A Piece Of Havana

Amazing food and service. And good music to boot! Get the empinadas, yucca, plantains, and tropical beef.

Food is ok. To start I was expecting Cuban bread not old sour bread. The mojo for the tostones no good. Service was nice looks clean. Pork chunks were dry. The sauce for the fried yuca was pretty good.

One of the worst restaurant I ever been, I went with my friends last week we were sitting at the bar trying to get a drink, no body even bother to ask us if we want some drinks those bartenders were just looking down at never looked up we tried to get their attention but they didn’t care so it took 30 minutes to get a drink, so I don’t recommend that place is just my friends and I will never go back there.

I just want to say this about the Restaurant… my family and I went in and there was maybe 4 people seated in the dining room and the bar was full. but plenty of open tables. We go in and say we need a table for 4… she looks at us and says we don’t have any tables they are reserved. I was like really… she was like you can sit down but you have an hour to eat. What a joke… I was going to give it Another shot and call and do reservations. but they don’t seem to be great with answering phones. So right off not a very good Impression of the place. Hopefully the owner fixes the reservation problem… Bc it’s complete bull.

I really like Cuban food so this was a big disappointment to me. Not only was my stewed beef rojas WAYYY over salted, and my sides portons absurly small, but my service — well every one’s service — all 8 of us at different tables in the place — was lacking. I wasnt the only one neck craning for some service. and I thought the pricing on the menu was a little on the high side for steel creek. Maybe it was because it was Sunday afternoon? who knows. Nice décor, spacious, big bar. that’s the good parts and the good note I’ll leave it on…

Music and environment was entertaining. I went specifically for paella and was disappointed. Will return to try another dish.

Skip the Paella, great atmosphere and drinks on a Friday night. Live band was great. Avocado dip was good but overpriced. Paella was wet, mushy rice with low quality imitation seafood, mixed in with shrimp, mussels, and a lobster tail on top. For $ 30, i expected better quality. The portion size was enormous, like family style with a serving spoon included. Picked out the shrimp and trashed the rest when i got home.

Thanks for the birthday surprise. Our first visit! Good food, great service (by Anita & other waitstaff) wonderful atmosphere with band & nice booth so we could still carry on a conversation.
We will definitely be back.

I dont know i was just expecting something amazing when i was browsing through the photos and was a bit dissapointed. Food was decent.

The first thing that impressed me was the daily specials. In my opinion, that is never a bad idea, especially on drinks. They had a decent bar selection and their mojito came highly recommended. I love Cuban sandwiches, so I couldn’t wait to try the «Milanese», a breaded beef steak or chicken breast, with lettuce, tomatoes, ham and cheese in Cuban bread. They use American cheese in the sandwich and when I tried to order it with Swiss or Jack (my twist) the server looked confused and slightly hesitated, so I just let it ride with the American cheese as-​is. My friend ordered the homemade chips and guacamole and it was really good. My sandwich was good, it came with a side and they featured a good bottled beer special that night. We also got a mojito and it was actually as good as word of mouth. The Menu appetizers include Papa Rellena (Stuffed Potato with ground beef), Empanadas and Tostones Rellenos de Camarones. Entrees include such specialties as Arroz con Pollo, Bistec de Palomilla, the very popular Paella from Spain (a seafood mix with Saffron yellow seasoned rice cooked with beer) and ropa vieja (Shredded Beef) a traditional Cuban dish. They have a decent selection of wines, Latin-​American cocktails, domestic and imported beers as well as their famous Mojitos. They also have Cuban style sangrias by the glass and by the pitcher.
The design of the dining room is a re-​creation of the early 1900’s in Havana, Cuba. Although it’s not as authentic as it could be, It does create a warm and cozy feel. The chandeliers make the room sort of dimly lit and romantic. There is a lot of Cuban art on the walls and they play Cuban music for background ambiance through the week, with live music and DJ’s on the weekends. This seems like the type of place my man Ernie Hemingway would have visited in La Bodeguita del Medio in Havana to get loaded on Mojitos and Daiquiris, then fall into a hammock and scrimshaw a few classics. Ah yes, Big Ern was a wild boy. No doubt. A Piece of Havana features live music every Friday & Saturday from 7PM to 10PM. Fridays are «Havana Nights» with a DJ spinning International music. If you’re not too familiar with Cuban cuisine, start with sandwiches and salads and work your way up the menu.

I’m no chef Ramsey but disappointment from what I tried last night. I left the restaurant hungry. I really wanted to enjoy this experience but it was far from it. Waiter was slow. He was acting confused from the very beginning. I didn’t understand that. I love when there is a language barrier because I feel like the food would be more authentic but not for this case. I ordered a Cuban sandwich. It was cold. The bread was dry and not even hot pressed. Ham was cold, mealy sliced tomatoes, mushy mess of ham croquettes, cheese had started to solidify. So opposite of what I was expecting. Also fries were soggy. I really wanted this place to be good because just moved from Wesley chapel and miss Bella Fresco Café and Gelateria in the Arboretum. Bella’s I would have no problem recommending but not Piece of Havana.

sadly, meat (Vaca Frita) was greasy, fries were really sad looking, plantains were ok. service pleasant but not very good. I read the reviews but someone else picked the place calling it «hit or miss.» Our visit wasn’t terrible but I certainly won’t be wasting my calories there again.
I don’t know what your other options for decent cuban food in the area are, but I would recommend you look somewhere else.

I give the food a 4 star, but the service was pretty bad. We had to remind the waiter 3 times to bring our drink and he told us the wrong information on a few of the dishes we ordered. I will definitely go back, just with lower expectations on the service.

We had a Cuban sandwich and a sampler platter. Sandwich was hard no mustard no mayonnaise no pickles. sampler platter was very confusing. Could not tell what was what, All fried. Male Server was so not helpful. Very rude and curt. Will not ever go back that is for sure.

Excellent food. A real gem of a find. Best mojo pork in the Carolinas
My wife and I came here on the recommendations of friends. Can’t than them enough. Great service. Great food!

Super disappointed! And after reading the first few post on Unilocal we should have walked out! But we gave it a chance.
Nothing like a «Real Cuban Restaurant» An hour before even getting there the phone rings… rings…or busy but when someone finally picked up and I asked I was put on hold forever and he NEVER came back on! The hostess said it would take 45-​to an hour wait. After an hour wait we are still waiting but we 2 big groups of people to sit. When I approach the hostesses reminding her I been waiting and I was there prior to those groups. I was told they had reservations lol!!! WOW!!!
Finally we got to sit down to a table with nothing!!! No water!!! No Cuban bread with butter!!! Crackers!!! NOTHING!!! 10mins later the waitress decided to show up. By this point we had our order ready. No «oh give us a min» we told her everything we wanted. When the food comes out she tells me they ran out of fried banana?! HELLO?! Seriously?! For the prices they charge the portions are small! My breaded steak was brunt, the chicken my step daughter got was super small and my husband steak was very skippy!
Not sure why we ordered café con leche more or a disappointment! It was rusty! Then they only have just plain flan?! Once again even more disappointing!
I’m honestly convinced the owners are not Cuban this would have NEVER happen in Miami or Jersey! This is why Cuban restaurant never make it here in Charlotte. Considering this is the ONLY! One how they made it around this long oh yea because people do not know how bad it is!!!

Returning to A Piece of Havana to meet a friend for dinner, still an outstanding restaurant.
I opted for one of their skirt steak dinners, which arrived accompanied by a few plantains and two scoops of very tasty rice. Not a huge meal, but a decent portion. The steak was cooked perfectly, though the steak knife was appreciated. It was melt-​in-​your-​mouth though not cut-​with-​a-​fork. Great flavor with some spices but also the taste of the grill.
Service is excellent at keeping drinks refilled, clearing dirty dishes and generally staying on top of things without being annoying.
As we were leaving, the live music was getting set up. I understand that they also do some salsa dancing here. This place would be a perfect date night.

My husband and I came out to A Piece of Havana for dinner Saturday night. It was an A-​Ok experience! Nothing bad at all but nothing spectacular. All in all, I am glad we stopped by.
We got here right around 7pm when the music was about to kick off. I was impressed because they had a decent size band playing live music!
I ordered a coconut mojito and my husband got a Dos Equis. The coconut mojito was very tasty and had shredded coconut on top. It wasn’t very strong at all… not sure how much rum was in it!
We decided to get the Havana sampler for a tizer and then split the shrimp in garlic sauce for the meal. The sampler was pretty good. However, most of the food was fried. Not really my style. I did like the plantains a lot though! The shrimp in garlic sauce was delicious though! That sauce was so yummy. For our sides we got black beans and green beans. Both were pretty decent and nice portion sizes!
The band was awesome and definitely the highlight of the evening!

This was a restaurant I always made a mental note to visit but only just got around to and the entire visit was unfortunately underwhelming.
I met up with a few girlfriends for the longest ladies’ night dinner of my life. My sister and I arrive about half an hour late (arghhhhhh! I hate being late so I came in pretty stressed) to find a mostly empty restaurant and our two friends seated at a window table on the side. They had finished an appetizer and left their $ 3 (on special) sangrias almost untouched as the ice melted. I sampled one and decided to order another beverage when the waitress came back. I ordered the chicken soup and crispy beef. The soup came out rather quickly as did my wine but the wait for the table of four for our entrees was well over an hour, in a mostly empty restaurant. The cup of soup was delicious with very tender chicken and potatoes and a very hearty broth.
Starving by the time I received it, I dug into my entrée immediately. The beef was great and the black beans and green beans were only mediocre. After several bites my friend looks over and points out that I did not get the crispy beef as ordered. I had something else entirely different from the crispy beef two other people had at the table. I put my fork down to ask the waitress about it but eventually gave up without a sighting of her and finished my meal.
By the time the waitress came to give us our checks the bar had already completely closed up and turned the lights off in that section of the restaurant. The tab was shocking because the waitress had added a tip of 20% to the bill. At this point my friend asked for a manager and he started out by stating that it was the restaurant’s policy to add tip to parties of 4 but quickly backtracked and took the tip off when another friend pointed out our bills said that we were a table of 6. While I appreciate the fact he took the error off the bill (and I still tipped, though not at 20%) he seemed unconcerned that we were there for 3 hours and I received the wrong meal and his only remedy was to take off a tip charge that should not have been added to our bill in the first place.
While the food was good I doubt I will return.

It’s alright.
I’ve been for lunch during the week a couple of times, since it’s so close to work. The service is S-​L-​O-​W, like, sloth on tranquilizers slow. Getting there, ordering, receiving food, and getting the checks is over an hour ordeal, and I don’t know how many more times I can go here before I get called out on it…
Anyways, the food is usually pretty decent. I got the crispy shredded beef, and it was drenched in oil. Soaking. I don’t know if anybody else has had this problem, but it definitely dissuades me from ever ordering this again. Flavors were altogether good on this though! The plantains were nice and crispy on the outside, but the yucca was seriously under seasoned. Just kinda a disappointing experience. Not enough to never make me come here again, but it’s going to be low on the list of places I want to return to.