Café Cantante Mi Habana

CA4
Style of place: Live music venue
Cover: CUC 10
Style of music: Salsa/Timba
Ambience
Popularity
Entertainment
Service
Best for: Plenty of seating, good audio and clean sight lines to the stage. Great musicians.
Worst for: Still a basement club even after the revamp.
Teatro Nacional de Cuba, Avenida Paseo, esquina 39, Plaza de la Revolución
(+53)7878 - 4273
8pm to 3am
  • What Café Cantante lacks in comfort and service (especially from the doormen) it more than makes up for in the quality of the artists which play there and the busy atmosphere. Afternoon shows feature hip-hop, salsa, rock, pop and traditional Afro-Cuban music. For the nighttime shows the very best big name salsa groups play until 3am. It is housed in the basement of the National Theater. I have never really been a fan of the place mostly for the lack of creature comforts, when it gets busy it gets busy. Friday night has recently become predominantly LGBT night and is more packed still. Can’t deny the great bands.
    Cover: Evening show: 5-15 CUC
    Matinees 50-100 CUP

    There’s always something grotty and off-putting about basement clubs and this place in the nether regions of the Teatro Nacional fit the bill perfectly until a recent major overhaul. I’m surprised how nicely this club cleaned up; it actually feels hip, which is has been a slow learning curve for state-run establishments. The air condition works, there’s plenty of seating, good audio and clean sight lines to the stage. Los Kents (rock ‘n roll covers); Qva Libre (wildly popular rock/fusion); and Santiago Feliú (trova superstar) have regular gigs here. This venue also has historic significance since it’s where Nueva Trova solidified as a movement.

    
  • Hurón Azul (UNEAC)

    Hurón Azul (UNEAC)  LH 4-

    The home of the National Union of Writers & Artists (UNEAC) is a grand old Vedado mansion, where a large veranda serves as a stage and its patio provides table seating. This is a popular hang out …

    Meliá Cohíba Hotel – Habana Café

    Meliá Cohíba Hotel – Habana Café  LH 4-

    This is where Vincent Vega would get his ten-dollar shake in Havana and although you cannot actually sit inside the Chevy, Pontiac and Buick, which grace the interior; they do add 1950’s chic to the p …

    Nao

    Nao  LH 4-

    This is a small paladar/bar set on two levels with lots of heavy wood which has been nicely decorated, cluttered it may be but it is also cute and gives a sense of having been lived in without being t …

    El Diablo Tun Tun Piano Bar

    El Diablo Tun Tun Piano Bar  LH 4-

    This club is literally right upstairs from the Miramar Casa de la Música. It is a smaller venue than its downstairs neighbor and is generally a bit calmer, although when popular reggaeton acts are pla …

    Monserrate Bar

    Monserrate Bar  LH 4-

    Before you come to Cuba and if you had only seen Buena Vista Social Club, this is how you would imagine every bar in Cuba. Slow whirling fans above, an old Cuban group playing traditional Cuban music …

    Copa Room

    Copa Room  LH 3+

    The Copa Room, for a while known as the Palacio de la Salsa, is inside the Hotel Riviera, which was built by Meyer Lansky just before the Revolution. The show currently playing is not the best and the …

    Hotel Inglaterra (La Terraza)

    Hotel Inglaterra (La Terraza)  LH 3

    This is one of the great terrace watching-the-world-go-by bars in Havana given that it is situated right on Parque Central and a lot of the world does swing by on a regular basis. Ideal for a drink pr …

    Café O’Reilly

    Café O’Reilly  LH 3

    Located only a block away from the restlessness of Calle Obispo is this relaxing, rustic two-floor café. Climb the cast-iron spiral staircase and try to squeeze yourself on to the balcony for a perfec …

    Las Vegas

    Las Vegas  LH 4-

    Las Vegas has gone through various incarnations and was featured in Time magazine a couple of years ago as a center for hip-hop. It currently has a varied program which includes a conventional cabaret …

    Café París

    Café París  LH 3

    Although about as Parisian as Middleborough, Café Paris remained for many years one of the highlights of any bar crawl around Old Havana. It is also somewhere you may find yourself coming back to agai …

    « 6 of 8 pages »