Ivan Chef Justo — Restaurant in Cuba

Not worth it. (Feb. 7, 2020 visit). The food is good. The service is an absolute Disaster. And obviously the latter can ruin your whole experience. The place has potential, they invested in the interior and most of the food we had was good (duck, rabbit, chicken etc., pretty big variety). The wine we tried was a sour and pretty disgusting Pinot Noir, basically what you find in France for 3-4 eur in the supermarket, with a cap rather than cork- sold for 50usd. So definitely bet on the food, not the drinks. But the service is where it really went down. Basically some almost teenage girl who insisted on not writing things down and as a result confused half the order, had to come double check everything and kept forgetting parts of it anyways. Spilled half the wine on the table rather than in the glasses. We had a couple of local guys in our group who tried to help by retelling her the order in Spanish. As soon as she figured out they were local, she started looking down on them, giving dirty looks and straight out making faces when they asked to have the leftovers packed. Stood behing my shoulder for 10mins after I asked for sugar for my coffee, not saying anything, until I realized she insisted on putting the sugar in it herself?! To finish the lovely experience, stood in front of us as we were leaving and counted the bill+tip three times over before saying good night. Really the only place in Cuba we had the desire to not leave any tip at all, regardless of any personal situation of the...

If there are 10 stars in Google Map review, I will give this place 11 stars! This is hands down one of the best restaurant I have ever dined in in my entire life (and I have been to a lot of restaurants in many countries), both from an ambiance and a food perspective. The decor in this place is very unique. The restaurant is a 3-4 stories-ish building, and we were lucky enough to get to the rooftop with a 2-person table without reservation! I really like the roof shingles in the background and the capitol building. To watch the sky turn pink and also have a perfect meal is like the perfect date. We ordered 4 appetizers and 1 main course. Mango chicken, octopus, some cheese salad, and some fish on top of sweet potato I think. Every single one of them is extremely well prepared, fresh, tasty and memorable. I also see them offering seafood paella, which looks delicious, I will get it next time when I am in the country again. I stayed in Cuba for 3 days, there is no other place even come close to the food offered in this place. I did see some people complain about the cost. I didn't feel this place is expensive. I will say without a doubt that this place offers higher quality food than most places in NYC (or any other major metropolitan places on earth) with maybe 1/3 of the cost. So still worth the money in my mind. I can only imagine this place keeps getting more expensive because of the great food it offers. Highly recommend everyone visiting Cuba...

Very-over-priced food and drinks (even for Havana!). Slow-to-no service (at lunch, for a solo female). I have been to this restaurant twice in the past year. First time for drinks in the afternoon last February 2017, with some friends. All good, sat at the bar, had some beers 3CUC ($4CAD). Second time was for an appetizer and a glass of wine at lunch. This last time was in January 2018. I was alone, and when I asked for a table in this empty restaurant at lunch time mid-week, I was given a table way in the back of the restaurant, in a dark corner. I sat waiting 10 minutes before getting a menu. Another 5 minutes to get the wine I asked for. I ordered an apetizer (crab-filled pastries), priced at 9.50CUC ($13CAD). I waited 25 minutes for the food, which turned out to be 2 tiny rolls with a bit of filling. Literally 2 bites each. When I got the bill the wine was 6CUC ($8CAD), twice as much as any other restaurant I've visited in Cuba. If you are happy to be ripped-off and get bad service fine, but this place, in my opinion, is DEFINITELY NOT WORTH IT! There are MANY more good restaurants in Havana with better food for a lot less money and way...