Habana Village Cafe

Adam Jordan _{on Google}

Jul 19th, 2004

Happened upon this restaurant entirely by accident during the first day of our whirlwind FL vacation. We had parked a few blocks away from the big fancy eatery that had attracted our attention and ended up walking into Habana Villiage once we heard the music wafting through the door.. and had a glance at the menu. Wow! Personable service, a lovely view (aside from the Bridge of Lions restoration process) and food that was so entirely tasty we're still raving about it here at the end of the trip. I actually over-ate (my New Years resolution was to stop this) because every forkfull was so satisfying. Too boot, the salads were made with good, fresh greens (no iceburg lettuce here) and were topped with an olive oil lemon dressing that genuinely tasted savory and healthy at the same time. Lastly, we were so smitten with the place we stuck around for cappuccinos.. something we rarely do after stuffing ourselves. We'll be looking for any excuse to stop by St. Augustine for more Cuban.

Jeannie _{on Google}

Mar 19th, 2004

My husband and I were really looking forward to some great Cuban food. The place looked great and we loved the music. The service, however was very slow.
My husband ordered a really spicy dish, which he loves, but no one came by to refill our water glasses. He had to actually go to the bar and ask someone for water, several times.
Then the owner, Luis Mario, made his rounds and asked us how our dinner was.
When my husband explained about the slow service and lack of water refills, Louis "blew up" and started yelling at my husband and telling him that he doesn’t know anything about good restaurants. What?!
He doesn’t even know us! We’ve lived in Rhode Island, Boston, and Chicago. We know what good restaurants are.
Then Louis yelled that we should "go back to where we came from". This, coming from a guy who came here from Cuba? What a horrible thing to say, in America! Shame on him! He should know better!
Luis Mario was very rude, horrible, and made us feel very unwelcomed.
To make matters worse he automatically added a 20% gratuity on the bill. You’ve got to be kidding me! Tips should reflect service. The service was not good and the owner was mean and nasty to us.
I told my husband that we should dispute this bill on our credit card, especially after the owner was so rude and nasty to us.
We will NEVER eat here again!