Coral Gables staple Havana Harry’s will reopen this fall after a yearlong closure with a remodeled dining room and its beloved Cuban food.
Provided by Havana Harry’s
One of Miami’s most beloved Cuban restaurants is finally coming back.
Havana Harry’s, the sprawling Coral Gables institution known for enormous plates of Cuban comfort food, strong cafecito, and the kind of desserts that practically require their own table, has announced it will reopen this fall after more than a year behind closed doors.
The reopening marks a major comeback for the restaurant at 4612 South LeJeune Rd., which has fed generations of Miami families since 1995. It also closes a dramatic chapter for Havana Harry’s. It faced a turbulent 2025, including a state-mandated shutdown following a failed health inspection, a subsequent closure ordered by the City of Coral Gables, layoffs, and months of uncertainty over whether the landmark restaurant would return at all.
Now, Havana Harry’s says it is ready to welcome Miami back with a substantially renovated restaurant and the same Cuban-American menu that made it a local institution. “Our responsibility was never to reinvent Havana Harry’s,” Carlos Centurion, founder of Centurion Restaurant Group, said in an announcement. “It was to protect what generations of guests have loved, while building a restaurant that will serve this community for many years to come.”
The restaurant has undergone an extensive makeover
Provided by Havana Harry’s
A long-awaited comeback after a difficult 2025
The reopening carries particular weight because of how Havana Harry’s disappeared. In September 2025, New Times reported that the City of Coral Gables ordered Havana Harry’s to close indefinitely after an August 21 shutdown order. The restaurant had already endured a separate health inspection controversy earlier that summer.
In June 2025, the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation temporarily shut down the restaurant after inspectors discovered a roach infestation. At the time, a sign outside told customers Havana Harry’s was “closed for repairs,” while WPLG Local 10 investigative reporter Jeff Weinsier reported that the state-mandated closure notice had been obscured. Havana Harry’s eventually passed two follow-up inspections and reopened days later.
But the restaurant’s troubles were not over. The Coral Gables Development Services Department ordered Havana Harry’s closed again on August 21, 2025. Centurion Restaurant Group maintained that the city shutdown was unrelated to the earlier DBPR violation. By late August, the restaurant had filed a WARN notice confirming that 28 of its 77 employees would be permanently laid off. Remaining workers were expected to be reassigned to other Centurion restaurants. At the time, no reopening date was set.
Longtime customers have flooded the comments section of its Instagram page, which hasn’t been updated since December 2025
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The uncertainty hit especially hard because Havana Harry’s was a cherished staple for its consistency, familiarity, and reasonable prices.
For more than 30 years, it has been a Coral Gables gathering place. It’s been best known for sprawling family lunches, post-graduation dinners, birthday celebrations, and casual weeknight meals. New Times even named it the Best Cuban Restaurant in 2020, and the Michelin Guide has also recognized the restaurant.
When news of the closure broke, longtime customers flooded the restaurant’s Instagram account with questions, frustration, and pleas for it to return. Now they finally have an answer.
Havana Harry’s will have a brighter, tropical, and more relaxed dining room
Provided by Havana Harry’s
Havana Harry’s gets a major makeover
Rather than simply patching up the old restaurant, Centurion Restaurant Group says it used the extended closure to overhaul the space.
The new Havana Harry’s will have a brighter, more relaxed dining room with green leather booths, lush greenery, mosaic tile, Cuban-inspired artwork, and tropical touches throughout. Ownership’s goal was to modernize the restaurant without stripping away the familiarity that has made it a Miami fixture.
That distinction matters at a restaurant like Havana Harry’s. Miami has changed enormously since the restaurant opened in 1995, and Coral Gables has changed with it. Restaurants have come and gone along South LeJeune Road, dining rooms have gotten sleeker, and countless Miami institutions have disappeared altogether.
Centurion Restaurant Group, which acquired Havana Harry’s in 2022, says it has preserved the restaurant’s original recipes and approachable pricing while investing in the building itself. For those unfamiliar with the team, the restaurant group also operates Bulla Gastrobar, Pisco y Nazca, and Beehive Kitchen.
Havana Harry’s has served Cuban food in Miami since 1995.
Provided by Havana Harry’s
The restaurant looks new, but it hopes to taste like home
Havana Harry’s says the food that made the restaurant famous is returning. Its signature chicken vaca frita will once again headline the menu, with shredded chicken sautéed with onions and garlic until the edges turn crisp. The restaurant will also bring back its ropa vieja, arroz con pollo, and lechoncita.
Breakfast is returning, too, meaning Havana Harry’s will once again open its doors for Cuban coffee and morning plates. And then there are the desserts. Havana Harry’s became almost as famous for ending a meal extravagantly as it did for the meal itself, and its dessert menu will return with flan, tres leches, cakes, and its over-the-top “Overdose” milkshakes.
For anyone who grew up eating there, that may be the biggest reassurance of all. The dining room is new, but Havana Harry’s wants to return to its roots as a neighborhood staple once again. “We can’t wait to welcome our guests back,” Centurion says. “Families have been asking us every week when they can return, and now we are finally ready for them.”
Havana Harry’s. 4612 S. LeJeune Rd., Coral Gables; 305-661-2622; havanaharrys.com. Reopening fall 2026.
Dining and Cooking