Habana Cafe opens in former Artful Dodger space
The mural outside of Habana Cafe is the first thing customers see before walking inside.
At the anterior of Habana, this sign stands brightly, advertising salsa nights and more.
The Habana Cafe, formerly the Artful Dodger, located in downtown Harrisonburg, has been open for nearly a month. Barista Sophia Rhafiri enjoys working at Habana Cafe and has been working there since its opening.
“I’ve been here since it’s opened so it’s nice to see how it’s growing and evolving,” Rhafiri said.
The Habana Cafe not only has coffee, but lots of other options for every meal. Rhafiri mentions some of the menu items available.
“For breakfast there’s an egg benedict that looks so good and I wanna try it so badly,” Rhafiri said.
Rhafiri also recognizes a popular sandwich that is available in the cafe.
“Everyone loves the Cuban sandwich. It’s just sort of a classic,” Rhafiri said.
When visiting the Habana Cafe, customers have a choice of eating inside or outside where you can see the colorful murals leftover from the Artful Dodger.
The Habana Cafe hosts salsa nights every Friday, transforming the Cuban Cafe into a fun dance floor.
“This building has a lot of history and having been the Artful Dodger and [I feel we] took it over and gave it a sort of different vibe or different food or mix to it but also keeping the classic sort of Dodger style,” Rhafiri said.
![Rising senior Mariah Hyter works on interview questions to prepare for JCamps trip to Downtown Harrisonburg. Partly because she is from a military family, working on the yearbook and newspaper have been positive experiences for Hyter. Being in a military family is a lot, and…you just have to get used to getting acclimated so fast, and I think that yearbook and newspaper, for me, [were] such therapy, Hyter said.](https://vajta.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/IMG_8563-437x600.jpg)
