Havana NY

This is not a review yet. .. I guess my 5-​stars is for the fact that Havana NY is re-​opening down the block at 58 West 38^th Street. .. I can’t wait to try it!
Construction is in progress. .. I work nearby so I look inside when I’m walking by to check on the work. Hopefully soon! The space actually looked like a restaurant when I saw it. .. 2 months ago it was just a construction site.

I was roaming the streets being a visitor of NY and randomly stepped into Havana. It did NOT disappoint. It was lunch time so I enjoyed the seafood sopa, empanadas trio & of course a classic mojito. My entire meal was delicious and the experience was topped off by the cozy yet festive vibe of the restaurant.

Been here several times and always yummy! Great food and great drinks. Perfect place for either dinner or drinks and apps.
Favorite drinks: traditional red sangria & mango mojitos!
Favorite staple appetizers: guacamole and plantain chips, empanadas (especially lobster)
Favorite staple entrees: steak with chimichuri
Most importantly… They have wonderful specials every day!!! Last time we had a wonderful steak and shrimp skewers and a branzino stuffed with crab entrée.
Ask to sit in Starling’s section. He always provides great service!

Mediocre Mid Town Cuban spot. Food is just ok, and since its simple cuban food paying regular midtown restaurant prices feels a little inflated.

We anticipated a party of 8, turns out, one of our friends was asked to leave the dining area because she wasn’t sure the number of ppl to expect. Mind you the temp outside was 18degrees cold. –Star deducted.
Upon arrival of all 6 of the 8 guests, some jerky of a host/​manager asked to move us to a smaller table because we didn’t order fast enough. –another star deducted.
Horrible service. We hold numerous meetups in the city and this place deserves no notarity at all due to the high turn over table manners.

The Havana NY appetizer was tasty, however temperature wise it was not hot. The skirt steak with chimichurri and rice and beans were absolutely delicious. Sangria was pretty good, slightly juice heavy.
On a service-​level I was extremely disappointed. Our waiter was great during our dinner. When we mention that we had a $ 25
voucher he had to get a manager, «I’m just a server I can handle things like that.» The manager declined the voucher regardless of the fact that it stated there was no expiration date. He stated that there was new ownership since the voucher was purchased. Granted the dispatcher was more than a year old, he clearly stated there was no expiration date.
As stated before the food was tasty. Is disappointing that the $ 38 appetizer was cold. I wish I’d said something at the time. The fact that a manager can’t honor a $ 25 voucher, is ridiculous. In reality I’m sure they’ve comp’d $ 25 worth of food or drink at another time. There are a lot of other great Cuban restaurants in the city. I would not go back here again.

When did it get so noisy???
The food is great and I always feel like I’m eating authentic Cuban food. My one complaint here is that I wish there were just a few more different entrees to choose from.
When I first found this place, it was a very friendly and homey restaurant where the wait staff, bartender and sometimes even the manager (or maybe he’s the owner?) greet you as if you’re a long lost friend. Now it’s gotten «hip» and it’s crowded and loud and they rush you out so they can turn the tables over faster.
Last night’s dinner from being seated to leaving was less than an hour! The waitress told us the specials and then asked immediately if we’re ready to order.
Umm…no, give me a few minutes to think about it. So she came back in less than 2 minutes.
Throughout dinner, my friend and I were yelling at each other across the table because the place was pretty packed. So many voices, all at very loud volumes. We were in the back so it wasn’t like we were by the bar.
When the check came at the end of the meal, my friend and I continued to chat and the waitress came back, again in less than 2 minutes, to pick it up. Ummm… no, we’re not ready. Then she came back twice more, each about a minute apart. Sheesh!
As we were leaving, I noticed there was no one waiting for a table (plus there was an empty table set for 6 right behind us), so it wasn’t like there were waiting customers.
I like the food, but I think I’ll find another more friendlier place to dine in the area.

Love this place!! I’m there just about Every Time I’m in the city. Jalapeño mango mojito is delish!!!
Sterling is the best server I’ve ever had. Took my friends there for my birthday dinner and they too loved it.
The service is great overall and they are always polite. The food is a must have.
I especially like the mofongo with steak on a bed of guacamole. !!!the empanadas are also great especially the lobster one.

The only thing and it may not be their fault is the front of the restaurant. due to the construction, the entrance is blocked from view.
good portions, tasty, reasonable price, friendly staff. they didn’t rush us off.

I have been here numerous times and never been disappointed. Ask to sit in starlings section, great waiter with enthusiasm and knows the menu and has great recommendations.
They used to be on savory which you were able to save discount on bill by making reservation, however the seem to be no longer affiliated with this app :(
Great setting for dinner with friends or on a date. The front is more causal which is good to have an app and a drink but recommend sitting in the back.
The drinks are amazing especially the pitchers of red sangria.
Always start with the guacamole and plantain chips, very authentic! They have great specials for appetizers and dinners. The best special which I think they should include on the menu is the paella. You can get for one or 2. You can easily share this. Recently for 10 dollars more you can add chorizo and chicken. Highly recommend!
You should def check this place out looking for drinks. Apps or dinner you will not be disapointed!

I came to celebrate my sister’s b’day last wk (at the Roosevelt Field location) We had a wonderful time! There was a band playing… I believe the name was Triple M Fiesta? (sorry if I got that wrong). They did a superb job entertaining everyone! On Saturdays, there’s this other band. Not bad… but they play the same routine every time. I think that band’s name is YeraSon. Saturdays are usually busy… Triple M Fiesta should come around then… Just a suggestion since they’re totally AWESOME! I always have a great time here, eating great food with great people. The manager always greets us – we feel right at home: D

I’m a big fan of Cuban so I was excited to try it. The ambience was really cute. The restaurant itself was a little hard to locate since the sigh was above a travel agency many doors away. I really wanted to love this place. Like really.
We went for happy hour and ordered 4 appetizers; the calamari, beef empanadas, a yuca steak dish and the chicharron chicken dish. The best thing was the churri sauce. Everything else lacked flavor. The chicken which ended up just being glorified chicken fingers were so bad we had to send them back. The steak was so fatty I couldn’t eat it.
We ordered 2 rounds of drinks. The first being sangria. No real alcohol in it but that wasn’t that surprising since it’s sangria. We switched to margaritas thinking there would be more alcohol. To no avail.
Such a bummer this place wasn’t good. Don’t even bother trying it. It’s a waste of time and money.

good but not great, nothing special unfortunately… mojito was pretty decent. Had the seafood paella special, it was okay — the shellfish did not taste very fresh, flavor was a bit lacking. My fiancé got the rope vieja — we are huge fans of rope vieja and get it anywhere we can. This rope vieja was again decent but nothing spectacular, a bit lacking on the flavor. Was a fine meal but I don’t think we will go back as there are just so many better places to try in NYC.

Really great for a date-​night — super romantic vibe and candle-​lit tables. Very authentic Cuban food with great atmosphere. The tequila lime chicken was in an excellent creamy sauce that was the perfect complement to the grilled chicken. Definitely order with yellow rice and black beans. The pitcher of sangria was enough for 4 people too.
Definitely on the pricey end for main courses though. Spent $ 40 on dinner with a main course and splitting the pitcher of sangria between friends.

Overpriced and just mediocre. I won’t be coming back. The yellow rice looked orange more than yellow and their signature dish was simply too salty. The mojitos were good. The shank was surprisingly delicious but that’s the only highlight of my evening. Thanks but no thanks!

Last minute decision to eat here on Valentines… And «ehhhhh» sums up my overall experience. However I really wanted to love this place after looking at some of the food photos in other peoples’ reviews
For starters there was only the Valentines menu to order from which is quite limited and I’m pretty sure the prices were inflated compared to what the normal menu listed prices would have been.
I got the skirt steak (medium) which comes with a side of rice (opted for yellow) and beans (opted for black). The steak flavor wise was not bad however the temperature of my steak was more like «warm» than hot almost like it had been sitting out for far too long. My rice was pretty much almost room temperature but whatever I was starving so I ate it. My bf got the shredded beef which was not bad however a little on the salty side. For dessert we got the tres leeches cake and it tasted pretty good no complaints on that.
All in all the food was not worth the price we paid. Again it might be different because we came here on Valentines but sorry $ 30 for just my warm to almost room temp average food is a no no … Just saying

I had checked out this Cuban joint during lunch rush couple of days ago. Just ordered shredded beef in creole sauce with red beans and yellow rice for the main entrée. But due to the waiter & the busboy’s synchronized performance of ADD, my platter ended up with white rice. I didn’t complain since waiting for another 20 minutes for the correct rice to appear wasn’t my option. Maybe it was because of the rush hour or other factors, service was super slow for our party of 3 — also the waiter & busboy seemed bit overwhelmed.
Back to the food, texture of the beef was smooth and broke gently with the fork although it was a little salty for my taste — the creole sauce was fantastic & the beans was done to obvious perfection!

One Saturday evening, my boyfriend and I had two hours to burn before meeting up with friends. So we came to Havana and sat at the bar for their happy hour. Their mojitos and margaritas come in a variety of fruity flavors — but they were too sweet and disappointingly weak. Same goes for the sangria — it’s mostly ice and water. So go for alcohol content and get their Cuban Iced Tea! Our food order consisted of fried calamari, skirt steak, and cured pork. And while everything was tasty, their appetizer portions were TINY. Probably not coming back, but judging from the other reviews, our experience here could have been better if we sat in for dinner instead.

Came here one day with one of my besties during our lunch break.
The atmosphere was great but the food/​service was even better.
I had the lightly breaded shrimp, rice and fried green plantains. He had some kind of pork with rice and beans (sorry I don’t remember much about his dish, lol).
The prices are pretty average for the area (restaurant wise). No complaints whatsoever…
Just try it, you won’t be disappointed
Try it for yourself!

My sister and I came here for a late lunch on a Monday afternoon, and it was great!
They have a great happy hour 3−7pm with half price drinks and appetizers. We were about 15 minutes early, but they still gave me the happy hour sangria which was $ 4 for a huge glass of sangria filled with tons of apples, pineapple, orange, and even a cherry. It was great and very refreshing!
We both got sandwiches — I got the traditional Cubano and my sister got the Cubano but on the egg bread (each one was $ 10). Both sandwiches were HUGE and could have served 2 people. The bread was slightly over toasted and dry, but the garlic spread made it taste moist still. They were also served with a hefty portion of perfectly fried green plantain chips.
We were totally stuffed but we both love fried plantains so we ordered a ($ 5) side of fried sweet plantains. It was a very large portion and there was more than enough for both of us.
Overall, the food was great, satisfying, and definitely large enough portions to fill you up! I would like to come back here and try some additional items off the dinner menu.