Varadero Cuban Cuisine

My east village favorite! Consistently good in every way — outstanding latin food and exceptional service! Love the cozy ambience and the location can’t be beat!

The food was really good here as were the drinks. However the wait staff was horrid. If fortunate they were pleasant but the two bouncer type men needed to be kept hidden.

I only gave it 1 star because I have to give it something… The male waiter forgot part of our order! The food tasted as thought it had been reheated several times (I ordered the Cubano sandwich) I STRONGLY urge you to avoid this place! It is not worth your time or money!

since this place has come under new ownership and is now called «Dahlias» it is AWFUL. service is terrible, waitresses are nice but the hostess is an incredibly rude woman (the old host, Patrick, was so wonderful). the drinks are now smaller sized and over priced. truly an awful experience and I don’t recommend. it deserves 1 star only because some of the current staff members remain from the old ownership and are good people.

My wife and I like to buy Groupon however this is one Groupon we will never purchase again. The restaurant is aesthetically appealing however that is where the good feelings end. The food is overrated and the service is sub-​par to say the least. I don’t want to spend to many words on this place, let’s just say save your money as there are plenty of better places in the East Village that you can get your money’s worth.

This place is the actual worst. A group of my friends went to this spot to get drinks and the wait was horrendous. It was Halloween though and we expected it. The «bouncer» or whatever who handles the tables outside the restaurant was so incredibly rude. After screaming at us on the street for splitting our table in half for his benefit, he finally sat us. When two extra guests of ours arrived, instead of calmly letting us know he couldn’t seat us all, he approached the table, cursed at us quite loudly, and then walked away, toward our guests, who were physically pushed out of the door. I wanted to leave immediately but my friends appreciate the cheap drinks. The waitress then proceeds to tell us that she can’t do separate checks and now, out of nowhere, it’s cash only, which it has never been. I’ve been coming here for months now and after the first time, when they overcharged us by about $ 30, I still came, expecting something better. But nope. I’m done. Don’t give these people your money.

Came with a groupon, the portions were very generous. The service is quite slow and not very attentive. When I first arrived, I had to wait around 10 minutes to be addressed. I guess it was a one man show because the server arrived from the lower stairs and proceeded to serve a few plates of food then came to sit us down. Will come back definately come back to visit with a groupon.

The stuffed chicken was so good and the portion is pretty big. The sauce is so yummy! And happy hour drinks all night?! YESSS. $ 4 mojito with a real sugar cane to chew on

Food and service sucked. My boyfriend and I ordered our dishes which the waitress confused but did not change. The food was super bland. Will not returm

Food is ok. Had a good vibe at first but after waiting over an hour after ordering when its not even packed and seeing people order and get their food and leave before i got our food. 3 dishes came out with 8 person party and they were practically cold.

Went there few weeks ago. I’m giving 2 stars only because of the service and the food. The place was empty and the service was still slow and not as friendly.
We had a shrimp ceviche which was delish but just a tiny bowl with few shrimp in it. I like my ceviche with chips and the waitress said she can add plantain chips, and it was maybe 4 all together :/​
My ordered a paella and he said it was very dry and I got ropa vieja and it looked rather sad– no peppers in the steak and it came with no beans.
Although I like the location and the restaurant’s décor won’t be going back.

This is just for the drinks: happy hour all night long. Really good value. And the waiter was super nice and fun! Will come back to try the food

This place really should be a 3.5 stars, but 3 doesn’t give it justice and 4 is a little generous– oh well!
We went on a Groupon and had a great deal– $ 25 for $ 50, can’t complain!
We started off with a seafood paella. While the presentation was beautiful, the dish itself wasn’t very good. Too salty and sadly lacking character, I was worried for our actual entrees…
We had the stuffed chicken topped with spam ham and cheese, blanched veggies and delicious homemade mashed potato. That was pretty good, still a little too salty.
I had the pork chops with apple and veggie toppings and coconut rice. That was amazing! I loved the richness (yet sweetness) of the rice, I loved the combination of the pepper and apple stew on my chuletas and I loved the feeling of satisfaction sucking on the bones!
The décor is quite bland and I think a restaurant impossible redo could bring that place to its potential! The space is great and you walk in there, you wouldn’t know it’s a Cuban place. NY1 was on the TV and the waiter barely spoke English (we never got our paella left overs– which is fine cause y really wasn’t very good).
Place has potential look wise. Food wise, there is a gap between the awesome apple chuletas and the quite mediocre paella. I don’t know. I don’t need to go back– but good chuletas!

Giving the restaurant one star is generous.
My husband and I bought a Groupon for Varadero’s, which turned out to be a huge mistake. As soon as the Groupon was presented when we ordered, their attitude toward us changed from «glad to have you here» to «you are an imposition,» even though we were the only customers at the time of ordering. We were inexplicably forced to order off the dinner menu during lunch hours, in spite of there being no advertising of this policy anywhere on their menu or on their Groupon posting. The lunch special is $ 12.99 for a paella and it includes a salad. The same paella is $ 19.50 on the dinner menus and does not include salad. Further, we could not use the Groupon for the happy hour specials. Therefore, my husband’s $ 4 happy hour piña colada was $ 8, and we are both skeptical that any alcohol was put in at all.
Further, the paella was served lukewarm-​which is disgusting for seafood, and was half of the lunch-​size portion. Additionally, the waiter was chauvinistic and would speak only to my husband, and that is a character attribution that I would give VERY infrequently.
Therefore, we left the restaurant having paid more than if we had just walked in off the street, and with severe indigestion.
We would not return even if paid to.

I eat cuban food often and am always on the lookout for the best of the best. The menu has a lot going on. At this resturant the Cubans are mixed up with the Italians with a side of Americana. I’m all for diversity but if you want to be a great cuban restaurant than you should stick to just that. I like eating tapas style and ordered the empanadas (served with marinara sauce which I thought was strange but not bad) I also ordered mofonguitos which was surprisingly good, and the plantain chips. Nothing else really stood out and my other half doesn’t eat seafood so maybe we missed out. Everything was average. Not bad but nothing out of the ordinary. Also on a good note the staff was nice! To be fair we didn’t try any of the entrees so it is hard to give a complete review. The place has potential they just need to step it up! I think I might be willing to try it again.

A friend and I came in on a Wednesday night after 6 and the place was completely empty. It just opened a few months ago so I have a feeling that not a lot of people know about it yet. I found out about Varadero through Living Social. For $ 39, we got an appetizer, two entrees, and a bottle of wine — pretty awesome deal!
For the appetizer, we went with the calamari. You can skip this — it was really bland and just tasted like your standard frozen batches of fried squid.
For my entrée, I went w the Pollo al Cubano. This is chicken breast «stuffed» with ham. I use the term, «stuffed» loosely because it wasn’t really that, so much as it was a piece of ham sandwiched between two pieces of chicken breast. It also came with some plantains (?), a side of cheesy mashed potatoes, and some frozen veggies.
The sauce that the chicken came in was really good. It almost tasted like a vodka sauce, but less creamy — so it wasn’t as heavy. I didn’t taste much cheese in the potatoes but they weren’t bad. I could have done without the frozen veggies. I hate frozen veggies — they just have this taste/​texture that I’m not a fan of.
Our waitress was really nice and attentive — but I don’t know if it was just because there weren’t that many diners. A few more tables started filtering in at around 7.
I wouldn’t mind coming back to try their Cuban sandwich!

Nice and friendly staff, but the food leave a lot to be desired. I ordered Pollo A La Cubana and it was a brick of fat. I could not even deep my fork in it for how hard it was. There was no meat at all. I sent it back right away, and decided to keep it simple and have a Cuban Sandwich instead. The fries were good and the sandwich was fine. Nothing like Ybor City originals, but close, at least in taste if not in texture. There are better Cuban restaurants in the city, with a more Cuban-​like atmosphere and better music.

I came here on a Friday at 6pm, and their doors were all open and no air conditioning. During our meal, they closed all the doors and turned on the air conditioning which took about an hour to cool the place down one degree. I asked for them to open the door since it was so stuffy with no air, but they said they couldn’t because they had to wait for the AC to run longer. When I first arrived, they didn’t tell me there was seating in the basement (with AC) so we sat upstairs. Later when I went to use the bathroom I found out that there was more seating downstairs. Bummer!
Fried Calamari: The fried calamari here is very average. I wish it was crispier on the outside, but the calamari was tender and not overly chewy. It didn’t have that much flavor. Definitely needed the marinara sauce.
Shrimp Ceviche: The waitress recommended the shrimp ceviche. I thought the shrimp would be cut up, but it was just a couple of large shrimp. It was not sour or flavorful enough.
Lomo Varadero: I thought this dish would be like lomo saltado, but it wasn’t really. The beef was quite chewy and the fries were on the bottom and not mixed into the dish. The sauce was good and went well with the white rice. There was a side of fried plantains which were tasty.
Seafood Paella: I’d say this was the best dish of the night. The flavor in this dish was pretty good. The only thing I’d change is to cook the rice longer so it’s crispy on the bottom.
Also, our entrees took an hour to come out. Pretty long.

My question is why doesn’t this place have more reviews! Came here using a Groupon with my friend and we were absolutely blown away! Amazing portions, amazing flavors and amazing food! Everything was phenomenal, can’t wait to return.

Went here after a local bar, amazing food, phenomenal dessert, happy hour ALL NIGHT??? AMAZING. Extremely friendly staff, pleasant place, hidden gem. Exceeded our expectations by far. Definitely a recommendation.

Came with with my cousin for a Groupon. It was very good. Good quiet environment. Granted the salsa music is bomb! I ordered chuleta manzana OMG yum as fuck! My cousin ordered Ropa Vieja he loved it. I did too I tried it! We ordered for appetizers fried Cuban sandwich– no Bueno tasted like Cuban mozzarella bites. Ordered mojito saki in coconut so yum and a good hit to end the night. Liked it if I am ever in the area is visit again! ;)

Came here and used a groupon. $ 25 for $ 50 food. It’s a great deal. The service was great. The waitress recommended the stuffed chicken entrée (cannot remember the name on the menu). It tastes good.
It’s a tiny space. The furnishing is new, but I don’t like the fact that I can smell the paint…

The place is really too small for a band. Not a saturday, first date place. Came here with a mesium sized group. The food was good. The sweet plantains tho are not that sweet, they should buy more yellow plantain.
I am not cuban do I cannot attest to the authenticity.