Havana’s

The food was great!!! Only thing I can complain about was we had a long wait until our food arrived but hey stuff happens…

After ordering the $ 13.50 oyster basket. It came with all of 4 oysters and the rest was fries. It was good but not worth the money.

We enjoyed a late night dinner after a long drive at this casual comfortable spot along the main drag to Carolina Beach boardwalk and carnival area. We had the award winning clam chowder and it was creamy, thick, clam-​packed and flavorful — could have been a degree or two hotter in temp, though. We split the Scallops Casino and it was quite good but almost almost! overcooked on the scallops. I lived the risotto and spinach accompaniment. Service was a bit neglectful, our drinks went dry… The porch was a lovely spot to feel the breeze, look at the lights and do some covert people-​watching.

Very nice atmosphere!!! My husband and I along with our 7 month old daughter went here for dinner! We went around 4pm because of her schedule so it was not crowded at all! We sat outside facing the Main Street, so it was entertaining for all of us! Lol!
We had two apps, the volcano shrimp and the crab dip! Both were great! Main entrees were shrimp and grits and the fresh catch of the day which was mahi mahi with sweet pea risotto and broccoli! My husband and I were both pleased with our meals!
We had great service as well! The manager came around also to check on us, which is always a nice touch!
Highly recommend if you are looking for a good sit down, no rush dinner!

I came here a month ago & I’m still not over the horrible way we were treated. I’ve been here on at least 10 other occasions. It’s nothing special, an over priced frozen seafood restaurant! Our friends like it so we decided to give it another try. Huge mistake. After ordering the scallops on a salad, I questioned the price. I had a bowl on mediocre lettuce & 4 small scallops. It was $ 20! The «manager» came over with an attitude & preceded to lecture me. After disagreeing with him, he slammed his hands on the table & shouted at me. Not only was it extremely rude & unnecessary, I had already stated that I was paying my bill but felt the price was ridiculous for the amount of food. He never apologized for screaming, «you’re not listening to me» and being a total jerk but did bring me a free appetizer certificate. The manager also stepped in front of me in a threatening manner as we were leaving. There is nothing that will ever make me return to this restaurant ever again!!!

My parents and I ate at Havana’s on Mother’s Day. We started with the calamari with Thai chili sauce that was excellent. I had the grouper Carolina style which was amazing! My dad had the scallops which were cooked to perfection. My mom had the flounder plate with shoestring fries and it was also delicious. All around a wonderful dinning experience and would highly recommend.

Nice variety of food and drink options! The service was quick and the food was delicious. I got the bison burger and a bloody marry. They have indoor, outdoor and patio seating. If you have a larger part I recommend making a reservation or calling ahead.

Reasonably priced for lunch. Calm chowder was delicious and served at the perfect temperature. The cranberry Cole slaw was very fresh and great for the spring season. My husband got the fish basket the fish was cooked well and the fries were shoestring froes.

Great food, for lunch recommend chicken sandwich (huge and delicious). Dinner is a bit crowded but worth it. I feel the restaurants atmosphere and food are both great. If visiting I would definitely go here and give it a try while on holiday.

This has been a nice relaxing meal. The food is fabulous. They say they shift things out regularly on the menu depending on what fresh. The appetizers all the way through the dessert was great! We sat on the porch and enjoyed people watching, talking, and the wonderful weather. They serve wine and drafts and bottled beers. We had wait staff checking on us a lot. People were dressed nice to casual.

We stumbled on this place while looking for lunch. The lobster bisque was amazing! Everyone kept saying the clam chowder was the way to go but I ordered the bisque again for dinner. They just launched a new menus and I’m pretty excited to come back and try new things.

The curb appeal drew us in for their advertised award winning clam chowder. Chowder turned out to be excellent and the Bloody Mary was great too. Our service was very friendly and attentive. I wish I had a bigger appetite but I will be back!

By my experience, Havana’s is good — albeit a mite pricey — for what is delivered.
Both times we have ate there, the service has been impeccable. Enjoyed dining on the front porch once, and on the outside patio area the second time. Both good experiences.
Food– overall I would rate Havana’s food is good. Excellent shrimp and grits, volcano shrimp was good and Fried Oysters were ok.
I’ll go back there for dinner, provided I want to spend as much money as dinner there costs.

This was a great place. Cool atmosphere. Great food. The curry crabcaje was awesome. Went to Kure Beach as a bday gift. Wat a nice town

One star — bc the food we ordered came to the table.
Two stars — bc the building was nice.
I don’t like to give bad reviews, but I struggle here.
I’ll say this, the restaurant is called Havana’s — yet there was not even a Cuban Sandwich on the menu. You draw your own conclusions.

Very inconsistent given our visits there over the years. Last meal was the worst Fried Oysters I’ve ever had — actually were more soggy than crisp/​fried — thankfully there were few of them (in spite of the high price). Also was accompanied by one of the worst Caesar Salads ever had (a Food Lion bagged version would have been far better). Upon my complaining, the waiter and the evening-​manager then avoided our table and, of course, fully charged for the disappointing food.
Retail consultants often advise: «Shop/​eat at your competition!» The owner of Havana’s needs to heed this advice, as much of his competition in and near Carolina Beach continues to improve while Havana’s seems to struggle more with its consistencies and qualities (as well as customer caring). Maybe the very recent closing of the Wilmington Havana’s will allow ownership to quickly right this wavering (sinking?) ship.

Waited forever! Rude server! Waited another hour for our food! Instant mashed potatoes! WAY over priced for the quality of the food! Manager talked down to us and gave lame excuses as to why we were having such a bad experience!!! This was our second time and an equally bad experience as the first! Won’t be back!!!

My parents went to Havana’s for brunch when they visited once, and really enjoyed it, so my husband and I decided to take our brother-​in-​law and his girlfriend here when they were visiting, for their last vacation dinner.
I LOVE the seating options. There are a few areas inside, some great outdoor seating, and a screened in patio for a nice in-​between option. I’m a little bit confused about what Havana’s is going for — it’s somewhat «fancy» but then there is cornhole next to the outdoor seating. Bit of an odd combo as a random side note. Anyway…
I always look at menus ahead of time since I have some dietary limitations (I know, I know…). I saw that they had a bunch of pastas and figured they could modify something for me. Cool.
We were served rolls with an herb butter. The rolls were either stale (if you asked my husband) or crunchy (if you asked me). I liked ‘em personally. My unsweet iced tea was way too light in color, but considering how gross the plain CB water is, it was better than nothing.
I asked our waitress if I could get a vegetarian pasta and she said, «What did you have in mind?». I said something to the effect of, «Anything? Whatever your chefs can do?» and she informed me the sauces are all pre-​created and can’t be modified. I know I’ve been spoiled by restaurants like Manna and Rx where I can just ask them to make me a surprise vegetarian plate and have magic happen in front of me. I’m also pretty skilled at cooking and understand that they could make me a vegetarian pasta for about $ 2 worth of ingredients and charge me $ 20 for it. So to not even be offered a simple solution like garlic and oil with some veggies was odd to me. I ordered the one option — the Mediterranean Salad.
The salad was fine. Greens, a few grilled veggies, a feta vinaigrette. As I looked around my table I realized everyone felt like their meals were «fine» at best. With Havana’s prices, «fine» isn’t really fine. It was disappointing to know that was the last meal in town for our guests.
My tips for Havana’s:
~You don’t have to cater to special diets but as they become more common, I do think it’s important for you to have versatile chefs who can — and enjoy — getting creative. You lose customers otherwise.
~Food has to be better than «fine» if you want repeat customers
Won’t be rushing back, but may give it another try sometime.

Third time proves to be a charm, and in my opinion, Havana’s has redeemed itself from my previous visit. I was honestly dreading going back for the tie-​breaking review meal for a while, and even more so when I heard that a new head chef had just recently been promoted from in-​house.
Before I get to the meal, let me take a minute to talk about the importance of confident, knowledgable waitstaff: they’re worth there weight in gold, so any restauranteur reading this, take heed, get the right staff, train them well, and then give them the freedom to let their personalities come through while they sell the heck out of your specials! Our waiter, Tony, was fantastic. Not only did he have the specials down, he could also speak to the ingredients that went into them, which is refreshing when it happens because it doesn’t happen enough. The kitchen staff were also on their «a-​game», which I hope is a reflection of leadership and setting standards by the new chef.
Now, there is obviously very little surprises in this follow-​up review, the title gives away the fact that I can now honestly recommend Havana’s for a very nice, reasonably priced dining experience. My starter was the seafood chowder, and it was delicious. A little heavy on the bacon (did I really just say that?) in a seafood chowder, but that’s more of an observation than a complaint. A nice mix of seafood, with just enough well-​cooked potatoes to fill in the gaps, all wrapped in a very smooth peppery sauce.
As per usual, I ordered the same meal as before, the «French Quarter» pasta dish, which is a generous portion of penne, with a spicy Andouille sausage, grilled chicken, and shrimp, in a cajun cream sauce.
Read the rest of my follow up review at my blog:

Here on a weekend away. Later dinner on a Friday night in the off-​season. Reception was nice, waiters good, and everyone generally upbeat. The other places on the street had a different vibe (weird) so this place was a nice change.
Food was very solid. Charlie’s chowder was all it was cracked up to be. Definitely try it. Roasted veggie salad was also tasty and done correctly (not soggy). My brother ordered the bison burger and it was a bit too rare but he went for it anyway. It was flavorful and looked great on the plate.
Prices were just so-​so. Fries just average. Beer selections moderate. We would go back for the comfortable atmosphere.