Where is the best place to eat in Cuba? In the private restaurants, also called Paladar or at state owned restaurants? Some sort of comparative research halfway through the year after the CUC was abolished.

On January 1, 2022, the CUC officially no longer existed and you could no longer use it to pay. All restaurants made new menus with new prices in Pesos. Before then, what we’ll call “the old days,” I favored the Paladars, although there were a few excellent state restaurants as well.

The complications of Money.

Some state restaurants had prices in Moneda Nacional (Pesos Cubano), others in CUC. Whatever I want to write about it always needs a financial explanation when it comes to Cuba.

State restaurants calculated their new prices neatly according to the official exchange rate of 25. The breakfast of the Havana Libre (earlier the Hilton and since 1960 of the state) used to cost 8 CUC (then about 7Euro 50) suddenly cost 200 Pesos. And according to the official exchange rate, that is indeed almost 8 Euro.

Only the street rate of the Euro was almost five times higher, so in reality breakfast only costs 2 Euro.

All state restaurants adjusted their prices in this way and became dirt cheap in one fell swoop!

Now, half a year later, the state prices are also starting to rise, but they are still dirt cheap compared to the Paladars.

The state simply does not calculate the supply chain… The entire chain has adjusted prices in the same way and nobody is concerned about profit. 

Paladars

These privately owned restaurants have to do their shopping themselves. They are not in the state supply chains, although they can buy their ingredients fairly cheaply from the state. The official prices are simply unsustainable for the paladars…

Where in the past the price/quality ratio always worked out in their favor, that has now turned around. The state wins big. Not only because they have stupidly converted their prices and the paladars can’t, also because the paladars have a completely different cost structure.

Now that you understand the background, I’m going to compare a few things.

Price

No competition, the state always wins. Mojitos for 80 euro cents, lobster for 5 and a great meal for 2.50. At the Paladars, the Mojito costs 3, the Lobster 22 and an average meal 10.

If you want to eat cheap, eat at the state. 1-0 to the state, hands down.

Quality

I can hardly make a distinction here. There are good and bad restaurants for both. You have to know your way around a bit. The only thing in favor of the paladas here is that the state offers little variation. The state has no Sushi no Turkish cuisine and the state’s Chinese really doesn’t resemble a Chinese at all. The state cooks Cuban and all chefs have the same training. All those chefs scrape a bit off your plate for their own gain so the quality is always a little less than it should be.

At the moment I often eat at the state because it is fine food for little money. And then sometimes I snack on something else and go to a paladar. However, many paladars cook just like the state for three times the price, so Cuban food is served by the state, the Chinese and Greeks by the private individual.

Service.

Here is a big difference in favor of the paladars. Although the state employs about three times as many staff, they all work at 10%. The wait staff in the paladars is much friendlier, quicker, and the bill hits the mark. Although the waiters at the state have had a three-year training (Yes, THREE years) I find them simply bad, uninterested and way too formal. The latter is personal taste, but they all have the same arrogant approach to customer contact.

In addition, the bill and the change at the state are often incorrect. If you eat out for the service, you absolutely have to go to a paladar.

Conclusion:

If you want to eat cheaply… State

If you want good service… Paladar

If you are tired of Cuban food… Paladar

If you know where to find the right state joints (I’m writing this on the terrace in the garden of Tropicana where a mojito costs 100 and a cow’s tail costs 150) then you choose the state!

But before you even think about food, you first have to understand the money because that is quite complicated in Cuba and lack of understanding makes your holiday 4 times more expensive!