Rehana and I were on the way to see a play at the Young Vic so were looking for somewhere nearby for a bite to eat. I left it Rehana’s capable hands to find a venue as I don’t really know the Waterloo area. She chose Cubana – a Cuban (no surprise there) Bar-Restaurant. As we were walking to the restaurant from Waterloo we heard this rather loud Cuban music playing and lo and behold there was actually a mini-food festival going on and Cubana had a stall there. Kind of strange timing. However we skipped the festival and headed to the restaurant as we wanted to have a proper sit down meal.

If the website and menu is anything the focus at Cubana is on their “juicy, fresh, tropical cocktails” with about 36 different cocktails (including seven types of mojitos and five different daiquiris) and 10 different smoothies and shakes. The food menu is reasonably extensive and you can choose to do the traditional starter/main/dessert or opt for tapas.

Neither Rehana or I were particularly hungry and with our two for one cocktails also filling the belly we decided to focus on a main each. However, I couldn’t resist trying on of the empanadas (beef) too. The same main caught both our attention – the Pollo Criollo, which was “free-range chicken, browned in the pan and casseroled in fresh orange, sherry, onions and garlic, served with fried plantain and black bean rice.” It was pretty darn tasty though when it arrived it did have the feel of a home-cooked type meal – very rustic and very roughly thrown together. Not sure if it was because of the colours of our plates!

Fairly reasonably priced meal (especially coupled with happy hour drinks prices). Service was quite friendly though not particularly organised or efficient. The restaurant is quite colourful and attractive and the one (unisex) toilet is worth a visit even if only to see the decoration inside.

Good for a quick meal if not a particularly posh one.