Cubra Libre Restaurant & Bar in Cambridge

The positive - Live Music - The singer was very good and seemed to be enjoying the evening; good tempo and volume The less positive - Serving Staff - Rather random; a number of sketches could have made it into Monty Python - asked if we would like to see the desert menu before the main course’s ; waitress was surprised we had not eaten Negative - The food - Out of Ten plates - one would make it into the very enjoyable category - two reasonable and seven below par I could do better myself

We love South American food having lived and worked in Chile and Ecuador. We just got back from a fantastic evening at Cuba Libre Restaurant. The live music was fantastic and the food wonderful. We both started with Pisco Sours which is my personal test for a South American resto -- they were perfect! We had the yucca chips with our drinks and they were fresh and hot and very more-ish! I had screamingly fresh oysters with caviar and my husband had the classic ceviche which was also superb. Then we went on to have the lomo -- me --- with a Cabernet Franc which was a wonderful pairing. The marinated beef cut like butter! My husband had the chicken with the curry sauce and a fine lager to go with. We ended with the churros with chocolate sauce. All the while there was this fantastic combo who played everything from classic Peruvian road songs to 'The Girl from Ipanema' and we found ourselves obnoxiously bopping in our seats! Fantastic evening!

Our lunch on Saturday was the best meal we had on our long weekend in Cambridge. The beef tacos, scallops and mussels were particular favourites. Lovely friendly staff, great music and very reasonably priced - made for a very enjoyable hour. It’s just a shame that it wasn’t busier, it certainly deserved to be - but maybe we just eat early!

Drinks 10/10. Possibly the best Margaritas and original cocktails available in Cambridge by far. Highly recommend for evening small plates and drinks

We had dinner and drinks here. We enjoyed both. The drinks (wasabi martini and algarrobina) were excellent and we enjoyed all the dishes we tried. I especially recommend ceviche and stuffed avocados. The service was excellent and I plan to return there in the future.

We happened across this place on a day trip to Cambridge and I’m so pleased we did. The food was lovely, we decided to try a couple of things we’d never had; the ox heart and cactus - both were beautiful. The service was great and to top it off we had beautiful cocktails too! Highly recommend.

The restaurant is very cold. Upon my partner telling the waitress and possibly moving us to another table she simply said she didn't understand to which my partner said the same to her in Spanish. Her response was no it's not. The starters were ok. Calamari was a bit rubbery. My partner's starter was a couple of pieces of tough meet and a hard potato. The mains came out we both ordered tacos. Mine came out lukewarm but was ok. Nothing special and quite small. No side salad or condiments. My partner's chicken tacos were very bland. I had the mixed taco dish and the pork one was very good. The cocktails were fantastic. Not the restaurants fault but there was a really annoying man sat next to us for the duration of our visit who insisted on telling the whole restaurant of his finances he was talking that loud. We left early as he was so annoying.

Extremely poor service from the Manager; we were seated on a small table with hard seats, it was very cold. We requested to be moved to one of 4 free side tables 3 times before finally moving ourselves. The waitress was seen to be pleased with the manager who ignored requests. We heard him say that he needed to keep the tables free in case of walk ins for larger groups so he could push the tables together. This was upsetting as we had pre booked. Friends of the manager then arrived and were shown to a cozy side table where he then sat down and chatted with them. We refused to pay the service charge and the manager argued that he had found us a better table! A shame as it was a very special anniversary for us some evening was spoilt.

Excellent food, great flavours. Would recommend. Service attentive. . Accompanied by great live music. Really recommend.

Shout out to CUBA LIBRE on Regent Street! I went with my friend the other night and had a lovely time. They staff were really nice and happily made some adaptations for my friends dietary requirements. At the moment they have a set Xmas menu. I had the asparagus soup, Feijoada and the the chocolate truffles. All were really really yummy and it came with a free drink too.

The food was lovely, although my chicken curry was spicy (I had asked before ordering and was told it wasn't spicy). Atmosphere really nice with beautiful live Cuban music. The things they need to improve are: ° the service: 10 minutes after sitting we still didn't have the menus, I had to ask for them, and they forgot to give me the wine menu. The food took AGES to arrive (>40 minutes). ° the tip. We paid by card and there was a request if we wanted to leave a tip, which luckily we declined and then after reading the receipt I realised that a 12.5% tip had already been applied (see photo) so if I had given a tip, I would have paid it twice. They serve nice cocktails though as I saw them passing around and looked inviting.

When the bill came the card machine was on a screen to add a tip. We added a 10% tip but then when we looked at the bill after it already included a 12.5% service charge. This is extremely dishonest hence the bad review. The food was 3.5/5. Good but not excellent. It was also a unique place. Again, just hugely disappointed by the dishonesty as it tarnished what was a good evening.

Very expensive, not good value for money , food was nothing special, small portions, cocktails top end cruise prices and not worth it , poor choice of deserts went elsewhere as still hungry spent £52 each on just a drink , main and limp side !

The live music and cocktails were amazing. But the service was very slow. It wasn't very busy but we waited 15 minutes for our drinks order to be taken and then another 15 minutes for our drinks. Can't fault the atmosphere or quality of the drinks. We will be back.

Excellent food, excellent service! Booked table for Saturday evening so sometimes a little slow on drinks service but understandable given the time and how it was. Staff were friendly, helpful and had some great recommendations and worked hard to make sure we enjoyed our food and our time there. Would 100% go back and highly recommend!

We popped into here and was a little sceptical as on 2 people in restaurant. We had nothing worry about the empanadas was excellent with perfect pastry, taco tasty and pisco sour on point.

We live in the city and had our first visit to Cuba Libra this Saturday for lunch. It was my partners 58th birthday and there were four of us dining. The food was flavour punching and presentation was lovely too. It was the service from Andrea that made the experience though - she was bubbly, enthusiastic and passionate about the food! Her menu knowledge was excellent! There was a negative though…. I was so upset to be told that I would be charged 20£ for bringing a birthday cake !! The cake was tiny and was a token to have with coffee. Our bill was £205 and we also left the service charge! I think it is in bad taste to do this - I realize that some people may exploit this option but surely you should have a minimum per person spend criteria that sees rid of this cheeky and frankly greedy charge! In March i had my birthday meal at The Olive Grove (also Regent st) and they brought out our cake to the table whilst also offering me a free baclava and glass of fizz !!! Gestures like this get remembered and generate repeat business and also new business by word of mouth !!

Came on 01/03/23. Originally a group of 7 for a work leavers do for a colleague which became 8 people. Very accommodating and friendly staff. Live music was a nice change to most restaurants. Food was so tasty. Tacos were quite oily but still nevertheless very delicious. Asparagus was very nice and the sauce that came with it was so good I was dipping everything in it! Scallop starter was very nice. All the food came hot and didn’t have to wait too long but you knew the meals were fresh. Only downside was there a bit of confusion on the food order where 2 dishes came out but 1 we asked to be taken off when ordering, but the staff were quick to sort and actually allowed us to keep the dish for free, I suppose better than it go to waste and it was great for us all to be able to try something different. Cocktails were amazing, great price and lots of variety. Overall wonderful, thank you and will be back!

Excellent meal: fresh ceviche with a nice glass of wine and a live band playing latino music, we had a great lunch !

Went out for lunch with a friend and had a really nice lunch. We both went for Ceviche and the food was fresh and very tasty. The waiters came to check we were happy with our food and the atmosphere was great. There was an authentic Latino band playing which made our time there even better!

This place has promise and does not overcharge which is nice for the centre of Cambridge. We were hoping for some live music on the Friday before Christmas but sadly not. Lovely cocktails, and I enjoyed my ceviche fish dish, but my friends were not so keen. I guess if you've not eaten ceviche before, it's a very particular flavour. Service was ok, we were sat by the downstairs loo which wasn't great (odours 🙈) and portions are on the small side, probably reflecting the price. It shouldn't be the case that you go away still hungry...Waiters could give more guidance on courses to help guests choose. Also a couple more veggie options would be great. A bit disappointing really all round.

I wanted to try Cuba Libre Restaurant & Bar as it is new to Cambridge and seemed much more interesting than the horrible Pizza Hut that graced that corner by Parker's Piece. I was disappointed by the lack of atmosphere and particularly the food. The drinks were fine but not all were available. The food was lacking in any sort of distinctive flavour - a reflection of their 'blend' of Latin American countries (this is actually written on their terrible website). Nothing really stood out and not the best idea to combine the vibrant and distinctive cuisines of different countries into one South American, Latin American, Tropical concept - they don't even seem to use the terms consistently or accurately. From the name I thought it was a Cuban place - not a homogeneity of countries, cultures and cuisines. Their concept seems to be "Jack of all trades, master of none".

They were understaffed so no cocktails were available, this was pretty disappointing but the staff were so friendly and doing their best. We choose the small plates option and the food was good. I loved the live music!! Will return!