Havana Central

Loved the passion fruit lemonade. The mango one was awesome too. The food was great. When we got there it wasn’t busy but started to pick up around 6. The waiter was very polite and always checked in on us. The place is on the small side, I don’t kno how big the other locations are. My girlfriend loved the brocoli and cheese empanada and i enjoyed the plantain chips with guacamole. Over all it was a great experience and I’ve already recommended it to some friends.

Enjoyed a great dinner with my girlfriend at this location of skirt steak, rice and black beans. Service was good, seating was immediately, the atmosphere was overall happy.
It was a good time had by all!!! I’ve not been in that area in a while, and I’ve heard rumors that they closed this location, if that is the case I am sorry to see it go.

Ordered lunch here the other day. Got pernil with rice and beans. The pork was a bit bland. The beans also could have been more flavorful. It was decent, but you can probably get a better lunch at Tina’s or Sophie’s for a fraction of the price.
But in the past when I ate in, the food was really good, so maybe this lunch was just a fluke.

Big disappointment. There is NOTHING Cuban about the dishes, they are blandly spiced and come with what must be Wonder bread while marked up with high prices.
Servers are nice which is what makes it hard to give it one star but I expected SO MUCH BETTER. There is just no love in the food.

HMMM Where to begin…
its just ok, i have not been here in a few years, now i know why.
Had the pernil … dry and kind of cold, i would of liked it to be warmer…
go to a real Cuban place is you want good food… Enough said

Havana Central is a fun and cheesy place with festive and tropical décor that captures the happy Latin spirit. I dig the ambiance but the food was a big disappointment. I must say it was the worst ropa vieja I’ve ever had! Urgh, so dry and tasteless! Qué asco! And their pollo al ajillo too was so sub-​par and bland, I’ve had much better one elsewhere! Sangria is ok, I like how the waitress brings all the ingredients and make it right in front of us, which was entertaining. My friend was happy with his Cuban sandwich and maduros, but other than that everything else sucked. I think it’s an OK place to come with a group of friends to have a drink and have some little side dish to munch on, but don’t expect authentic Cuban food.

Never again. Overpriced. Dingy. Wilted iceberg lettuce in my $ 14 salad. To top it off a COCKROACH fell from the ceiling, into my hair and scurried across the floor where the lady at the next table stomped on it. Server apologized and comped us our drinks and apps which came out to $ 40something dollars but he only deducted $ 30 from the bill. We hurried out of there but the manager slipped us some two for one mojito coupons before we left saying, we hope you come back. Fat chance.
I should have known to go somewhere else after seeing that the sanitation inspection grade was still pending. Never again.

The traditional mojito ($ 9.50) is refreshingly sparkly, with a nice blast of mint and lime. From the interior and clientele you would expect a Dallas BBQ grade sweet bomb. That said, I felt like I was at a mall in the middle of suburbia. Yes, glorified mall food.
The avocado lobster app was so so. The avocado was cold as ice and the lobster was a tablespoon of mayo away from tuna salad.
Then comes the abomination that is my shrimp mofongo. I should have noticed when the waiter made a face and told me to order the shrimp instead of the chicken. At least the shrimp was the saving grace. Next to a sea of canned spaghetti sauce was a cliff of cold, rock hard «plantain mash». I scraped off the three shrimp on top, added it to the 9 others and drank up the red sea. The waiter was nice enough to offer another entrée, but after eying my boyfriend’s sloppy chicken and shrimp entrée, I declined.
For all those thinking Red Lobster is a classy joint, this overpriced Mecca of pretend Cuban is for you!

Took a ride on the dessert sampler.
Had my first kiss with the flan.
Got to second base with the tres leches.
Scored a home run with the churros (3 long pieces).
I just wish I had the balls to be more aggressive with the tres leches. I could’ve gotten my way.

This place has deteriorated considerably since it opened. The portions are smaller. The food is more expensive. The flavor was good but we had two appetizers, tiny, very tiny portions.
We had the cuban. That was good as were the desserts but again, too little for too much.
Service sucked. We had to wait. A lot.
Can we have a fork please.
Water maybe?
Where is the waiter?
We weren’t that happy the last time we were there a few months ago but wanted to give it another try.
So sad. Too bad. Started out great… not so much no more.

This restaurant is radiant. Bright colors emit the feel of being in the Caribbean.
The food: I had the Sugarcane Lime Chicken Salad which included
Tender oven-​roasted sugarcane chicken with avocado, red onions, black bean-​corn salad, tomato, tossed with our citrus coconut vinaigrette. Lets just say this was one of the best salads I have had at a restaurant.
One, they were not stingy with the avocado, so even in my last bite there was still some pieces lingering. Two, there was just enough citrus vinaigrette, not too much to drench the leaves, but not too little to have me parched.
The drink: The mango guava combo fruit shake was amazing! I need to take a trip to the Caribbean ASAP.
The music: It was interesting. I expected a little bit more beat and rhythm, from a Cuban restaurant with live music, but maybe it was just the night we went.

Came in for an early dinner and happy hour with coworkers. Sangria (4 kinds to choose from) were $ 5 a glass. Mojitos and Margaritas were $ 6 each. We all tried the White Sangria. It was fruity and sweet.
We started off with the Shrimp Ceviche and Empanada Sampler (beef, chicken and shrimp). The ceviche was served in a tall glass w/​lemon, cilantro seasoning and avocado. The empanadas were okay with the beef being the tastier of the three.
For mains we had the following:
— Picadillo (seasoned ground meat in a taco bowl w/​rice and beans on the side). My coworker liked her dish but said it tastes even better in her neighborhood.
–Ensalada con Pollo. The salad was mixed greens, avocado and red onions with a coconut, citrus dressing. The chicken was ‘meh.’
–Fried chicken and tostones. The fried chicken was done just right. If eaten with the spicy green sauce on the table, it’s pretty good. The tostones were bland so the cilantro and oil sauce has to be used for there to be any taste at all.
Overall, the food was just okay. We agreed that we’ve had better elsewhere. The drinks were a bargain since it was Happy Hour (5pm to 7pm). The service was friendly and attentive. Our water glasses were never left empty for more than 5 minutes.

I wasn’t wearing old clothes while ordering the ropa vieja from the Union Square outpost of Havana Central.
I’m certainly a fan of old clothes, the Spanish edible version that is and so I eagerly awaited the arrival.
I was distracted by the seleccion de aperitivos classicos, a tower of three plates that had chorizo and tostones on top, an empanada and corn in the middle and plantains and chicharrones on the bottom. It was like an edible jenga!
Given the fact that I was working on alcoholic drink no 2 and 3 of the evening, my hands were surprisingly steady lest I tip the tower of aperitivos classicos!
The aperitivos were all tasty, with highlights including the plantains and chorizo. I could have ordered three more towers to erect a fortress of food with mojito minarets.
Speaking of, the mojito was ordered in its pineapple variety. If you prefer another flavor, no problem– pomegranata, apple, coconut, and more were readily available. At $ 10 a pop they aren’t PBR price level but that’s all right– capitalism and cuban drinks don’t have to be strangers.
Now for my old clothes. It arrived atop a bed of yellow rice and a bowl of brown beans. The actually shredded beef was in circular form as if it had been ejected from a jello mold. Presentation aside, what of the taste?
Here is where I was ever so slightly disappointed. Keep in mind, the meat was fresh, the rice was not sticky and the beans were high in folate fun.
But the ropa vieja was on the dry side. I didn’t detect the tomato/​sofrito sauce I so crave when eating ropa vieja. It just wasn’t saucy enough.
Dessert redeemed the ropa vieja. Havana Central’s menu describes churros as Latin fried dough sticks, to which I commented that raviolis are therefore Italian dough pockets. Attempts at humor aside, the churros were indeed sticks of goodness dipped in either chocolate or caramel sauce. Or indulge in the naked churro and rely upon its natural cinnamon and sugar alone for pleasure.
Our waitress was friendly and adept at answering our various questions. Despite being fairly crowded we did not feel ignored at all. The entire staff was pleasant, with one member redirecting me to a lower level bathroom as the main floor’s was ocupado. From what I gathered, the main level bathroom door had trouble locking so beware.
Pricing on entrees, appetizers and desserts are definitely in the reasonable range as was the size of the plates. A fourth star is certainly within reach and if I exclude the ropa vieja, it’s already there.

My friend and I came here after some Buddhist activities (like church, only Buddhist) over at the SGI-​USA New York Culture Center on E. 15^th St. We got here around 1:30 PM on a Sunday, and the place was packed. The music was quite loud; kind of strange, considering I’d been here for lunch and dinner before, and there wasn’t any music.
She got a Cuban sandwich and steak fries («potato wedges» is a misnomer), both of which she liked, and neither of which I tried, so I can’t really comment on them. At $ 9, it seemed like a good deal, considering that the portion was so big, she only ate half of it. The sandwich looks a lot bigger than it appears on the photo and was, if I remember correctly, symmetrically cut. Apologies for the deceiving photo.
As for my apps-​as-​lunch, I got the empanada sampler ($ 8 for a choice of three, instead of $ 3 each). They’re all fried, with a variety of fillings. I got the shrimp sofrito (spices and taste were good, but the shrimp were so tiny, like bay shrimp, and chopped up; I was hoping for some big shrimpy chunks to sink my teeth into. Oh well.)
I also got the Cubano (supposedly with ham, pork, Swiss cheese, but I didn’t taste much of anything except for the ham and cheese). It would have been good if the sodium levels weren’t through the roof. My third empanada was a spinach and goat cheese. There wasn’t much goat cheese in it, but I was grateful for the large amount of veggies as I’d been eating a lot of meat lately and needed to balance it out.
Finally, I got the Havana corn on the cob, which is usually one ear cut into three pieces. But since there were two of us dining, the waitress was nice enough to have it cut into four pieces. The portion felt kind of small, and the corn itself tasted like it had been boiled too long, but the flavor was a heavenly combination of spices, cheese, and (I think) butter. It reminded me of the Mexican style grilled corn I had when I was in SoCal. So good I could almost forgive Havana Central for boiling the hell out of their corn instead of grilling it.
Since I only had two apps and water, my total came out to $ 11 before tax and tip. Not bad. Unilocal should have a «moderately cheap» price range for $ 11-​$ 20, because $ 30 is a big step away from $ 11.
The service was friendly and cheerful, which is always a welcome experience, but especially in cold NY weather! I liked that even though the place was completely packed by the time we ended our 2.5-hour meal, the waitress never tried to rush us out.

Moro was very good. The flavour of beans and rice and spices were perfect.
To start, we had Conch fritters: yum. We also had Chicken empanada: eh. Beef and Shrimp empanada were tastier. We had two dishes: pulled pork and the glazed salmon. The salmon was not quite fresh, but the glaze helped to cover for that. The pulled pork was on the dry side. The flavors were delicious. It was just not quite the freshest food.

Disappointedly they do not have any shrimp for their seafood selection of their menu. I was in the mood for Saffron rice with shrimp. Yet I was not anticipate for a «we have not shrimp in stock» as a response flat out. Thus, I resorted to a hamburger with salad which is one of the juiciest burgers I’ve tasted since my former love’s passion for cooking and food. I came here with a good friend from one of my social networking groups after seeing «Harry Potter 6: Half-​Blood Prince.»
Since I’ve never tried a white Sangria before I was disappointed as Havana completely watered it down. I felt like I was drinking water as there were no substance. There was also the additional disappointment of lacking non-​alcoholic beers in stock as my friend recently having sinus surgery is temporary unable to consume any alcohol.

Food and service are great! Love love the plantain chips and empanadas.
The astomsphere is good for groups.
The only drawback: I thought the drinks were a little weak…

I went back last night and for the first time in the 6 – 7 years I’ve been going, I got mediocre service and a dish that I wasn’t fond of. Our waitress messed up our appetizers (empenadas), took her some time to correct mine before bringing out the wrong order (wrong empanada)… By the time the correct one came out, we were halfway through our meal. I also tried the shrimp ceviche for the first time and it just looked pretty but tasted more like a shrimp cocktail. The shrimp was overcooked and wasn’t seasoned well. They obviously throw the ingredients together by each order instead of letting the shrimp sit and seep in the citrus.
When it came time to pay, we gave the waitress some cash and asked to put the rest on a credit card. She repeated our request before hurrying off. Five minutes later, she comes back and asked us how to we wanted to split the bill between the cash and credit card again. We’ve never had such a confused, scatter-​brained waitress anywhere before!

Came here for lunch several times and this place isn’t that bad. beef stew is really good and what my friends ordered (don’t recall what they ordered) were also good, too.
I was little puzzled by how take-​out was much cheaper than dining-​in although the serving size seem identical. So do a take-​out if you can.

New York is the greatest city in the world. Here you can hear 100 different languages and eat 100 different types of food. Don’t ask me why but I love Spanish food. No I LOOOOOOOOOOOVE Spanish food. Dominican style, Mexican, continental Spanish, PR, you name it I eat it. For breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks, cheat meal you name it. If it has cilantro, onion with green salsa IT“S ON. So when I happen upon a place that changes how I think about my favorite food I must write about it.
I started with the Chorizo con queso frito (for those who are not afraid of a little cholesterol), I followed that with the Camarones (which means ‘shrimp’ for all you peasants that don’t know a l’il espanol) something or other special. It was cooked with onions, peppers and spicy!!! The red beans were superbly appointed with garlic & onion. I had to stop myself from drinking them from out of the bowl. That’s homemade for sure. I had the lemonade and ended the meal with some gut busting churros (chocolate and caramel sauce on the side). My waitress was a lovely young lady. I was there late in the afternoon (2ish) expecting to hit the lunch crowd but I was seated right away. So to thwart my guilt I did not eat for the rest of the day. I mean who needs to.
Havana Central has me thinking, damn the government I’m going to Cuba right now!!! OK I’m kidding. But I hope it is legal soon (hint hint next President). Until then I am going to come to Havana Central to have a little island flavor. The last time I had food this flavorful and fresh I was in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico. I don’t know how I could have missed this place but it will be my go to when people «So where do you want to meet?» Meet me in Havana, Baby!!!