I don't go out to bars much. I'll drink, but I prefer to do it at home. Still, I wasn't about to pass up attending my first drag show when my girlfriend and I went with a friend to support a coworker at her first show. It was loud, and the house was definitely full. To my surprise, it was pretty clean, and it was trendy, but laid-back. Our group had a fantastic time. I'd definitely come back.
Review Source:Havana was a lot smaller than I anticipated but still cute. Â I came for NYE to meet a friend here and I was surprised by a Drag Queen MC and a male strip show. It wasn't packed which was surprising but the clientele seemed more mature and nice. Â I had a cactus bowl which is supposed to be the equivalent of a long island iced tea it wasn't great tasting but it did get me pretty festive. Â I'd come back, strippers or no strippers just because the bar is straight friendly.
Review Source:C'mon people; it's not that bad. I'd go as far as saying it's pretty good. Facts:
* It's less "Look at me walk down a RUNWAY!" than the other bars in the Short North.
* They (usually) play better music than Top 40s Garage Band remixes.
* It draws a fairly diverse crowd.
* Cheap drinks.
* Decent live music.
* The bartender played a Dr Who video for me as a surprise.
This is a gay dive bar. If you fault it for being a dive bar, you're in the wrong place to start with. Havana knows what it is, so go chat up the friendly bartenders, watch some shows, and enjoy the place.
The bartender here played two Doctor Who videos, just because he's awesome, and knew the answer to "The only water in the forest is a _______". Â I was going to give Havana three stars but that bit of trivia was worth a star all in itself.
Otherwise, the drinks we had were fairly cheap, and we got a free shot of something called an Emerald City I think, that was realllllly good.
The bathroom was cleanish, and so was the bar, and I did notice a smell that sort of resembled my old high school, but I wouldn't describe it as bad. Â Just... gym-like.
Haters gonna hate. Â I thought Havana was A-OK, and I'd totally visit again.
For all you haters...I heart me some Havana.
If you're looking for a chill night where you can sip on a drink yet have an upbeat and friendly atmosphere with the possibility of some debauchery mixed in, then you've been looking for Havana all along.
A cute little gay bar, nested in a small area brick building on N. High Street has strong drinks, great staff (including one straight guy bartender who was super awesome and nice to chat with) and a fun atmosphere. Drinks are always stiff and if you get there early when the place is empty you might just end up with a few bartenders testing their new concoctions out on you and striking up a random conversation with a stranger.
This is an excellent low-key, upbeat place to get your party started for the night. Â There's a pool table in the back if you feel so inclined or chairs/sofas up on the higher interior part if you're looking to just people watch. :)
aww come on! why's everyone so rough on this little gay bar?
the guys behind the bar are sweet....and coming from a lesbian...thats a huge WIN. i will always enjoy my time at havana because of karaoke night on thursday! where else can you karaoke and sound better than someone? for me....its only at havana. its rarely packed on thursdays and the place is cute. it's not amazing, but its also not snotty. hole in the wall gay bar? (keep your butt jokes to yourselves) (or insert them here....dirty)
so its not the glamour house that everyone comes to expect from a gay bar....get over it. i have personally always had a great time here. if you didn't, maybe you're hanging with the wrong crowd?
my suggestion? get a group of your funnest friends and go to havana on a thursday night and do some SERIOUS karaoke. you'll thank me friday morning....afternoon.
I had high hopes for this place but it turns out to be just ok. They advertise as having the best martinis in town. But when I asked for a strawberry cosmo the guy was like "huh?" His female co-worker had to lean in and whisper the ingredients to him. I was hopping he would use the strawberry stoli that I saw on the counter but he used strawberry pucker!!! So a C+ for their drink making. I had a chocolate martini the night before and that was watery and I didn't taste the chocolate.
It's a cool bar so you wont be too hot. The only thing interesting was the video screen. The people were pretty much to themselves chit chatting. Not too much mingling. There's a pool table in the back and a private lounging room that not too many people use. I also went for "Church" on Sunday night to see the strip show. The guys were "ok". I wouldn't have gone up to tip any of them. They look like people who you would bump into the local supermarket.
I gave it 2 tries but it didn't live up to anything. You can go there but I don't see it as a place of having a good time. Unless you are ingourged in deep conversations with your friends.
Do you want to know what it's like to travel to a run down part of Cuba? Go no farther than Havana in the Short North.
Now, these pictures are old because the sign now reads HAV N, Charming huh. Enter a place with exotic smells of a truck stop bathroom. If you have to go to the bathroom you will actually experience a truck stop bathroom.
This is sooooo sad, Havana was the first gay lounge in Columbus. It's obvious the owners don't care.
Columbus has a huge gay population and deserves better than this. I am glad that the owner's of Score, Exile and Pyramid care about their customers and their bars. Maybe one of them can open a place in the Short North. Â Someone saves us from these gay bar slumlords!!
I would only recommend this place to my cat because she doesn't seemed to be bothered by dirty litter box smells.
I enjoy Havana for happy hour - it's usually pretty empty and drinks are cheap. Â You can just sit and sip your beverage and chill out, or play some pool in (very small) back room. Â On weekend nights, it's more crowded, but not overwhelmingly crowded like some places. Â Drinks are excellent, and the bar service is good (even though I'm a girl). Â During daylight, you realize the bar could use a good remodel, but at night, it's kinda pretty with the big single-bladed ceiling fans and the billowy curtains.
Most of my friends overlook Havana when we're debating where to go, but it's one of my old standbys.
Cat pee. That's the first thing I thought about when I walked into Havana. Why does it smell like cat pee? Once you get used to it, the place isn't too bad. It could use a definite facelift, as most of the décor looks like it's from the 80s and is stained. Some of the surfaces are sticky too; be careful what you lean on. But there's good bar service and fun music with accompanying videos. The music is stuff you probably forgot about, stuff like I'm too Sexy by Right Said Fred and Can't Get You Out of My Head by Kylie Minogue. Sure, they're not the most philosophical selections, but you can dance and be goofy drunk to them, and that's all that really matters.
Good drinks, good drink prices. They have Mojito specials in the summer. They also have a chocolate martini that stopped my friend in her tracks.
Happy hour is 5-8p on weekdays. They have $1.50 domestic beers and $2.50 well drinks.
I love Havana. Its smaller and less crowded than Union. The decor is bizarre. Part diner, part something else, dominated by TV screens and always giving off an eerie blue glow from the sign outside.
A fun fact I learned is that Havana at one point was a butcher shop. One of the bartenders says its haunted and gave me two instances when she had seen a ghost. Scary.
I love the Norma Jean cocktail here. Whats odd is Havana seems to be the only bar I can get it. The guys at Union try to replicate it but never seem to find the right mix. The Happy Hour here is cheap and you will probably have the bar to yourself. At night the crowd is mid sized but less rowdy than union down the street. If you can get a table in the elevated area than you have found the spot. Not much of a dance floor, so just kick back and relax.
I have been to Church at Havana and made my confessions. Â It needed to after the show that gets put on. My favorite time is when drag singers take center stage in gender bender perfection. Havana is my favorite bar for Halloween. I promise this year my costume will turn heads.
Havana is the place to go when you are looking for a chilled out bar experience. Order the Norma Jean and watch out for the ghost!
I love Havana! An older crowd than Axis (because it's 21+) but not uptight. Hot, friendly bartenders. Varied crowd but mostly men. This bar features strip shows (Sundays at 11 p.m.), karaoke nights, rock music video nights (Thursdays) and Top Shelf Tuesdays (top shelf liquor for the price of well).
Review Source:Who knew a bar in a locker room would work? Â This is a great place to go for a cocktail but the interior is disgusting. Â The parent company of this place has a monopoly on Cbus gays so they don't care to waist money on some silly remodel. Â I tried to find the actual lockers but I guess they took them out. Â Would have been nice to put my things in a safe place. Â The staff are all seasoned pro's who can make a stiff drink or in your case, some fruity concocktion.
Review Source:Havana is a popular gay bar in the Short North (one of several). Â That said, nothing about it really stands out. Â The decor is unremarkable and TV-screen-heavy, the martinis are decent and fruity, the clientele is 90% gay male with some variation in age. Â Sunday night is "Church," a popular post-Union-Station-showtunes event featuring male strippers. Â However, the cinder-block walls and "too many men in a small space" smell tend to remind me of gym class, and not in a sexy way. Â
I don't mind a trip to Havana, but I don't really seek them out. Â Others do, though, so if "popular gay martini bar in small cinder-block-walled space" sounds appealing at all to you, go and you'll probably enjoy it.
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