Cuba Libre Restaurant has Great Cuban Food and Friendly Service
Lee and I visited Cuba Libre Restaurant at Pointe Orlando for our anniversary and it was fantastic. I've been a few times, but it was Lee's first visit.
Cuba Libre is a great escape from burgers and fries or pizza. The dishes are well-prepared and delicious. I'm as much of a picky eater as they come and I can find a lot of things to eat here. As far as I know, there isn't a lick of Cuban or Latin ancestry in me, but this just tastes like good comfort food.
Except the octopus. I can't do octopus.
Parking
You have two options for parking at Pointe Orlando. There is a parking garage where prices vary from $4 – $10, depending upon how long you're there. The parking garage is on the opposite end of the property from Cuba Libre, but it's not a bad walk.
There is also a valet option which happens to be just a few steps from Cuba Libre. Valet parking is $12, but Cuba Libre will validate you parking with your meal. That means you only have to tip the driver.
We prefer the valet service, but keep in mind you may have a bit of a delay when things get busy in the evening.
Atmosphere
Cuba Libre has a dark atmosphere with low key lighting and candles. Imagine a night in Havana and you'll understand the atmosphere. The walls have varied colors with a weathered appearance. Even the stone floor shows texture and a few cracks as if you're in the old world city.

There are booths in the restaurant as well as the tables with the wicker chairs. If you can get a booth, take it. You'll be much more comfortable. The wicker chairs aren't painful, but I've had better seats.
Old World Service
I've always had outstanding service at Cuba Libre. Our most recent server was no exception. We thought he was excellent.
Our server was friendly, well informed about the menu and always appeared when we needed him. He could tell us about the prep work for every dish we considered, right dow to how they made the butter or compressed the watermelon.
We also had a warm reception from the hostess, and another warm thank you on the way out the door.
Excellent Food Quality
We were pleased with every item we encountered. The quality and presentation of the food and beverages were right on the money.
Cocktails
Let's start with our cocktails, or at least mine. I had the Grilled Pineapple Mojito and Lee had one of the local IPA beers.

Lee does a good job of describing her beer on the podcast. My grilled pineapple mojito was the smoothest cocktail I can ever recall drinking. They actually grill pineapples and turn it into a puree as part of the recipe.
This drink was fabulous, and I don't even like to use the word fabulous (or amazing). Very smooth, delicious, and you experienced different subtleties after every sip. I wanted to compare it to the mojito at Tommy Bahamas just next to Cuba Libre, but they are different drinks.
I love them both, but I think I'd give the edge to the Grilled Pineapple Mojito.
House Bread & Butter

They serve lightly toasted cuban bread for the house bread. The real star here is the butter, and they make it in house. Our server told us that it's half salted butter and half unsalted butter, combined with mango, cinnamon and cumin. Then it's chilled for five hours.
It makes for a delicious combination. The flavors are subtle, rather than overpowering. We really enjoyed it, and we left talking about making the butter at home.
That speaks to the care and quality that the kitchen staff puts into preparing your meal.