Smokies Cuban Cafe

Reviews

• Jaime K.

  star star star star star 22 October 2026

  I came with my girls back in July and all of us loved our food! It's always exciting for us to eat Cuban food that we don't have to spend hours doing ourselves.
  Today I was back in town with my siblings, parents, and son.
  And I wanted to try it again, to be sure my experience was not singular. It wasn't. The food was delicious, again.
  My son ordered Lechón (comes with beans, rice and a side- he chose tostones)and was in heaven. He said not had been a long time since he had Lechón this good. (I don't make it.)
  I had yuca fries, empanada de carne, and maduros. This made me SUPER happy.
  We also shared a colada and it was on point.
  Well, dinner rolls around and we decided to come back.
  This time he ordered Vaca frita with tostones and I ordered the ropa vieja with yuca con mojo. We we're glad to have made the choice to return!

• Ash W.

  star star star star_border star_border 21 October 2026

  Excellent food, bad service. We ate here and found the food to be a very pleasant surprise. The empanadas were great and the stuffed yuca was great. The cuban sandwich especial was terrific. The service though isn't the best. We ordered and waited for about 20 minutes then the waitress came back and said they were out what we ordered. Why didn't she say it sooner? She played with my emotions. I needed to go and sit in a safe space for a while.
  
  Anyway, the food is worth it though. Just make sure you check your bill. The girl checking us out tried to charge us another table's bill. But you need to get up a lot earlier in the morning to pull a fast one on me (can't hustle a hustla, yo). So, ya know, don't let that happen. But the food is great.

• Cori S.

  star star_border star_border star_border star_border 20 October 2026

  So so so upset. My favorite type of sandwich of all time is a Cuban. Every trip we go on I try to find a local Cuban food spot to try. I was so excited about this one because of how amazing the reviews are. We ordered our sandwiches to go through Grubhub which was easy. When we arrived we were told the sandwiches would be a little while longer cause they had to finish the large order ahead of us-no worries. We had no problem waiting. We took our food back to the cabin we were staying at, not even thinking to look at them. Our mistake.
  The bread is so hard it was hard to bite, one of our sandwiches had a total of 3 slices of pickles and the other had 4 (these are large sandwiches) and one of them didn't have a lick of mustard. We paid around $25 total for sandwiches that had 3 bites taken threw them and went and found something else..

• Mark J.

  star star star star_border star_border 18 October 2026

  This was our first visit since my original review and unfortunately the service was awful. The food was still fantastic. It is just not acceptable to wait 20 minutes for glasses of water on a hot summer day especially when you have to ask twice. Had the waitress just brought us drinks and told us there would be a wait for the food we would've been fine. I really hope they resolve the staffing issues because this is still one of our favorite restaurants in Pigeon Forge. We will be back because the food is that good, just hope the service improves.

• Sonia D.

  star star star_border star_border star_border 27 September 2026

  I stopped in for dinner yesterday and what I thought was going to be a nice Cuban dinner, turned out to be such a disappointment.  We arrived and were immediately seated by the waitress.  From that point on it all went downhill.  What upset me was that my sister, brother and I drove up from GA to dine here.  
  
  The waitress that sat us down took our order (2 cuban fritas and a breaded steak dinner and a tamal preparado that I asked that she bring out as an appetizer).  We waited 30 mins for our food, but in the meantime, a couple came in and went to the counter to order and got their food in about 15 mins and when the other waiter saw I was looking at them he immediately went and got our food.  I asked him about my appetizer and he said "oh I didn't know you wanted it as an appetizer.  No worries you can have it with your meal"  Strike one.
  
  When I look at my "frita"  I was shocked to find a hamburger bun the size of my hand and a patty the size of a flattened golf ball; nothing else, no dressing or anything!  As a Cuban I know how a frita should look and taste, and this was not a frita.  Strike two!
  
  The final strike was the appetizer that we wanted that came with the meal.  The tamal was basically tasteless.  It came with 2 croquettes, pork chunks and 3 small slices of ham and cheese.
  
  The waitress that took our order walked past us about 7 times and never once stopped to ask if we needed anything else.  When she finally came to the table, I immediately asked to speak to the owner.  When he came to my table and I told him about the issues I encountered, he was pretty much insulted and was telling me that he was the one who prepared them and that as a Cuban he knew how to make them.  He called our waitress over and she starts telling him that she has 4 tables and it was very busy, so I made a point of telling her that there was another waitress behind the counter (noshing on the cookies in the jar and licking her fingers) that she could've called on for some help.
  
  The  whole event ended when the owner (who sounded frustrated) finally told the waitress to just bring us cuban coffee and comp the whole ticket.
  
  Maybe I'll try it again someday, if I'm ever back in TN.