Havana — Restaurant in Bar Harbor

$400 later . . . came for latin flavor and unfortunately left with a lack of flavor. I truly try not to give bad reviews, but after spending a lot of money on our anniversary dinner we expected more. There was nothing on this menu or food we ordered that had latin flavor. Maybe change the name of the restaurant or add latin flavors/seasonings? The restaurant name is quite deceiving and gets you excited for a "different" dining experience amongst all the lobster and bar food in Bar Harbor. Havana is the captial of Cuba so a nice cuban sandwich or cuban coffee would go a long way. Where is the Latin flair? No where. . . The best - the blueberry corn bread and the non latin mushroom spring rolls. 👍🏽 The good - half dozen oysters served on a lovely vintage oyster plate. The bad - when you say red adobo and poblano cream you expect that pepper and or seasoning to be really immersed in the sauces, but was very bland same with the goat cheese mashed potatoes. There was no goat cheese taste in either of our mashed potatoes. The ugly - ordered my filet medium and it came out well done. When I mentioned the steak was overcooked our server graciously took it back and when my new steak came out and I excitingly cut into it ready to enjoy my filet, it was rare. So disappointed. My husband also ordered the filet medium and it came well done. They do not know how to cook steaks or care to make it to your liking as the paying customer (other reviews had the same experience with their steaks cooked wrong). At any other fine dining establishment, the manager would come over, apologize and ask if there is anything they can do to rectify your dining experience. We also ordered the paella and lobster moqueca and felt both dishes were lackluster. I get the vibe they are going for, but it fell short. We ordered the flan and vegan cheesecake to go and were disappointed by both the portion, the non flan cake we received (texture was off) and the frozen, not fresh blueberries on the cheesecake. If you are going to spend $400 and want a memorable experience in Bar Harbor treat yourself to a deep tissue massage like we did to make up for this ...

Experience was a mixed bag.

We had a reservation and got there about 5 minutes early and then had to wait about 15 minutes total. The staff was apologetic and it wasn't an issue except that there were clearly many open tables available as our reservation was on the later side. I overheard the hostess asking the person who I think was the maitre d' if she could sit us at a different table (I guess than the one we were slotted to sit at?) As we were just waiting around. She responded to the hostess's suggestion very tersely and it was just very awkward. The whole thing made us feel very uncomfortable and like we were a burden to the maitre d' and I felt like this poor hostess was being spoken down to. She seemed to be very stressed though, so perhaps this was not an accurate snapshot of the usual vibe.

Once we were seated our waiter and the other staff attending to us were all really lovely, attentive, and helpful. There were also some really nice personalized touches for the occasion we were celebrating, which was very thoughtful and appreciated. Our drinks were really good as were the oysters and the appetizers and salads we ordered.

Unfortunately the entrees were really not very good. My entree which was essentially stir fried vegetables and tofu over top fried noodles, was borderline inedible. The sauce was weirdly sweet, there was hardly any tofu, and the fried noodles got really soggy very quickly... It just made for a bad combo. I also tried the entrees of my dining companions as well. They got the chicken and the fish and both fine, but in no way exceptional. The chicken had decent flavor but was dry. The fish was on a bed of mashed potatoes which were sickly sweet for no reason (they were not sweet potatoes - it was confusing). The food was also very expensive for what it was. The vegetarian plate I had was $32 and I think the other entrees were $35+ though they did not include premium ingredients . I was definitely disappointed. I don't mind spending a lot on good quality food, but unfortunately I did not think any of our entrees were...

The team at Havana have curated an incredible evening dinner experience. We made our reservation a few weeks in advance, and we are very glad we did. We included that we were celebrating our honeymoon in the online booking, and the hostess knew that and congratulated us upon checking in! Also, the group behind us did not have a reservation and were told that they might be able to come back and be seated at 8:30pm.

Our table was in a lovely front corner of the restaurant, and they included a card from the whole staff congratulating us on our honeymoon!!!

The initial treat and bread brought to us were so lovely. The apricot treat was a nice touch, and the bread plate and accompanying spreads was delicious. We wanted the recipe for the black bean spread and the spicy chili oil and butter were also incredible.

The wine book is unparalleled - we were clearly over our heads in the 70+ pages but also with the combination of entrees we wanted to order. The sommelier heard our request for red but pairing with the seafood and lamb chops and recommended 2 specific bottles. We picked one of his recommendations and it was truly perfect for the soups and 2 entrees.

While we enjoyed the seafood chowder, we can’t say enough amazing things about the curried pumpkin soup! We know we’ll never achieve its greatness, but we want to try to make it ourselves. It was creamy and delicious and had just the perfect blend of spices.

On to the entrees - both were the perfect portions - we even took some in a to-go container. The seafood paella had so much seafood of so many varieties as well as the chorizo! One of the best paellas we’ve ever had. And the lamb was buttery and almost melted in our mouths. Cooked to perfect and we took the chef’s recommendation of medium rare.

Dessert - the blueberry bread pudding was utter perfection. We took the pumpkin flan back with us to our B&B.

We can’t say enough about the friendliness of the entire staff team and the amazing food and experience the provide. If you’re in Bar Harbor, it’s a must go to. We will be...