walked out as they too were never waited on. The dirty tables still sat dirty. I was really hoping that they could redeem themselves with the food but it never got that far. Sorry this Cuban reataurant is...

This is an update to my review. We went here last week for a second celebration of my birthday and our experience was different from our first.

Our waitress brought the most delicious chips and salsa that we had ever had! We didn't get this during our first visit. The chips were warm, crisp and only lightly salted. The salsa was fresh and tasted like it could have been made there. It was well seasoned and not spicy so that you could enjoy the flavors. Well done!

Two of us ordered Cuban sandwiches, the whole ones. The size of this sandwich was a bit disappointing, maybe because I was comparing it to what I'd get in Miami, I don't know but while the size was underwhelming the taste was not.

It was Monday and mojitos were supposed to be $5 each, when we checked our bills we'd been charged $15. To be honest, while nicely presented, they weren't worth $15 as they were rather light on the rum. When it was brought to our waitress's attention she corrected the two bills.

Between the chips and salsa, Cafe con Leche, mojito and half of my Cuban sandwich I'd gotten full and asked for a container for the other half. While putting that up, the waitress started clearing the table and when I turned around found that she'd whisked away my unfinished mojito. When I brought it to her attention she brought me a new one. Thank you.

I had ordered croquettes to go planning on having them for breakfast the following morning. They were in a bag when brought to the table and I didn't open it. On Tuesday morning I found two empanadas, see photo, not four ham croquettes. The receipt clearly indicated ham croquettes. The restaurant wasn't crowded so I don't know how they could have made this kind of error. A similar error was made during my first visit where it reflected on the wait staff not double checking on what they ordered and what the chef/cook gave them.

Lastly, our waitress wasn't attentive and let our water glasses sit empty for long periods of time.

As a result of all these little blips I've got to downgrade the service and restaurant ratings from five stars to three stars for the former and four for the latter.

The wait staff were friendly, helpful and attentive. I lived in Miami for 28 years and have missed Cuban food. I'm very happy that we found Casa Cubana. We will...