Havana 1920 — Restaurant in San Diego

Came here to celebrate an anniversary with my husband and we really enjoyed it. Side of the top at one of the high top tables and it was a really nice vibe. Musicians were setting up to play for later in the evening and wish we were there for that part. It was probably really good. That was nice music in the background playing already though. The place seems small from the outside when you enter but it's really nice on the top.

Havana 1920 Daiquiri (Original) was so refreshing. You couldn't really taste that alcohol even though it was strong. Something like you could just drink on and on. Very dangerous, haha.

Yuca Frita aka Yuca Fries for delicious. Just the perfect amount of fried. Not super oily and greasy from being deep fried or anything. Very lightly oiled which I definitely appreciate. They were also very light and went down so easy. Husband and I could probably have a plate of our own! Came with Mojo Criollo and Havana Royale sauce and both the sauces were really nice. They had a very distinct flavor of their own and it's so hard to pinpoint what it was. One was like a spicy Sriracha mayo and the other one was like a vinaigrette with some herbs, I think? I don't know what it was but both the sources were good and went well with the yuca fries.

Ropa Vieja (Shredded Beef and peppers and onion in tomato sauce) really had a lot of flavor in there. Portion size with massive and we definitely had leftovers. This dish was also very heavy so we had at least half of it left over to take home for the next day. Beef was not overcooked and overall really good flavor. Served with black beans, white rice and fried sweet plantains came on the side and each of those were so good on its own as well. Really really liked those fried plantains! The plantains and the beef went so good together.

Medio Pollo Al Ajillo (Garlic Half Chicken Roasted and marinated in garlic citrus mojo) was really good. Such a giant half chicken that was! Cooked perfectly and all the flavor was right there. Juicy chicken with a lot of flavor. Definitely recommend this. Got a side salad instead of the rice and beans and it was a good balance. Chicken went very well with the salad. Portion size of that salad was also really big!

Cheese and Guava Empanada was beautiful! I have no words for this one. Crust was perfectly crispy and not too greasy at all. Filling was unexpectedly good! Just the right amount of sweet and not sugary sweet at all. There was powdered sugar on the outside but that didn't feel too sweet either. They offered to serve it with ice cream but we asked for it plain and it was a good call. Ice cream would have made it sugary sweet. This was Just so good. Husband and I split it and we could totally go for more.

Really...

Showed up after the main dinner rush (after 8 pm) but was told no possibility to get in without a reservation unless we were willing to take an outside table on the patio (next to the traffic, without any of the atmosphere, and without a decent view of the band, but at least we can hear them upstairs, from behind, and they aren't bad)

Since the atmosphere out here is kind of lame, we decided not to do a real meal here, and just ordered cocktails and an appetizer -- tostones rellenos (stuffed plantains)

She (Taylor, according to receipt) said "Just the tostones then?" I said... "Yes, the tostones RELLENOS. The stuffed ones." "Okay, the stuffed tostones." She goes away, we get our cocktails, they are decent (which is the reason I left a 10% tip instead of ZERO... at least the bartender did his job, I hope he gets some of it)

Eventually (15-20 minutes?), they bring out our tostones... NOT stuffed. Just plain old plantain cakes... after I SPECIFICALLY double-checked and she confirmed the order. So they fixed it,and brought some out with meat a few minutes later...

Then a couple minutes after that, brought us empanadas... which we did not order (it was supposed to go to another table)

Then, a fight suddenly almost broke out right next to our table, between the doorman and a would-be patron on the street. I didn't catch the entire cause of the exchange, but it appears they were denying him entry, on the grounds that he didn't meet their "dress code" -- no jeans allowed, apparently! (Guess they won't be getting elite clientele like Mark Zuckerberg or the rest of Silicon Valley!) Anyway, the guy also seemed inebriated (this wasn't even very late in the evening, but in the evening all of the Gaslamp feels like Bourbon Street in New Orleans), because he got very belligerent and started threatening / getting ready to rumble, so they called over security and also threatened to call the cops.

Anyway, a pretty bad experience overall. I don't even know why they bother having tables out on the patio -- they don't seem to know how to serve them, you lose all atmosphere and the live music (instead you get the drunken chaos and noise going on in the street) I am only giving +1 star because the food and drinks were not bad (not a great...

My experience at Havana 1920, leads me to believe that the staff have no tact in customer service nor do they have values and ethics. Do not come here if you are planning on receiving a warm cultural experience. On Sunday July 8, at about 9ish we entered the place excited and happy. We were celebrating my Tia's birthday and my mother a frequent visitor of the establishment was ecstatic to bring us here. Our party was separated into a few small tables as there were no large tables available (thats ok, we understand). The table next to us finished their meal, paid and left. we noticed that they had left some empanada chips, and we are a huge advocate for food waste. the idea of food being thrown away and wasted is absolute evil and atrocious. our party moved to that table since it was larger and began to pick at the leftover untouched food (also our server did not bring us our plantain chips, as she said and at this point we were starving). Suddenly 2 beings aggressively approach us to have a "conversation" as stated but it was the most unprofessional approach to customers I have ever witnessed. They began saying they had grounds to ask us to leave, we were not being respectful, etc. we began to explain to them that in our culture, you. do. not. waste. food. which they're reply was "well this is America, and in America its not okay to do that" which at this point I find pretty ironic because we were in a Cuban restaurant and they were oblivious to the culture and issues of food insecurities that individuals face in Cuba. The server, manager, and I'm assuming bouncer that we had the displeasure of interacting with turned our beautiful celebratory night into one of threats, disrespect, and awful service. Our first server who I'm assuming made the complaint refused to acknowledge us or apologize. I have eaten leftover food from restaurants many many times and the server have never minded or called management. probably because they're decent people with morals and ethics that hate food being...