Havana Restaurant #2

NCcuban

Reviews
Written: 1

1.0

Sadly, this is a very poor attempt at Cuban food. The staff is extremely friendly from the moment you walk in, but the food is surprisingly dissapointing. Maybe I'm a bit picky, but as a Cuban who grew up and lived in Miami for 25 years, I know my Cuban food. From the moment our group set eyes on the menu we could tell that this would not be authentic.

The "Ropa Vieja", a very traditional Cuban dish, was probably the best thing anyone in our group had, but it was somewhat dry; it could have used a little more tomato sauce and garlic.

For the the Cuban sandwich they use a very wet shredded pork--that does NOT belong in a traditional "Sandwich Cubano". It should be sliced, roasted pork. If you've ever had a REAL Sandwich Cubano you know what I'm talking about.

The fried plantains were waaay too green and should have been used for "tostones" or mariquitas (plaintain chips). They should let the plantains ripen so that they are sweet when fried.

We expected the yucca to be traditional Cuban yuca with mojo (an AWESOME garlic/lime sauce), but instead got yucca fries. That said, the yucca fries were VERY good.

The empanada that comes with the sampler plate is stuffed with cheese (absolutely NOT Cuban) and was not particularly tasty. The dough was very good, although a bit over-fried, and it was difficult to taste it because of the cheese. They also have ground beef empanadas (much more traditional Cuban fare), but we did not try them.

In conclusion, according to one of the servers the owner is Colombian. Maybe he should either stick to Colombian food (some patacones with a little garlic aioli for dipping would have been great), or get an experienced Cuban cook. I would almost bet my life that the person who cooked our food is NOT Cuban, and we could tell.

We were visiting from Raleigh and are not familiar with Asheville, but the location seems awesome. Unfortunately, the food at this restaurant does not do its location--or Cuban food in general--justice.