Havana Central Times Square

Reviews

• SM

  Samantha Mills

  Jan 5, 2026
  1.0
  My family and I visited NYC and were hungry so we came upon Havana on a Saturday night. We heard the music and smelled the food so we went in. The atmosphere seemed nice, they had nice music. We waited not long maybe 10 min tops but they were packed. We were seated and the waited at first seemed attentive but after he took our order that’s where things took a turn. They give tables water pitchers but our waiter never once came back to refill it during the entire time we were there. Another waiter that brings out food came to our table multiple times with food that wasn’t ours. We were there waiting for our food for so long we almost left. That other server came to our table at least 8 times with other peoples orders and we had to send him away telling him those were not ours. Finally our food was brought out, the portion size is huge so you get your moneys worth in a way but there was absolutely no flavor to their food. We had 3 different rice which all needed salt for sure. The food looked great but the flavor for everything was not good. The aroma in the restaurant was very deceiving and left us very disappointed. My plantains should have been sweet and were not. When the server gave us our plates he spilt the liquid from the food and the food on my sister n law. The only good thing we had from there was my daughters pineapple daiquiri and my husbands passion fruit drink. Apart from that, I did not enjoy the experience nor the food. I also was offered fried Yuka fries I said sure, he never put in that order so there was a lot of confusion when the server was being out food. To go to NYC and have a restaurant charging big prices you would have high expectations. I am super disappointed in both experience and the food. Also for this restaurant to have over a 4 start rating has me questioning a lot right now.
• ME

  Michael Ed

  Jan 1, 2026
  1.0
  I think Ray Charles taught them how to cook. Nothing at all authentically Cuban about this. I grew up eating Cuban food, been to other Cuban restaurants I can say with certainty that this place makes horrible food. The meat is missing key spices and maybe even mojo. The beans were liquidty and smelt weird. The sweet Potato fries smelt weird, maybe its the oil? The maduros are massively undercooked. Seriously I could spend a day with these cooks teaching them basics. Stay away until they learn what it means to call their food "Cuban".
• LA

  Lisa Ashton

  Dec 29, 2025
  3.0
  Three of my family members ordered the Cuban sandwich. The flavor was very good, but most of the bread was super soggy so we didn’t even eat the bread that was soggy. Felt like it was 100° in there, the heat was cranking way too hard. Last but not least, they are super super busy and our server couldn’t refill our drinks or give us our check. We had to hunt him down for both items.
• AM

  A M

  Dec 29, 2025
  3.0
  The atmosphere was very nice, and the drinks at the bar were excellent reasonably priced too! The food, however, was average at best. My chicken Cuban came with a tiny, overcooked piece of fried chicken, no pickles, a small slice of cheese, and it was only lukewarm. I sent it back and ordered a regular Cuban instead. This one looked better, but the pork and ham were cold, like they’d been sitting out, and it was just slapped onto toasted bread that also seemed to have been sitting for a while. My impression is that they’re turning tables so quickly that they pre-make a lot of the food and keep it under a warmer, where it sits for several minutes. The empanadas were very good, though, and everything came out extremely fast! For the price, I’d rather go somewhere else for a hot, fresh meal. That said, the servers and bartenders were excellent! Overall, a 3-star experience, great vibe and service, but the food needs to be fresher and come out hot.
• JJ

  Jazmin Jurado

  Dec 19, 2025
  5.0
  Visited Friday night for happy hour. Our wait to get a table was 50 minutes. Instead we went to the bar and were lucky that guest left and we had availability for 2 seats. Our server Israel made our transition smoothly and quick. We order various appetizers and drinks. Beer Pacifico and Blue moon .Drinks passion fruit mojito with fresh sugar cane and mint. The band was there tuning their sound for a while but once they got it together they played a set of various song not limited to Cuban music. Overall it was good atmosphere and food. I liked the green sauce instead of f the mayo sauce drizzle all over out appetizers. I've been to the LI Havana central which i visited various times and they also ha e live bands and delicious food.

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