Havana

Havana is a must-visit! The food here is absolutely delicious-every dish we tried was packed with flavor and expertly prepared. What really stood out, though, was the customer service. The staff were incredibly attentive and genuinely helpful, making sure our experience was top-notch from start to finish.

If you're looking for a place where you can enjoy fantastic food and exceptional service, Havana is highly recommended. It's definitely a gem worth checking out!

This restaurant is very lively, nicely decorated and has kind staff.
They have the best mojitos ever and on Mondays it's mojito Monday so half off mojitos!
The chimichuirri steak was perfection. Cooked to perfection and the sauce is perfect. Super filling and delicious.
My friends loved their dishes as well!
The only downside was the ceviche, there was only four pieces of fish and it was a sweet mandarin sauce. I didn't think it was worth it but I should've asked what it was before I ordered.

Absolutely delicious food.
-Seafood Paella is cooked to perfection, seasoned just right.
-Day boat scallops is a highly recommended dish to try.
-Avocado mash and Plantain chips must try this tasty crisp and mash combo. Fresh and delicious.
-Bottomless mimosas.

Excellent customer service! Attentive and helpful.

The ambience of this restaurant transport you to the authentic Cuban experience.

Highly recommended!

Havana is a cute little restaurant nestled in DT Walnut Creek and definitely has the Cuba vibe going inside. The interior design is beautiful, and the natural light that came in for a perfect brunch day was nice. I made same-day reservations and was able to get a table, but was not able to do it days ahead. The hostess wasn't too friendly, but our waitress was amazing.

We came in for a Saturday brunch and it was lively, but didn't feel overcrowded. We wanted to try their Cuban options so we ordered mostly from the regular menu versus the brunch menu. We went there with 6 people and ordered 10 dishes, so that goes to show that we had a lot of leftovers. The portions are generous enough, so we ordered way too much food.

For appetizers, we got:
yucca fries 9/10 perfect crisp
ropa vieja empanadas 8/10 small, but good
crispy shrimp enchilados 9/10 delicious
Twice fried plantains 6/10 The texture wasn't all there
Mango Spinach Salad 10/10 refreshing and light

We also ordered:
Paella 10/10
Mojo Marinated Half chicken 7/10
Puerco Cubano 10/10
Plantain crusted true cod 9/10
Plantain french toast - was too full to taste

Most of the items were so tasty and flavorful. I've had Cuban food in Florida and this is authentic. Our server was super sweet. We had the bottomless mimosas and she kept it flowing the whole time. Good times, good vibes and great service. I will be back!

Okay, where to begin? Let's start cocktails - the Cuban Sour and Mango Jalapeño Mojito were stars, MJ had just the right amount of heat - Havana Tropics a good 2nd place...the fresh coconut on top was a great floral add.

We went tapas - Tuna Tartare and Grilled Lamb Chops. Tuna very good, maybe a slightly better cut of tuna, but the seasoning was great. Yucca fries...very nice. The Lamb? Oh mama. Right up there with the best lamb lollipops I've ever had. Chimicurri sauce totally on point.

We ate at the bar - great service. The place's vibe was outstanding. Who doesn't love latin music? You just wanted to eat, drank and dance at this place. Havana is now added to the short list of Walnut Creek favorites!

All these years later, it's still great. Ambiance, service, food, all of it. Mojitos continue to be the star here, but don't sleep on the food. Shrimp po boy and lamb chops are must orders. Though I was a little bummed not to get offered their plantain chips and instead got potato. Lamb was a perfect mid rare and sported a fantastic crust.

Come for the mojitos, stay for the food and fantastic service.

Definitely try the brunch menu! Everything we ordered was cooked perfectly and super flavorful. Bottomless mojitos!! Like what!? The empanadas and Yuka friends were my favorite apps.

Steak was amazing.
The flan is a must try!

Great place to grab brunch with friends! I came here on a Saturday morning to avoid a huge crowd and find a parking spot close by (since it's located downtown) - FYI metered parking is every day including Sundays. Reservations are also available :). Since we came during opening at 10am, it was quieter and we had plenty of time to catch up before it started getting crowded.

My friends and I tried their cubano sandwich and the dungeness crab benedict (off the brunch menu). The sandwich was a little dry and a little basic for a lunch menu item as it didn't come with any sides. The benedict was pretty good, though!

Our server was amazing. He was attentive and came by to check on us as needed. He also noticed that we were celebrating a recent engagement and gifted us complimentary champagne!! What a lovely surprise :), thank you!

I'd come back here to try other items & drinks on their menu.

I'd heard how popular this spot was. This was a spur of the moment dinner idea by my husband. Luckily, we were able to snag a Saturday night dinner reservation a couple hours before we dined in. Hubby made the reservation through their website which routed him to Yelp reservations.
We arrived about 30 min. early but they were great at seating us within 5-10 min. We were seated at a couple's table and a little candle which made the mood all romantic and stuff. It was also a bit dark where we sat, as evident in my photos!
Shay was friendly and cheerful and checked on us throughout dinner.

Traditional Mojito (5/5):
They offered quite a few mojito flavors and I wanted to try a traditional. Like you just have to! This was the only alcoholic drink I had. It was delicious and a bit strong.
However, the next morning I didn't feel too great. I've had my share of drinks in my life, but have never been hungover before and was always proud of that. I woke up thinking, this must be what a hangover feels like b/c I've never felt this way before. I woke up with a headache, and other hangover symptoms (quick Google search), and it's the only drink I had. Makes me wonder what quality of rum they used in the mojito. Not saying it was cheap rum b/c idk what they used, and my momma always said cheap liquor made her head hurt the next morning.

White Peach Yuzu Mojito (3/5): Hubby said it was okay. Thankfully he didn't get a hangover.

Chimichurri Steak (4/5):
We both ordered this as our entree. The steak was cooked to our liking. Hubby thought the chimichurri was on the salty side. I thought it was okay but also my salt tolerance is a bit higher than his as I love salt. The boniato potato puree was sweet but not to our liking. I would've preferred savory potatoes. The corn on the side was good.

Spicy yucca chips & mango salsa (3/5):
We got this b/c we love spicy food but the chips were not spicy, not even a little bit, so that was disappointing. Not sure why they're called that. mango salsa was good but we didn't like the sweetness of it w/the chips. Maybe if the chips were actually spicy, then the sweetness of the salsa would be a good pair to tone down the heat.

Ropa vieja empanadas (4/5):
Thanks to my Cuban friend who invited us to his place and cooked us ropa vieja many years ago, and was my first time trying the dish :) The ropa vieja filling was delicious. The chipotle aioli dip was a great addition. Actually we also used the aioli as a dip for the yucca chips above. Just wish the empanadas were a bit bigger in size, or served as 4 pcs instead of 3.

Grilled lamb chops (4/5):
Tasty lollipops, seasoned well.

They had quite a few sipping rum offerings. My husband ordered the "Ron Abuelo Centuria" and then Shay came back to let us know that unfortunately they had ran out of it.
sucks when that happens. He ended up having the Flor de cana, 25 years - he said it was good but would've preferred the one he initially wanted.

I enjoyed the Latin music and added to the ambiance. I noticed the pictures on the wall where we were seated and were beautiful, particularly the one w/the 3 Cuban women. I love photographs like that.
Oh, and I thought it was unique that they bring you the receipt in an empty cigar box.
Overall, we enjoyed our date night and look forward to trying their other food items.

Despite tricky parking, we found a small parking area behind the location in an alley. Although parking was $3.00 per hour until 11 PM and we initially lacked enough quarters, we managed to move the car to a meter that accepts cards.

The restaurant, though small, was quite quaint and cute. The staff welcomed us immediately and accommodated our reservation despite our being 20 minutes late. The cocktail menu had many options; we chose the Pineapple Martini, which was delicious and generously poured.

However, the food was disappointing. The presentation of the Grilled Shrimp was nice, but the shrimp was undercooked and the sauce was bland. My cousin also had the Grilled Shrimp, which made her feel unwell almost immediately. We ordered fried rice as well, but it arrived drenched in sauce, making it far from what we expected. We didn't taste it since my cousin was feeling unwell.

We sent the food back, paid for the drinks, and left. Overall, the experience was not bad, but it fell short of our expectations.