Monday, August 27, 2007

Little Havana


Little Havana
1325 Key Highway
Federal Hill, Baltimore
410-477-1975
Cuban
www.littlehavanas.com
Cost: $$
Reservations: Not Accepted
Date of meal: Monday June 25, 2007
National Price-Quality Frontier: Inside It
Baltimore Price-Quality Frontier: Inside It

I went to Little Havana with a large group on a Monday early evening. Little Havana overlooks the water and has a great view. Since the weather was nice, we had a bit of a wait for an outdoor table. Indoor decor is like a typical bar for middle-income 20-somethings; nothing fancy but not gross either.

We ordered lots of mojitos, which were fine. Service was reasonable, which is better than expected at a bar with outside seating. The food, however, was disappointing. Most nights of the week have a special deal here, and Mondays have half-price sandwiches (which is a loss-leader for the alcohol, the price of which motivates a solid $$ on cost). I had a Cuban sandwich, which I normally enjoy. Unfortunately, this one was gross. The pickles were bad, the mustard of poor quality, the bread industrial. I couldn't eat it. We got a variety of sides, including nachos and French fries. These were edible but nothing special.

I would happily come here for a drink outside given good weather. I would not eat here again (even if I was forced to come, I'd eat before or after elsewhere), except perhaps to order fries.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I go to Little Havana's pretty frequently. It seems like you may have missed some of the better offerings. The black bean burger is the best I've ever had, for example (and it's only $2.95 on Mondays, with tasty rice and beans on the side).

Marginal Foodie said...

Spergler,

This is certainly possible. It's always a challenge to evaluate a place with only one visit. You mention one good reason for this (you can't eat everything on the menu the first time); service is another (how do you know if your terrible server was the only bad one in the bunch.

Obviously, I wish I had your input before I ordered; at a Cuban bar a Cuban sandwich seemed like a representative and fair thing to order and evaluate them on. Evidently this was a mistake.

Thanks.
Marginal Foodie

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