If NYC was made up of a lot more restaurants like this it would be so great for the fabric and culture of our city. Guantanamera is open late, with great music, fun vibes, and solid food. The room is alive when music is on, there's dancing and singing, and overall joy. The spot is open late which is great post show, or on the way home from wherever you were. The service is friendly, caring, and also a little fun as well. One thing I love is that you can choose to have a cubano or you can choose to have a full meal of steak and veggies and much more. Nobody appears to judge you, and all of it is good. None of it is great, but it matches the vibes of what you expect from cuba. We're here for good food and music, and the vibes make up for anything that's missing. I'll definitely be back to enjoy the music and a nice late night meal!

Great service, good prices and d live entertainment. Servers are very friendly and accurate with orders. They recommended the original Mojito and it was delicious!! Please add this to your list of restaurants on 8th Ave!

This place I felt is a hidden gem. Locals sorry but this out of state person is going to tell it! This place hands down is worth it all. We came in on a Monday night and it was happy hour all day. Every drink I had was strong and tasteful. Now the food. Every dish was tasty, zesty, spicy, and just hands down GOOD! I loved the garlic shrimp. I literally wanted to drink the sauce! I actually think I did.....ops. Cherry on top: they have live music some nights at 8:30pm

Coming to NYC is always an adventure of finding new spots and this place did not disappoint. The food and prompt service were excellent and the live music was invigorating. Can't wait to come back! Get the empanadas... you'll crave more!

Great Cuban find in Manhattan! The Vaca Frita and Cubano sandwich were both very good and were large portions. Live Cuban music was so much fun also. Service was good and one of the waiters gave me a couple of turns on the dance floor on my way to the restroom

Came here at 10PM on Thursday for an anniversary dinner after seeing a show nearby. We were quickly seated near the stage. It took a bit to flag down the waiter as it was a bit busy but once we ordered we got our food very quickly. We got the chorizo salteado to start which had the softest and most tender chorizo I've ever had. It was packed with flavor and paired well with the thin plantain chips provided. For our mains we got the churrasco and pollo guantanamera. The churrasco was cooked to perfection and came with two large slabs. It was sizzling when it came out and tasted so delicious. The pollo guantanamera was incredibly juicy and tender. They also came with a side of rice and beans and a salad, both of which were delicious. Definitely enough to fill two people up! We also got the passionfruit mojito pitcher which is DEFINITELY more than enough for two people. They do not skimp out on the alcohol as they are STRONG but dangerously delicious. The live band performed every 10-15 minutes or so for about 10-15 minutes each time. They had such great vibes and invited people to get up and dance along the aisles, which quite a few did. Super fun! Definitely recommend this spot if you're in the area. They seem to be pretty busy so try to get a reservation.

I think I would have enjoyed this spot more if I came during the evening, or one of the times they had a band playing. The ambiance was right. Bright, deep fonts and celebratory fonts on the walls. I did enjoy coming here, and I'm not against trying this place again, but I've had better Cuban. I came during lunch. I was the first person there. The service is awesome! Very attentive and welcoming. I started with the croquetas de jamon o pollo, which could be served with chicken or ham. I chose ham. And they were hot, and the spicy sauce was tasty, but the cold ham inside wasn't my thing. This is a ME thing, not a them thing. For my entree I had the cubano, which is served with plantains. I'm not a huge plantain fan, but these were crisp and sweet, and pretty good. I'm just more of a fry girl, which is why I ordered the papa fritas (fries, obvi). The fries were hot and wonderfully seasoned. The cubano itself had a great grilled bread with hot roasted pork and ham, accompanied by Swiss, pickles, and tangy mustard. Large portion that I couldn't finish. Loved the flavors. I had their mojito, their margarita, and another drink. This is really the reason I cam here--the drinks. Reviews said they were awesome and authentic. They weren't bad, but I've had much better. Overly heavy and sweet, resulting in me going back to my room and taking a long nap and taking some zofran and compazine (nausea meds). This restaurant has a lot of pork dishes, some beef/steak, salads, empanadas, oxtail, and a prix fixe/party menu. This was a nice outing. I enjoyed my time here and the service was wonderful. The sandwich was pretty tasty. I've had better Cuban, but I would recommend at least one go-round at this family-run Cuban spot to see how your fortunes fall.

The service was good for the majority of our dinner; became slower towards the end of our meal. The sopa de pollo was good, different, but good. It was the 1st time we'd had this soup w/ a drummette in it. The avocado & cilantro helped bring the flavor to this broth-based soup. The lechon asado was tender, well-seasoned, & delicious! The congri was cooked well. The cassava was too much starch , but balanced the bold flavors of the pork meal well. The tres leches was decent. There's a place in Atlanta, Eclipse de Luna, whose version I prefer to this one. The cake holds the milks well. As soon as you put the spoon in, the milk gushes out; makes you wonder how it stays inside like that. Good, just not my favorite, or the best I've had before. We planned to listen to music elsewhere, but it was raining, so we came back & sat at the bar for drinks until the music started. We were told it would start in 30 minutes, a little before 8. It started at 8:30, as it indicates online. We were expecting a larger band w/ some horns or something. It was a little underwhelming for us & we left after the 2nd or 3rd song; but it could've been we were tired after waiting an hr or so for them to start. It wasn't bad, just not the music we expected. I had a mango mojito, which was a little too line forward for me. After some of the ice melted, it balanced out well. This was our 2nd visit. We were here while visiting NY a year or 2 ago. Tonight wasn't perfect, but the fact we returned, & will again speaks volumes. The ambience was more family & date vibes when we arrived for our 6:30 reservation. When we waited for the music to start, it was louder & livelier: