I had made a booking via mail over the weekend for...

I had made a booking via mail over the weekend for the next Friday. On Monday I called to confirm the booking and to change the booking to an hour later. The hostess confirmed changing the booking from 8pm to 12am which was great! When we got to Cubana on Friday at about 7:30pm, arriving 30min early for our dinner booking, the hostess told us that we were late for our reservation and our table had been given to someone else, without so much as a phone call. As I looked down at the untidy hand written list, my name was still pencilled in for 7pm. We were allowed to sit in the VIP area while we awaited the manager, who insisted that we were late and nothing could be done. He said we shouldn't have been late and was quite rude about it actually, never acknowledging any fault on their side. Even when I explained everything and said that it's not our fault because we were in fact on time, he said, "Not according to our records." and "lets not argue about the situation", etc. All this, instead of being diplomatic and apologising for the mix up and just assisting us with a table as best he could; which would have been the appropriate thing to do. We were told we could stay in the VIP area until 9pm, which was when the next patrons would arrive. While we sat and waited for someone to take our order, we noticed that we were just being ignored. To add insult to injury, it was the second stop of my friend's bachelorette party. Even though the manager eventually came back and said that he had organised us a table, it was too late because the mood had already been dampened. We left not long thereafter. I think it's definitely about who they know or who the regulars are who gets preferential treatment. I will never go back because it's definitely not worth all the exclusivety. If I could rate zero stars I would.