Havana Spice — Restaurant in Homestead

The first thing you’re struck with when you walk into this place is the giant display of desserts. I refrained from buying any, but they all looked really, really good. My brothers both got ice cream, and were very impressed. If I were to go back, I would definitely try the key lime pie, because that looked really good. Now, for the food.

We started off with the Havana Sampler. Everything on it was really good. The sauces that came with it worked with everything from the plantains to the shrimp. Unfortunately, the shrink was a tad bit overcooked, so it was a little hard to get them out of their shells, but they were still very flavorful and good. It was, however, not enough for the 7 people in our party. The croquetas and tamales disappeared very quickly, and the rest of the food followed suit. It is probably more of a dish for a group of 5.

Now, let me say the menu is a little confusing. There is a LOT of stuff, and there’s even more stuff on the wall that you can order from. Andddd, it's pretty expensive, so be prepared to walk out with a lighter wallet than you walked in with. I ordered SOMETHING off the wall (literally). I do not remember what it was, but it was something with guava fruit in it.

In summary, everything was awesome. You can’t really go wrong ordering here, and although there are a lot of options, all of them are really good.

Besides the food, the ambiance of the restaurant was also really cool- or at least it could’ve been. The murals that had been painted on the walls were all super cool and really well done. All the decorations inside worked well together to create a cool place to eat. However, what annoyed me was they played the same piano song over and over again. Don’t get me wrong, I love listening to piano, but not when it's on repeat for an...

This place is a little gem in my hometown of Homestead ^_^ That said, with COVID19 putting a heavy emphasis on to-go orders, make sure you have time to sit and wait if you are dining on their patio. I will say, if the weather permits you should go to the patio but otherwise the portions are larger with their to-go meals so that route is ideal otherwise. Now on to the food itself: A complimentary buttered bread basket is given to the table when seated. Yummy and crisp, but takes a while to get more (we requested more when our food arrived and it did not arrive until we were paying) We ordered the vaca frita (shredded beef cooked in mojo sauce and onions, crisped on the flat top) and the pollo a la plancha (grilled chicken pounded thin marinated in mojo and cooked with onions). Sides included fries, sweet potato fries, salad, black beans, white rice, and congri rice (black beans and white rice cooked together with spices and red bell pepper - this also contains pork for flavor so this one is not vegetarian friendly). Flavor is on point, prices are well within reason. Service gets slow once there are more than 3 tables sat given the ladies are handling the packaging of to-go orders and the seated patrons. We had to get up to ask for more water after asking multiple times - the waitresses were trying their best to keep up though Also put in your order as soon as you can - given the abundance of to-go orders, the table next to us placed an order for an item that they were later told had its final portion served for a mobile order and needed to pick a new thing. Not a huge deal since their menu is huge, but if what you were craving gets sold out, that can suck too. Overall, I'll be back - but likely as a...

My group and I have very mixed feelings. . . Let's start with the food, most of the table really enjoyed their dishes. The Ropa Vieja was sooooo good! The chicken with hamon y queso was also very yummy. All of the sides were perfectly seasoned and prepared, literally we had one of every side - not disappointed. And while my Miami Sandwich was delicious (I will definitely be ordering it again), my table mates heavily expressed that they found the prices of the steaks leaving more to be desired. . . Like for the price paid per steak it should have definitely been better.

The drinks were great! The sangria was sweet, the mojito was light and airy. And they had a pretty impressive selection of bottled beers, wines and other refreshments.

We didn't have any deserts but we're looking forward to trying them next time!

And now the reason for the 3 stars, the service & ambiance. We ate inside. We ended up with 3 different servers and at the end the busboy ended up taking place of our server. We never got napkins. We were never checked in on. We were missing two silverware sets. We were never asked if we wanted desert or anything else. . .

The ambiance was so cute yet kinda awkward! It was such a pretty restaurant but there was no music or sounds in or outside which kind of felt awkward because it made us feel like we had to whisper because any conversation would be too loud.

I'm betting that the negatives were a one off and we just came on a weird night. I'm really looking forward to giving this place another shot and getting my Tiramisu...