Havana Central

Had Jose at the bar – service was great and fast.
Great mojito

Mmm mmm mmm. That’s all I can say. The food here is amazing. Lost count of how many times wife and I have been here. I will never get tired of this place. Best Cuban food.

This is a great restaurant. Amazing food. The empanada was awesome and light. I had the vaca frita and was delicious! Our server, Madelyn is super nice and catered to our needs with a smile. Ill definitely be back son

Hmm where do I start?
Ropa Vieja… check.
Good calamares. check.
Pollo con camarones… check.
Nice décor… check
Friendly & attentive staff… check *shout out to Austin btw!*
Got my boo… check. *love ya babe!*
Some music pumpin’ *oontz oontz oontz*
Alright, I got everything, I can die happy. Yes, it’s that awesome.
This was a great experience. Good food and great place over all. The desserts were amazing. The calamari was addictive. it’s SOOOOO YUUUUUMMMM.
I might have to come back for more. :D

I’ve only been 3x — each time the service was exceptional, and the food was good (not spectacular, but good).

Went to havana central for the first time and we decided to have food and drinks at the bar. The décor is much nicer then we expected, great for social setting. A young woman named SK was serving us. She was informative on our questions and gave us good suggestions on food/​drinks. She made us delicious mojitos and a rum punch. I ordered mango salmon that was delicious! It came with spinach and yucca mash. Perfectly accompanied. She also informed us about their happy hour which offers really good items at unbeatable prices! What made this bar enjoyable was the chemistry of the girls behind the bar, (a shorter girl with long black hair, can’t pronounce her name) the energy was up and they worked very attentively for their guests. Hard to find! Will be back!

Went here with my gf and we got two lunch specials. 12.95 and you get the dish and two sides. I was worried about the portions but it turned out to be prefect for lunch. Our server, Sid, was friendly and personable. We will be back to try the dinner menu, although it seems a little pricey. based on lunch it seems worth it

Great Cuban food and excellent service. Must try the mojitos! I had the ropa vieja and it was great and order the trio empanadas it was yummy!

This was my first time at this new location and I was definitely impressed. Beautiful Cuban décor, live band was on point and the food and drinks were really good too. If you order a pitcher of sangria the waitress actually mixes the pitcher at your table and gives you a 30 second instruction, pretty neat. The prices are a tad bit higher than other Cuban restaurants but you’re paying for an overall experience. Bön appetite!

Havana Central came up on «What’s Hot on Unilocal» and look at that, it’s lunch time on a snow day, so I took the husband for a tropical treat.
The $ 12.95 lunch specials run from 12 til 4pm, and if you order one you can get a mojito for $ 6, regularly $ 9+. Service was a bit slow on a fairly quiet 2:30pm lunch. The drinks were good, made from what we believe were quality ingredients, but a bit too iced up for $ 9.50 at the regular price. 3 sips and the drink is gone.
Food was good and for the $ 12.95 price, a decent value. I had the chicken special with red beans and yellow rice. I was stuffed and really enjoyed it. M had the pork with black beans and yellow rice. He liked it a lot but thought he could have eaten just a bit more.
M wanted a beer rather than a second mojito but apparently all the beer lines were frozen so no drafts were available. Seriously that happened and he couldn’t bring himself to spend $ 7 on a bottle of whatever they had that everyone else sells for $ 4 or $ 5. Even $ 6 drafts were a bit much– no microbrews on tap here– just the regular ol’ Bud, Miller stuff for $ 6.
All in all a nice spot, good value for lunch, but the drinks are a bit overpriced.

Very nice décor — they nailed it with the interior design. The food was just ok — as I am comparing the taste to Martino’s in Somerville. We got the chicken chicharones as well as the beef rojas and Cuban sandwich.
The service was good and the drinks were also good. I would probably go back again, but if I had a choice I’d go to Martino’s instead.

Good food and great Band just have to make reservations because it is a long wait.
The waitresses were very friendly and very responsive to our needs.

When I was a PYT working in Manhattan years ago we’d go to Havana Central in Union Square for happy hour. So you can imagine my happiness at seeing it here in the burbs.
I’ve gone twice now — once right before Thanksgiving and once after the new year. It was great each time. Round 1 a friend and I had efficient and friendly table service. I got the garlic shrimp which was great and she got the roasted chicken which was ginormous. Major food envy because more. Round 2 my mom and I sat at the bar and it was live music day. We shared an appetizer sampler as well as some dessert churros. This time around I ordered crispy beef (yaaasssss) and she got a pork shank of some kind.
I really love the atmosphere here and the food is good. I find Cuban food way too invested in pork dishes but the menu here offers so much variety. Be prepared to spend. I haven’t gotten out of here for less than $ 120 for 2 people.

Food was delicious and our service (Ayanna) was spectacular. Ordered the vaca frita and the special with was so yummy. The empanadas dough is delicious.
Mojitos are amazing. Fresh fruit purée in the fruit Mojitos. Tried strawberry and I enjoyed it a lot. My husband got a amaretto sour and enjoyed his.
Came in for a couples night was able to make reservations for table of six and our table was waiting for us. Juan, the restaurant manager was very attentive, informative and guided us on items to try.
Definitely come enjoy the food and casual yet nice ambiance.

Came here for lunch with my wife and kids. The restaurant has a nice Cuban/​tropical island feel with the ceiling fans, outdoor lounge seating by the bar, Palm tree decorative cushions on all the booth seating, and even curtains in some of the booths along the wall for privacy. The waiters were wearing fedora hats and dressy beige vests over their shirts. The waitresses had fake flowers tacked to their hair.
My family didn’t really enjoy the lunch much, and there is a mismatch between the quality of the food and the price point. We ordered the empanada app (choice of 3 of the variety offered), ropa vieja, pernil asada, and the kids had chicken finger and empanada kids meal, which i think was a huge rip off for $ 10 and drinks were additional!
Seriously $ 10 for 1 empanada, rice and beans with the kids meal. The empanadas in general are ok not great. Plus they were smallish. The spinach in the spinach and goat cheese type was frozen and not fresh. The beans and rice were ok. Would have been better if food was hot.
I had sampled everything we ordered. Emanadas — ok. Nothing great. Small side plus spinach was frozen type. Pernil asado — dry! Plus overwhelming vinegar taste! Ropa vieja — best tasting dish of the meal. Beans and rice ok. Chicken fingers is like kfc. Lemonade is diluted in flavor.
It doesn’t make sense to make the place so nice and not have the food up to snuff, and then add insult by charging so much for meh food. Glad we didn’t order the $ 30 entrees!
Our waitress was nice and checked on us frequently, so did the manager! It’s like they know their food is bad and they felt guilty about it. We didn’t indicate our dissatisfaction, just smiled.
We won’t be back, even to try their mojitos or desserts. The consensus Unilocal reviews speak volumes!

The food was amazing but they ran out of a bunch of things:
–mango hot salsa
–rice & beans
–bud light on draft
–regular hot sauce
The service was a bit slow but it was a full house and we were a party of 10 people. I do recommend this restaurant because the food was delicious and tasted somewhat authentic for a chain. They have a great ambiance with a live band which was a huge hit that night! Great for all sized parties and is constantly fun and loud!

When I heard they were building a Cuban spot where Champps used to be, I couldn’t wait. Since this spot just opened, I will not rate the staff since they are new and still learning the ropes. Managers are attentive and roaming around talking to patrons.
The prices are wayy too expensive considering there is Cuban Pete’s and other Spanish spots in Perth Amboy! A mojito, altough very tasty, is 10 bucks! As an appetizer, the empanadas were not greasy and somewhat flavorful. I had the ropa vieja and my boyfriend had the pernil. We thought it was just ok and not worth the NYC prices. We tried the churros at the end of our meal which was just the highlight of our meal.
Nonetheless, every new spot deserves a second chance and will probably be back after the hype dies down. I hopefully can change my review at that time. :)

Lets just say If grew up and your mother’s discipline tool of choice was a «chancla», or if your childhood memories include watching Don Francisco from Sábado Gigante. then chances are you will be disappointed in this restaurant.
If you didn’t get the latino stereotype by now, here it is: This restaurant is as authentically Cuban as Cinco de Mayo is authentically Mexican. From the server outfits to the food, it was the Disney-​fication of Havana.
We started with the empanadas. do yourself a favor go to your local bodega and buy yourself a $ 1.50 empanada your tastebuds and wallet will thank me. Our other appetizers were the fried yucca and plantains. The yucca was dry, I wish they served it with a dipping sauce. The plantains didn’t taste good. how do you mess up plantains and charge $ 5? Kids meal was chicken and rice, which my child left behind yes it was that gross. Husband and I shared the ribs which menu stated was a full rack at $ 26. When we received our food it was a half rack, or 7 ribs. We informed the waiter who had a difficult time explaining that 7 ribs is considered a full rack by the chef. maybe because he didn’t believe it himself. So the manager came over and offered us 1 dessert on the house for the misunderstanding. Ok, I asked for the tres leches and the kids churros (which were labeled as $ 2.50 on kids menu), the waiter told me churros only came in one size. We receive our desserts, tres leeches was edible but it was far from heaven as other reviewers describe it. Tres leches is a common dessert you can purchase anywhere, including your local Whole Foods grocer for $ 3 not $ 8 like at this restaurant. My family agreed the only good food on the menu were the churros. On the bill we were charged $ 6 for the churros instead of $ 2.50 as stated on kids menu.
So all in all we spent over $ 60 for a dinner that we could have spent half of that amount at Cuban restaurant which may have lacked «Havana glamour» but would make up in authentic Cuban flavor.
Would I come here again? Yes, to listen to the live music and have a drink AFTER I eat dinner somewhere else.

I really enjoyed my time at this restaurant. From the moment we walked in to the last step out the door. Greeted with a smile and waved goodbye with a smile.
This place is not fully complete but just wait until it is. Their patio is going to be sick and once the live music comes in it’s going to be a grand time. Finally something closer, right ?! Their location in Times Square New York City is great and all BUT it’s good to have one closer to home.
So they have happy hour during the weekdays from 4−7pm. I can only imagine that the happy hour consists of empanadas and mojitos. Yum my type of party, for sure. The fact that it’s attached to the mall is good too. Either grab happy hour and continue spending your money at the mall or after walking the ins and outs of Menlo go enjoy a drink here.
Speaking of drinks, their mojitos are delicious. I ordered the mango mojito which was good and not too powering with mint. Also tried the mango mojito with a non-​house (what’s the word haha it’s kinda top shelf) rum and it added so much flavor to the mojito; made me feel like I was on vacation. The pinot mojito is good as well very interesting and unique flavor.
Appetizers. The corn was super good, the cheese was the best part in my opinion. It was the perfect flavor to tie everything together. The corn appetizer comes with four pieces. The avocado stuffed with lobster was pretty good. The lobster on its own tasted like it belonged in a lobster roll, YUM! The plate came with three tostones that are pretty big. The only thing missing was a sauce like a garlic aioli or even some oil drizzled on the avocado. The empanadas took unusually longer to come out but they were delicious. My favorite was the Cubano one since it tasted just like a Cuban. The chicken one was the my next favorite since the chicken was flavored perfectly. The shrimp one was good but maybe the shrimp should be chopped up. The breeding of all of them were flakey and crispy omg so good.
Entrees. I had the garlic chicken and shrimp. It was super good omg. The garlic sauce they had on the plate should go with the empanadas ! But any ways the garlic sauce was perfect. So flavorful and not too over powering. Mix that with the rice, I got the white rice and it was perfect. A little rice, piece of chicken, and a little bit of the red beans and I was in heaven. The shrimp was a bit over cooked since it was chewy but still delicious.
Dessert. The tres leches cake was stupidly good !! I can’t really describe how good this cake was. Super fresh, spongey, and perfect amount of leches haha. Then the whipped cream like topping was to die for. Omg my parents and I couldn’t stop humming while eating this dish!
Some small service mistakes but it doesn’t take away from the experience since the people were nice. Definitely coming back ! Happy hour I will see you soon !!

When I saw that they had finally put in a new restaurant where the Champs sports bar used to be in Menlo Park Mall I was very excited to check it out. I was even more elated to find out it was a Cuban restaurant, granted it’s technically a small chain. I figured it was worth a shot to try out a new place.
The inside of the restaurant was stunning. The dark wood, papaya colored walls and turquoise upholstery on the booths were gorgeous. The dim lighting and Cuban music playing really tied the ambiance together.
After being offered a high-​top in a rather empty restaurant, which we declined, they sat us at table and handed us our menus. The menu had all the standard Cuban foods, and the prices are what I expected of a more high-​end restaurant. My boyfriend and I ordered the Empanada Sampler and 2 Cuban sandwiches with Tostones (fried green plantains).
Unfortunately, the food was so horrible that I don’t think we’ll ever go back. The Empanadas were greasy and bland. The Tostones were not fried, but baked and dry. I’ve had better Tostones out of the frozen Goya section in the supermarket. The ham in the Cuban sandwich was like deli ham and the bread it was on was definitely not Cuban bread.
Havana Central comes across to me as more of an American’s take on Cuban food — rather than an authentic Cuban restaurant. The presentation is all there, but the flavor is M.I.A.