Casta's Rum Bar — Restaurant in Washington

I will breakdown this in different sections. As a food and beverage professional myself and on top of that Cuban, I was in part very disappointed. Decor and Ambiance: It was nice, with an old/rustic feeling to it and modern latin music. No issues there. Reservations/Check in: Easy, but if you are promoting good cleaning procedures specially during the Covid 19-Era, you should not have everyone that walks in use the same pen and pad to write their name for tracing purposes. The host/ess should be the only one doing that. Food: Not impressive. I like the limited menu idea for your the size of the place, but if you are going for small, then make sure the quality of the fare leaves a HUGE impact. Your menu needs some work. Drinks: ON POINT! BEST PART! DELICIOUS! GREAR PRESENTATION! Service: Very friendly servers. Management: Here is the reason why I gave you guys 2 stars. You probably deserve more, perhaps some agree and some disagree with me and that its ok, but here is my experience and it's based on that. I walked in with my mother and fiancé to experience your place. We were sat on a table on the lower area, next to us were a family of 6 with 2 kids, a party of 4 ladies and a gentleman waiting for someone else. The 4 ladies were so loud, so obnoxious and so over the top, that started to create an uncomfortable feeling for us. I also notice the family looking at them and sharing comments, body language showed frustration, perhaps because some of the things these 4 ladies were saying were not quite kid-friendly. The gentleman sitting next to them, kept looking at them, he exchanged looks with me and seemed also uncomfortable. I decided to do something about it and asked the ladies nicely to be mindful of the rest of the guests and tone it down a bit. These ladies got even louder and attacked me verbally. I then asked for your manager to come by and assist. The manager came by and said "Sir I can lower the music but I can't tell people to shut up" I replied "I don't want you nor I asked for you tel tell people to shut up, all I need you to do is to express to them that there are other patrons in the establishment and it would be nice if they just make their conversation more for themselves and not for the rest of the room" The gentleman sitting at the table next to them got up and left. The manager then said "I can't do that" I replied "Yes you can, this is what I do for living, and you can definitely control peoples behavior, its your business, you run it, not them" He went to speak to them but the ladies laughed and continued to be even louder (This I expected it) I continued to enjoy my night and blocked the noise from these rude patrons that the management couldn't control. one of the ladies from the family of 6, got up and it seems that after going to the ladies room, walked by our table and thank me for trying. As the owner or manager of the establishment you need to look for ways to make the best possible accommodations to ensure your clients enjoy their experience. Not even a table relocation was offered to us. Listen, I might come back someday when I visit DC again, you do have some yummy cocktails and a lot of potential. But a good chat with the team and offer guest-conflict training can be...

Casta fun bar was such a cute experience! The location is kinda hard to find because there’s a sign that leads you to the alley but then the entrance is a door that didn’t look like the entrance. But once I found the place a cute little gem! There was no host and when we saw an employee we were told to seat ourselves. Thankfully it wasn’t too crowded that this was an issue. I was concerned because I made a reservation online and needed to push back the time but no one ever answered the phone for hours after opening. You can’t change the reservation online it says call- but no one answers the phone. But we were able to sit! I specifically came for the towers! The main one we wanted was not available and this was at 3pm so it musta been a hit. So we got the tower made with sparkling wine and like passion fruit. It’s like $80 for the tower but what better way to brunch? Also on Sundays this and brunch is available 12-9 which is a win. We got beef empanadas to begin- fresh and good. Next i for the French toast with a side of eggs scrambled well with peppers. It was made perfectly! My soul was happy. My friend got the potato bowl and it was so well seasoned! My other friend got a sandwich which she enjoyed- that and the empanadas came with a side salad. All the food was good! We all enjoyed it! My homegirl got the churros while I ordered the plantains and ice cream for dessert. Everything was great! The tower was just so great! Three of us finished it (well two really)! The outside patio is where we decided to sit and it was cute out there- music low enough to still chat and catch up. Ambience is definitely cute- we love a trendy spot. Service was good- no true complains there :) Parking can be a hassle but this is the city! We know this. I loved this place and will definitely have to circle back when the weather is nicer to enjoy...

We made a brunch reservation for 12:00PM, their opening time, and were required to secure the reservation with a credit card, which would be charged $25 per person if we missed it. When we arrived there at 12:00, we were told that they were planning to open at 1:00PM, because they were having a “slow start”. After explaining that we had a reservation, secured with a credit card no less, they sat us on the patio. We ordered our food: a couple of Cuban sandwiches, an avocado toast, another sandwich and a mojito. The food took 40 minutes to come, during which the server disappeared from sight and didn’t even care to refill our water. The food was so-so, the pork on the Cuban sandwich was excessively salty and our daughter had to take it off her sandwich. The menu stated that a 20% tip would be added to the total, which most likely accounts for the horrible service since staff are not motivated to earn a tip that people will pay anyway. When the check came, it was on a digital device that presented you with the grand total, including tax and 20% tip, without disclosing a breakdown of the charges for these line items. We asked to be able to change this built-in tip to a different amount, since we didn’t think the level of service we received merited a 20% tip, and were told that the 20% tip was MANDATORY. Restaurants that include the tip in the check, whether it’s for groups of 6 people or more, which is common, or for smaller groups, which is not, always allow you to change that amount, since tips can never be mandatory. We will be pursuing this with de DC Department of Consumer Protection as well as the DC Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs, so other unsuspecting clients won’t be taken advantage of...