Guantanamera

Yesterday we went to Guantanamera 55th street & 8th avenue. The waiting time was over 15 minutes, the place was empty, the food was overpriced, and the quality of the food was horrible. I ordered an espanol sandwich and the bread was stale with no dressing (when the menu specified an olive oil dressing). My friend got a chicken soup with avocado for $6. She was equally disappointed with the stingy amount of chicken (1 piece!) and where was the avocado?! It was $6 red water, no flavor! common hispanic, caribbean food should always be flavorful.

Place was clean, wait staff pleasant.... Food a BIG zero! Ordered shrimp in green sauce & paella. It cam out way too quickly and steaming hot! They had to microwave it. It was green, but green what I do not know. No flavor at all. Shrimp was not cleaned, clams full of sand. It was like soup, no rice given. Paella about the same only on a bed of colored(with a little bit) of flavor. A real dud

I went for my friend's birthday. It was my first time going to this restaurant. The service was pretty decent. Once we ordered, they brought out our food pretty quickly. The appetizers were pretty good. I ordered the Arroz con Pollo for my entree. The presentation was very nice & it tasted very good. For dessert, I had flan. It was probably the best flan I had yet. I loved the live entertainment but wish i wasn't sitting right next to them. It was hard to talk to even to the person next to you. Overall the performance was great. The restaurant space is kind of tight. It was hard to move around sometimes.The price for everything was pretty pricey for an unemployed college student but it is worth it if you want to have a good time and try something new.

My husband and i were perusing our 'hood for a place to eat when nyc was shut down due to hurricane irene. having lived in hells kitchen for 30+ years we were amazed that every restaurant was closed. guantanamera had a small sign in their window : "we will be open at 5pm"having passed this restaurant multiple times but never ventured in, we thought it was time to try it! we were not disappointed and it has become a fave. that being said, we tend to order several appetizers as opposed to entrees & we tend to sit at the bar. the yuca frites , tostones,black beans rock. i love the grilled calamari, tho sometimes it can be more chewier than other times. the staff has always been warm and helpful & it is on our weekly calendar . Caveat:when the live music starts it is loud, so we always book by 8:30pm.

Dinner would have been perfect. Our group of four wasn't the only people over 50, but we might as well have been. Whatever service problems existed have been corrected. Food arrived timely and warm. We recommend the grilled, not fried, calamari , the salmon and especially the chicken. Would go back if we were younger.

100% authentic cuban food, very attentive service and real cuban music. I ' ll be back for sure for those mojitos.

The food was absolutely disappointing. DO NOT get the paella- it was watery. The tostones (the dish recommended by NY Mag) were bland and over fried. Food aside the waiters were attentive and the mojoitos were fantastic.