little havana

completely unexpected gem. popped in here for a quick work dinner. really enjoyed coming here - great vibe, nice and busy for a monday night. hands down, the best chicken livers i have ever had. steak was on par and they served ice cold craft beer. 3 ticks for me #willcomeagain

rated one of the best steak restaurants in s.a and i now know why!
rib eye with gorgonzola sauce, fresh crispy vegetables, mouth watering 500g fillet on the bone, camembert cheese starter leaves your taste buds singing and dancing in complete satisfaction.
the service was impeccable, our waiter was very polite.
the only disappointing thing about little havana was that it was very colonial and the only south american thing about the restaurant was the music, i would have liked more south american which could still be presented well.
the drinks were also half our bill..

most unprofesional service from this type of restaurant!!!lady answers the phone and said we dont cater for take aways.first restaurant i know of with no take away option.wont see us again!!!

i love this place. the service is great and the food never disappoints. i've had the roasted marrow bone starter which comes with salsa verde and bread. it is delicious and very filling. on my last visit i had porcini mushroom gnocchi which was rich and a large enough portion for a main course. i also had a steak resting on a bed if risotto which was to die for. i highly recommend this place if you're a foodie who loves italian as well as a great steak.

little havanna is elegant and stylish with white linen, good glasses a low lights.  and their steaks are great. i was planning on a steak with bernaise sauce but opted for a special instead - rump with a crispy, deep-fried poached egg, exotic mushrooms, tomatoey sauce with a bernaise base and grilled asparagus.  i loved the showmanship of the deep fried egg, especially since the yolk oozed when i cut it open.
there was one order of sole at our table, one chicken peri-peri and the rest of us had steak.  we were warned that the sole was frozen, but it was proclaimed very good, and the portion was generous (2 soles). the chicken was a deboned half-chicken that was impressively tender although i'm told the sauce could have been a little more peri-peri.  all the steaks were cooked as ordered and everything was delivered at the same time (an essential that gets forgotten way too often!)   the fillet served on the bone was an impressive sight. a large portion of fillet attached to a bone and served with a roasted marrow bone and gravy.  i would never order this as the portion is huge, but i can see the appeal for a big eater.
all the meals were served with shoe-strings chips (i seem to recall there were other options but we all wanted chips, and there are a host of other vegetables but these aren't included in the price.
but the highlight of the meal was my dessert - the not quite a cheeseboard.  a poached pear with blue cheese, blue cheese ice-cream with caramel sauce and shards of caramel, this was something special. i could go back for that alone.
there's also a very nice veranda which is great for lunch or warmer evenings, and they offer a very good value lunch special which i've tried in the past and can vouch for.
the service was also very good.

i have not eaten here for a while and was looking forward to a night in one of durban’s famous steak restaurants. i was disappointed. the outlet is tired. the staff inattentive and sadly the signature steak poor. i ordered the angus ( poorly presented in plastic ) and asked for it to be cooked underdone. ‘bleu ‘ the steak was cut badly. it was medium rare. the sides very ordinary. starters come from the downstairs tapas bar. i didn’t pay the bill but it can’t have been cheap. little havana has lost its top spot in umhlanga in my opinion.

the food was delicious 😋 i had fatty and tasty bone marrow. my colleague's had nachos which apparently are out of this world!! followed by lamb chops with mushroom risotto, the risotto was so delicious.

the service was alright, except for, the food arrived very late. the place was packed!!

the portions were also rather big.

the stand out thing about this place was the slightly “different offerings on their menu”. so, for example i had deep fried tempura broccoli with a really tasty dipping sauce to start.

their portions were also bigger than expected which is always pleasant!

we went as a group of colleagues which i think this was a great setting for.

the only thing i was weary of is their “we don’t split bills” disclaimer, if we’re going as a group of colleagues we need to split the bills and the mystery wifi password 🧐. they ended up obliging to the bill split request and whispering the wifi to each of us though which was great sportsmanship.

a colleague and i had dinner at little havana in umhlanga and nested in the umhlanga village. the inside was a bit stuffy and we moved upstairs which was quite comfortable because you were above the noise and it was a very smart set up for exquisite dining. we both had calamari starters. it was starters with squid heads and calamari served with tartare sauce. for mains, we had rib eye steak with prawns and grilled sole with caper butter.

had dinner here last night. it such a relaxed spot mixed with fine dining. the staff is also really friendly and helpful. i had the 200g fillet of steak with mushroom sauce. the steak was perfect and so succulent and tender👌🏽. i had it on a bed of the most lush mushroom risotto 😋😋. hats off to the chef.

beautiful restaurant and beautiful presentation of food. however, starters and mains lacked seasoning. on the plus, we had great service. even on a busy friday night.

probably the worst dining experience i have ever had. arrived at 8:30pm, company of 4. three of us ordered steaks and my husband ordered the prawn curry. the mannerisms of the waiters sets u up into thinking that the establishment and service is top notch/fancy. this facade became evident when something as simple as presenting our orders became a disaster. so much confusion from the waiters regarding who ordered what and with what side (1st red flag⛳). medium to well steaks were ordered and all 3 steaks were medium-rare and had to be sent back. the manager apologised profusely, yet when they were returned, little improvement was noted. none of us ended up finishing our steaks. my husbands prawns were raw, the side mash was bland with little seasoning. we were told that there is a new chef. we were bitterly disappointed as we just blew r750 and left still hungry. i would never return.

how can a restaurant and service be awesome on the monday night and absolutely mediocre on the thursday night? i am talking no service and the exact same steak we came back for, absolutely tasteless. what a disappointment.

just came back from a lovely evening celebrating my mums 65th birthday at little havana. we were a party of four. sam our waitor was absolutely lovely and the manager was attentive.

food was extremely good, we ordered:
the grilled prawns, chumichuri sirloin, fillet, seared sesame crusted tuna with a fillet on the bone. for starters we shared a starter portion of deep fried calamari with aioli. then dessert was creme brulee and a bread and butter pudding with vanilla icecream . overall the portions was generous, good quality food, lovely atmosphere and great service. everything we ate smelled amazing and the food didnt dissappoint!

i will definitely go back and support this restaurant
great music, lovely vibe, beautiful deco and atmosphere all added to my mums special night.
the added touch of writing my mums happy birthday message and name in chocolate was a fabulous touch and much appreciated.

amazing food, generous portions, brilliant service and a great dining experience.
for a more detailed review, check out my blog post:
https://wordpress.com/post/citygirlshen.wordpress.com/6