For a restaurant to be good, they need good staff. I visited on a Sunday, whilst the manager seemed to be happy and welcoming, the waitress fell short of that expectation. No smile, just put the menus on the table, showed us the specials board and then walked off. At no point did she ask us how the meal was, only after she came to clear it away plus cleared the plates after they were finished but when people were still eating......

And they still had the cheeck to charge 12.5% service so that was about £13 for no simile and about -13 on the personality scale. For drinks on a Friday or Saturday night, perfect but Sunday lunch with Miss Happy then not so perfect.

Its Rubbish. expensive and crap food. certainly not child friendly. imagine being told "its inconvenient for us having your pram in here"

my wife unfortunately really likes it so it looks like we'll be back again on sunday 29th june.

simply not looking forward to it.

if i could put no stars i would. the food in this place is beyond contempt, they should be embarrassed to serve food here. absolutely disgusting.

do not eat in this place. utter pile of baggins.

'islingtonians don’t come just for the food. They like the lively vibe, the music, the bar and the pavement terrace.'it says on their website.! Dont know what the actual vibe is like. But went there yesterday for a romantic lunch as it was Valentines day. The food is disgusting. Thats why they dont go for the food. We had sea food starters which were pretty basic. We then ordered a seafood paella.! The Seafood Paella was just not paella. There was nothing authentic about it.!. When I mentioned that this was the worst paella I had tasted. The waitress said it is cuban. Which is a total insult to actual cuban food. As there are not big chunks of carrott in any authentic paella I have tasted. The bill then arrived. Shocking price for just bad bad food. And then to end the day. The fiance was sick all day.! Just dont do it. Bad food and bad service. Cant believe Cuba Libre has any vibe.!

Don't go to this restaurant!

This restaurant may have been decent a few years ago, but it is certainly not anymore.

The 'tropical' sauce tasted very similar any 'Asian' stir fry sauce that you find at the supermarket.

The steamed rice and vegetables were tasteless except for being bathed in the 'tropical' sauce.

Since everything else was so mediocre, I expect the 'duck' to be rather tasteless and it was.

At the end, the manager never gave me any kind of discount and simply suggested that next time I come back to not order the duck. Haha - come back? yeah right.

Went there last night. Busy Friday Night. A very friendly welcome at 9pm. Given a table within 8 mins. We bought our drinks from the bar as it worked out cheaper.

We were 4 persons, first time going to the restaurant. I had researched it on line, and read very mixed review. Having come back from holiday in Brasil we wanted a taste of South America. We were not disappointed at all. We had 3 starters: Tiger Prawn in green batter, Chorizo Sausages baked in Banana leaf I think & Cod Cakes. Main Course: Cuban Platter, Tiger Prawns and salad & Paella for 2. The food was very quick, hot, fresh and delicious. The Paella was so full of fresh seafood and quite a lot for 2 persons. We got the rest takeaway. I would probably take it for 4 persons next time and a salad too. Dessert: Orange Panacotta & Chocolate Fondue. being in the same industry for the past 10 years, it is so refreshing to find a chef who takes so much care in the quality of food, presentation and passion on a plate. The bill came to £95, reasonable as we had choosen really nice dishes.

I would definately go again and recommend to my friends.

The staff were extremely rude and patronising. My friend’s dish arrived over an hour after everybody else’s. I had to send my dish back because it was so foul, so I ended up not eating last night. All in all a very disappointing.

Cuba Libre is a fantastic establishment, great atmosphere, amazing cocktails, gorgeous food and cute barmen...what more can I say! Tends to be really busy at weekends so bookings a must but if you do have to wait, it's worth it.

Must say I'm a fan of Cuba Libre's Paella Mondays - get a sharing Paella and you get a bottle of wine free. What also separates it from the rest of the Upper Street restaurants is the friendly staff (and the great security guard they have at weekends - an irish guy with the gift of the gab) - being greeted with a pleasant comment/smile always stays in your mind.