Havana Restaurant Tips by Jefie

Restaurant Name: Hanoi

Despite the rather Vietnamese sounding name of the place, this restaurant serves some of the best Creole food we've eaten during our trip. For only 4 CUC, you get a hefty serving of chicken or pork, rice, black beans and fried plantains. We were there in the afternoon and the place was filled with tourists and Cubans, and a really good band came to play a few songs to add up to the atmosphere. A really great find, thanks to some of my fellow VTers!

Favorite Dish: My chicken was a little overcooked but Sylvain's lemon-flavored pork was absolutely delicious!

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Theme: Local
Comparison: less expensive than average
Prices: less than US$10  » Currency Converter
Phone: 867-10-29
Address: Calle Teniente Rey, No. 507
Directions: Corner of Calle Teniente Rey (Brazil) and Calle Bernaza, about halfway between La Habana Vieja and El Capitolio

Restaurant Name: El Patio

There's always lots of atmosphere at El Patio since it is located right on the Plaza de la Catedral. Lots of people stop by just to have a drink, but the food is actually very good too. Being such a popular tourist spot, it's perhaps a bit more expensive than average. For example, a daiquiri goes for 4 CUC (the price of a full meal in some nearby restaurants). But the nice thing about it is that the menu is a bit different from other places so if you feel like eating a fresh salad or a good sandwich, it's a great place to go.

Favorite Dish: The tuna salad was really good, and the bread basket with a selection of butter was a pleasant surprise!

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Theme: Other
Comparison: more expensive than average
Prices: US$11-20  » Currency Converter
Phone: 867-1034
Address: Plaza de la Catedral
Directions: La Habana Vieja

Restaurant Name: El Bodegon

We stumbled upon El Bodegon as we were walking around the Fortaleza de San Carlos de la Cabana. The restaurant is located inside the walls of the fortress and has sort of navy atmosphere to it, with rough (but lovely) wooden furniture and a seafood menu. The staff was really friendly, which made our short visit all the more agreeable. If you're into seafood, I would definitely recommend going there!

Favorite Dish: hem... the seafood?!

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Theme: Seafood
Comparison: more expensive than average
Prices: US$11-20  » Currency Converter
Directions: Inside the Fortaleza de San Carlos de la Cabana

Restaurant Name: Hotel Parque Central

We were looking for a place not too expensive around the Capitolio and as we stopped by the Hotel Parque Central to use the restrooms (!), we discovered their charming and affordable lobby restaurant. This place mostly offers light snacks like Croque Monsieur and french fries, but there definitely is a chef-like twist to all their meals. Everything was absolutely delicious! Our waiter was very nice and friendly and took some time to chat with us. A really great place to go for an afternoon snack!

Favorite Dish: I'd never eaten such a great turkey sandwich!!

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Theme: Other
Comparison: about average
Prices: less than US$10  » Currency Converter
Phone: 866-66-27
Address: Hotel Parque Central
Directions: Calle Neptuno, at the corner of Prado and Zulueta

Restaurant Name: D'Giovanni

The greatest thing about this restaurant is its location. It is a bit more quiet than some of the other restaurants and the terrace offers a great view of the Fortaleza, which makes for a nice and relaxing atmosphere. The food was alright but not the best we've had in Havana, and the band that was playing that night was, hem, let's say below average. But all in all it felt really good to kick back and enjoy the view.

Favorite Dish: My pasta a la Napolitana was alright...

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Theme: Italian
Comparison: about average
Prices: less than US$10  » Currency Converter
Phone: 860-59-79
Address: Tacon Oficios
Directions: Between Empedrado & O'Reilly

Restaurant Name: El Alfeizar

As we were walking down Calle Oficios someone handed us a menu for the Cafeteria El Alfeizar, located on the mezzanine-like second floor of the Al Medina restaurant. Both the restaurant and cafeteria offer a Middle Eastern menu with a Creole twist. For example, I ordered the chicken kebab and it came with a side dish of black beans soup! And now the great thing about going to the cafeteria is that for only 3.50 CUC we had the exact same meal (chicken kebab with a beer) we would have had downstairs for 10 CUC, and I truly preferred the ambience upstairs as it was a lot more charming and quiet.

Favorite Dish: My chicken kebab was quite good, and so was my bottle of Cristal beer!

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Theme: Middle Eastern
Comparison: less expensive than average
Prices: less than US$10  » Currency Converter
Phone: 867-10-41
Address: Calle Oficios, No. 12
Directions: La Habana Vieja

Restaurant Name: El Abanico

If you have something special to celebrate while in Cuba (and a bit of extra money in your pocket) then I highly recommend going to El Abanico. We ended up going there because it was one of the few restaurants open in the area during a major blackout and it turned out to be the best meals we've had in Cuba. Located in the Melia Cohiba, this fine cuisine restaurant is beautifully decorated and the staff is very nice and friendly. We were greeted with a nice selection of breads and butters, and as we placed our order, the wine waiter stood by to offer us the best selection possible to go with our meals. We probably would have had to pay about 80$ in Canada for the kind of meal we ate but in this case it came up to 40 CUC, which was by far the most we had to pay at a restaurant during our stay in Havana, but still a pretty good deal by international standards considering the quality of the place.

Favorite Dish: I had chicken served with a curry, coco milk and pesto sauce, it was de-li-cious!!

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Theme: Eclectic/International
Comparison: more expensive than average
Prices: US$11-20  » Currency Converter
Phone: 833-36-36
Address: Hotel Melia Cohiba
Directions: Vedado

Restaurant Name: La Piazza

OK, we all know that Cubans are crazy about baseball (probably the same way Canadians are crazy about hockey), but it still seemed a bit odd to go with a baseball theme for an Italian restaurant. However, once we got passed that minor detail, we actually very much enjoyed our meal at La Piazza. It is rather expensive so I would definitely not give it a great quality/value ratio, but if you're having some sort of crazy craving for pizza, I would say it is one of the best places to go (you could always buy a slice of pizza on the street but be very careful: Cuban cheese tends not to agree with many travelers). The menu offers a pretty good selection of pizza and pasta, and all the pizzas are made from fresh ingredients and oven baked.

Favorite Dish: Sylvain ordered pasta and it wasn't all that great, but my pizza diavolo was delicious!

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Theme: Italian
Comparison: more expensive than average
Prices: US$11-20  » Currency Converter
Phone: 833-36-36
Address: Hotel Melia Cohiba
Directions: Vedado