Hoboken's Happiest Hour: The Cuban Restaurant & Bar

There’s just no competing with the fantastic food and inventive mouth-watering drinks sold at reasonable prices during happy hour. Other happy hours in town might save you a buck, but no location offers deals more delicious AND affordable than The Cuban Restaurant & Bar on Washington Street. Plus, the atmosphere is also not to be missed. Especially the bar area seems to ooze sexiness with warm lighting and dark wood. 

For a happy hour, first come the drinks. Sure, it's great to grab a cheap class of wine, well drink, or pint of beer when you have the chance, but at The Cuban, you get to sample delectable drinks that actually feel special at a very special price. Most run in the neighborhood of $5 each. I have to admit, I've sampled almost all of them, at one time or another, and the only ones I don't like are the spicy variety. However, there are plenty of sweet ones, so I'll never get bored.

The Caipirinha de Arandano is a fresh blueberryish cocktail with a hint of citrus - delicious! My only critique is that the straight glass and the sugar rim make for a messy time and sticky fingers. I always find myself trudging up the stairs to wash my hands in the restroom after I order this one. Hint: ask for it without the sugar rim.

Caipirinha de Arandano

The Mojitos are also excellent and come in "original" with the Mojito Cubano, along with another couple varieties of the classic beverage - El Jefe Mojito features bitters and brugal anejo, while the Mojito de Ginebra is made with gin, cucumber, basil, and jasmine simple syrup. All are fresh and the second two have their own added twist. Same thing with the three Caipirinha drinks - all three similar, but each slightly unique. I'm also a fan of the Parcha Agave, which is sweet and reminds me of the beach, as well as the Antiqua Havana, which is similar to a Cubanized Manhattan. And remmber, all of these drinks are $5 on the happy hour menu!

The only drink I've had here that I absolutely didn't like was the "El Macho." It was ordered by accident when I was trying to be adventurous and told the waiter to bring me something that he liked - whooooops! The El Macho has a bunch of delicious ingredients, but it is topped of with a jalapeno - yuck! Not my drink, folks. However, I'm sure someone out there enjoys it thoroughly.

Then, during happy hour you're bound to work up an appetite, so on to the food! The Cuban Happy Hour features a bar menu where most of the food items are about $5 and all are scrumptious - definitely a step up from other eats on happy hour menus elsewhere, where everything seems to have come out of the freezer and been seeped into a deep frier. Instead, options at The Cuban are hand crafted bar deliciousness.

My favorites on the bar menu include a fresh El Cubano sandwich with slow roasted pork, ham, cantimpalo, swiss cheese, pickles, and garlic mojo - grilled on a sandwich press and served with a teeny tiny friend potato garnish. All that for just $5. Hello, affordable dinner!

El Cubano

Another menu favorites include the Empanaditas, a set of three, you choice of chicken fricassee with chard tomatillo, Ropa Vieja (braised skirt steak) with black bean puree, or crab/shrimp with salsa rosa and avacado purree.

Empanaditas

 And last, but not least, the fantastic Papas Fritas, or French fries, which are served with manchego cheese sprinkled on top and a garlic lemon aioli for dipping. Holy cow, they are delicious! Not your average happy hour deep fried potato, for sure!

 Papa Fritas

The Cuban offers their top of the line happy hour daily. Not only can you saddle up to the bar Monday-Friday from 5:00-7:00pm, but you can also make a weekend appearance on Saturday or Sunday from 3:00pm-6:00pm. It doesn’t get better than that! Make sure to hit it up before the bar is full!