Every year for Valentine's Day we eat / try food that we have never tried before. This year we went to Habana which is in Irvine and it is Cuban food!
We've never tried this before and we are a fan of going out to eat before Valentine's Day, but still close to the holiday. I hate how marked up and overly crowded restaurants get plus with the holiday being smack in the middle of the week, it's not as easy for us to drive 2+ hours to go eat. In Salt Lake, it was soo much easier. But after fighting crowds for a few years we decided eating out before Valentine's Day is a win.
Pictured is something they bring to all the tables, guess we did not need to order an appetizer?
It is 'chips and salsa' but the 'chips' are dried bananas and other things I was not sure but we tried them all. The sauces? I dont know either sadly and a downside to the restaurant was that it was super loud inside so it was hard to talk let alone talk to our waiter. I liked the green dipping sauce best. The brown, not at all and the orange was okay but the more I had it the less I liked it.
We ordered appetizers of chicken empandads and I liked those pretty well. The dipping sauce had a good flavor to it.
Tony got the El Puerco Primo which was pork shank, garlic mashed potatoes, greens and roasted sweet plantains. His pork shank was very tender and came off the bone so easily. I ate one of his plantains and it was very good but he is not a fan of those. I tried a few bites of his greens, not sure what they were but it was okay.
I got the Plaintain Crusted Chicken Breast which came with summer squash, fideos, marinated tomatoes and roasted garlic mashed potatoes. The summer squash was squash made in to noodles which I loved. The tomatoes were a bit strong but okay. The mashed potatoes were delicious as was my chicken.
Overall, we liked the food a lot. The service, started out good but towards the middle of our time here, our waiter disappeared and we were left waiting for a box for our food, refill on our waters and a check.
There was a purse stand that they brought to your table and I thought it was super cool and I had my little purse backpack but struggled to keep it on my lap or hang it on the back of my chair which was all curved. I didnt notice that there was a stand to hang purses on at each table until our meal was almost over.
We had reserved a table outside but ended up eating inside because outside was a little chilly and windy. We would have gotten better pictures with the outdoor lighting and it may not have been as noisy if we had sat outside.
The bathroom was interesting, very big but only two stalls and the sinks were in the middle of the men and womens bathroom so you had to walk back out of the bathroom and into a hallway that was connected in order to wash your hands. I've never seen that before.
I dont think we would come here again, it's quite expensive and the food was good but I'm not sure the portions matched the price. Also, there was no dessert which is something we like to get when we are celebrating a special occasion.
Have you tried Cuban food before? What did you think?
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