Havana Mania

Well I’m really glad I gave them another chance. This time I tried the Filete de Pollo con Hongos (chicken with mushrooms and garlic) which was excellent. I also tasted the Masas de Puerco Fritas (fried pork) that my brother ordered. It was really good too. The only bad dish was my Dad’s steak, or more fittingly, his piece of leather. Completely inedible. The rice and beans were much better this time around too.

Pollo Cubano was good, nothing to say definitely coming back.
Pollo Saltado came with plantain instead of fries which was meh.
(I think everything comes with plantain instead of fries)
Overall, good food, kind of greasy but will satisfy until its time to go home.

A good place to go if you are in the mood for Cuban food. In the various times that I’ve been there, tasting several different dishes, the food seems a bit more bland to me than other Cuban places in SoCal (and certainly more bland than Ive had Miami). Still the food is good, and good portions. Come during happy hour to enjoy that food with appetizers and drinks for a good price. Service has always been friendly and usually prompt.

I love this place so much. Cool vibes, delicious food and good service. Always get extra sauce because it’s the best. Can’t go wrong with anything here.

We went on a Friday night and it was packed. The hostess was very nice and got us a table on the patio. Great service, amazing food, and live music. I would say the winner here is the customer service. From two older gentlemen I believe we’re the owners or managers going to tables and inquiring how everything was and just being genuinely friendly our waiter was also on point and very nice.

Was craving a ropa vieja sandwich and found this place here on Unilocal.It was a bit out of my way for lunch coming from work. Not far but traffic makes it seem further than it really is. No complaints though. The sandwich was perfect. So good and flavorful. It came with a side salad. That dressing was good too. Ordered some platanos maduros and they were cooked just right. I will definitely go back. Place looks pretty cool to actually go sit in and have a meal.

Mofongo with Shrimp is awesome but you can always be safe with tops vieja .
Service is great! And can’t go wrong to finish with a cortadito.

Amazing food! Service was prompt, the place was clean. The staff was awesome! Super friendly! We ordered 2 paellas, and the menu says to «allow time». The paellas came first!
If you enjoy Cuban food, or you’d like to try it for the first time, Havana Mania is your spot.

I’m in the Air Force and stationed here a year now. I’m always looking for different places to eat. I leave LA in 2 weeks and wished I found this place earlier. The ox tail dish I had was amazing. Meat fell off the bone with the touch of the fork. The rice and beans were cooked just right and the plantains were delicious as well. Clan is one of my favorite desserts and I had to try it. It was thicker than European flan but to me perfect and the way I like it made. The restaurant was nice somewhere you could take a date with the dimmed light atmosphere and the staff were very friendly and helpful in describing their menu. I definitely be hitting this spot up a few times again before I leave in two weeks.

I can only base my review on the rope vieja, my favorite Cuban dish of all time. It was FANTASTIC! I have not had such great rope vieja since visiting Boynton Beach, FL years ago. Hands down this ropa vieja easily beats the famous Versailles restaurant in Miami’s Little Havana (which I find overrated).
The beef was fork tender and perfectly marinated. The black beans were creamy but not mushy. They too had a great flavor. The rice was cooked correctly, and the plantains were sweet and edges crunchy. My mouth still waters thinking about this dish!
Free. Bread. Oh. em. gee! The bread isn’t freshly baked in-​house, but wherever they are buying the bread from… it’s like crack with butter. The texture of the bread is very soft and not hard at all (unlike a French baguette that risks hardness while baking). It’s completely ooey gooey in the middle with crusted edges. One of the guys who takes phone calls for to-​go orders said it was ciabatta bread, but I don’t think that’s right. Perhaps he misunderstood my question because it was so busy. I could probably eat the free bread all night!
I sat at the bar at about 7PM on a Thursday night, no problem. Service was great! The bartender was very busy, but was able to chat and ask if I was doing ok while I was eating. He recommended the ox tails the next time I visit. I shall return!

This place has an awesome monitor and an even better Cuban sandwich. It’s got a hefty serving of pork and the pickle sets it all off right.
I highly recommend this place for date night too. They have live music on the weekends too.

This is by far the best cuban restaurant in Los Angeles. The food taste like homemade and the dishes are authentic. I was born in Cuba so I know about cuban food. The owners are very friendly
Stop by and try it today
The bread and butter is so delicious
Real good cuban coffee
And you can’t go wrong with a mojito… traditional is better
Enjoy it

Terrible customer service. My wife, 3 year old daughter and myself went there just now. They sat us next to the restroom even with more than half the place empty. Afterwards the server asked us to move because our daughter wanted a high chair and it might block restroom access. We said ok and moved to the table he suggested. Apparently that table wasn’t good enough for the owner who came yelling that we were still blocking access to the restroom. And that it’s illegal blah blah blah. He wasn’t even nice about it. Very rude and loud. As if we worked for him.
Last time there was a bday party here with pretty big people blocking the entire way. No one said anything to them because it was $$$. A small family of 3 come in and there’s a big fuzz over a booster chair for a 3 year old? Hmm. Curious if there was something else going on.
To the owner: why do you and your staff move customers to areas that you don’t want people with children to be in? Is it the customers fault your restaurant is not family friendly? Not child friendly? Small? Too bad, we used to come here for Cuban food once every month or so. Now we will NEVER come back. Learn manners. Learn how to talk to people. Even the server apologized for the way you spoke to us.

Super fun happy hour! Cheap mojitos in every flavor?! Bring on the passion fruit! And the regular. And every other flavor you want to try — I have a feeling they’re all equally good. I liked the passion fruit a little bit more, but a girl’s gotta have her guilty pleasures, right? The Islander is an appetizer sampler platter with more than enough food for 2 people to share. Get it if your group is 3 – 4 or you won’t have room for any other food. The fried potato balls and ham croquettes are pretty similar, but the green plantains with shrimp in a tomatoey sauce on top are fun to have with mojitos. The Yuca Cheese Bites were so great that we got a second order. Pure fun and a really happy happy hour. I had better food at Versailles, but I would definitely give Havana Mania a chance.

I like going to this place for lunch, lunch special deals are the best all just under $ 10! I’m always tempted to try their $ 4 mojitos (when you order and entre) but never do, according to a friend they are pretty tasty and the drink comes in a tall glass.
I feel like their chicken combo plate it better than what they make at Versailles but their cuban sandwiches are alright. Don’t get me wrong the sandwiches are larger in portion, but aren’t they supposed to be pressed a bit more? Who knows or cares when it comes down to it, I’ve never been to Cuba and my initial dealings with Cuban food had been Porto’s sandwiches so I’m not going to pretend to be an expert. Tasty + affordable is what makes this place a winner. I’m also partial to their appetizers and will make a meal out of them since they’re huge, I get the Fufu De Yuca I love me some yuca frita!
Bonus: 15% off $ 29 or more with Unilocal check in

Wonderful happy hour — goes until 6:30pm during the week. Get the yucca fries to start and passion fruit mojito ($ 6 during happy hour).
Parking was a breeze and right off the 405. I came here for a friends birthday. Her and her family come here often and the staff seems to know them. Regardless of their relationship they were all
Extremely friendly! Apparently there is music or a live band on the weekends.
The shrimp dishes run about $ 14 – 20 but extremely filling. The dish I got had tomato onion and bell pepper was huge! The flan is seriously to die for– so rich. That caramel sauce is wow!
All in all, this is a great place! Wish they had one closer to me.

Delicious, delicious, delicious!!!
I was so happy to find this place. It was nice to find a Cuban restaurant that is local. Versailles is the only other Cuban restaurant that I even knew of and the closest Versailles isn’t even close and I didn’t like it enough to go that far. I find myself craving Cuban food because of Havana Mania. I didn’t even like plantains before I had them here. All the meats are delicious and gloriously seasoned. The chicken, the roasted pork are great, but my favorite is the Vaca Frita… if you’re a beef eater then you will love it too! Thank me later. The meats paired with the white rice, black beans and the plantains is heaven on a plate! Oh and get some garlic toast!!!
My mouth is watering just thinking about it.
They also have live music during the evening on the weekends. I haven’t experienced that yet but I can imagine that it’s very entertaining considering the size of the restaurant. I wouldn’t consider it a small space but it’s not the size of a restaurant I would think has live entertainment either. I’m gonna check it out one evening.
The only reason I didn’t give it 5 stars is because the servers seem like they are a little bit «over it» lol.

Ordered take out from this place, so can’t really comment on the restaurant itself. However, when I called the order in, they said it would be ready in like 10 minutes, and it was.
As for the food, we got the Cubano and the Chicken Sandwich with fries and plantains. Both sandwiches were good, but the Cubano definitely was the better of the two we thought. Good size/​portion also for the price. So if you’re in the area and want a good Cubano sandwich, stop in and try this place.

BEST Cuban food EVER!!!
I’ve gone to several cuban restaurants and this is by far the best I’ve ever had. From the service, to the food, to the drinks all just outstanding! The owners are awesome, they have my maiden last name which makes them even cooler haha.
Favorite plates are lechon, ropa vieja, The tostones… everything!
I haven’t been in a while since it’s more in the South Bay but now I want to go back asap! You must try this place! I loves!!!

I love this place! Perfect to come with friends. La comida es sabrosa. La musica y el servicio me hacen sentir en El Caribe!

I spotted Havana Mania during one of my runs to El Gaucho Meat Market as it is in the same plaza so decided to check it out a couple of days ago. At the peak lunch hour on a Saturday I was surprised to see a full-​fledged sit down restaurant. As I did not want to dine in I asked for a menu from the person behind the bar and after going through various options decided to get a simple steak sandwich which is called the Pan con Bistec ($ 8.99) to go. The menu has a punch line at the top which says «Relax… It’s Cuban Time». This aptly encapsulates the almost 30 minutes that I had to wait to get a simple sandwich. I saw that the restaurant was about 50% full so it was not like they were swamped just their ticket times are long. Another thing that struck me was that the place was extremely loud with a lot of un-​necessary clanking of plates and silverware.
Anyway I reached home and dug in. As per the description in the menu the Pan con Bistec is a steak sandwich with grilled onions, tomatoes, crispy string fries and Dijon mustard inside a toasty Cuban Baguette. What I got was a a elastic chewy baguette that contained a small amount of shredded steak, hardly any grilled onions and maybe a single slice of tomato. The sandwich was surrounded by limp and soggy fries that were nicely seasoned and dusted with a good spice mixture. Overall this was a really poor excuse for a sandwich which I did not like at all. Price-​wise it was 12.5% more expensive than a Lomito or Beef Milanesa sandwich from El Gaucho Meat Market and 30% more expensive than the Bauru Sandwich from Panelas Brazil Cuisine without even being close to as good as these sandwiches.
I’m not sure if I ordered the right thing from Havana Mania so I may come back and try something else off their menu but given my experience with the Pan con Bistec I’m not very enthused about that.

La yuca estuvo rica. El lechón muy bueno. Pollo criollo rico. Habichuelas ricas. Tres leches – increíble! Probé 3 mojitos– Cubano (regular), frambuesa (raspberry), y maracuyá. Super ricos todos! Me gustó el ambiente y los músicos también. Voy a regresar a menudo. :)

Excelente servicio! Great food.