Havana Social

Very satisfied… Very nice place. The mojitos we had were great. Ordered the bento box… pernil asado and girlfriend had the bento box with garlic shrimp. More than enough to satisfy your appetite. The service was great very pleasant and observant staff. Definitely returning.

This is a Tapas style, Cuban restaurant. We called in to make a reservation but they were full but quickly accommodated us. We didn’t wait more than 20 minutes before being seated at a table. We got a drink at the bar while waiting. Their drinks are delicious and for not being much of drinker, I would recommend at least trying one of their signature cocktails.
Ambiance: (5 stars)
— Romantic, great for date night
— a Cuban setting with a twist
Service: (5 Stars)
— Wait time for Table: 20 minutes
— Staff: very nice and courteous, free shot after our dinner, 15% meal vouchers to use until the end of June, refilled our waters and made sure we were good the entire time. A little confusing that the hostess was also the server as well?
Food: (5 Stars)
— Chips & some sort of Hummus Dip (5 Stars) — Delicious! Asked for another basket of chips bc they are definitely homemade in their kitchen
— Empanadas (5 stars) —- simply delicious, had 4 different flavors (Cheese, Chicken, Beef, Spinach) — the Chicken was my favorite. They were perfectly crispy on the outside and tender and flavorful on the inside, definitely melts in my mouth and want more.
— Arepas (5 Stars) —- the pork was so was delicious and the cornfilled bottom was gooey and melted in your mouth
— Churrasco with Plantains (shared main entrée) (3.5 stars) — Not the best Churrasco I had, and would probably not order it again. It was well cooked but it was a little bland on the flavor sid and not as delicious as the appetizers. Honestly I was a little disappointed bc everything else was so good before it. I would order something else next time. I heard the chicken wings and sandwich was good so I want to try that next time!
Drinks: (5 Stars)
— Coconut Margarita with salt around the rim — is the perfect combination of sweet and salty. Highly recommend!
— My boyfriend got the Coconut Passion Fruit Mojito and it was made perfectly as well with a sweetness and bitterness was a great concoction.
Overall I had a great experience at this restaurant, and would definitely go back. I would bring friends and recommend it to everyone as well!

I came here with my boyfriend and we had a great experience. The server was very kind and wonderful to us. We ordered from the tapas menu and the arepas really stood out. They were AMAZING. We also got the spicy chicken empanadas and the Chino latino. Those were good too but the arepas were what made the meal. That shredded beef is too good. It was quiet when we went. The place is small but it’s nice.

Great service at the bar. Came on a cold winter day with snow on the ground I was craving coquito to warm my insides while my date warmed my outsides. Had a Glass each of coquito then went for a pitcher.$ 45 Had a few bites– the tacquitos are good but messy. loved my sliders on a sweet corn cake. And the tres leche is really good, nice presentation but would be better not cut into little bites of three. Our bartender was Raùl who made a kickass island punch cocktail. Our check came out to over $ 150 as we became a date of three. Good times. Best service at the bar, would come back. The blue lights play tricks on you the longer he stay there– trippy.

This place is great. Such a little gem. The food was fantastic and would definitely go back. I would suggest making reservations too since the restaurant is kind of small and they won’t seat you until all members of your group has arrive. They also have happy hour only at the bar.

It is rare to find a restaurant in NYC, especially in Midtown, that has good service… but this place does. The servers and host were all friendly, approachable, and seemed genuinely happy that we were there. The food was quite delicious, the margaritas strong, and a nice setting inside. Highly recommended!

Excellent excellent excellent.
Food ****
Service *****(many more stars)
Ambience *****
1 small suggestion. need to change timing in Unilocal (it shows restaurant open till
we went around 2.30 and is closed:(.

Fantastic food and wonderful service. I wandered in alone right before the dinner rush with no reservation, and they worked me into a table unlike some places that make you sit at the bar. Everyone from the manager to the waitress to the guy who kept my water filled were super nice and friendly.
Now, the food. Oh my. I ordered too much– it all looked so good. I ate too much– it all tasted too good. Seriously, I ordered the arepas with shredded beef, corn and sweet plantains. Everything was excellent with decent sized portions.
It all starts with what must house made chips and some sort of excellent bean dip as a complimentary muncher. I kind of wanted to lick the bowl clean but felt it would set a bad example for the kids the next table over. The arepas were tasty with a really nice sauce on the beef. The corn, though, was just spectacular. I did kind of scrap up all the bits of the garlic sauce/​cotija mix that fell off. Again, social graces prevented the plate licking, but it was close.
By this point I was too full to eat the plantains and so took them back to my hotel for a late evening snack. They really would have been phenomenal with a bit of vanilla ice cream. In any case, room temp a few hours later, they finished off my need for just a little sweet perfectly. Nice crisp on the edges but soft and sweet interior. Nobody knows if I licked the takeout box.

Excellent service!!! This place is very cozy so call ahead to make a reservation. I ordered the bento box which had rice, plantains, black beans and main entrée. At the end of the meal I had a coconut rum shot that was really delicious. The restaurant manager came by to be sure we were enjoying our meal. That special touch made us feel valued and appreciated.
Great food even better service! Highly recommend!

Ox tails to die for!
They have REAL Cuban bread.
The food is flavorful and delicious.
The staff is efficient and friendly.

Randomly decided to come here for dinner, and now I’m kicking myself for not coming sooner. Havana Social gets a coveted 5 star rating on the first visit.
I ordered simply: mango martini (s) and Arepas Dulces.
The drink is fresh and strong without being overpowering. The shredded beef is seasoned and cooked adeptly. And those sweet corn cakes… oooh, those sweet corn cakes.
I was actually having such a mouthgasmic experience, I started to imagine I was Dita Von Teese in a burlesque show. My mango martini was outsized; I frolicked and splashed around in it. My only covering would be two sweet corn cakes (arepas) covering my nips like tassels.
I snapped back to reality… the «Can I get you another drink, miss?» Of the bartender let me know he saw it too.
Also appreciated complimentary chips + white bean dip from the kitchen, and a yummy coquito shot to send me on my way!

Great place to go out with friends and try some tasty Cuban food! My friends and I were able to snag a same-​day reservation on a Saturday night — it was a little packed (they have a long row of booths so you might get friendly with your neighbors), but I loved the trendy atmosphere and cool mood lighting inside. We all shared a pitcher of white sangria, which was the perfect amount for 5 people and definitely cheaper than each getting a cocktail — the waitress also said the sangria gives you the most bang for your buck alcohol-​wise but you don’t really taste it.
We wanted to try a bunch of dishes, so we split everything:
— Guacamole app (³⁄₅) — good but nothing spectacular, and a little pricey for just guac and chips
— Arepas app (⁴⁄₅) — staple Cuban item to try out, great if you like sweet and savory. Comes with 3 arepas
— Empanadas app (⁴⁄₅) — comes with 4 different types (I think chicken, beef, mac & cheese, spinach & cheese). Loved the chicken and the spinach & cheese ones! Mac & cheese one wasn’t as cool as it sounds
— Cuban sandwich (⁵⁄₅) — super flavorful pork/​ham and nice toasty bread. Actually my favorite dish of the night was the seasoned parmesan fries that came with this — SO good!
— Paella (⁵⁄₅) — I love seafood so this hit the spot, as there was plenty of seafood. Probably better for sharing for 2 people as opposed to 5 though.
Overall, bill came out to about $ 30/​person, which is not bad for drinks + a bunch of appetizers and entrees I suppose. Definitely a fun experience!

This place was a struggle…
BUT the manager truly tried to work things out so I appreciate that.
I came here for a friends birthday. He mad reservations a few weeks before so when I arrived early I as just hoping to set up his balloons and gifts before he arrived. When I got there I was told that the table was already occupied and that we would have to wait 20 –30 minutes.
I was confused because I knew a reservation was made. APPARENTLY you have re-​re confirm your reservation. Meaning after they send you a confirmation of your reservation you have to RECONFIRM AGAIN. … SERIOUSLY, abandonment issues much?
So our entire party had to wait in the CRAMPED bar with 5 large balloons…
The birthday boy and I had it out with the manager about the restaurants nonsensical reservation policy.
Once we were finally seated things went a lot smoother. The staff went above and beyond to make sure that we were all accommodated.
The food was good everyone seemed to really enjoy it.

I went to Havana Social recently for brunch, and they have some pretty decent brunch entrées and tapas. The food will not really blow your mind (well, it didn’t blow mine), but it was definitely above average.
Tony ordered the Cuban Benedict, which I tasted as well… and it was really good. I had the huevos rancheros, which was just okay (I don’t really recommend this; it was salty and not that tasty). Some of the tapas we tried included the arepas, which were tasty (warning that the pictures on Unilocal!make these look big, but they are quite tiny) and the croquettas, which were quite good (but only came w/​three small pieces).
We didn’t have drinks that day but noticed they do feature an all-​you-​can-​drink (boozy) brunch. The amount of time given to participate in the special is just one hour (shorter than in most AYCD restaurants), but that may be because the restaurant space is really small.
I highly recommend the coffee at brunch. It’s made on the spot, fresh, and on target!

The staff seem nice and friendly, though they did get distracted often with the Mets game on tv. Multiple times through the meal, my fiancé and I were ignored for a while before we were noticed. This wouldn’t make for a terrible review, however the food was beyond abysmal, and I don’t use that term lightly.
I wanted to like this place and at first glance it wasn’t terrible, but as the dinner began so did the bad experiences. The décor was fairly modern and dimly lit, aside from their blue neon lights behind the bar. The blue lights were not easy on the eyes and you won’t like to sit an entire meal and have to stare at that light. I missed the restaurant at first because we walked by and didn’t even see their sign. Half the words were unlit and with the darkness of the night it wasn’t standing out. That should’ve been the first indicator for what was to come.
Similar to the Mets, there’s a lot of potential but they didn’t deliver. The night started off bad when my fiancé ordered a drink and it came with a hair in it. A huge swing and a miss for Havana Social — Strike one.
We ordered the guacamole and the chips were soggy. I literally bent the chips 180 degrees and they didn’t break. They tasted cold and not fresh. The guacamole itself was nice, but I feel like that bowl was very small, maybe half an avocado was used. Simple flavors with salt and little diced veggies mixed in. Another swing and another miss — Strike two.
My fiancé ordered their ropa vieja (traditional shredded beef) and I had their rabo (oxtail stew). Both of them came out in a bento box, which is pretty neat and actually organized of them to put meats in one area, rice, salad, beans, and sweet plantains. The plantains were really good, but that’s as good as the entire meal gets. The beef and the oxtail were too salty. From the meat to the sauce, nothing was balanced out with the salt. To make matters even worse, the rice was cold and hard. When I say hard, I literally mean the rice was rock hard. The type of hardness you get if you cooked the rice for too long and with too little water and then let it cool and don’t even bother heating it back up before eating. It was similar to eating something with lots of little bones because all you end up doing was chew and find something hard you need to spit back out. It was simply bad. — Strike three, you’re out.
I really wanted to like this place, but too many things went bad and they never recovered. Just like the Mets, Havana Social should review their mistakes and try again next year.

So last min my girlfriend invited me to a play at Theater Row (I Know What Boys Want) we had a little time to kill and decided on this venue due to reviews, locale and cocktails (the most important decider). The outside façade is no indicator of the décor instead which was Miami Cuban club influenced) which was nice even on the small scale.
The hostess was pleasant and accommodating since we popped in without reservations. She was also helpful in making suggestions on drinks to appetizers and making sure we got to our theater show.
The pitcher of coconut mojitoes were absolutely amazing… I can’t remember if we mixed with mango or another flavor because it’s been a busy summer, but it doesn’t matter other than the memory of Delish delightfulness.
The appetizers of steak taquitos to the corn cakes covered in shredded beef to dinner of the fish benito box (I believe to be tilapia — again I am writing this several months after my visit with only the lost foodie files I came across).
Overall my general recollection is that after laughs and great conversation over über Delish cocktails… the food was amazing and this locale requires a revisit at some point.

Cozy Cuban spot …
Not to be confused with Havanah Central in Times Sq this place is located in Hells Kitchen. I wanted to LOVE this place but I thought that it was okay to good hence the 3 stars. Service was impeccable as everyone from our waitress to the bus boys were attentive and kind.
Drinks:
Traditional Mojito was delicious and authentic.
Complimentary shot of coquito was delicious as well
Apps:
Ceviche: probably the best thing we ordered. Extremely fresh with a great blend for the sauce.
Empanadas: decided to go with the chicken and the beef. I thought they were descent, I liked the chicken better than the beef but they were not hot (temperature wise) which didn’t help.
Entrees:
Our entrees came out within 5 minutes tops. We ordered the Churrasco and the Ropa Vieja. Neither of the dishes were hot, same as with the appetizers. I ordered the steak medium and it came out well done. I can only guess that this steak was already made because our food came out way too fast and it was well over medium. I sent the steak back and received a hot medium steak which tasted much better. The ropa vieja was good but it was cool. The tostones and maduros were good. Overall I like this place but some things were a hit and some things were a miss. I’m certainly not opposed to coming here again but I would not be running back either. The flavors were pretty good but not sure if everything was freshly hot off of the stove. I would rather wait for something extremely fresh and hot rather than get it quickly because it was sitting in the kitchen Im kind of disappointed.

I came here for dinner with a friend recently. Cute place — smaller than expected though… I actually walked by the place while I was trying to find it.
I had the appetizer sampler and for that, was able to choose select items (3 total) from the Tapas section. I chose the calamari, mini pork ribs (3) and arepas (2). The calamari was probably my least favorite. It was not crispy enough for me and quite salty. The ribs just okay for me… They were BBQ guava glazed, but I didn’t really taste that in the sauce. The arepas were the best: Sweet corn cakes with shredded beef on top. They were delicious. The corn cakes by itself were wonderful and the beef was flavorful, juicy and worked well with the corn cakes.

I came here on a Friday night with 2 friends and it was packed. I am so glad I was able to make reservations on Opentable to get a seat without waiting.
They had a champagne margarita on their menu which was very interesting as I had never seen that flavor before. I had a sip of it from my friend and it was very tasty. I got the coconut-​passionfruit mojito and it was delicious! Perfect blend of coconut and fruitiness. Sipping that drink and feeling the breeze from this place’s ceiling fan gave me a beachy feel.
They have a pre-​fixe menu and an a la carte menu. The pre-​fixe menu allows you to choose an entrée and either 1 appetizer or 1 dessert for $ 30. Depending on what you want to eat, it may be cheaper or more expensive to go by the pre-​fixe. We decided it was more cost effective for us to order a la carte.
We ordered the garlic shrimp, arepas, mini pork ribs, paella and churrasco steak to share among the three of us and it was more than enough food. We had a lot of leftovers to take home.
The shrimp, arepas and pork ribs were all tapas but they were much bigger than tapas size. So we were pretty much very full by the time our entrees came. For the arepas, the waitress said they ran out of shredded beef and we had to substitute with shredded pork. Then, we wanted to order the oxtail but she said they ran out of that too and we had to order the churrasco. We were a bit disappointed about not getting two of our initial menu choices.
The description for the garlic shrimp said prawns but when the dish came, it was very small shrimp not usually what I picture prawns to be. The pork ribs were delicious and fell off the bone but the sauce tasted too overwhelmingly of barbecue sauce. That dish could have very well came from a Chilis or Applebees and didn’t have any distinct flavor besides barbecue sauce. The arepas dulce was FABULOUS. I wish I could eat that every day. I would definitely recommend getting that.
The paella was good and the churrasco steak was fabulous too.

Great spot for hanging out, drinking, listening to music. They won’t see me back there. To many amazing spots to go to. ;)
*KEEP IN MIND*…
Highly recommended reservations (per the women who slide the card to my friend and looked at her in the eyes); nothing on Unilocal said that. No website to look that up.
HH is in the bar Only (NO one told us and we had three people we encountered with). Made us feeling a little weird getting out of the dining area and go to the bar BC we didn’t know why we had a choice!
PROS…
Its buy two get one, PER PERSON…(clarifying; It’s TWO drinks and then ONE drink for free (per person)). That’s a lot of drinks great deal, but not for us. Just keep that in mind.
The coconut mojito was tasty, the empanadas were great flavor. The plantains were delicious. Food was hot, but for 21 bucks for an app. and one drink; defiantly could go some place else for more food and better customer service. Great atmosphere and great times catching up with my friend!!!
Rolling of the eyes from the bartender un expectable after we were nice and what not. We aren’t in competent, we heard the lady, it’s not that big of a deal, just make sure you say the full deal (PER PERSON). The hostess argued with us on the floor in front of the whole place (really classy).
The manager of the floor, took 15 mins to talk to the GM about clarifying the deal and overriding the free drink, but we didn’t want a drink. We wanted the deal they told us. :/​ (this place isn’t this big). It wouldn’t take this long in any other restaurant. Made me realize why I don’t like trying new spots! (We KNOWW that’s not true).
Where are the signs about the HH in the place? Where is the website for me to look at? I wasn’t a happy person. 3.5 went to a 2 for me. Live music (Thursday) and the tasty drink made the 2 star happen. I hate writing reviews like this, but at the same time. Customer service wasn’t there the only professional person was the manager, Grace. Thanks