Must-see restaurants in Havana

  • Lamparilla 361 Tapas & Cervezas

    Habana Vieja

    Havana’s best tapas bar might also be its finest all-round eating establishment, with food, presentation and service down to a fine art. Inside the loungy…

  • Doña Eutimia

    Habana Vieja

    The secret at Doña Eutimia is that there is no secret: just serve decent-size portions of the best Cuban food. Expect the likes of ropa vieja (shredded…

  • La Fontana

    Havana

    La Fontana, encased in a hard-to-find but beautiful house in Playa, is one of the best restaurants in Havana, a position it has enjoyed pretty much since…

  • El Rum Rum de la Habana

    Habana Vieja

    Not every restaurant has a wine sommelier and a cigar sommelier, but this is Havana, and El Rum Rum (the name references both the drink and Cuban slang…

  • La Guarida

    Havana

    Only in Havana! The entrance to the city's most legendary private restaurant greets you like a scene out of a 1940s film noir. A decapitated statue lies…

  • Ajiaco Café

    Habana del Este

    There are, arguably, two reasons to come to suburban Cojímar: 1) to pursue the ghost of Ernest Hemingway and 2) to visit this farm-to-table restaurant…

  • El del Frente

    Habana Vieja

    When the owners of O'Reilly 304 wanted to expand their increasingly popular restaurant a few years back, they opened another one directly across the…

  • Café Laurent

    Vedado

    Talk about a hidden gem. The unsigned Café Laurent is a sophisticated fine-dining restaurant encased, incongruously, in a glaringly ugly 1950s apartment…

  • Lo de Monik

    Habana Vieja

    Eschewing colonial splendor for a French bistro feel, the Monk blends seamlessly into the increasingly chic Loma del Ángel quarter, with a bright-white…

  • Restaurante San Cristóbal’s interior decoration is fully loaded with old photos, posters, signs, artifacts and animal skins.

    San Cristóbal

    Havana

    San Cristóbal was knocking out fine food long before the US president dropped by in March 2016, although the publicity attending Barack Obama's visit…

  • Paladar Los Mercaderes

    Habana Vieja

    This private restaurant in a historic building has to be one of Cuba's most refined paladares (privately run restaurants) for ambience, service and food,…

  • D'Next

    Habana Vieja

    On the cusp of trendy Plaza del Cristo, the much-loved D’Next is ridiculously cheap, ridiculously busy and ridiculously good. Decorated sports-bar style…

  • Trattoria 5esquinas

    Habana Vieja

    Best Italian restaurant in Havana? There are a few contenders, but 5esquinas makes a strong claim. It has the full trattoria vibe, right down to the glow…

  • Donde Lis

    Habana Vieja

    The Lis' interior is like a modern love letter to Havana: iconography from the Rat Pack era of the 1950s, reproduced 20th-century tropical art, and bright…

  • El Café

    Habana Vieja

    There are many cafes in Havana these days, but only one El Café, a delicious mix of tight service, exceptional coffee and homemade sourdough sandwiches…

  • La Casa del Gelato

    Havana

    One of a small number of privately run ice-cream makers in Havana, this was one of the first in on the act and it's still one of the best. Unlike those…

  • 5 Sentidos

    Habana Vieja

    The romantically named five feelings (5 sentidos) ought to excite at least three of yours. The open kitchen allows for the free circulation of inviting…

  • Más Habana

    Habana Vieja

    There are multiple reasons you may request más (more) of Havana once you’ve visited this new culinary institution. There’s the effortlessly cool interior …

  • Opera

    Vedado

    Hitting the high notes of Cuban-Italian cuisine, Opera is housed in a colonnaded villa with a billiard table in the front room and the strains of Carmen…

  • La Cocina de Lilliam

    Havana

    One of the oldest private restaurants in Havana (since 1994) and one that seems to have survived all the aches and pains of Cuba’s economic roller coaster…

  • El Cimarrón

    Vedado

    Family-run farm-to-table restaurant and social project that hosts evening peñas (music and dance performances), organizes cooking classes, and oversees an…

  • Casa Mia Paladar

    Vedado

    Rather than blinding you with fancy decor, clean-lined Casa Mia, abutting the Malecón, saves its surprises for the food, a simple menu that rests proudly…

  • El Biky

    Vedado

    Arriving like a breath of fresh air half a decade ago, Biky helped reinvent Havana’s evolving brunch-lunch scene with its affordable quick-fire food,…

  • Nazdarovie

    Havana

    Cuba's 31-year dalliance with bolshevism is relived in this popular restaurant in prime digs overlooking the Malecón. Upstairs, the decor is awash with…

  • O'Reilly 304

    Habana Vieja

    Fill a small bar-restaurant nightly with a buoyant crowd all happy to be enjoying potent cocktails, delectable food and Havana's tastiest plantain chips,…

  • Restaurante Antojos

    Habana Vieja

    A place to satisfy your whims (antojos), particularly if you’re feeling whimsical about daiquiris, generously stuffed pulled-pork baguettes or chunky…

  • El Aljibe

    Havana

    Aljibe is a legend in Havana: a restaurant whose original incarnation predated the revolution and whose second coming in the 1990s revived its most…

  • Atelier

    Vedado

    The first thing that hits you at Atelier is the stupendous wall art: huge, thought-provoking, religious-tinged paintings. Equally arresting is the antique…

  • Decameron

    Vedado

    Nondescript from the outside, but far prettier within – thanks largely to its famous collection of antique clocks (don't be late, now!) – the Decameron is…

  • Castas y Tal

    Havana

    Finding a balance by attracting Cubans (with economical prices and traditional recipes) and tourists (with creative 'fusion' touches), hip C&T is a bistro…

  • La Corte del Príncipe

    Havana

    An out-of-the-way location has never seemed to hinder this restaurant, which has developed a loyal following over the years. The reason? It’s probably the…

  • Paladar Vista Mar

    Havana

    The Vista Mar is one of half a dozen or so Havana paladares (private restaurants) that have been around since the 1990s, and it continues to excel despite…

  • Helad'oro

    Habana Vieja

    Back when Fidel Castro was 'king,' the government had a monopoly on many things. Controlled by the legendary Coppelia, ice cream rarely strayed beyond…

  • Café Bohemia

    Habana Vieja

    Inhabiting a beautifully curated mansion on Plaza Vieja, Café Bohemia – named for a Cuban culture and arts magazine – manages to feel appropriately…

  • Le Chansonnier

    Vedado

    A great place to dine if you can find it (there’s no sign), hidden in a faded mansion turned private restaurant with a revamped interior that is…

  • Il Rustico

    Habana Vieja

    With a Sicilian owner at the helm, furniture craftily made out of recycled wooden pallets, and a wood-fired pizza oven, Rustico can plausibly claim to…

  • La Esperanza

    Havana

    La Esperanza recalls those old-school paladar (private restaurant) days when you felt you were dining in someone's home, and here you essentially are. The…

  • Il Piccolo

    Habana del Este

    This Guanabo private restaurant has been around for eons and is an open secret among habaneros, some of whom consider its thin-crust wood-oven pizzas to…

  • 3 Chinitos cafeteria in Playa, Havana.

    3 Chinitos

    Havana

    A popular place to eat well-loaded pizza, with cozy, old-fashioned touches such as vintage radios and old sewing machines that double as outdoor tables…

  • Café Lamparilla

    Habana Vieja

    Crowding the cobbled street with its alfresco tables, the Lamparilla is perennially popular – your best bet for a seat is in the air-conditioned…