Recommends

JoeB1

Joined 2 years ago

live music & eye candy. Good food, happy hour deals, live music and a good lookin crowd.

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LeannS

Joined 2 years ago

Live music in the evening hours truly make it special!. I love the place more for their live music on display than the food because there is room to dance and definitely is truly a special. I have not seen other locations were you would be eating a cuisine and then go dance to real live music. The food itself is great and the customer service is very lively and polite. The food comes out fast which is a big plus but its well prepared. The only thing is that the music is a little too loud to hear the waiters but I guess it comes with the territory of having live music and the experience.

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Aaron21

Joined 3 years ago

Felt like being in the real Havana!. Being there the first time, I was a bit skeptical but as the band started to play, the restaurant came alive with music and become the spot to go. The food is delicious and have creative names for some of their dishes. The food is well prepared and serve hot. Havana Central makes you feel if you were on a tropical island, enjoying the food with live music from the natives!

Doesn't Recommend

amj237ny

Joined 5 years ago

Bad!. I wanted this place to be great - we live nearby, and paella is my fave! It was just AWFUL! Even my husband, who will eat ANYTHING and love it, did not finish his dinner and said "never again!" The Paella is super salty. The vegetables were so coated in pepper, they were inedible. The "chicken and rice" was really just the paella rice with a few teeny chunks of chicken. The salad cobbano was pretty good.. Just blah food.

The atmosphere is kinda fun though - wouldn't be bad for just drinks, maybe after work. But the dishes we tried were pretty lame..

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max26

Joined 9 years ago

Fave NY restaurant thus far. Being new to NYC, my restaurant range here still needs some expanding, but I have probably been here six or more times.

I am in love with the Pernil Asasado, which sometimes can be a little too salty - but hey it is such an guilty pleasure. I also always get the beef empanadas to start which are the best empanadas I have had in NY (though only had at 2 other places).

I usually get, keeping w/ the namesake, a Cuba LIbre but so often my companions get Havana Central's Mojito I am often stealing theirs, along w/ parts of their entree. I'd recommend going during their Happy Hour to lower the drink expense which is overpriced at $10+ per.

One night I caught the live music which was terrific and people danced too. Those nights when packed are fun, though sometimes when fewer people presetn they let the temperature drop too uncomfortably chilly.

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marisa 17

Joined 3 years ago

Affordable, Great Decor, Comfy. I have been to all 3 Havana Central's in the city and this by far is the best one! It is spacious and nicely decorated. My friend and I come here all the time. We enjoy either a big plate of arroz con pollo (chicken with rice) or the lighter Cubano (sandwich) for dinner. Their red sangria is smooth and has a definite punch. We feel at home when we come to Havana Central because the staff is so nice and courteous.

One time, they took our leftovers to the back to pack them up but someone had thrown them away on accident. After we waited for a bit, the waitress came out with a big bag of rice and beans to take home. They had freshly cooked them just for us.

The music tends to be a little loud so be prepared... either way, I love havana central. Try out the one in Times Square, it is also very nice!

Doesn't Recommend

jnasuti

Joined 5 years ago

don't order food over the phone!. I ordered a cobb salad and baked sweet potato over the phone, asked for extra salad dressing. They show up with vegetarian salad. I called to complain. They said they don't offer regular cobb salad even though it was on the web menu. They did offer to make it for me. So, second delivery shows up, correct salad, one dressing which spilled all over the place, and sweet potato fries, not baked. I called to complain, and they said they don't have baked sweet potatoes even though it was on the menu. They offered to resend salad dressing. I've been waiting over one half hour and it hasn't showed up yet.

Doesn't Recommend

JillM74

Joined 4 years ago

Less then impressed. Our family and friends ate at Havana Central for Mothers Day, and it was one of the worst dining experiences we've had in a long time.

While some of the food (Empenadas and Arroz Con Pollo) were very good the rest of the food was luke warm, and poorly prepared. First of all, half of our appetizers never came out. Then, my husband ordered his steak well done and it came out rare. We asked our waitress to fix it, but by the time someone brought it back almost 30 minutes had passed and it wasn't even hot. We ended up paying 25 dollars for a late lukewarm steak.

Throughout the night, we didn't even get good service. Everything was extremely slow. The appetizers we got came to our table without any silverware or plates to eat them with. I also had to go to the bar just to get a glass of water.

Our waitress seemed very nice, but she didn't seem like she knew what she was doing. Other people needed to bring us half of our food (we never even got the desserts we ordered) and she told our friends they could buy a special for 30 dollars that included a seafood salad, a glass of sangria, and a personal picture but then she charged us for both the 30 special and 20 extra for the salad. We never even got the picture

When the manager finally came over, he was extremely rude to us, and tried to tell us we would have to pay for both the salad and the special even though it was our waitresses mistake. Even after he fixed our check, he told us if we came back he would not give us a discount again. We are not the type of people who want to get free food, but we don't expect to pay fifty dollars for something that we were told cost thirty.

Maybe they're not usually this bad, but, we just were not happy. We really had wanted a nice get together, we got a ruined mothers day. We definitely do not plan to go back.

Doesn't Recommend

KMM

Joined 4 years ago

Dishonest place. Have to say the food was good...but the place left a bad taste in my mouth when I got my banking statement and realized that even though I left cash on the table for the waitress and wrote "cash" on the tip line my card was charged an additional amount of money for a tip that I did not authorize. I work in the restaurant industry and know that someone took it upon themselves to rip me off. I feel that is extremely dishonest as we took care of our waitress and got robbed in return:( No bueno

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CSMobileUser

Joined 5 years ago

Laidback and lovely. This place was extremely welcoming and the food reminds me of what mom used to cook and I can't wait to bring her here!