La Havana 59
“For a very small price, you get a lively atmosphere, great food, dancing, drinks and a live band on most nights!”
“There was a dance floor and it was a lot of fun seeing people going to dance in the middle of dinner.”
“I ordered exactly the same meal as the other Cuban restaurant that I previously reviewed….croquettas, beef empanadas and pan con lechon.”
La Havana 59
Takes Reservations: Yes
Take-out: Yes
Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
Good for Kids: Yes
Good for Groups: Yes
Has TV: Yes
Waiter Service: Yes
Caters: Yes
Price range.
$$ Price range $11-30
8 reviews
Rate and write a review Cancel reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
3.5/5. Very fun place!
For a very small price, you get a lively atmosphere, great food, dancing, drinks and a live band on most nights!
I came here with my family and we ordered appetizers, a pitcher of sangria, and entrees and the bill was amazingly only 134.00 for all 5 of us.
Thus, the quality of food was good but not great. For starters, we had the chicharrones which were just fantastic and the appetizer sampler, which had a mix of things, some good and others not, all fried. For my entree I got the rope vieja with white rice and red beans. The beans were delicious and porky, while the meat was good, but not the best I've had. One of my brothers got the churrasco, and that was really great. The other had the paella which I didn't love; decent seafood and huge portion but it was definitely way too salty.
The best part about this place, though, isn't the food. It's the dancing! When we were there they had two bands play with some dj time in between, and they played a variety of Spanish music. The dance floor is adequately sized, and people get up for almost every song to dance. We, of course, joined in and tried to keep up, and had so much fun in the process! The atmosphere is pretty jubilant, with many large parties there (we went on a Saturday).
The service overall was a bit bumpy, though our server was nice. The place was way too busy to serve us quickly, but with the live music and apps to tide us over, it wasn't too big of a problem.
Overall, at their low, low prices and with the fun you're going to have, I certainly recommend this place for a great family outing!
Nice vibe when you walk in….nicely decorated (had valentine's stuff too) and yes they have their own private parking lot and FREE WI-FI.
Now I came on a Monday night so no live music booo. Check out their website for live band nights….would love to come back to check them out. My friend did say they Def had one on Thursday nights and I'm quite sure they have it on the weekends. The stage is right in the center of the room and they do take reservations.
So they gave us a free basket of…ummm not even sure what they were. It had a side of garlic butter and somewhat like soda crackers shaped in a tostada. It was ok…rather prefer warm bread with the butter.
We had bacon wrapped fried yuca….I like the crisp of the yuca and the bacon (Yuca Ahogada) was crunchy too….and the side dip was a nice touch to it.
I just had the shrimp with butter, garlic, and wine (Camarones al Ajillo) which was very tasty. Had a side salad with it. I would take a few spoonfuls of my friends white rice and black beans which was very good with it.
My friends pork chops (Chuleta Criolla) was a bit bland for me. It was just ok. I did like the side of sweet plantains. Vaca frita was ok….had some dry meats…wasn't my fave.
My fave was the tres leche…..I could of demolished my own (wish I did have my own lol).
I was a bit confused on how the dessert menu looked like….guess I missed the whole vintage or whatever concept it was. It was a bit dark in there.
So overall experience was good. The place is close to me….yah I would come back especially for the tres leche heehee.
*fish ceviche (yaass!!!!! The fish was fresh, super tender; loved the acidity in this dish; honestly finished every bite including the juice haha)
*yuca con mojo (OMG. This was so friggen delicious!!! The yuca was sticky, meaty and sweet; that sauce was heaven albeit on the oily side. This side dish is comforting on a cold day.. could have just eaten this with some meat and called it a day)
*lechon asado (the pork was really good but could have been juicier; the pieces of fat and skin definitely gave it the flavor this dish needed; not the best pork I've had but it was decent)
*tostones with steak (meh, the tostones were pretty dry and chewy, the steak itself was quite good and cooked to a nice medium, more worth it to just eat and steak and leave the tostone on the plate haha)
*yuca with bacon (it was just yuca strips wrapped with bacon, nothing special and didn't enjoy it, rather dry and bland)
This place.. where to start… It's valet only for the parking so pray to god they don't scratch your day as they play musical cars throughout the night. This is packed to shit on a Saturday night. We waited 1.5 hours to get a table. It was insane. Not sure how they maintain reservations here or figure the way to seat patrons, but it seemed more chaotic than anything else. Let's talk about the service. Service is the bar is average but at least they pay attention to you. The service at the formal dining area is HORRENDOUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It took about 20 minutes for a waiter to finally come back and bring us some water. Then an additional 10 minutes for a waiter to take our orders. Every so often our server would stop and check if everything was ok. I understand that it's busy and people are on the dancefloor but you should still make your rounds and see how your customers are doing. We couldn't even find our waiter to help get us the check so we flagged down anybody. The check took about 10 minutes to get but it's ok. When we left, I saw our waiter outside talking to some chick. You gotta be kidding me right?? He's been MIA for about a half hour and he's outside hanging out. Please. Anyway, overall the place has decent food I have to admit that. But the service is soooooooooooooo fuckin bad. I'll consider coming back when it's not peak hours on a weekend but for the most part I don't think I will be returning.
This place is where the party is at on a Saturday night. Great atmosphere, great live music, and most importantly great foods make this gem of a find on top of my list to have a fun weekend night out. My friend Miguel highly recommended La Havana 59, so one Saturday night we decided to all go out for some fun. A group of seven of us enjoyed authentic Cuban food and Latin dancing to take the stress away. When I say I had such a great time I don't even think this review will do much justice. It was such a blast for lack of a better word.
Now finding this place can be a little confusing. It's located next to Teterboro airport with some industrial buildings in the surrounding area. It's valet parking only because of the tiny parking lot they have. But once you get into the restaurant you are instantly transported to a whole new world. The set-up inside is vibrant, fun, with Latin decors abound. There are plenty of tables around but make sure to call ahead because as my buddy said, and I witnessed first hand, it gets pretty freakin crowded on weekends. The small dance floor doesn't do this place justice but the live band more than makes up for it. If you go on a Saturday night, which is the day I visited, the crowd starts coming in around 9 or 10 and the band starts playing around that time. So take it from me and come a little early for some food and just stay for the drinks and dancing.
My friends and I shared a bunch of appetizers to start the meal. Since my friend Miguel is one hundred percent Cuban out of the group we left it to him to make the smart decisions on what we should get. We had an array of apps including bandeja guajira, chicharoncitos de pollo, and chorizo frito. The bandeja guajira consisted of breaded shrimp, fried pork chunks, beef strips, sausage and grilled chicken strips. This platter was so delicious my friends and I couldn't stop raving about it. With a side of their awesome red sangria we couldn't help but devour the whole thing. The chicharoncitos de pollo were marinated fried chicken chunks that were flavored great, but was kind of dry so I wasn't such a big fan. However the chorizo frito, or fried Spanish sausage, was amazeballs! It paired really well with their mango sangria with the sweetness balancing the saltiness of the chorizo.
For the main course we each ordered separate dishes. After already filling up on those delicious starters I thought I couldn't eat anymore. But the Bistec de Rinonada was calling me and I was most happy to oblige. A perfectly cooked, tender grilled steak can make any man happy and that night I was a happy camper indeed. The steak was delicious to say the least and cooked the way I like, and the side of maduros( fried plantain) that accompanied it was delicious as well.
Don't worry about calorie counting here. After you have your fill of their fantastic offerings you're just gonna dance it all away anyways. So take some time from your busy schedule and enjoyed this little piece of Cuba in Moonachie. You won't be disappointed.
My lady loves this place because she says they have great food, ambiance, and she loves the live music. We came here with her family to celebrate her sister's birthday yesterday. The reservation was for 8, but an additional 2 came (kids). They made zero effort to accommodate the additional 2, saying they had no more chairs in the entire restaurant. I understand it is Saturday and it gets busy, but having to wait for drinks so long that people had to get up from the table and order at the bar is ridiculous. We started ordering 2 drinks at a time since they took so long. We ordered several appetizers for the table and a plethora of drinks. At one point the owner walks over and says that if we don't order food we will be charged a $25 dollar fee!! What about the $75 worth of apps we just consumed? He said that appetizers are not food and that we HAVE TO order entrees or we will be charged the $25!! We had asked what time the kitchen closed, with every intention of ordering entrees, but wanted to have drinks first. The management's problem was clearly the kids. They see children and think to themselves that it is a loss in revenue because kids don't eat as much and don't consume alcohol. If that is the case, then don't allow children in. Simple as that. We asked for the check and left. I think that it is embarrassing that this place is managed in such a way. They should be ashamed. There is nothing stellar about this food for me to put up with such subpar management and service. This was my first and last time at this place. Guaranteed. And i will go out of my way to tell anyone that even whispers the name of this place about the disgusting experience i had here. HORRIBLE!
I could not believe this place when we walked in. What a great atmosphere. I pretty much felt like I was in Cuba! There was live music and the dance floor was packed with dancers. The only drawback was that we were seated at a table by the dance floor and the music became way to loud to hold any conversation.
After being seated we were brought some crackers and garlic butter. The crackers were light and crunch and the garlic butter was a nice accompaniment.
I ordered the masitas de cerdo. OMG were they delicious!!! It is basically cubes of pork, marinated in mojo and cuban spices and then fried perfectly. Seriously, these were really really good. The dish is very simple, but I think that is what made it so good. For sides, I got the white rice and black beans which were also tasty.
The prices are very reasonable. I look forward to coming back here and trying some other items.
You know how I know this restaurant is legit? Because it was packed with Cubans. And who knows what good Cuban food is better than Cubans themselves?!
I came here for my friend's birthday and we had an awesome time! We started with a few plates of havanero, the appetizer sampler. Everything was great, from the different empanadas, to the croquetas, to the chorizo, to the tamale, and all other fried goodies on that platter…except fried Spam. Now, I have never tried Spam before, but I thought I was poisoned. But anyway, MOVING ON, everything else was great. I ordered the ropa vieja with maduros as my entree (when in Cuba…) and it was a massive portion, a tiny price, and filled with flavor. A few people also ordered the lobster paella, which by the way, can feed five people easily and it was BOMB. Wow wow wow.
On Saturday nights they have a live show that starts at 9:30. Our dinner ended before then but they did have a DJ playing great music…and there's a dance floor! A few glasses of sangria, and a stomach full of food, what better way to burn off all the Cuban goodness?!
The only downside of my experience here was that the restaurant KNEW it was my friends birthday, but they didn't bring a cake! They did it for other tables but not ours and I'm not sure why. Overall, La Havana 59 took me by surprise and I was blown away by the experience!
My family and I went here for dinner with our friends and I must say its a nice place. First, there is a private lot and the restaurant is divided into two separate rooms. One room is were all the party and live bands play while customers dine. The other one (which is where our party of 8 sat) were for family dining. You can still hear the music and entertainment but not as loud.
What about the food? The food is good. I order shredded pork with Spanish rice and black beans. The portions were large so be ready to take some leftovers home. Their sangria is good. My husband order seafood and I must say if I weren't so full, I'd like to try his dish too, lol. Our kids also had a healthy portion of food from the kids meal.
Overall, it's a good restaurant. It's not a 5 star restaurant because the service was not that great. It wasn't horrible but it could be better. Once we had our food, no one stopped by to make sure that everything is fine. We needed to ask our waitress about something and she was no where to be found. It wasn't until when we are almost done eating that she reappears with the dessert menu. That's not cool!