La Palapa

Good food. The staff was very helpful. Nice environment! Highly recommended! more

The staff was really helpful, we were a big group and we got a good table so that was a good start. I had the red wine sangria which was pretty good. For dinner I had the fish tacos which were great.I will definitely go back soon. more

Life feels relaxed-when you enter this St. Marks place cocina. Al fresco dining welcomes you as you walk into a lively bar scene, where patrons are sipping margaritas and noshing on zesty salsa and tortilla chips. The dining room is spacious with votives flickering in the dim light, while Mayan sculptures and an antique map of Mexico city decorates the walls. Cuisine is simple, fresh and plentiful - the trio of Tacos pescados were flavorful and delicious. Pros: great food, great mojitos Cons: busy more

Best dinner I have had in NYC, the folks who own this place really know how to do Mexican the right way! We stopped in on a Friday night and we were treated to one of the best dinner's I have ever had.... the drinks are great as well.... try LA PALAPA and trust me you wont go wrong!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Pros: BEST MEXICAN IN NYC - TRUST ME Cons: none more

Let's just say my girlfriends and I walked out of the restaurant, halfway through our meal due to a visitor in our table AHHHHH!!!! My friend pointed out that I had a cacaroche (city search bans the true word from reviews... hmmm... conspiracy much?) crawling on me, we screamed to high heaven, and a bus boy came and put it in a napkin and ran to the kitchen. Next thing I knew I was asking for the manager, who was a broad with too much attitude.... she tried to debate with me whether it was a cacaroche or a water roche... like woman, an inch long brown roche was crawling on me... do I really need to debate semantics here?? Anyways who knows if the perp was actually a cacaroche or water roche... either way I'm never going back there! Just as a note, when we walked out, a woman at the front who had just finished eating said ""Oh you guys had a cacaroche by your table too?"" Sorry that place needs to be shut the truck down. Pros: Short of Raid!!!! because the smell of it. Cons: if you like ""insectos"" come to this place. more

I went to La Palapa on a Thursday night and the bar was low key and inviting. Great staff! All were super upbeat and friendly. My bartender was prompt, fresh, and helpful. She was extremely informative on the bar menu, happy hour, and food menu with a ton of specials. All of which is rare at most NYC restaurants. Essentially, she made me feel comfortable, even when she was busy. Based on her great suggestions, I had the Pato con Mole Negra.....and I never have duck! So delicious! They are so many margarita flavors there! I love the ginger margarita! The waitstaff is also informative and super helpful. Happy Hour is a must at La Palapa...great service and a genuine 2 for 1 deal....it's like tapas and half price drinks...perfect for after work. I will definitely be back next week...who wants to come with me! Go go go!!!!! Don't hesitate! Pros: Authentic and fresh Mexican food more

Bad Pros: Love it Cons: Great more

Anything you order with beef in it will have so little beef you will literally have to tear apart your dish to find what you've paid for. The staff is ignorant, but prompt. Avoid at all cost. Pros: Prompt Cons: Garbage more

This place was fantastic. I had a seat outside and enjoyed a quesadilla with some friends and a nice margarita. The atmosphere is great especially on a Sunny day. I would recommend this place to anyone. Pros: Great food and drink Cons: I can't eat more more

I ate at La palapa last Thursday with friends. The ambiance and lighting was the first thing that struck me, very chill and romantic. The bar girl seemed rude or annoyed even though I was only one of ten or twelve people there. The margaritas were pretty good. The food was one of the best Mexican meals I have had in new York, loved the duck with mole. And to our relief service at the table Was professional. Pros: Ambience, Food Cons: The Bartender. more

This place was OK. The food's a little overpriced when taking into account the quanitity and taste. the margaritas were good, especially for the ""buy one get one"" happy hour, but the mixed drink selection is otherwise limited... According to my friend, the bartender girl has a tendency to be pretty rude. more

had a blast at a birthday party. la palapa had great food and great drinks. i especially liked the margarita's!! Pros: Drinks! more

the service was poor- we waited about 30 minutes for just about everything including the sodas and the check. the food was decent enough but being charged for salsa at a mexican restaurant seems absurd. \r more

Horrible service-- they didn't take drink orders for like ten minutes. Soda was flat. Overpriced guac and chips-- you are charged extra for sour cream and salsa. Overpriced in general for the quality of the food. Would never go back here-- everything was bad. Extremely surprised it is so highly rated. more

I LOVE this place. There white sangria is sooo good. When you order a glass it actually comes in a little pitcher which will give you about 2.5-3 glasses. The happy hour bar food is yummy and small. But it only cost about $3.00 so just order 2 at a time. The menu is creative enough for the food lover but has good standards that your mother from the suburbs would love. They use real fruit purees for their margaritas, not some nasty corn syrup like other places. They also have brunch specials at good prices. The one thing that I don't like is that you have to pay for your chips and salsa. But when you order it they bring you 3 different types of salsa and good quality chips. Every time someone from out of town comes to visit me I bring them here. And they have all loved it. The other location is just as good. The service has always been great. I have made brunch reservations for a big party here once and we had no problems. People from out of town might consider this place expensive. But for a local New Yorker with the love of food and dining out the prices will seem normal. Pros: White Sangria, 2 locations Cons: You have to pay for your chips and salsa. more

I went with a group of 6 people to La Palapa last Saturday night. We waited over an hour and a half for our main courses and half the table received their meals 30 minutes before the rest of the table. When we finally received our dinners the food was cold and way over salted. The server was nice but SLOW. I have been to La Palapa during the week and it is much better. Definately avoid on Saturday nights. more

While this was better than average Mexican food, and the service pretty decent, it was awkward to get comfortable in this awfully noisy, crowded restaurant with very little room to move. more

I can't tell you about the food at La Palapa because my friends and I never actually got the chance to eat there. \r \r I made a reservation for a friend's birthday at La Palapa and knowing how popular and atmospheric the restaurant is, did so well in advance. The reservations were for 6 people on a Friday night. The reservationist was polite and friendly over the phone, and noted that this reservation was for the special occasion of a birthday. \r \r We arrived promptly a few minutes before our reservation time. Because it was Friday, and the place was clearly busy, we still expected to wait a reasonable amount of time. At around 9:20 we approached the hostess to remind her that our party was complete and to ask her how much longer it would be. She told us at least 20 more minutes (40 minutes after our original reservation). By 9:45 we were still not seated, and more annoyingly, no one had told us anything more about when that might happen. I tried to approach the hostess to get more information. I could see she was busy, so I waited patiently for a few minutes in an attempt to get her attention. I could see her avoiding eye contact with me while she buzzed around, refusing to acknowledge the fact that I was obviously waiting to speak with her. I was frustrated with their lack of planning for not honoring or reservation, but was far more frustrated with the lack of communication as to why it was taking so long, or how much longer we would be kept waiting. At about 10:00 we decided we had been ignored long enough and went to a less trendy place, Paquito's, down the street where we were seated immediately. The atmosphere was definitely not as trendy and warm as La Palapa, but the food, service and prices were far better. I still wonder how long we would have been made to stand there to have actually been seated, or even spoken to. For me, no atmosphere or cuisine can make up for that standard of service. Pros: Very nice ambience, pricey but tastey drinks Cons: The service is negligent and snobby. The wait is long. more

This place should be called Guaca-palapa. Every dish that we ordered came with a side of guacamole. Sad thing is we ordered a guacamole as one of our appetizers. That shows you that they can't even come up with sides for thier dishes. We also ordered some chicken cactus empanadas that were horrible. Lamb barbacoa is an all around atrocity. Does anybody taste the food at this place? Also noticed that of entrees on the menu, 5 of them (yes five) were shrimp. Not to mention the queso fundido which was like a stone. Basically they dump the plate on the salamander and bring it out to you. They dont even notice that after 30 seconds the cheese becomes cement. Sangria was awfull. Needed alcohol and sugar and I think I tasted tropicana juice in there. Again anybody tastes anything in this place?Then there was a failled skateboarder kid really badly dressed that appeared to be the manager and was not even paying attention when we tried to signal to him that we needed help in our table. Ohh well. I used to like this place, it just went down the tubes. Feliz Navidad!! Pros: Niece space Cons: service, food, drinks more

I grew up in Mexico so coming to this place made me feel right at home. I loved their three salsas especially the spiciest serrano one which was great with their steak entree that reminded me of the steaks you have in Mexico City. The waiter said that the ingredients are from Mexico and I believe it -- he really new the menu and I had a lot of questions. Second favorite after the steak were the salsa verde Enchiladas -- wow! Pros: real deal Cons: busy more