Habana Libre

Of course they are, silly! So get to Habana Libre already and just you wait until they bust out the free bread with garlicky delicious dipping stuff. Your fingers will smell like garlic for the next 48 hours...and every time you catch a whiff you'll be transported in a Proustian flashback to the lovely hour you spent at Habana Libre receiving excellent service, enjoying delicious, reasonably priced food, and taking in the awesome tacky/quaint/accidental decor.

I guess if you want to impress a dumb, boring girl/dude on a date I wouldn't bring them here, cause it's not that fancy in there, but if it's actually someone worth attempting to reproduce with, this place is great because it doesn't get too, too busy (at least, I haven't seen it such) and they don't rush you out, so you can linger over your meal and enjoy a conversation at a normal speaking volume. I don't mean to make the place sound like it's junky, because it's not--at all-- it's just that they didn't pay a decorator to recommend earth tones or whatever...I'm pretty sure they picked out the 30 potted palms and painted wooden toucan themselves. And they're rad.

I always get the same darn thing, the ropa vieja sandwich, because they had me at tender, perfectly spiced shredded beef, and even though it's a huge amount of food I always try to split the combination appetizer platter for two--seriously, get this thing, it's so rad, it's like eating the delicious, random finger food they serve at Cuban weddings: like fried yucca, plantains and these potato thingies with ground beef in the middle. YUM! You won't be able to finish your huge sandwich, so you get to take it home and eat it for your next meal...awesome! And speaking of sandwiches, did I mention the bread here? Cause it's excellent.

Murder she wro---WAIT A MINUTE!

How could I forget? BYO!! Yeah. I like it.

Posted 04/16/08 | Report Abuse

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There are some great Cuban restaurants around (Cafe Bolero being my personal favorite) and I didn't think Habana Libre matched them in terms of food. What I had was not bad, but it was just okay.

Posted 04/12/08 | Report Abuse

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This is a great place to get reasonably priced Cuban food with friendly service. The bread is delicious and the rice and beans are amazing. Everything I've had here has been delicious.

Posted 04/12/08 | Report Abuse

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