Trust me I am not difficult to please. When I get good service and food I am a very happy camper but lately, as you can see by my past few reviews, I have had some really bad luck at Greater Vancouver restaurants.

The latest downer was Havana. Went there yesterday for lunch by myself after strolling down a rain soaked Commercial Drive I thought a good meal would pick up my spirits. Wrong.

Inside the place was jammed with people so the only seats available were outside on their huge patio underneath the heat lamps. It took longer than it should have for a server to acknowledge me sitting at one of the tables, even longer for my beer to arrive.

After getting the menu from a different server I selected the paella. I have had paella before and it was really good at another establishment. Didn't take all that long for my $20.00 dish of paella to arrive. There were a fair number of mussels and prawns, the sausage was difficult to detect, there were also some veggies and brown rice and beans but not enough of the brown rice and beans in my view. The dish looked good but tasted pretty much like nothing.

I thought Cuban food was suppose to have lot's of spice, a bit of heat and life to it. This was the most bland tasting dish of food I have had in awhile. I've had spicier tasting Lifesavers. The prawns were fine, the mussels ok however for 20 bucks it just wasn't happening.

I had three different servers, a male server brought me the paella and tended to me for the remainder of my visit. He had zero personality. He brought me stuff and took stuff away and he took longer than he should have. I sat there for a good amount of time with my dirty bowl and beer glass in front of me although he past by the table on at least two occasions when he should of taken it away.

In the end I asked for my bill payed for the overpriced dish, which is really getting to be a theme with me lately. I left a very minimal tip I was so ticked off with everything. Mr. Personality had the gall to ask me whether or not I liked the service, in other words "why aren't you giving me more of a tip?". I said the service was mediocre and left it at that although I could of said so much more.

Note to servers. I fully understand that you make the bulk of your wage through tips. When I receive good service I tip at least 15 per cent and many times more than that. Your job is to work at getting that 15 per cent tip or more. It is not a guarantee. I refuse to pay for mediocre service and food, which lately I seem to be getting plenty of both in this city.

Interact with your customers a bit. Put a smile on your face. Since it's Christmas time while taking an order why not ask a customer how their Christmas was? Fake it if you have to but that my friends is the trick to getting the money you think you may deserve.

Work for it. I am not an unreasonable diner who can never be satisfied and want you to jump through numerous hoops. I want a decent dining experience and lately they seem hard to find.

We eat here a LOT and it is usually always consistently good. They might have their off night on a slamming busy Friday night but you can always rely on a good meal for the money. There are not a lot of other restaurants in town, at that price point, where you can get equally as good food. Yes, you can get higher quality meals elsewhere, but you pay a lot more for it. You can also pay a lot more elsewhere and get not as good as a meal as you would at Havana. The atmosphere is good, always feels lively and the patio and cocktails are fantastic in the summer. Actually anytime really as they have excellent heaters and you can sit outside almost year around. The staff are good as well and the kitchen is usually on top of their game. One of our favorite local joints. Love their strawberry ginger mojito, their yam fries are awesome and you can take your pick of several good entrees for dinner or brunch.

Came in for breakfast last Sunday. I had not been to Havana for some time as I remember the wait was really bad on the weekend. Low and behold... got seated within five minutes. The place was really busy. Had the Huevos Rancheros egg dish. Lovely! My wife had the Eggs Benedict, also very good. Service was solid too! Friendly staff prompt and pleasant! Fresh squeezed OJ and all! Since I'm in the neighborhood, I'll definitely be back! Great breakfast... cool place! I like!

I've been dragged to Havana a couple of different times, and I have to agree with some of the reviews here. The ambience was once nice enough (haven't been to the back room), and it is a good place for drinks on a warm day, but like the city it is named for, it has seen better days. Last time I went I had the inedible chicken. The staff are rather rude, and the place is dirty, so I can't recommend. There are so many better places on the Drive, that you ought not to waste any time here...

This is one of the few places that is consistently busy on Commercial Drive -- on sunny days. It has a large patio and an interesting interior, but that's pretty much all it has going for it. There are about two dishes on the entire menu that are haflway decent, and everything else is just lousy and inedible. The crabcakes are rubbery and sit like a lead brick, but their pasta is sometimes okay. It's all extremely, extremely overpriced -- although I imagine the crowd it attracts wouldn't think so. Some of the staff are friendly, and the other half are horribly rude, so fingers crossed that you get the nice waitress who actually comes back to your tabel and takes your order within the first half hour.

Went to Havana's on a weeknight and tried a couple of their starters. The ribs were just ok, a bit too wet for my liking as it was smothered with some sort of sauce. The seafood trio was good but not worth the $16 charge for the amount you get. 1 scalloop, 3 prawns and some tuna tartare. The chicken wrap was the only main tasted as it was very good and nice shoestring fries. The service was very attentive and drinks just average. Wouldn't chose this place as a pure dining experience. Would only return in the summer to be on the deck.

I love havanas on a sunny day. The patio has a great vibe. Everything ties in well with your pitcher of sangria. The food is mouth watering. Too bad the servers couldn't be nicer. I've gone to this restaurant many times, and i must say the last time i went was the best. I had a new server who actually enjoyed their job. Im an easy customer, I try not to make there life hard, keep orders simple, im polite, and i dont mind tipping. But still these servers one in particular which i've had a few times are hard to keep happy. Mind you i will continue going to havanas for the great food. But let it be known Its the food that keeps this restaurant going!

This place is so over-hyped and under-valued. The food is average at best but throw in their pricing and it's all of a sudden POOR. The decor is a little funky - but unfortunately, I CAN'T eat decor.

They are in desperate need of an experienced "Cuban-trained" chef that can replicate the flavors of Cuba. What they've done is more of a faux-Cuban.

With so many GREAT places on the drive - this is best to miss. GO to Stellas, Fets or Lomabardos instead - you'll thanks me

This is one of the best place's to really experience Commercial Drive. The food and service are fine but the ambiance is the differentiating factor here. It's a bit grungy but hey, it's the Drive. Not a bad place to stop for breakfast or lunch.

Looking for a fun place to go, a small group of us hit up Havana’s over the weekend for a late dinner. With it being fireworks night, we were betting the restaurant would be a little less busy than normal, and we’d be able to grab a table straight away. It didn’t quite work exactly as planned – the patio was still packed and we had to sit inside – but at least there wasn’t a long wait.

Once settled in, we immediately ordered a pitcher of sangria. There are a couple of different blends available, and we voted to try the tropical. I don’t know if there was a mix-up with the order, because when our sangria came, there didn’t seem to be anything particularly tropical about it. It was perfectly fine otherwise – cool, refreshing, and packed with fresh (although not tropical) fruit. But, as someone in our group remarked, it would’ve been even better if they’d thrown a mango or kiwi into the mix.

For my main, I chose the braised lamb shank with potatoes and au jus. The lamb itself was beautiful – moist and fall-off-the-bone tender. Unfortunately, the gravy (and I’m not normally one to complain about gravy) leaned towards the salty side, to the point that I couldn’t even detect the chipotle in the dish. I consider myself to be more tolerant of salt than most people, but even for me it was almost too much. The others in the group were okay with their food, though; the only nitpick I overhead regarding a general dislike for the beans (fortunately there weren’t any in my order).

In terms of service and ambiance, Havana’s scores good marks. Our server was bright, attentive, and really seemed to make an effort to make dinner fun. And, even though we didn’t get a patio table overlooking the Drive as originally planned, it was still cool eating inside the restaurant. With its distressed walls lined with graffiti and old photos, not to mention the oppressive heat of that night, we really did feel like we were dining somewhere in Latin America. Havana’s offers a unique dining experience that’d I’d try again.