This has to be the worst meal ever. I'm so disappointed. My wife and I have been coming here for the last four years. The place was packed and everything seem back to normal. The entree that i ordered was the worst. Everything was cold. The braised short ribs was damn near dry. This will be my last time come here. read more

Place is phenomenal. The best part is: BYOB Foos is excellent. Outdoor patio. Decor is awesome and service is excellent. Great place to come with family, friends or couples. The entire vibe about this place is an experience. I gather up some friends for my latest bday dinner, and everyone had a awesome time. 15 peoples ate appetizers and entree for $300. Excellent price. Will come here again!!!! read more

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

Since I first came here one year ago, Cuban Pete's has become my favorite and staple cuban restaurant! The food here is amazing! They have such a wide variety of food on the menu I'm not even close to having tried a quarter of the food here, but everything I have tried is quite delicious and flavorful! The best part of this place though has to be that it is BYOB. Good alcohol to compliment good food. They sell sangrias, which are good, but I def recommend bringing a bottle of wine to mix in, to spice up that alcohol content ;) Pro tip- theres two liquor stores nearby but theres a wine store two stores down- they give good recs for a cheap wine to mix in! The service here is also very good, but i think the one shortcoming is the fact that it is such a BIG restaurant. It gets very packed during peak hours, so not only are the waiters extremely busy, but also its VERY loud. The music is always on full blast and when its a full crowd, you need to yell at eachother sitting at the same table. My one tip, is if its a nice day out, sitting outside can lessen this issue and it can feel like more private dining. read more

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FUN is the first word that comes to mind when I think of Cuban Pete's. Safari like atmosphere with plants everywhere - plenty's of outdoor space, perfect for date night or small group, lively vibe and if it's your birthday expect a little added entertainment with instruments. It's BYOB but there is a liquor store next door; many tables also have sangria which they sell. The portions are HUGE. The 3 of us were stuffed with leftovers, having the following: Tapas: - Al Ajjllo (shrimp in garlic sauce) $7.95 - Chucharon de pollo (chicken lollipops) $4.95 - Queso frito (fried cheese) $3.95 - Empanadas $3.95 Entrees to share: - Fricase de Pollo (delicious chicken dish) $13.95 - Churrasco (steak dish) $16.95 Would return in a heartbeat. read more

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I took my family back to Cuban Pete's today, to celebrate my daughter returning from college. I have not been there in a little over a year, as it is over an hour away from where we live. I am now saddened to say that the food has drastically decreased in quality. Barely any flavor and weak portions. Our guacamole had no cilantro and not enough salt. The pernil and onion salad was bland, and my sancocho, watery. Our experience was barely mediocre. I was SO disappointed. I loved the food there. Not sure what happened, but i hope others speak up and the owners make some changes. This experience was such a let down. read more

Back in 2014, this place was amazing! And the outdoor seating was convenient for my family. ( not sure these days)

The most popular spot in Montclair. Cuban Pete's gives an excellent dining experience with great food. Dominick, the owner, greets every guest. The murals, decor, and uniforms make you feel your in Cuba. Once I'm seated, I order my favorite tapas. The crispy chicken lollipops, and shrimp in garlic sauce. My favorite entree is the whole crispy red snapper with pickled onions,rice, beans and plantains. The large portions allow me to come home with food. *Family friendly *Great for celebrations *Popular Instagram spot read more

Let's start off by saying this place is BYOB!! And a liquor store is right next door! Didn't take a picture of my food everything was Delicious the only complaint was The salmon was bland. I will try this place again . Service was also great! read more

Visited on a Sunday and was surprised to get seated immediately. Food was fantastic, especially the plantains. Great atmosphere. The only reason for 4 stars instead of 5 is due to our inattentive server. We asked for water refills and never received it. Had to grab our own takeout containers too from the shelf near our table. read more

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

Watch out for unethical business practices. For some reason they said they don't give out receipts when we requested for it. Over charging us $20. So, make sure to check yourreceipt very carefully. Food is ok, the service was ok, didn't even give silverware until we asked for it many times. read more

They really went downhill the past several yrs. Also they store all of their food below the street in a damp moldy cellar and I saw a rat emerge from there one evening last month. Also i saw a delivery guy spill an entire bag of clams on the street and instead of throwing them out he picked them all up and brought them inside. read more

People who gave this place less than 5 stars really don't know what they're talking about. All the food was incredible and the byob thing is very obvious ( gotta learn to read). Our servers were attentive and nice. It felt like I was in little Havana in Miami, loved the ambiance! read more

One of the first restaurants you think of when you come to Montclair is Cuban Pete's and that's for good reason. Step off the sidewalk, pass the palm trees and be transported to Old World Cuba. Waiters decked in their guayabera and fedora zip on by. Spanish music is BLASTING at Cuban Pete's which, at times making is difficult to talk, yet only seems to add to it's authenticity. Be prepared for a wait, but once you are *finally* seated, it all happens real quick. As you can imagine with two hour wait times, Cuban Pete's is looking to turn tables real quick. Food comes out at most five minutes after you place your order, so obviously not cooked to order, but all dishes have been great nonetheless. And such varied selection! We've been here many times, and have not gotten through half the menu. Portions are so huge - I've never seen a customer walk away without a doggy bag. Every dish here is great and there are no duds. Favorites include: TAPAS | Goat Cheese Fritters ($3.95), hazelnut stuffed goat cheese with a sweet honey vinagrette, are my favorite! Also good are the platanos relleno, picadillo con tostones (cuban beef hash), costillas (rib tips with a mint chimichurri, and datiles (almond stuffed dates wrapped in bacon, (all around $4-7/ea). They're all "just the right size" for an appetizer; 3 or 4 can make a meal for one. ENTREES | Choose between Cuban Classics, Old or New Cuban cuisine. **Ricky Ricardo's Ribs - The most tender (boneless) shortribs you'll ever have. The apricot sauce is full of flavor and not overwhelmingly sweet! Rabo Encendido (braised oxtail in a tomato stew), Suckling Pig and Lechon Asado are also good picks. Both great even when compared to the many Spanish restaurants in the NYC area. For sides, arroz con gandules is my preferred pick - the rice is soft without being too wet. And can it get any better than BYOB? That being said, the other complaints you've read are not exaggerated. Expect to wait over an hour to be seated, plus or minus an hour as there is zero order to the waitlist. And yes, the manager will kick you out for even asking about wait time. Service is lacking. The restaurant is simply too busy to care that it lost a customer. However, the costs are too low and the food is too good for you not to come back. read more

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The food here was good but I can't say the same about the service. Although the restaurant was packed, there seemed to be an overflowing amount of servers who always seemed busy but never seemed to actually get things done. I think I was here about 2.5 hours and was checked on maybe twice. My table of three also seemed to be lower on the priority list than others, and I saw two groups that came in after mine obtain their appetizers, main courses, and eat a significant amount of their main before my group had even gotten our appetizers. The saving grace for this place was the food, which is why I'm giving it three stars instead of two. For appetizers I shared the fried goat cheese and fried regular cheese, the Cuban sandwich, and the papita de rellenas. I liked the papita best, it was potato and beef "dumplings". The Cuban sandwich was also tasty. For my main dish I had the ropa vieja which was shredded beef with rice and beans and plantains. I'm not a huge plantain fan so I skipped those mostly. But the beef was tender and went well with the rice. I had a bite of seafood paella which I enjoyed more, however. I wish I'd gotten that instead. I also tried the vaca fritas which I think was overcooked. The meat was too crispy to the point of it being unable to be chewed. Although this place had decent food, I don't think I'll be back here if I come back to this area. The poor service and long wait time was not worth it to me. read more

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

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Another meh meal at Cuban pete's. On today's love-less menu we have chicken lollipops, ribs that we did not order, but were charged for(to be fair we ate them and then forgot we did not order them lol), and shrimp. The only tapa I really enjoyed were the bacon wrapped dates. UGH. 6 pieces of greasy heart clogging carmel-y delectable goodness. read more

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I have been to Cuban Pete's several times now. First and foremost is finding parking in Montclair can be annoying especially on a Friday and the weekend. Street parking can be far away. Luckily, there's a parking deck around a block or two away. Positives: - I think the food is great. Most of the dishes that I have tried are flavorful. I love the cheese empanadas -Portion size is appropriate for the prices. I usually have to get a box to go since I can't finish everything -Three separate dining rooms, one is outside. So there are a decent amount of tables Negatives: -Why is the floor so slippery? Slip and slide competition? They seriously need to clean it up or change it up because it's such a fall risk - Even though there are a lot of tables, they're too tightly packed to each other -Music is way too loud, I have to raise my voice across the table or speak directly into someone's ear right next to me -Staff members can be gone for a long time before coming back Overall, I enjoy the place. The food is good, music is good but just lower it down more. The floor needs to be cleaned. read more

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

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The food is just okay. I had higher expectations for this place. I went twice to give them another chance and it was worse the second time around. Also, when you go to pay they just shove a screen at you with the cost and ask for your card. They don't show you the actual receipt unless you ask for it, which we did. The receipt is texted to you. By time we got the text (which we waited around for) our waiter was completely MIA. He charged us for a $15 drink we didn't order. We immediately went to the host stand to resolve this, simply pointing out we never ordered the drink and they said they would refund this. Seemed simple enough right? But they didn't refund us and little did I know this would become a weeks long ordeal if constantly calling and receiving the runaround just to get $15 back. Management is so rude I would never eat here again. I've also had friends come here to eat and told me similar stories, where they were treated terribly by management. read more

Cuban Pete's - Pernil Con Tostones - Cuban Near Me - Montclair, New Jersey

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I have no clue why this restaurant only has 3 stars, it's amazing! My friend and I both got the pollo con arroz and it was delicious. We also brought white wine, and it was great because the restaurant offers a white sangria or red sangria mix for the beverage you bring. The portions were huge, and the ambiance was perfect. Can't wait to visit again! read more

Excellent food, authentic Cuban food. You better not eat my beef rib, it is so delicious this place is the best place in Montclair. The food is perfect everyone, and such a lively atmosphere. You will not be disappointed read more

For a cuban restaurant, this place served a small portion of food. The pitcher of sangria came out after our meal was done. The wait to get into this place is insanely CRAZY! Plastic cups and utensils were used for everyone's meal. Save your time and visit another location. read more

The food was tasty. However, they delivered the food without utensils. Then we called the waiter. He said, They ran out of metal utensils so he provided us with plastic utensils. After few minutes later, Waiter came back with the metal utensils. But the metal utensils were filthy and the fork had a rice in between the grooves. read more

Cuban Pete's - Rabo Encedido and Cuban Pete's Paella was tasty. But the food did not look presentable. - Cuban Near Me - Montclair, New Jersey

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A taste of Cuba right in downtown Montclair. As soon as you walk in, it doesn't even look like you're in New Jersey anymore. The atmosphere is so fun, there's live music playing and the place is always lively no matter what time of day it is. The service is very quick and attentive. One of Cuban Pete's most unique features is their BYOB. Bring rum or wine and they will make Sangria or one of many different flavors of mojitos for you! The portions are also very generous and delicious, I highly recommend the paella! Only downside is if you go at the traditional dinner time the wait will be extremely long (about 2 hours). It's better to show up early and avoid the wait. Definitely coming back! read more

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

This was terrible . Super annoyed . My croquettes were stale and old and hard. I place an $85 order through uber eats and it's a shame how they would even send croquets that clearly taste like it was days old . I'm hispanic I know what fresh croquettes taste like. read more

Cuban Pete's - This was terrible . Super annoyed . - Cuban Near Me - Montclair, New Jersey

Great food, great atmosphere. When every other place was basically empty, this place was packed with a wait - and with good reason. So, so good. read more

Very intimate dinner setting. Perfect for a date night or a group event. It is a BYOB (wine only I believe). The wait service was great. We ordered the empanada sampler and it was good. Kinda wish it came with a sauce to dip them in. I ordered the Churrasco with the green sauce. I'd definitely come here again for a date night. read more

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

Nice tapas joint with a Cuban flare. At first, I walked into an overpowering cleaner smell. On one hand you know it's clean but on the other it's a turn off to the senses when you are there to eat. The interior is a little gimmicky but it works. Quality of the food was good. This is a BYO and I saw others adding alcohol to the mojito pitchers. read more

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First time visiting this place; however, I don't know what the hype is all about.. The atmosphere was nice and chill with the music in the background but the food in my opinion wasn't worth five stars.. I ordered the steak, which was over cooked but the waiter was nice and brought out another one but the second was was so oily.. ‍ If I return I'll order something else, hopefully it's good.. Don't get me wrong staff was friendly and atmosphere is nice place to go on a Friday or Saturday evening.. BYB because the sangria is weak.. I didn't taste no alcohol.. If you want a place to chill Pete's is a good place, hopefully you enjoy your food bcuz I didn't.. ‍ I believe food is what makes the place popping.. read more

I called because Uber eats said they are sold out of beef and chicken. The manager said Uber eats is incorrect. To resolve the problem instead of him contacting Uber Eats to correct the menu his idiot solution was to say "I am welcome to go there and pick my food up". read more

I was advised for a while not to come here because the wait & busyness wasn't worth it, as well as, past "stories". But can't say no if I didn't try it... I went with someone who raves about this restaurant. It has a nice entrance, a walking path to an outdoor seating area that is more lively in the warmer months. It is BYOB. We arrived on Saturday around 1pm & it was empty as if it just opened. It started getting full around 2pm. We ordered 3 tapas which were greatly affordable. 1) The platanos rellenas looked like croquetas using platanos stuffed with beef & queso, but it wasn't as good as I've tried with the sweet maduros. 2) Costillas are ribtips with mint chimichurri sauce & were cooked well, not dry but was a tad bit bland. 3) Chicharron de pollo which were the chicken lollipops but were a bit dry & lacked flavor. Entrees ordered: The churrasco with chimichurri (there is the churrasco with mango chimichurri which has a sweeter sauce) cooked medium well was delicious & finely cooked. Juicy & tender, the chimichurri was good. This dish comes with a side of fried maduros & rice with beans. Beans were amazing. The other entree was mariscada aka naked paella that is a huge portion & very saucy. Very generous in seafood: calamari, filet of snapper, shrimp, scallops, mussels & Clams. Very flavorful, would love to get this dish next time. We came hungry & could not finish our meals! The tapas selections weren't impressive as the entrees were. Very pleased at the end & defied preconceived exceptions of this place. Would like to return! read more

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I came here for lunch with some friends. It was pretty good. Service was on point. Everyone was very friendly. It definitely felt busy while there were several tables in use, this place is large with 4 separate rooms for seating. It was not packed. There is outdoor seating. I hear this place is excellent for large parties. Someone explained lots of locals have birthday parties here and they are pretty good. It honestly is a great look for this place. My food came out fast and it looked great. I ordered ropa viejo with chicken. The beef one looked better, but mine was good. I love plantains. These were a little soft but sweet and I am not complaining. We were served one bowl of black beans (on the side) for all three meals. Based on its location, I'm probably not going back anytime soon, but I recommend this place, as it was recommended to me. Yum! There is a small parking lot in the back, but good luck with that! It looks like its permitted or shared with another business. Also, there is street and general parking lots for the neighborhood. read more

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

I don't even know where to start.. So we are still currently facing covid. However, not to the extend that me and my friend had to wait about 15 whole minutes to get utensils for our food in which was sitting right in front of us!! Next...., we thought this place is a BYOB... we went and bought a moscato bottle . Only to be told and sort of obligated into buying a virgin sangria in which we would then be able to open our moscato and mix with the sangria. I mean what is the purpose in a BYOB!?!? That should be optional., not something to push upon the customers to buy a whole sangria in order for them to have full access to their drinks. FYI., if you're in a hurry., this ain't the place for you during covid time. read more

I've been to Cuban Pete's several times in the past. Place is always packed . No liquor - but it's BYOB and they have mixtures that you could spike with your alcohol Food is ok here. I was not super impressed . I would come back again to see how it measures up now. Stay tuned read more

Fantastic place for the family. BYOB but they make a great sangria with whatever alcohol you provide. Highly recommend the Pancetta read more

Always an AMAZING time when my friends and I come here. The oxtail and goat cheese fritters are my go-to. This time, we decided to order the almond stuffed dates as a tapa as well, and happy to say that they were equally as delicious. Staff is always friendly, and love that we can bring our own alcohol in. Thanks for yet another night of fantastic eats! read more

When I was younger I LOVED this place because it's loud and fun. Now, the last 2 times I've went it's not been great. Most recently, my stomach hurt for 2 days after eating here from the greasiness, also the food in general doesn't taste good or fresh. It's really, really loud where you are shouting at the person right next to you in order to have a convo which is definitely not enjoyable. The plates and utensils were so dirty. Another time my friend came here got food poisoning really bad. On the bright side, it's like a party vibe and is beautifully set up! It's super colorful and it's BYOB, and they make the drinks using that which is cool. read more

COVID- extremely disappointed in what I saw. The tables are spaced out properly however, the staff did not follow mask wearing guidelines. The owner pranced around going table to table never once put a mask on. The kitchen help did not properly wear masks either. They gave plastic cups and a pitcher of water to a table but they didn't use it so they gave it to another table. That's gross- covid or not! The pitcher of silverware on each table is never cleaned after each customer. As for the food- everything was fantastic! The steak and chicken were so tender! Loved our meals plus the mojitos!! If you are nervous about the spread of COVID, definitely do not go here. We will not be back until the owner shows more responsibility. He's already been shut down once, clearly he does not care! read more

This place has really gone downhill. I went with my family on Saturday for lunch. I got the garlic shrimp and my son got the chicken lollipop meal. The shrimp was absolutely disgusting and had no texture at all to it just mushy and gross. My son's chicken was not cooked thoroughly and was pink.I got violently ill after eating there. We will never go back again. read more

A terrible experience...I have visited prior to Father's Day and enjoyed good food but lengthy wait times, however Father's Day at 3pm was a nightmare. Upon being seated we had to wait about 10-15 minutes to even have any server greet us or bring us water. Another 30 mins into dining appetizers come out and still no silverware for at least another 10 mins. After finishing appetizers at least 45 mins before being told on 3 occasions our food is coming...then why are you having to tell us, subpar for $100 shedded beef for two, crock pot your own at home, 0 stars $0 tip read more

The food is always delicious. Great prices great taste. One of my favorites. They're always super busy. May I suggest that they have a separate place for takeout orders? It can get a little confusing. read more

This restaurant has a nice atmosphere with a Cuban theme décor. Clean environment. The portions are large but the food is mediocre at best. We ordered the below dishes: 1) Arroz Con Pollo (3 stars): Large portion. Chicken was skinless and dry. Yellow rice was a bit dry. Black beans were watery and lacked flavor. 2) Ropa Vieja (3.5 stars): Large Portion. The best prepared dish that we ordered. Though it was just a tad above mediocre. 3) Goat Cheese fritters (3 stars) Thee service is ok. Nothing special. This place is a bit pricey for the quality of their food. Since we know a much better Cuban place with better food and prices in the area .. we will not be back. read more

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