This prime location in the East Village has gone through several incarnations with the last one being a fairly good Greek place called Boukies. Now it's turned into a festive Mexican place that as Lav accurately described as a "step up from Tortilla Flats". They were particularly decorative for the holidays, so I will give them points for being cheerful, cozy and fun for the holidays.
Even though I was easily able to get a reservation on OpenTable a few nights prior, the place was packed. The menu is "authentic" Mexican - mostly small plates, tiny tacos, and several platos fuertas. Ordinarily I probably would have ordered something big like a carne asada, but I wasn't starving so I split the memelitas ($6), equites de calabaza ($6), tacos hongos ($8) and the tortitas de platano macho ($7) as well as a side of beans ($3) with Lav. I also got the ceviche verde de pescado ($15) for myself - I've been on quite the ceviche kick since coming back from Puerto Rico and feel like I need to take advantage whenever I see it.
The memelitas were 2 small masa tarts filled with charred nopales (essentially cactus or prickly pear), poblanos, tomatillo salsa and queso fresco. While I wouldn't say it was overly spicy, there was definite heat to the dish but overall the nopales was kind of eh. It was a fine starter to the meal but it wasn't anything that I found very exciting. Next came the taco hongos (mushroom) and the ceviche. This particular ceviche was made with swordfish which I found very unusual - swordfish has a VERY strong fish taste and while I can take that level of fishiness, it's not something I would necessarily recommend to put in a ceviche. While I didn't mind this dish, I would have preferred that they stuck with a milder fish for the dish. The tomatillo salsa and jalapeño really gave this dish some heat - almost too much heat. Next I tried the mushroom taco and it was definitely on the small side. The pieces of roasted mushroom were flavorful but they weren't really chopped up very well and I was constantly breaking apart the taco because I'd have to take big bites of the mushroom. The tortitas de platano macho was plantain fritters with chihuahua cheese in it and it was a tasty gooey bite. It's hard to go wrong with sweet grilled plantains and cheese. The equites de calabaza was cubed butternut squash with cotija and chipotle mayo. It was a tasty dish but I wasn't really sure how or why it was Mexican besides the fact that it had cotija cheese sprinkled on top of it. Lastly I had a bit of the beans and they were soupy, smokey and tasty - it was just too bad we couldn't have them with the rice because that was cooked in chicken stock, otherwise that would have been quite a killer combination.
Of course we saved some room for dessert and got the churros which honestly were overcooked and dried out. It completely paled in comparison to the fresh and amazing churros I got in Puerto Rico. But I will say as someone who doesn't really love chocolate, the chocolate dipping sauce was quite nice.
Overall, this is solidly mediocre. When I hear/see "traditional" Mexican food, I expect to be hit in the face with bold flavors that's not just a bunch of chopped up jalapeños. I feel like here, they just added a lot of tomatillo salsa to spice up their dishes, which ins't a terrible thing but also not the most creative. As for the service, our waitress was nice but I felt constantly rushed, which is one of my biggest pet peeves when eating out. I recognize it's a busy Saturday night but from a hospitality standpoint, it never feels good when you feel like the place just wants you out as soon as possible. She kept trying to take our plates away before we were finished, dropped off our check before we asked for it, and then someone even came to take our check before we had even put our credit cards down. I know it's the holiday season, but really they need to chill because I had to wait for my table even though I had a reservation, so the person behind can wait too. Total bill: $62/pp with tax, tip and drinks
Photo Credit: Yelp
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