Havana Cafe

What a disappointment! I had been wanting to come here for months. The service was embarrassingly bad. Despite the empty tables, there were 3 different groups waiting at least 15
minutes to be seated. Everyone in the restaurant seemed to be looking around for their waiter/​waitress and looking generally displeased. We requested one of the several tables outside and were told by the surly hostess that we couldn’t…because the tables were dirty (and she didn’t want to clean them, presumably?). Our drink order was taken and then a clueless waiter came back to re-​take it. When he returned, he’d already forgotten my drink order and had to go back the bar to make it. We then saw two of the servers get into an argument in front of us.
Every table is supposed to get bread and we asked several people for ours when after 30 minutes, we still didn’t have it. One waitress even told us, «I’m sure it’s baking right now.» No offer to check on it, no apologies, nothing. 30 minutes and 2 cocktails later, we looked at the group of disgruntled patrons and decided we would rather take our business elsewhere.

«But I took three years of Spanish and I can’t understand anything!» — said my friend. It’s not necessary here. Irma was helping us. When I pulled her over to inquire why she was going to cry, it was because a patron couldn’t possibly eat his postre. (A general word for dessert.) Irma, our amazing server, laughed when I said I’d take his dessert. This is very laid back, chill place serving authentic food in an unassuming place.
I miss hearing my parents and family banter in their Colombian selves. Cubans apparently mix and mingle in a similar fashion. Irma wove her magic throughout the restaurant, smiling and laughing. Quite possibly the happiest woman in Phoenix. (Eventually a delicious red sangria was selected, which went down entirely too fast.)
But back to the menu. The menu is clear to understand to anyone, from any corner of the world. Yes, I had a head start as many of the dishes share palates with Colombia. However, the menu here is clearly translated into English for anyone to decipher. No need to fret. And if you’re overwhelmed by choices, there are two things that might help you order. Forks designate «Havana Signature Items». Additionally you can opt for a Combination or Sampler plate. It’s for the «I Just Don’t Know» moments.
SEATING
I came here the night someone had their wedding reception! So yes, Havana Café readily can accommodate groups. With charm, sincerity and the utmost attention they can provide wonderful service to a party of two. We arrived separately on a Tuesday night around 6-​ish pm. Patrons started to trickle in more so around 7pm.
Upon arriving I learned there wasn’t really a bar area to wait for my friend to arrive. No matter, I was promptly seated even though my party had not fully arrived.
FOOD
Eager to eat we ordered fried plantains. When offered an option as to how they were prepared, I jumped and asked for Tostones. The pounded green ones (vs. the sweet kind.) Salty, but not too salty, served with a side of mojo-​garlic lime sauce. My mom and aunt prepare them slightly crispier, but these were still delicious.
For a meal the Ropa Vieja was divine. Humongous, but delicious. Shredded beef brisket, bell peppers, onions, tomato wine sauce and black beans over rice. I was surprised by the difference in texture of the onions on the rice vs. the brisket. It was nice to have a sweet, fresh onion on the rice. The brisket had a blended texture of spices with the vegetables. (Enough left overs for two more meals. But I’m a girl eating 3 ounces of protein in a meal.)
The night was young, and ma ’ belly was full. The flan looked tempting. I’ll have to send a recon mission back just for that!
And yes, the leftovers were excellent :)

Growing up in Phoenix, I used to love Havana Café. I had birthday dinners here several times. This week, my Dad proposed that we revisit Havana Café to celebrate my Master’s.
When we arrived at 5:30 on a Tuesday, we were one of three tables in the restaurant. The server (there was only one) kept our waters refilled, but it took 25 minutes to have our orders taken. We ordered maduros and black bean fritters to start. The maduros were heavenly, but it is hard to go wrong with a fried plantain. The black bean fritters were… not what I remembered. It may have just been a bad batch, but ours were suspiciously liquid on the inside.
For entrée, I ordered Camarones Havana, my Dad had the Cuban sandwich, and my stepmom got a special: several pieces of pork with black beans and rice, yucca root, and more maduros. Dad loved the Cuban sandwich, stepmom seemed to enjoy the pork, but not much of the sides. We had to add a lot of salt to our food when it arrived, I don’t think there was any added in the kitchen.
I was disappointed with my ($ 22) Camarones Havana. I received no sides, and the plate was just bland. It became marginally better with salt, but still. Where’s the flavor? I ended up eating black beans and rice off my parents’ plates.
By the time we left, the restaurant was mostly full inside, with a few people sitting outside. Because there was only one server, it took us another 20 minutes to get boxes and our check.
Sad to say I don’t think I’ll be back, unless it’s to order some maduros to go.

I really wanted to like this place, I really did. Unfortunately, our dinner just kept disappointing. Thank baby Jesus for Groupon, because if we had spent full price for our meals, I’d probably develop an eye twitch.
I went with their $ 18 vegetarian dinner special (poblano stuffed peppers with white beans, covered in a creamy tarragon sauce) over rice. My boyfriend ordered the Gallina Frita (shredded fried chicken breast with onion and Moros– rice and black beans).
The presentation of the food left something to be desired, but then again, so did the taste. We got pretty small plates (perhaps because I let it slip that we had a coupon?) The vegetarian poblano pepper entrée ($ 18 mind you) had only one half of a stuffed pepper, over plain white rice, and was covered with a cheese sauce that was Velveeta-​esque. There were no subtle nuances of flavors, just a bit of creamy slop with boiled tomato bits floating in the cheesy sea of regret. The corn bread that came with the meal was clearly microwaved and was 2“x 2″– a sad display.
The chicken entrée was dry and almost tasteless, except for the overly salted moros. My boyfriend didn’t even finish the chicken nor did he want my corn bread. This is a first on so many levels.
This was Cuban cuisine?! Where’s the seasoning? The spices? Where is the flavor?!
We left the Havana café and bid adieu to the plastic chairs and the tasteless plates of microwaved sadness.

Amazing happy hour deals. Great food, don’t let the appearance fool you.
The ambiance of the place was sort of surprising, given the reputation and prices. Plastic chairs? Tiny, brightly lit dining room? Kitschy «CUBA!!» pictures all over the place and a whole wall of mirrors? It was a weird first impression.
The happy hour specials were fantastic and worth going back for alone. We had some sort of black bean balls (fried and a little spicy) the fried yucca roots and something else I can’t remember. All yummy.
The wife and I both had the paella and it was also great. A really good mojito, too.
We shared the desert sampler and each had our favorites but agreed everything on the plate was delicious.

We have driven by this place before and always wanted to try it. When we saw it on Groupon, we decided, in spite of reviews, we would. GLAD WE DID… we really really liked it!
The portions aren’t huge, but we thought that it was plenty adequate. Some Americans think that if you don’t get a HUGE plate of food, it’s not worth it. Their food was delicious and enough for a decent meal… it was like going to someone’s’ house for dinner. LOVED the stuffed potato pancakes and stuffed dates. Polla Cubano was awesome, too.
We were also VERY happy with the service, Unlike other reviews, we did not experience any problems. The waiter kept coming back to refill our waters after 2 sips! We actually had 2 waiters. Now, we were there on a Monday night, but we were quite happy.
DEFINITELY WILL COME BACK. We’re from Chicago, so we know good food. This was good food!

Looking at the handy dandy Unilocal Rating Distribution bar graph, it can be assessed that Havana Café is all over the road when it comes to… well… everything I guess, based on the reviews I’ve read. Luckily for me, I came on a good night.
It was a Tuesday evening around 5:30 — 5:45 and there were no customers, so it was peaceful. A little while after us, a party of 5 adults and a child arrived. No one else showed up during the little over an hour we were there. Two couples however, did arrive just as we were leaving.
So… good for us because it was a nice, semi-​quiet evening and we could take in the whole restaurant, But I would have to say it was a bad night if you’re the restaurant owner.
I guess that’s why they’re dropping Groupons for Havana Café like they’re hot. We had a Groupon. I admittedly just now bought Another Groupon for HC when we got home because we thought the place was great.
We started with an order of tostones and a cup of the seasonal Pumpkin Bisque. The tostones weren’t the best I’ve had. Not quite as crispy as I like. The inside seemed a little under cooked. Not bad though, just okay. The mojo, garlic, lime juice-​sauce that comes with them on the other hand, was very good.
The Pumpkin Bisque was excellent. They make it in-​house with pumpkins they buy at the local markets. They only have it for a limited time, so if you want to try it, I would recommend doing it soon.
For my entrée, I went with the Bistec Encevollado. It’s a marinated steak with onions and I had it with rice and black beans. I thought it was very good and it was a big portion. I packed ½ of it to-​go so I could delve into their desserts.
I saw the Pumpkin Flan when we first looked over the menu, and there was no way I was leaving without trying it. We also had a mini coconut flan and a mini chocolate pudding.
The Pumpkin Flan was like eating the filling of a pumpkin pie without having to deal with the crust. That was perfect for me since I don’t favor pie crust. It was topped with either a brown sugar or apple butter sauce, I’m not sure. The sauce was labelled as a brown sugar sauce in the menu, but it wasn’t super sweet. Not a bad thing, the dessert as a whole was good.
The coconut flan was another winner. It had a nice, clean, fresh flavor and shredded coconut on top. I think it also had a light lemon sauce on it. Very good.
The chocolate bread pudding wasn’t bad. It had a chocolate rum sauce and on it and there was no mistaking that there was rum in it. A good dessert if you’re craving chocolate and don’t mind rum.
This was my first Cuban food experience in Phoenix and I’m very pleased. I don’t have any solid complaints. I can see how parking could be an issue, but I can walk here from my place so that isn’t an issue for me.
I will definitely be back. Actually, according to my new Groupon I’ll be back by November 25^th.

Ah, the dreaded worst-​experience of my life, horrible service, overcharged BIRTHDAY meal… that ended up in moderate-​severe food poisoning.
I’m talking the kind of food poisoning where at one point I desecrated the restrooms of a lovely restaurant in downtown Phoenix and ended up laying face down on the sidewalk… to where a homeless man asked me if I was ok.
Yeah. It was that bad. Food poisoning aside, it was STILL the worst meal of my life, and this WAS my favorite low-​key restaurant in the valley.
Apparently my birthday fell on the last day of a groupon or livingsocial redemption. Unlucky us, we paid full price (more than actually… since we were charged for the wrong items they brought out and subsequently took back), and were treated worse somehow than the coupon folks — because it was a set menu and so the kitchen didn’t want to make things not on THAT menu — despite our paying full freaking price.
FACT: When one is celebrating their birthday, they want a cocktail. I wanted a cocktail. Actually, I wanted three. I got my first cocktail after I’d been there nearly an hour (oh yeah, the «10 minute» wait I was told about was actually 40). I didn’t get a refill. Or asked if I wanted a refill. Of that drink, or my water. But I asked! Oh, did I ask! I drank my water and my dining companions. And then eventually drank the melted ice from my un-​refilled mojito. The 2 employees (great staffing job on a day you know will be busy with coupon redeemers!) were basically losing their minds, running around, and super stressed. They had basically given up by the time we were eating.
That is why I feel like the food poisoning occurred from something truly awful. Like employees deliberately fucking with my food horrible.
I’m not sure what they normally do when people have their birthday at a restaurant, but we weren’t offered dessert menus, let alone a comped dessert. They knew it was my birthday. They knew at the beginning we were paying the full price. And still… worst.service.ever.
***I actually filled out a comment card back in November listing my email address and phone number, where I specifically requested to be contacted (again, this was before the food poisoning). This review was written right after the visit, and I sort of «sat» on it for literally over 6 months, in hopes someone would actually contact me. I gave them the chance, I guess they really just don’t give a shit.

I’ve been to Havana café before, but it’s been at least 5 years or so. Long enough for me to forget that this place was forgettable, in my own opinion. Take that for what it is, I don’t eat much Cuban food.
I was unexcited to find that Havana café didn’t have any spots available to park, and the rest of the open spots in the parking lot were all labeled specifically for the next door flower shop, coffee shop, and so on. What was I to do? I risked it and parked in a flower shop spot, and well, I wasn’t towed, but I still felt like I was doing something wrong by parking there :-/​
Ultimately, I was lured back with a groupon they had available a few months ago. My first mistake was expecting that I could use my groupon to pay for meals which both totaled above $ 30 (the value of my groupon) and ALSO ordering additional items from their HH menu. I asked for two of their mojitos and was told that I couldn’t order HH since I was using a groupon also. I obliged and let them know that water was just fine. My guess is they realized I wanted to buy my drinks in addition to our meals, and the waitress came back a few minutes later and told us she would put our drink order on a separate check. Nice save on their part — I was a bit miffed at first!
My second mistake was not realizing how excessively sweet their mojito was going to be. I saw at the bottom of the glass, what appeared to be a large spoonful of sugar. In this case, it didn’t help the medicine go down. After them accommodating me with the drink order and all, I didn’t want to make a big to do out of this, so I soldiered my way through my drink.
I ordered a shredded beef dish, and my wife a shredded/​pulled pork dish. Apparently Cuban’s like bell peppers and onions a heck of a lot more than I do. The peppers and onions with my dish accounted for about ¾th’s of the meal. I ate two or three slices of the peppers and a few slices of the onion, but was not satisfied with the small amount of beef the meal came with for a sticker price of $ 16, and even at $ 8 since I was paying about half with the groupon.
My third mistake was choosing to sub their house vegetables for the beans and rice. I don’t eat that many carbs, so often I will exchange potatoes, fries, rice, etc for whatever vegetable is available. The waitress explained that it was a mixture of squash, zucchini, mushrooms, and a few others. In reality, it turned out to be a few slices of squash, a few slices of zucchini, a couple of mushrooms, and guess what, a bucket load of chopped bell peppers and chopped onions. They were also nice enough to charge me extra for the substitution with the meal now totaling $ 18 before tax and tip.
Two $ 6 mojito’s, two $ 16 meals, an upcharge for the vegetables, and a $ 5 forgettable appetizer (I don’t exactly remember what it was at this point). I was leaving with a $ 65 meal after tax and tip, hey, I saved $ 15 on the groupon though.
Happy Unilocaling Phoenix, I hope I made it apparent how unimpressive this spot is. Maybe you prefer pan fried peppers with a bit of beef and a side of… pan fried peppers.

AWFUL!!! food is awful, place smells. Would not recommend this place at all.
Food is made with this lime juice and all food is covered with onions, and the black beans and rice is GROSS.

Whoops… left this in drafts for almost 2 weeks. Ok, so now it’s been 2 weeks since my first meal at Havana Café. Haven’t had Cuban food since last Miami visit in ’05. The black bean fritters were delish!!! I had the Ensalada Savilla… YUM. I did steal some of my dad’s beans and rice, which were good. My daughter had tamales, which she loved, but they were chicken so I didn’t try those. My sangria was quite nice too. Probably not my favorite restaurant, but it was a nice change of pace and tasty!

Perfect place for a special night out with your favorite person.
My BF and I had our first date here– it has a cozy, mom and pop shop type of feel and the service was great. The servers were helpful with their recommendations. We have been here several times and each time we order something different.
So far my favorite thing on the menu is Ropa Vieja — juicy beef in a tomato based sauce. **Mouth watering**
Any time I have visitors, I take them to this spot. If you like good Cuban food or want a pleasant and warm place for dinner and good conversation. This is it. Happy Eating

In just a few short days, I’ve fallen in love with this place. I wanted to come here for a while so when I saw the Groupon, I jumped at the chance. As a Caribbean girl, I love the down home feel and the generous portions (pero un pequeño caro). Also, everyone here is really nice! I love Cuban food and am very familiar with it being from a neighboring island (Haiti).
Everything I’ve tried here so far has been really delicious! So far I’ve had the Cho Cho (yeah for a veggie dish), Frituras de Frijoles Negros, Sangria soda, some nectars, Tres leche, Pudin de Pan con Chocolate, and of course Maduros Fritos!!! I suggested the Chicharrones de Pollo for my friend who was unfamiliar with Cuban food and she loved it. We came here two days in a row… (sigh) I am slowly becoming addicted!

My wife and I love ethnic foods, especially when the restaurants feel as different as the food. So tried Havana Café on a hunch and were very impressed with both. Felt like I was in a smaller, yet nice street-​side café/​resaurant in Latin America. Good start. First, we got the Repollo Relleno (pulled pork stuffed into 2 cabbage rolls, very lightly crusted on the outside and served with a light cream lime sauce and lemon slices. Light and savory.
The Empaniditas de Longosta (Lobster Stuffed into tiangle-​shaped crusts (similar to pot pie crust). It was on the lunch special and also delicious. This one a bit more filling yet equally as good.
Also got the Seviche, which in our opinion was the best seviche we’ve ever had. Was a really delicious, yet light, served as a medley of seafood with avocado, citrus, white asparagus and lime sauce over greens.
Definitely going back.

If you’re looking for a delicious Phoenix feast, head to one of my favorite restaurants in the Valley, Havana Café.
I always try a little bit of everything when I’m at the Cuban restaurant, and when my pal and I went this week, our meal was no exception. We had more than 10 different menu items peppering our table, and we both left stuffed and happy. Like it is for me, Havana Café instantly became one of his favorite restaurants after one meal there.
One of the coolest things about Havana Café is that there are mojito making classes offered there periodically. I’ve attended one and loved it, and the mojitos at Havana Café are amazing.
When we went to dinner this week, we got a pitcher of sangria instead of mojitos, because sangria is another one of my favorite drinks. The sangria at Havana Café is packed full of fruit flavor, and it’s a really refreshing drink that goes well with the heat of the Cuban dishes.
Let’s start first with my favorite dish at Havana Café, the Frituras de Frijoles Negros ($ 5.25). They’re bite-​sized black bean fritters served with a cool and creamy avocado dip that is to-​die-​for. I love, love, love this dish and could eat it all the time.
The Maduros Fritos ($ 5.95) are just as amazing. They’re sweet chunks of bananas that make a perfect dessert or sweet appetizer accompaniment. If you don’t like eating raw bananas, you’ll probably still love these.
We also had vegetable empanaditas ($ 6.95), mini-​pies chock full of veggies. For being such little appetizer treats, they’re really filling and could make a great main course for vegetarians.
I also had the Potage de Frijoles Negros ($ 4.95 for a bowl), which is a vegetarian black bean soup that is also very hearty. It’s so tasty!
My companion got the San Juan Combination ($ 16.95), a massive sampler plate that lets you taste seven different dishes-​a Puerto Rican tamale, plantains and pork, a vegetable croquette, twice-​fried plantains, peas cooked with rice and pork, fried pork and beans and rice. The dish could probably give you 2 days’ worth of leftovers-​and they’re not gross leftovers, they’re almost as good as if they’d just been served to you.
Besides the phenomenal food, I love Phoenix’s Havana Café for its intimate setting. The restaurant is comprised of a little dining room with mirrored walls, and there’s also a patio. It’s not quite Cuba, but the aromas and warm, welcoming atmosphere are enough to make you feel as relaxed as you would on vacation.

I love cuban food! And so I take every chance to eat it, so when I saw a cuban very close to our hotel in Scottsdale, I was there! Unfortunately, the minute I walked in, I should have turned around and walked right back out again. There was a distinct smell that wasn’t clean and wasn’t pleasant. But my interest in a good cuban meal got the better of me. Big mistake.
The food was definitely sub-​par. I had the sampler, which included pollo cubano, ropa vieja, and masas de puerco. Unfortunately, none of the dishes was particularly flavorful, and none were good renditions of the dish. The pollo was bland other than an overly acidic sauce, the ropa vieja was just lacking in flavor and the vegetables and broth hadn’t been blended together, and the masas weren’t crispy in the least. The whole meal was a huge let down.

In spite of being on the corner of 44^th and Camelback it does a good job of insulating you from the traffic and taking you some place else, in this case our dear Communist neighbors to the South. I like the sampler because it allows you to enjoy the finest island interpretations of pork, beef, and chicken. Also, no meal is complete without going bananas for the… well, tostones.
You gotta hand it to those Castro brothers. They forcefully preside over a country that has a pretty great national cuisine. Viva La Revolucion!

Still as good as I remembered!
This visit around I tried the following:
Alcapurrias (Picadillo stuffed croquette made from tropical vegetable masa)
Tostones (Twice-​fried green plantains)
Arroz con Gandules (Pigeon peas cooked with rice, pork, olives and capers)
Mofongo (Crushed plantains and pork cracklings)
Sangria made with Red wine
Cortadito (Café Cubano laced with steamed milk)
Between the Tostones & the Calypso chips, I prefer the Calypso chips.
The Arroz con Gandules is very good, you can really taste the saltiness of the capers.
The Mofongo were my absolute FAVORITES: D They are very basic, but who needs more?!
As far as the Cortadito goes, I’m pretty sure that I could feel my pupils dilating as I was drinking the tiny cup down, lol. If this is a diluted Cuban Coffee, I’m not sure I’m ready for the real deal! Even though it was strong, or perhaps because it was so strong, I feel like I’m hooked! :)
Word of warning, if you don’t like garlic, you need to really consider your choices. I don’t think there are many dishes made without the use of garlic.

Me gusta comida de cubano!
I came here with a friend, and we used a Groupon. I have heard a lot of great things from coworkers and friends about this small little place in Arcadia Phoenix area. I have driven by it several times, and it was finally time to get a feel of Cuba.
The waiter gave us a very homey and family type feeling with the passion he showed by explaining the menu. I ordered the Pollo Cubano, which has grilled chicken with savory sweet onions on top and a side of black beans and rice. The onions gave a dynamic sweetness and yumminess that I can’t explain with words. My friend ordered dried plantains. The first order had black beans inside, and the other was almost like a sweet plantain banana dessert. We enjoyed the food family style with some beer.
I will definitely have to make a return trip to Havana Café!

I came here for the second time last night. Audrey W and I met Amy B for dinner.
I opted for the special and kind of regret it. It was a seafood paella. I have to remind myself sometimes that I don’t live by the ocean anymore and very few restaurants here in the valley provide good quality seafood dishes along the lines of the paella.
It was mediocre and I know many other things I have had at Havana Café are much better.
:-(
I’ll just have to bank on my upcoming dinner at Wildfish for Restaurant Week to set me right. I’m having the cioppino.
I used to order things like cioppino or «Fruite de Mare» all the time when I lived in Boston and I always enjoyed it. Two times ordering that sort of thing at restaurants in Phoenix and :-(
Lesson learned.