La Contenta
“I loved this intimate restaurant and it's thanks to their service and delicious food that will have us all coming back!”
“The margarita is well-balanced and so drinkable that compounding jet-lag with a hangover is a very real possibility without some discipline.”
“we sat at the beautiful bar while Elijio and Alex mixed delicious drinks and explained where and how all the ingredients are made…”
La Contenta
Takes Reservations: Yes
Delivery: Yes
Take-out: Yes
Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
Bike Parking: Yes
Happy Hour: Yes
Coat Check: Yes
Outdoor Seating: Yes
Dogs Allowed: Yes
Waiter Service: Yes
Caters: Yes
PokéStop Nearby: Yes
Price range.
$$ Price range $11-30
8 reviews
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Despite everything I have to say, I'll do my best to be as concise as possible!
When you're seated, you get a complimentary plate of chips and salsa! Therefore, be wary if you plan on getting the chips and guac; don't fill yourself up on the chips and salsa.
The chips and guac comes with PLENTY of guac – much more than necessary for the chips that come with it. You can use the chips from the first plate [with salsa] and eat those with the guac as well. The guac is thick and incredibly filling so again, don't fill up on the chips and guac if you plan on eating a lot for your entree!
The fish tacos were great much like other reviews and photos. The fish pieces are enormous so these too are also very heavy; the pictures don't do them justice.
The steak was cooked just right and didn't have that much flavor on its own but it comes with a sauce that adds a little sour edge to it.
The steak comes with a small serving of cream spinach and a cheesy baked potato. Both of which are ok but deceivingly heavy additions to the steak. [Maybe everything just seemed very heavy and filling because I ordered too much…]
The braised ribs were sold out on the night I went but the description did make it sound tasty so I do hope to return and try them.
There aren't many seats outside and there are just a few additional seats outside if the weather is nice.
The servers are nice and will do their best to accommodate you.
I had an hour to kill, and some calories to gain, So fish tacos at La contenta swam up on the agenda.
I breezed in on a Sunday night to a half packed, dim lighted, cheerful crowd of dates and Hispanic Americans. I got seated right away at one of the only four tables available at the restaurant. The setting here was so intimate that I regretted not bringing a date with me, but that didn't have an effect on how assiduously attentive my server was. From being my dictionary for the night, (a lot of Spanish words on that menu.) to all the little details that made his service so unforgettable (filling my water, removing the plates, etc). After ordering the fish tacos ($11) and a side of esquites ($5) I asked my server for a cocktail concoction that should be based on prickly pear puree.
My food and drink came out in the same time making it hard to decide for what to go first. But the smell of the fried catfish was just too irresistible not to be honored with the first bite. The fish tacos comes with two tacos, it's double layered with grilled tortillas, and has avocado sauce, Cole slaw, Chipotle aioli (mayonnaise), topped with three catfish pieces that has been deep fried in a light batter (tempura).
The Mexican version of the corn salad called "esquites" is served hot, with cheese and mayonnaise, and a drizzle of chile powder in it. Combine these two dishes with the delicious fruity drink the bartender made me and I found my perfect food/snack for a rainy day. It's Perfect in the sense that they didn't overload the tacos like many other taco places tend to do, all the toppings complemented each other really well. It's ideal in the sense that the esquites had a "mac n cheese" feel, but it was corn instead, making it a healthier option.
All in all a five star experience with the highlight being the fish tacos.
The cocktails are great! Especially for the happy hour price where everything is $8. The Mayan and Traditional Margarita were the ones I tried. I sat at the bar and the bar tender was very friendly. The nachos were MMMMM, so fresh. I do wish they had the option to add meat to them given I love a good set of chicken nachos and fresh guacamole over the guacamole sauce. I will go again, happily so. I see myself enjoying many a buzzed evenings here.
Was surprised I was able to score a same day reservation for Sunday at 8pm.
The guacamole is a must order. The presentation is lovely and it had the perfect balance of acidity and spiciness.
I ordered the salmon for my entree. While it's cooked perfectly, the salmon itself smelled kinda fishy. Hence the -1 star.
For dessert, we ordered the flan which tasted amazing.
Service was very friendly. Perfect ending to our NY trip.
After looking around for open reservations at yummy spots, I decided to have brunch here with my friends at 2pm on a Saturday (I called for resos). Came at exactly 2pm and unfortunately all the tables were still occupied. I sat at the bar while I waited which wasn't a big problem (they instantly give you a glass of ice cold water yay). The restaurant is quite warm since they open up their windows/doors, so if you can't stand the warm NYC weather lately, you might want to consider this place when it cools down a bit! Restaurant is really small, maybe 8-10 seats at the bar, and 12 at the tables (there's a 4 top table outside I think).
Their menu is quite simple, one drinks menu, and one brunch menu which consists of maybe 10 items that all cost $11. They also start you off with some freshly made chips with a green salsa.
I think the waitress was extremely overwhelmed, but she was SO nice and SO apologetic about everything!!! When orders came out of the kitchen, we thought it was super weird that it went to the table next to us who totally came in 30 minutes after us. The items looked exactly like the 3 things we ordered, so it was even WEIRDER for the girls at that other table to not have realized it wasn't what they ordered…they even used their fork to flip around the food and pop the overeasy eggs on top. Honestly so dumb……I can't even blame the waitress for their stupidity. If they had said something immediately, the waitress could have moved everything to our table without a problem. Instead, the kitchen had to remake everything because the girls had already messed around with the food that wasn't theirs. Sigh. ANYWAYS. When the food DID come out, all of us were pretty happy with our food (my friends got the fish tacos and the torta, and I got the chilaquiles). The chilaquiles honestly needed some help with presentation (looked like a hot mess), but was pretty delicious. It is essentially the freshly made tortilla chips topped with cheese, salsa, onions, and eggs any style. I love anything that gives me different textures with every bite of food.
My review is probably a solid 3.5 star review rather than a 4 with all the mishaps, but I think I'd be willing to try them again from the good things that I saw 🙂 Next time, I'm probably going to try the fish tacos!
La Contenta. I was happy at the bar, happy with the food, happy with the drinks, happy with the appetizer, happy with the libations, and on and on.
First off, I got the hook up because they were definitely booked up, when I arrived. But since it was just me and a friend who joined me about 15 minutes later and just in time, I was able to snag two seats at the bar for us. Thank you to the waiter who insisted that he could seat us even though it was type full.
The bartender was very friendly, polite, and service oriented. He knew all about the drinks he was serving down to every single detail. I asked for a shot while I waited for my friend and he gave me just that, a shot of tequila with a side of hot sauce. Confused, I asked him how to drink it. In my town, where I'm from he said, we sip the tequila and then the hot sauce. So I did just that, in that order. Had me feeling nice and smooth just like the drink.
While waiting for my friend, I ordered the nachos and fish tacos. The food came shortly after my friend was seated. Now let me tell you about the fish tacos here. They are mmm, they are good. The nachos too and I don't even really like nachos. I was talking to my food like damn you looking good and tasting good. And I only had a one drink at this point. After eating I ordered a Modelo to "help" with digestion.
Before my friend and I left, I stopped at the one bathroom located in the rear of this 15 by 15 square foot eatery and was quite surprised at how large and clean it was for the size of the place.
When I returned, we paid our tab and received a small shot from the bartender.
Good times guys, good times.
I really, genuinely liked it here.
Went here last night, and I'm still thinking about those shrimp enchiladas. They were so delicious along with everything else we ordered. The guacamole here is also superb. I'd have to say it is some of the best I've had in NYC. My friend ordered the chile relleno and was not disappointed either. This place is a win for fans of great Mexican fare for sure.
La Contenta or for me el contento, am I? When I first got here estoy contenido? Absolutamente no. But after the meal I was happy. I have to say when we first got here a party of three that I expected the wait to be about 25-40 minutes max on a Friday night at 8:15pm. Fast forward to about 10:30 and I'm like a pressure cooker that's boiled dry. The hostess apologized to us numerous times but I just don't know what the issue was. We finally got seated and that was the last of my negative experience. Immediately after we sat down (within about 2 minutes) a large plate of nachos arrived, 3 glasses of mararitas, and a giant pestle of guacamole and chips landed on our table. All on the house. It was an impressive display of apologetic customer service and they won me over.
Service throughtout the service was impeccable, constantly checking in on us to make sure we were happy. Water glasses were filled on the regular and our food arrived hot and delicious. Ordered were the chicken mole and the steak special.
Excellent flavors, excellent follow up service and great attention to detail will have me consider coming back here. Prices to me are on the high side. The steak was $22 and the fish tacos were $11 for two. Was the food good? Absolutely, was it out of this world amazing? Unfortunately not. I suppose for this area where you can go next door to the speak easy and get a harpoon beer in a ceramic coffee mug you probably have in your cubicle for $7.00 you have to expect these types of prices. Margaritas were $12.00 a piece, desert was decent but nothing to shout home about and I found that as much as I enjoyed it and the attention to detail I probably wouldn't go out of my way to eat here again since there are so many cheaper and more authentic options out there.