Richard and I were thrilled to find Revolucion de Cuba in the centre of Sheffield. It’s a vibrant bar and restaurant that serves tasty Latin-inspired dishes and beautiful, intricate cocktails whilst also running a wide variety of events and live music nights. If you’re looking for a unique venue for that office party, first date or even family celebration then Revolucion de Cuba won’t disappoint. We both found the dishes we ordered were absolutely incredible; they were tasty, filling and had so many nutritious ingredients. The atmosphere was contagiously bubbly with many of the customers enjoying a ‘bottomless brunch’ which was two whole hours of unlimited prosecco, selected cocktails, hot drinks and soft drinks alongside a delicious brunch dish. The prices when we visited for this were really reasonable at £20-25 per person depending on which time slot you chose for your two hour period to begin. You could clearly tell that even without this brunch event happening, Revolucion de Cuba Sheffield was a really popular place to dine or drink. I think the central Sheffield location really helped this alongside the great service, food and drinks! The accessibility of the Sheffield branch of Revolucion de Cuba (https://www.revoluciondecuba.com/bar/sheffield/) was also great; they had a smooth ramped access, plenty of space between tables and an accessible toilet that I could easily wheel across to. The great thing about Revolucion de Cuba is that they are a chain family of restaurants so if you don’t live in the Sheffield area, you could always check the location list to see if this amazing brand of restaurants are in a location near you (https://www.revoluciondecuba.com/locations/).
The entrance to Revolucion de Cuba in Sheffield (https://www.revoluciondecuba.com/bar/sheffield/) was ramped from the street. There were two swing doors at the base of the ramped access but these were light enough to be held open by a manual wheelchair user whilst self-propelling. If you’re dining or entering with a friend then it might just be easier to get them to grab the door for you while you wheel through although this would still be very doable as a solo disabled guest. The ramp was smooth and the incline wasn’t steep so most wheelchairs would manage this without too much trouble. 
When you wheel to the top of the ramp, you are immediately struck with the huge size of Revolucion de Cuba, Sheffield! The space is actually a vintage tram shed storage room but the staff had very much infused the entire space with wonderful colours and a Cuban spirit! The decor was very modern with light-up cocktail signs, bright posters lining the walls and rich coloured walls. However, the decor was definitely Cuban-themed and you could see large wooden air-conditioning fans, vintage rum bottles and plenty of greenery and fairy lights. The modernity and the Cuban essence definitely combined well to give the space a great vibe. You could tell that the space would work equally for a date night as it would for a corporate function or gathering. Actually, the cocktail making masterclasses held at Revolucion de Cuba would be a perfect corporate party or an ideal way to celebrate a special birthday with a group of friends. There are various packages on offer (https://www.revoluciondecuba.com/cocktail-masterclass/) which are brilliantly priced to include Cuban food, cocktail making lessons and the drinks themselves. I don’t know anyone that wouldn’t have a fun time making a cocktail or two alongside friends or colleagues!
Despite the dazzling decor, the staff at Revolucion de Cuba had clearly been mindful about access throughout their restaurant. The wooden floor was smooth and level-access throughout the space and there were clear aisles to access most seats at tables. Due to the deserved popularity of the space, I would definitely recommend booking in advance if you are a wheelchair user or need easy access to a table. There are plenty of areas that a wheelchair user could easily access but it’s always worth booking to make sure staff can make your visit as easy as possible. There was a huge space in the centre of the dining area that is kept clear for dancing later in the evening. This space is also used for salsa lessons on some evenings so that would be a fun activity to watch or partake in if your disability allows it. This large central dance floor made my access to the disabled toilet very easy. i didn’t have to weave through any table areas and had clear access all the way to the toilet. You didn’t need a RADAR key to access the toilet which was nice to see. The space was a good size but not overly generous if you’re a mobility scooter user or have a bulky chair so I would recommend leaving these outside the toilet door as you might struggle to turn these around to exit the toilet facing outwards. I had no problem turning in my compact powered chair (WHILL Model C) but this has specially designed front omniwheels which allow a really tight turning circle. The toilet had plenty of grab rails to support transferring and the red emergency pull cord hung fully to the floor. I love seeing this as this would help a disabled guest who has fallen to alert staff members in order to reach help. The sanitary bin was reachable from the toilet if you are able to lean slightly. When I visited, the back of the toilet was leaking a little and slightly spraying water when flushed but the manager is fully aware of this so it should be fixed shortly. Otherwise, a very accessible bathroom that was easy to use. Plus, I loved that the staff had hung the mirror at wheelchair viewing height so I could check my makeup whilst seated rather than having to stretch or stand up fully.
When seated at our lovely table, Richard and I were immediately struck by the great design of the menus. The food menu was printed in the style of a Cuban newspaper and was very informative about each Latin-inspired dish. We also found our waitress very helpful in explaining some of the more exciting dishes that Richard and I hadn’t heard of before. It was really nice to see a restaurant offering innovative new flavours that you don’t often see in every restaurant venue you visit. The drinks menu was more self-explanatory and I absolutely loved the cartoon pictures of each of the cocktails next to its name and contents. The drawings were fun and really shone a light on the specialities of the venue. Revolucion de Cuba is famous for its masterful cocktails and they specialise particularly in rum-based cocktails. Rum and cigars are integral parts of Cuban heritage and they have helped to shape the trade and national culture of Cuba. However, the bar staff are also very experienced in other spirit-based cocktails, wines, beers and soft drinks if rum isn’t your tipple of choice. The bar area often is busy and bustling with customers as the afternoon and evening come around. Although Sheffield is famous for its lively student population, you’ll often find a real range of age groups sipping drinks in the bar area!
The drink that Richard and I chose was the Hawaiian Tea Party Punch. It was served in brightly coloured mugs and a teapot, these were enamel covered tin mugs that you would often see in camping stores. I loved the quirkiness of the presentation. The cocktail itself was an appealing bright green colour and contained fresh fruit garnishes in each of our mugs. The Hawaiian Tea Party Punch consisted of Bacardi Carta Blanca rum, Blue Curaçao and Cointreau with sweet almond, pineapple, lime and lemonade. It was a wonderfully sweet mixture of alcohol and fun flavour and we both really enjoyed it. There was plenty of cocktail in the tea pot so you could easily have shared this with a larger group of friends all gathering for a catch up and a drink!
The great thing about the food menu at Revolucion de Cuba is that there are so many options to choose from! The menus are all online at https://www.revoluciondecuba.com/bar/sheffield/menus/ if you fancy checking them out prior to your visit. There is a real variety of meal choices and plenty of different offers to reduce prices if you visit at different times of the day. The Revolucion de Cuba website will show all of the latest offers and events they are running. I also absolutely loved that they had a separate and extensive vegan section. I personally am not vegan so we didn’t choose these options but I was really pleased to see a restaurant thinking about inclusivity of all dietary requirements! As our starter, Richard and I ordered three of the Tapas menu choices. Tapas are a wonderful Spanish tradition that are smaller sized dishes. They are an absolutely perfect option if you want to share dishes with a large group or even make a date night sociable. Sharing and choosing food with friends or your partner can certainly break the ice and make the entire meal very sociable and fun! We chose the chicken quesadillas first, these are a wonderfully authentic Spanish dish that involved sandwiching marinated chicken, chopped peppers and onions, spices and cheese in between two flour tortillas. This filled tortilla sandwich is fried until crisp and flavoursome, melting all of the contents and intensifying the flavour palette. I love quesadillas and the Revolucion de Cuba recipe was moreish and definitely not to be missed! Richard is a huge fan of seafood and it’s not often a dish we would cook at home so he chose the Gambas Pil Pil which are huge king prawns that have been tossed in a sauce made from chilli, butter and garlic. The flavours here combined beautifully and gave a harmonious, delicious effect. The chorizo croquetas were our wild card! We knew of the conventional croquette potato cylinders that you can find in the frozen aisle in Western shops. However, this dish was far more than that! The intensity of the chorizo flavour worked really well with the milder, smooth potato centre of the fried croquetas. I loved the addition of the garlic aioli which is a creamy sauce similar to mayonnaise. All of these dishes tasted really great and the colourful presentation of each of these was superb. You could savour this food visually as well as orally through their delicious flavour combinations. Tapas is also often three for £14 on a Monday-Saturday or two for one on a Sunday currently so that’s a great deal! 
Our gastronomic delight didn’t stop there! Richard and I both chose to have one larger dish as a main course now we had sampled our Tapas starter. Richard loves paella and had it almost every night when we went on holiday to Spain recently so I was definitely not surprised that he ordered the Paella de Cuba. This dish was perfectly balanced; it included spiced rice topped with jumbo king prawns, chorizo and marinated chicken. Alongside the meat accompaniments, there was plentiful chopped tomato, pepper and onion within this dish and a side salad accompaniment. Richard absolutely loved it, he found the dish well-rounded and each spice and flavour complimented the next one! It was a slight twist on the conventional Spanish paella but it was a positive twist since Revolucion de Cuba had dialled back the overwhelming chilli heat sometimes found in the Spanish version, ensuring that each of the other flavours had their time to shine! I decided to go for a slightly smaller lunch dish with the Halloumi Wrap. I adore halloumi and you’ll often find us grilling our own over the slightly warmer months when we host barbecues for friends. This halloumi wrap had a delicious smoky salsa dressing with bountiful vegetable fillings including lettuce, black beans, onions and peppers. The light flour tortilla was bursting with these great flavours in the filling. This was accompanied with fries which I upgraded to the Cajun Cream Fries which were crispy fries topped with a tasty, rich cajun cream sauce. Richard also added fries to his meal – his portion was absolutely huge and the Cheesy Cuban Fries were topped with a creamy cheese sauce and smoked paprika sprinkling. We both loved our main courses, once again we were thrilled by unique flavour palettes that were rich with Cuban Latin inspiration. If you’re less adventurous with your food choices than we were then I would urge you to look at the Revolucion de Cuba menu at https://www.revoluciondecuba.com/bar/sheffield/menus/ before you decide where you eat. There are more conventional choices on the menu such as burgers, sandwiches and wraps if you prefer those.
Richard and I weren’t to be deterred by our full stomachs as we continued on to choose desserts rich in Cuban roots and traditions. This wouldn’t be a Latin-inspired menu without churros appearing in the dessert section! Churros are piped sticks of light doughnut batter that are fried until crispy and covered in sugar. These were served with a chocolate sauce and a rum caramel dipping sauce. I loved the twist on the traditional chocolate dip with the inclusion of the rum caramel option and these churros were absolutely as good as the ones I ate in Spain! Richard was pretty full from his delicious savoury choices so opted for the Coconut Ice Cream option which was three scoops of rich coconut ice cream, sprinkled with toasted coconut and a grilled pineapple slice. I loved the pineapple leaf garnish which really elevated the dessert! Plus, the flavours were perfect to cleanse the palette after a wonderfully spiced Cuban feast! 
Overall, I would absolutely recommend Revolucion de Cuba in every way! The food was truly delicious and looked beautiful on the plate. Plus, I felt that the recipes were authentic and had plenty of different nutritious ingredients. Every dish was so tasty and we thoroughly enjoyed the food! I can fully understand why Revolucion de Cuba is praised for its cocktails; the sharing teapot Richard and I ordered had quirky, vintage presentation and a sweet, fruity taste. The menus were really different in the fact that the food menu was presented as a Cuban newspaper and the drinks menu had really informative cartoon drawings of each drink. You could tell that there was fun and laughter in the designs of these and I really loved that vibe. This fun definitely continued with the Cuban-themed decor of the space. Revolucion de Cuba has a very large space in the Sheffield location but they had filled this with bright decorations, nods to Latin culture and plenty of greenery. You could tell that the location was very popular and the bubbly, jovial vibe was definitely contagious. The access was great throughout the building. The entrance from the street had a slight ramp to get in through the entrance doorway and the ramp into the building was smooth and easy to wheel over. This level-access continued through the space and there was a large open dance floor that made my journey through to the disabled toilet from the table very easy. The disabled toilet had all the necessary hand rails and adjustments but was slightly smaller in area than some other toilets we have visited. I could still easily turn in my WHILL Model C powered chair but larger mobility scooters might have to be parked outside the toilet door. The staff were really helpful in explaining the menu and some of the more unusual Cuban dishes to us. They were quick to top up empty water jugs and were always on hand with smiles and conversation throughout our visit. If you’re in the Sheffield area then please do give Revolucion de Cuba a visit! (https://www.revoluciondecuba.com/bar/sheffield/) If you’re further afield but within the UK then please do click the link to find out more about the nearest Revolucion de Cuba to you. Thank you for a wonderful visit!
