Gotta love when they appreciate their guest...

So on September 9th, Havana Central decided to give a little something back to the people that help keep them in business...THEIR CUSTOMERS! As a token of their gratitude they held a Guest Appreciation Day where all customers on that day, at any time during that day, were able to eat all they could for $12! ONLY $12 STINKING BUCKS! Me being the man I am, I just HAD to see if this was a serious offer. Ok, I'm lying. I wanted to eat all I could for 12 bucks...sue me!

How the HELL did you find out about that?
To be honest, I got really lucky. A coworker of mine told me about it a few days in advance. Excited about the offer but skeptical about whether it was true or not I was actually going to pass on the festivities. However, my coworker went, said it was legit and she had a really nice time. After hearing that, my fate was pretty much sealed.

Uh....was it really $12?
Surprisingly, it was! I always get a little edgy when venues use words like "all you can eat" and "unlimited." I go, I indulge, and then because of some bullshit fine print I'm stuck with a ridiculous tab that I wasn't expecting. Didn't happen here. I was with a friend and when the bill came it was $26 and some change (you know they're going to add tax in there).

Nice, but enough about the setup. What kinda food does this place have?
CUBAN!!! I'm sure I've mentioned before, the type of fan I am when it comes to Spanish cuisine so I'm not even going to tell you how I was pretty much in my glory the whole night!

So with the whole menu at your disposal what did you decide to order...if not everything?
If I could have ordered everything I certainly would have tried! I failed to mention before that this all you can eat business had some restrictions to it. I'll detail those and then get into what I ordered.

1 - the whole menu was not up for grabs. Select items from the appetizers, entrees, and dessert menu were selected 
2 - you could only order per person and once the current dish was finished. So you couldn't walk in there, order everything from the selective menu, and sit and have Sunday dinner at your table. You had to order an entree, EAT the entree, and then order the next item. Ordering something that you weren't going to finish was HIGHLY unadvised!
3 - there was a maximum amount of time that you could sit if you were partaking in the all you can eat. I believe it was an hour and half. Can't say I blame them either because I damn sure wouldn't want someone eating, chilling until their food digest, and then have them start ordering more food. That just doesn't make sense.

So, to answer your question, I RAN THROUGH basically the whole all you can eat menu. 

More specifically?
- Picadillo: Cuban ground beef
- Pernil: roast pork
- Ropa Vieja: braised beef with onions and peppers
- Empanadas: beef picadillo, Cubano, chicken Sofrito, shrimp Sofrito (x2), spinach and goat cheese
- Rice and Beans: yellow rice and black beans
- Maduros: sweet plantains
- Flan: caramel custard
EVERY PLATE WAS CLEEEEEEAAAAAN when I was done! I play no games ladies and gentlemen!

WTF! You could have fed a small to mid sized village with all that damn food! Was it any good?
You bet your ass it was. The pernil was VERY GOOD! I'll even go out and say it was the best thing that I had. Followed by the empanadas. With the exception of the spinach and goat cheese one (which wasn't even all that bad), all the empanadas were great! Highly recommend the shrimp and chicken ones. The ground beef, the braised beef, flan, and sweet plantains were enjoyable as well. Nothing really stood out about them, but they were good.

Was there anything from the all you can eat menu that you didn't try?
Basically, the soup, salad, sandwich, and chicken (because most chicken at Cuban spots taste the same). I don't doubt that those items are good, but I wanted to cut to the chase and not fill up on things that I didn't really have much interest in.

Fair enough...how was the venue?
Venue was amazing! It's spacious, very clean, pleasant staff, outside seating if you're into that. Overall, a very nice venue. Good for an after work cocktail or an intimate evening with a significant other. Just to give you the heads up though...this place can get pretty loud. With the background music and customers shouting over each other...the noise level may get a little high. Other then that I have ABSOLUTELY no complaints! 

Recommendations?
Go here! The staff is good, the food is great, the experience is worth it! They have several locations (and I've been to just about all of them), but if I had to pick one to go to, it would definitely be their location in Ridge Hill Mall (out in Yonkers).

 

Havana Central 

238 Market Street

Yonkers, NY 10710