Paladar Gringo Viejo

We went to Gringo Viejo after reading rave reviews.  The neighbourhood is lovely but the updated decor looked a little...dated.  Read that it is a romantic little place but there were televisions playing Top 40 hits from the '70s and the lights were on full blast.  No matter, I remember those songs  well, haven't heard them in years and was out for a good time.  And I have relatives who haven't heard of dimmers either, so it's nothing I haven't encountered before.

I won't draw this out - the food was quite good but the server, who I assume was the owner, made us feel less than welcome.  We each ordered a beer to drink and mains, but the woman serving us seemed quite perplexed and asked: "No primero?"  (For non-Spanish speakers: no starter?)  We said:
"No, gracias."  She looked upset and proceeded to have a meeting with the other server, directly behind our table, and I heard a lot of "No primero?" being tossed back and forth.  The food arrived - very large portions by the way - and we attempted to order another cerveza but weren't given the chance.  We had to flag our server down (it's a small room), which was not easy, to order another drink.  They landed on the table, but it was obvious that she was not amused.  The meals were very good - my man had fish and I had pork pieces in creole sauce - but, as I mentioned, they were quite substantial.  You can imagine the reception we received when we declined dessert service.  I'll conclude this with the caveat that we have both worked in the service industry for (so as not to date ourselves) a very long time.
Different country, different attitudes and service styles aside, we were not treated well.  In spite of the very good food we will not go back.  Havana's a big city and there are far better dining options.

We went to Gringo Viejo after reading rave reviews.  The neighbourhood is lovely but the updated decor looked a little...dated.  Read that it is a romantic little place but there were televisions playing Top 40 hits from the '70s and the lights were on full blast.  No matter, I remember those songs  well, haven't heard them in years and was out for a good time.  And I have relatives who haven't heard of dimmers either, so it's nothing I haven't encountered before.

I won't draw this out - the food was quite good but the server, who I assume was the owner, made us feel less than welcome.  We each ordered a beer to drink and mains, but the woman serving us seemed quite perplexed and asked: "No primero?"  (For non-Spanish speakers: no starter?)  We said:
"No, gracias."  She looked upset and proceeded to have a meeting with the other server, directly behind our table, and I heard a lot of "No primero?" being tossed back and forth.  The food arrived - very large portions by the way - and we attempted to order another cerveza weren't given the chance.  We had to flag our server down (it's a small room), which was not easy, to order another drink.  They arrived and landed on the table, but it was obvious that she was not amused.  The meals were very good - my man had fish and I had pork pieces in creole sauce - but, as I mentioned, they were quite substantial.  You can imagine the reception we received when we declined dessert service.  I'll conclude this with the caveat that we have both worked in the service industry for (so as not to date ourselves) a very long time.
Different country, different attitudes and service styles aside, we were not treated well.  In spite of the very good food we will not go back.  Havana's a big city and there are far better dining options.