CasaCuba — Restaurant in South Miami

Where do I start?! This is the first and last time I go to Casa Cuba. To start; my husband and I were looking for a Cuban restaurant to have a nice lunch and enjoy the afternoon. We ended up @ Casa Cuba thinking that it would be a good experience; similar to Havana Harrys. It was the exact opposite of Havana Harrys! We arrived and the server who was attending us had such a bad attitude from the start. Talk about not wanting to be at work, she didn’t even try and be nice. We asked her to give us couple of minutes to check the menu and she got upset and sat on Top of the table next to us, staring with an angry face. It was as if she had somewhere else to be and was running late. It made us very uncomfortable having her there looking at us with that scowl on her face. When we told her we were ready to order she yelled at us from the table she was sitting on top of (6 feet away) - what do you want? It was honestly the epitome of “Bad Customer Service). The appetizers took almost 30 min. The Gambas Al Ajillo were so cold that they were definitely ready and sitting there for 20 mins before she brought it to our table. The cheese & ham plate did not come with bread, when asked if it did, she had no idea and had to ask the manager. After that our wonderful waitress disappeared and we had to call another waiter to take our order. The table had no water, no napkins etc. When we would ask for these things (that every table should have without asking for) it was as if we were bothering them. Mind you, they are sitting @ the bar inside on their phones and in full blown conversations with each other. When we finished out appetizers, we stacked the plates for them and slid it to the side to make it easier for them. Those plates sat there til the end of our meal as they walked by, over and over. I would actually see them look at the plates and keep walking. Hahaaa, It was almost unbelievable! Lets not forget that the whole time Im eating; there is no water at all! It was honestly the Worst experience I have had at restaurant in a long time. Im talking at least 5-6 years and that includes different countries. I would not recommend this restaurant to anybody. Stay clear of Casa Cuba. If you want excellent service and even better food, head over to...

Service leaves so much to be desired, as well as the food.

Servers don't listen to food orders, twice aksed for water No ice... 2mins later, two glasses of water with ice. Asked for bread, server says "yes, it's coming". I ordered 2 croquetas and the vaca frita de pollo. Some time goes by, I ask for bread again since it never came out, and the server says, It's coming. Vaca frita comes out, and still no croquetas or bread. We ask again what is up and then he says they're all out of bread for the night. Lol. It's not even 8pm and empty inside. Then the lead server comes by and asks how is everything... Im glad you asked and tell her what occurred. She then says they ran out of dough to make the bread. Lololol. Sure buddy. Why didn't our server know that or did that just magically happen when the restaurant has only three occupied tables inside.

Now, to talk about the sad food. This "vaca frita de pollo" was just cooked chicken from yesterday, chopped up and reheated on a greasy pan. Anyone that has eaten any Vaca frita knows it's shredded chicken or beef, not a day old masas de pollo and burnt on a pan. Then somehow, the lead server brings out two rock hard bread rolls - Not even cuban bread with butter that is the staple of cuban restaurants in Miami. Lololol Is this a cuban restaurant or some cheap French restaurant handing out stale dinner rolls? Mid way through eating the disappointing "vaca frita" two refried croquetas come out. Sheesh, these people are on a roll handing out day old food. After asking the server what's the deal with these dinner rolls and not the standard cuban bread with butter, she says the owner now charges for the cuban bread and gives out those cheap rolls instead. Smh.

At the end of the day, this isn't the 3rd or 4th time of mediocre service and bad "cuban" food. It's several times of coming here in several months with the hope it was a fluke that last time. Nope. So many better cuban restaurants in Miami where places like this don't deserve to be in business. Restaurants are cutthroat in Miami - good luck to this...

We were there this past Friday night as they had a live band. We have been going to this place for years, but what we encounter on Friday was a first. They have decided to charge a minimum of $40 per person (when they have a live band) which is fine. But they charge your credit card the day you make the reservation, which is something no other restaurant does, they put a hold on the card and if you don’t show then they charge it, but NOT Casa Cuba they charge from the minute you make the reservation 2 weeks in advance. If that was not enough they have decided there will be pre set menu (this was also the first time) I asked to speak to the manager Domingo because we (a table of 10j wanted mariquitas (as an appetizer)and he told me absolutely not only what was on the menu, FYI mariquitas if you don’t know is a staple in any Cuban restaurant. But guess what the other tables were getting mariquitas more than one table as we had about 3 other tables of friends scattered around. Then we also witnessed a salmon dish which was NOT on the set menu being served to a table outside. Long story short, the manager was terrible, his explanation for the pre set menu was that the last time the band played it was to confusing for the kitchen. Really they can’t handle a full restaurant, the owners of Casa Cuba have been in this business for over 50 years. He made us feel like they were doing us a favorite by allowing us to be there with the band. Very very...