Been there only once years ago the food and services was great just going once was a very good idea a 9.5/10

Cuban Pete's isn't just iconic for its culturally reflective interior decor and nostalgic ambience with Cuban music in the background (sometimes live).... but its flavor is authentically reminiscent of genuinely Caribbean island flavors. Moderately priced but well worth every peso with every flavorful bite. This spot is a family favorite for celebrating milestones or just an overall great dining experience! Amazing hospitality with friendly staff wearing iconic Guayabera shirts and sombreros. The mood is laid back and welcoming. From the entrance you are transported to the Cuban motherland walking through a walkway of low level palm trees making your way into main dining patio. Family friendly and great for date nights! read more

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Went here with friends on a Saturday night! There was a line when we entered, but we put our names in and was told there was a 30 minute wait. Within 10 minutes we were seated and promptly greeted by our waiter! The restaurant is byob which I'd never heard of before for a restaurant. That was new to me and they did not sell any alcoholic drink! However their fruit drinks that can accompany alcohol which were refreshing! The appetizers came out very quickly and were flavorful! However, the meals took awhile to arrive to the table! When they did they were delicious and big portion! The only reason I rated this restaurant a 4 is because iblike my food scalding hot and it was warm and also the wait time for the meals and to get our check read more

Cuban Pete's - Cuban Near Me - Montclair, New Jersey

We had a great time here. Nice ambiance and love the tropical trees entry walk way. Service & Food were great. The only downer was that they ran out of sweet plantains & were waiting on more to arrive, so I substituted with a sweet potato. I really like the onion sauce that was on the lollipop chicken. The onions are pickled or some sort. Very good! My husband doesn't even like onions but he liked the chicken and sauce so much he ordered two. He didn't go crazy with eating the onions... but I even added the onions to my main entree dish & it was a good touch. When back in town I would visit again. read more

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Went in on a Tuesday night and was seated immediately. The decor is very authentic. It's also BYOB which makes it so great. Virgin pitchers are $16! All the food from tapas to main dishes was well made and seasoned. My only complaint was the homeless man who went table to table to asking for money ...also rest rooms were slightly unkept. read more

Cuban Pete's - Vaca frita and churrasco - Cuban Near Me - Montclair, New Jersey

First off yet to use your phone as the menu. Food was very bland., and Under staffed. In fact, the only good thing was the side entrance ambience. read more

Cuban Pete's was a disappointment. The food was quite bad, and I know about this because I am hispanic and grew up around Cuban food. The moro(black rice) was so far from tasting authentic. the maduros were not very sweet and the fried fish was the worst fried fish I've ever had. I ordered the mango & coco flan, it neither tasted like mango nor coconut. it was overly sweet and it had an old fridge taste. Truly not worth the money. the only nice thing about the place is the location and the vibe. They also don't serve alcohol which tops off whole disappointing experience. they need a true Spanish cook to be believable. read more

Terrible service. We waited over an hour and never received our food while the tables around us who were seated after us received their food. DO NOT RECOMMEND. read more

i'm now totally convinced that this place has been in business for so long solely on the strength of its decor. the "food" is edible I suppose but so poorly prepared and executed and so far from what is pictured on the menu (and so far away from how it used to be 15 years ago) that for a brief moment when presented with our tapas plates I thought i had somehow wound up in a hospital cafeteria. Had that been the case I certainly would have been happier with the food. but please don't take my word for it. go there, get the pork cracklings and judge for yourself how many bomb shelters you could build with material of this type. hard, over cooked and dry (seriously how the F do you dry out pork belly?) And they were still better than the beef tips. those could have been used as the bombs to test your new bomb shelter. we had four tapas plates, two cocktail mixes (byob) and a flan. the only thing that wasn't a sad facsimile of actual food were the stuffed dates and they were so much better years ago. i'd review the other items but frankly don't care to revisit them. that goes for this place as well. read more

The food was great, but the service left much to be desired. Our server was friendly and repeatedly mentioned they were short-staffed, but even after the initial "rush," the service remained slow and unorganized. It didn't seem to be an issue with the kitchen, as the server suggested -- the real problem was the lack of attention to our table. We waited far too long for everything and felt neglected throughout the evening. We arrived at 8:45 PM, well after the typical dinner rush, and didn't leave until 11 PM. If you plan to visit, make sure you have plenty of time to spare. read more

I've heard nothing but good things about Cuban Pete's and we felt that it definitely lived up to the hype. Food: all the food was well seasoned and came with a fairly large portion. We really enjoyed the stuffed plantain appetizer. It was the perfect balance of salty and sweet and various textures from the soft plaintain, to the crispy exterior. Both fish dishes were great, with the fish in the garlic sauce definitely being the highlight. The fish was tender and perfectly cooked. Service: they had iPads instead of paper menus which was really unique. We appreciated that each dish had a photo next to it so you could see what it looked like. Our food came out ridiculously quick. We were in and out in less than 45 minutes during lunch on a Tuesday. Ambiance: this is one of the coolest restaurants I've been to in Jersey. The decor is obviously cuban inspired and is done very well. This is one of the only places I've been to where they do such a good job of setting the scene that you really feel like you've been transported out of NJ. It was beautiful and a HUGE space. read more

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I've been here a few times now and I must say that their food is definitely authentic, flavorful and affordable. Brought my team recently for lunch and she asked for some mayo ketchup thing that seems to be some sort of Spanish secret to eat with plantains? Lol it was bomb. Oxtail all the way whenever I'm here. The music is loud though no matter what time you go lol, so be prepared for festive activities while eating some delicious food. read more

Cuban Pete's - Oxtail - Cuban Near Me - Montclair, New Jersey

I just found out that "Juicy cheesesteaks" on delivery apps is a virtual / ghost name for Cuban Pete's. Food was good however was confused when I saw this. This what I got from customer service.... "I've checked the details of the merchant and it shows here that the Juicy's Cheesesteaks is one of the virtual merchant in the app. Virtual merchant are delivery-focused concepts that operate within an existing merchant. Merchants can list multiple 'Virtual Merchants" having different names, menus and prices but, operated from their existing location....." read more

Cuban Pete's - Cheese Steak with pepper jack ,onions,peppers - Cuban Near Me - Montclair, New Jersey

I really wish I could give this place 5 stars but it's truly not what it once was. There was always excitement about coming to Cuban Pete's years ago because of the quality food and service and now everything feels rushed, both food quality and service. There's still a wait to get a seat but the food lacks flavor and seasoning. I ordered the skirt steak cooked medium with plantains and rice. Had to send the steak back because it was overcooked badly only to get another one that was bleeding. Used to come here every celebration with the family growing up and my last visit will likely be our last ever. read more

Good - delicious, well portioned, and well seasoned. Everything we got was delightful. Service - attentive at first but as the place got busier it was harder and harder to catch our servers attention (understandably) so took a decent amount of time to get check and take out boxes and get out. Ambiance - so cute and cool! Walking in is a delight. Loud drums for celebrations of birthdays and other stuff. read more

I like coming here before going to a concert at the Wellmont . We are usually a group of 10 to 12 somewhat loud. Never a problem. Music is up-tempo service is good. Food is middle of the road. read more

I hadn't been here in a really long time, but was in the area and wanted to try it again. I really love the décor from the walk in path to inside, in the bathrooms, and having the staff dress in hats and shirts that give it a tropical vibe. Even when it's cold outside, you feel warmer in here. Having outdoor seating is definitely a plus as weather permits. Unfortunately the service was pretty bad. The drinks took forever (water and Coke, so nothing fancy), and waiter sat them down then walked off. We had to flag him down to order and flag him down to get refills. There was no checking in on us, just our luck to get his attention if we saw he happened to walk by. We decided to share a bunch of tapas to share. Some were hits and some were less to my tastes, but I was trying some new things so I wouldn't say they were badly made, just maybe not for me. Some of the dishes felt overpriced, and I know tapas are small dishes, but some seemed really small. The camarones/shrimp in garlic sauce was great but a small quantity. The chicharron de pollo/crispy chicken lollipops were amazing and the highlight of the meal. The papitas rellenas/Cuban stuffed beef potato dumplings was nice. The pernil con tostones/crispy pork with fried plantains and garlic mojo was a bit of a disappointment with such a big pile of onions on top of the pork. For sides: sweet plantains and camote/sweet potatoe (sic) were great and it was nice to add some plants to the meal. Overall, there were some dishes I really enjoyed, but it is a bit on the expensive side for what you get and the service made the experience a bit rougher than it should have been. read more

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This was one of my favorite spot for authentic Cuban food. I haven't Been to this restaurant for over two years and decided to go with my cousins today. What a huge disappointment. Our food was cold we told our server. He took the food and brought it back but was still cold. I barely touched my food. I told our server I wasn't please with the food and he didn't charge us for my plate. The server was very apologetic and understanding. Unfortunately, I won't be back. Again, what a huge disappointment!! read more

A friend told me about Cuban Pete's for years and we either forget or come when there is a long wait and are too hungry to wait lol. But we got here around 5pm today so we finally got a table I love the path to get in, it was like walking through a jungle and then it opens up to what looks like a courtyard in a Caribbean home. Very cute! It was a little chilly so we opted to sit inside instead. Brian and Eddie were very helpful and friendly. Cuban Pete's is a BYOB establishment. They do have some very interesting punch mix. I ordered the Pina Colada before I read the menu LOL Pina Colada in a pineapple was fun, reminds me of being in the Caribbean It was ok, nothing really special. It was very thick so it was hard to drink it through the skinny straw, needed the Boba tea straws LOL We decided to have the tapas menu so we can try a bunch of small plates: Bocaditos de Sandwich Cubano - Cuban Sandwich - so good will have to get the whole sandwich next time Chicharron de Pollo - OMG these were delicious Papitas Rellenas - Potato Balls - it was ok, I've had better. The sauce was good but it didn't help with the dry potato... Ceviche de Camarones - not really ceviche... it was more like shrimp cocktail with a Mango salsa but it did taste good, just was expecting more sour than sweet Pernil con Tostones - this was ok for me but hubby loved it We took the Chuletas Asadas (Pork Chops), Rabo Encendido (Oxtail) and Arroz Con Leche (Rice Pudding) to go since we were full. Will update this weekend. read more

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Food was cold. Beef was like cardboard. Very disappointing since this used to be a great place.

I came here for my cousin's birthday for the first time with a large party. There were about 30 people and they were able to accommodate us. This place is byob but they do have mocktails that were good by themselves. In terms of food, I ordered the skirt steak which was really flavorful and the portion was huge. I was able to take it home. Overall this is a place that can accommodate large parties with tasty food. I would def come back if I'm In the neighborhood read more

There was a time when Cuban Pete's warranted the hype and, during its prime, this place was excellent. Upon entering, you'd be overwhelmed with the authentic environment, the overall energy and theme of the place, and warm service. The food was on a different level: fresh, authentic, and flavorful. However, as of late, I share the mindset of numerous other reviewers: there has been a noticeable decline. The pandemic may have had something to do with this, but this place appears to be the shadow of what it once was. Food lacking flavor, servers lacking commitment and energy, and the once-monstrous crowd dwindling. Sadly, my absolute favorite, Ropa Vieja, has changed. It was okay, but not as tremendous as I recall. Shrimp were over cooked and/or frozen. Service seemed burnt out. Not horrible, but my bar for this place was once very high. read more

I've been here twice. My friends love it and always want me to eat there. I always have a good time, but I think it's the atmosphere. The food is so-so, and maybe the place could be more tidy. Our waiter is great and and the location is great, though! if you are looking for more of a night out with friends, this could be nice for a quick bite. read more

Arrived at open of business. No one at the front desk. Employees going about their day. After a few minutes we left. Not a good look. While we had gone there in the past. That is more than likely it. read more

Step down the alley and you are transformed to Havana via the architecture and music. Such a great space - especially the outdoor courtyard surrounded on three sides. All the wait staff wear fedoras. The food was equally enjoyable. The ropa vieja was tender and flavorful. My wife had lechon asado which was also very tender and delicious. Really enjoyable break from reality. read more

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I got off late tonight and wanted something comforting to eat , I've had this restaurant in the past and it was disappointing. Everything I ordered was disgusting. The restaurant seems like it has new chef's. I wouldn't recommend this place to anyone . Consistency is what attracts money. I should've known better about the food being buy on get one sales . High red alert stay away nothing is fresh food is disgusting . This place is a disgrace to Cuban food no love and no appreciation for the culture . And stay away from the sancocho taste like everything is soaked in vinegar read more

I've heard for years that I must go here for the best Cuban food and when I heard there was no wait on a Monday night. I took it as an opportunity and it did not disappoint. I love how the restaurant was BYOB and was able to use your wine to make an sangrias or other drinks I ordered the Ropa and vieja in beef and it was really good. The beef was really tender and the sauce tasted great. Only thing I was disappointed in is that they could not substitute the black beans for more rice :( not everybody likes beans The restaurant has a cute little ambiance that resembled a Cuban home with tropical themed decor and furniture. Can't wait to go back and try more of the menu! read more

Cuban Pete's - Ropa Vieja - Cuban Near Me - Montclair, New Jersey

This is one of my favorite places to eat in New Jersey.The food is amazing,the service is always great.My favorite dish is Oxtail and white rice,A great place to celebrate any occasion,you will have so much fun. I highly recommend this establishment... read more

Had high hopes with this place. It was lively and I love Cuban food. The place was pretty crowded but still had a lot of opened tables. We walked up to the hostess and she just looked at me. Politely asked for a table for two, she just turned away and then I said excuse me, and she said go sit wherever you want with attitude and an eye roll. So rude. The food was ok, the service sucked, we didn't know it was byob and didn't serve actual liquor just punch.. weird, wouldn't recommend. read more

I went to this restaurant for the first time today ...... called my order in 2 Red Snapper dinners.... I should have checked my food before I left bit the 2 young ladies at the front was so pleasant they repeated our order upon is arriving bought the food out wrapped up and stapled. We paid tip and left. Sat in traffic for 45 Minutes get home open yhe container and there was a big fat tilapia fish in both containers ... called the restaurant to speak to a manager. She said no manager was available i explain to her i order 2 Red Snapper. 60.24 cents and they have me tilapia.... She said well we alternate tilapia and red snapper i repeat to her again . We order snapper not tilapia and if they dod mot have red snapper she should have told us because we don't eat tilapia She fave me the managers number to call because she could not issue a refund i told her to hold on while i called the manager she name Gustavo... i called the number 347-995-0824 he never answer. ( but i hear a man in the back ground ) Asking her why you have her my number !!! Then she hung up the phone. Never to return i called back several times she did not answer after. The hang up ..... i waited 15 minites then called from another number. When i asked her why she hung up she said "i said i cant refund you and there is no manager here and hing up on me again totally unacceptable... i called american express to dispute the charged ..... if you ever go there and order take out check your food !!! I suggest finding another place to go. Red snapper and tilapia are in 2 different price bracket and looks totally different how dare them do this and take no accountability but hang up on a customer after you mislead them Gustavo do better !!! read more

Cuban Pete's - Cuban Near Me - Montclair, New Jersey

My first time here had lunch with my children we had a wonderful evening. The service was excellent. The food was very tasty and we're all presented beautifully.wonderful ambience music reminded me of Havana when I visit there a couple years ago I will be coming back to try some more of a delicious food. read more

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Food was blah, without the cilantro mix and the rice was good! I got the Chicken Lollipops and Goat Cheese Fritters. Had to get extra to take home for my leftovers. Servers were amazing and super helpful! Also, they do not serve alcohol. You'll have to buy it from across the street as bring it in. Thought that was interesting read more

Cuban Pete's - Outside - Cuban Near Me - Montclair, New Jersey

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Very nice restaurant with traditional Cuban decorations/aesthetics. Got the ribs appetizer and zero flavor! It came in an oil onion base with absolutely no flavor had to ask for hot sauce which was restaurant made and not tasty. Order the Vaca Frita with rice and beans and plantains and it was very tasty but I can tell it was cheap meat not the best steak. 8 stars for aesthetics and good music but 4 for food since not so tasty and not the best service. read more

Cuban Pete's - Churrasco with Moro and yuca Frita, also tasted like it was a bad cut of steak - Cuban Near Me - Montclair, New Jersey

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Very disappointing meal last night.Calamari appetizer was rubbery and greasy, shrimp in garlic sauce was served to me room temperature and friends arroz con polo was the junkiest chicken pieces ive ever seen. To top it off, they werent busy and no waiter ever came back to ask how anything was or to offer me a refill on my drink. Will never repeat again read more

We have been here a few times. It's a cute place. The food is a hit or miss. The empanadas is not for me. Love the fish! The music is great The service is quick. read more

Been coming here for years. Great food, great service and great vibes. A perfect place for a night out with friends or family.

The food was absolutely delicious. Although the service was a little slow, we understood because it was busy. The decor is absolutely amazing. It is BYO so keep that in mind. I strongly recommend this restaurant. read more

$34 added gratuity for 5 or more in the group and another $6 service charge to cover costs, food was ok but small portions, never again.

Always a delicious meal at Cuban Pete's! We came for lunch after a Paint & Sip session at Pino's Palette which was Amazing! But we were starving given we came to the first session and had to skip breakfast. So we ordered apps, drinks and food right away. The service was a little slow and it was not a very busy Sunday afternoon, however our server was very courteous and friendly when we did see him. My friends ordered the Coconut fried fish and the Chicken drumsticks with coconut rice. I got the Oxtail in tomato sauce which is called "Rabo Encendido." I gotta say my meal was definitely the best one out of the three! The oxtails were big and meaty, they gave me about 5/6 pieces and they were massive! Some places cut the oxtail sections in half to increase their numbers but not here! Full a size oxtails! Needless to say I left the restaurant super stuffed and happy! This place never disappoints and I never leave hungry. If you want Cuban Comfort food this is a spot you need to check out. The pernil with Tostones as an appetizer were definitely a crowd pleaser as well. read more

Cuban Pete's - Chicken Drumsticks and Rabo Encendido - Cuban Near Me - Montclair, New Jersey

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I've never heard of this place, but I decided to order via Uber eats to try something new. The food was decent. Different than what I was expecting but different is good sometimes. I wouldn't mind ordering from here again. read more

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