La Guarida — Restaurant in Cuba

I highly recommend the food and drinks here at La Guarida, but the service is horrible by the entire staff. We were in Cuba for 2 days to celebrate my daughters 15th birthday, our reservation was for 2:30 pm on Monday the 11th, we arrived late because of all the commotion trying to get a cabs for 32 guest and the pouring rain. When we arrived at approx 3:30pm and walked into this beautiful Mansion, with this old world glamour, i was approached by one of the staff and she seemed a bit pushy,arrogant and condescending because we were late, although the place was empty. I tried to explain our issue and she said that we had to be out by 5:00pm because they had another party, i assume they wanted to use the room we were in. The place has a capacity of approx 100 people i would guess. The staff then tells me that we are not allowed to take pictures inside the establishment without the owners notification, i asked for the owners? she stated that he is not reachable, now remember we are celebrating a birthday and no pics and they were very aware of my request months before. Eventually they allowed us, but they wanted us to eat first and then do pics later. We never got a name from them, approx 5 people on staff, with a tall waiter that didn't seem very friendly. Not a single smile from anyone, just a bunch of Dry, arrogant folks. We never had a conversation with the Staff, honestly i don't know if they were Cuban or from where, they never had a conversation. At one point my daughter needed to change into her dress for the pics, the staff said she wasn't aloud, at this point my wife has not made a comment to me because all hell was going to break lose. Eventually a mgr came and allowed for her to change. I have traveled to many restaurants in different countries and i have never experienced anything like this, nor my family and friends that were there. Then for the finally we get our bill, a nice big bill and i want to use my credit card, they look at me like i have 2 heads, No we are not taking credit cards. No where does it state that, not even on their website, which states credit cards taken. Just imagine, 3rd world country, hot and humid and you just got a huge bill and not enough cash on hand with me. The Staff was not very helpful, they just looked like a bunch of thugs that wanted their money cash CUC!! Eventually i spoke to a few of my friends from the party and put together about $1000 cash. I paid them and walked out, a few mins go by and they chase me downstairs where we are waiting for the cabs, and the skinny waiter tells me that i need to follow him because i owe money, approx $100.00 i went up there and he took me to a back little room with a godfather looking guy, i felt like spitting at him, i just threw the $100 and told them to keep their change and walked out. By the way it was 7pm and the other party had not arrived!!

I just wished that service was as beautiful as the building!!

Worst service staff on earth!! By the way i'm hispanic...

When we chose this restaurant, it seemed like a well-established institution. However, our experience suggested that it didn’t quite live up to the expectations set by its Google reviews and the surrounding hype. While the standard of food is still quite good by Cuban standards, it fell short of what we anticipated.

The setting was nice, when you walk in there is the speech written by Fidel Castro on the wall next to the stairs which is a popular spot for photos. The aesthetic of the interior is nice and provides a good vibe for dining.

Despite being regarded as one of the best restaurants in Cuba, there were some glaring issues. One glass contained an unidentified floating object, and the sparkling water was completely off, arriving pre-opened and undrinkable.

The fish of the day was snapper, which was well-prepared and complemented by a flavorful sauce. The texture of the fish was fine and easy to chew.

The 50-day dry-aged ribeye was served with a hot plate, allowing us to sear the steak ourselves. While the concept was interesting, the execution left much to be desired. The aging process was evident in the texture and flavor notes of the steak, but it didn’t quite reach the expectations of a premium dry-aged cut. It was accompanied by grilled capsicum, potatoes, salt, and a sweet-and-sour sauce intended to enhance the self-searing experience.

Next, we tried the saffron oxtail risotto. Although it carried the scent of saffron, it lacked the authenticity of true saffron infusion. Unfortunately, the dish was unbearably salty, overshadowing any other flavors.

The lobster dish was similarly disappointing. It was overly salty and had an unpleasant raw seafood odor, suggesting it wasn’t fresh enough.

The ropa vieja was slightly better—above average and, thankfully, not overly salty.

As for desserts, the rice pudding was bland, appearing prepackaged.

The cheesecake was below average, though the touch of cheddar was an interesting twist that gave it a semblance of being a true cheesecake.

The triple chocolate dessert was the standout highlight—rich and satisfying. Another notable dessert was the lemon tart with meringue, which offered a pleasant and refreshing conclusion to the meal.

At the end, it took about half an hour to receive the bill and sort out payments, which was far too long for us and prevented us from spending the rest of our night somewhere else.

In summary, while Le Guarida shows promise, its reputation didn’t align with the actual experience. A few standout dishes aside, the inconsistencies in preparation and quality were hard to...

....When wondering the streets outside of this venue you would never believe that there is such a grand and posh restaurant in this almost dilapidated building! This place is famed for the many celebritii's who manage to get to Cuba and this is where most of them dine! We are no celebritii's but just ordinarii every day folks who are visiting Cuba for the first time and decided this this will be the place for our family reunion and Christmas dinner as parents and children all live in different parts of the world! The reservation was made from Zurich and so we had to first find the place to make sure that all is still good before Christmas day! It's rather quite a distance from Old Havana & the Capitalio area's and when you get here you wonder "real-lii can it be in this area! When you walk through the doors you are met with Old & New old dwellings to the left and the Stairwell to the right which seems as if it had received a new coat of all bright yellowish paint, two flights of stairs and you get the entrance of Fame maybe not so elaborate some photos & Pictures Not much show of all the celebritii's who visited in the past! ??? There is seating inside and lots on the terrace, we were seated inside as they have different rooms which seat about 20 people! We were welcomed in a very cordial manner by the head waiter and his two assistants, you are offered water and your drink order is taken! We opted to have a bottle of Paulus RIO-LA a Spanish red! Our starters were: - an onion soup, a watermelon with shrimp & strawberry soup & a beef capacio which all tasted very good but nothing to write home about although the watermelon soup was Mmmmm'ish! Our mains were: - a tikka lamb, rabbit stew with mixed veg, skewer of lobster and an oxtail stew! Again no elaborate artistic presented foods but very expensive indeed! It was okay'ish Maybe the whole idea of eating here was that we can say "we had Dined at La Gaurida" and we have the photos to prove it! Hahaha! Our desserts were an ice-cream, a fans-ii chocolate tart & an even more fans-ii'er one, something with a piece of french-toast in cream-ii sauce! Adventurist! We ended our meal with latte's! A different dinner in different place but in a very special Havana, Cuba! If you wanna be eccentric and you wanna spend some money for a true-lii special occasion then this place is worth-while...