Selena Rosa Mexicana
“Their happy hour is great and my favorite are their Strawberry Margaritas paired with some spicy guacamole and plantain chips!”
“This is my all-time favorite Mexican place in the Upper East side!”
“Ruffo makes the best from-scratch margaritas and the managers (Manny and Armando) are so accommodating and professional.”
Selena Rosa Mexicana
Takes Reservations: Yes
Delivery: Yes
Take-out: Yes
Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
Bike Parking: Yes
Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
Good for Kids: Yes
Good for Groups: Yes
Outdoor Seating: Yes
Has TV: Yes
Waiter Service: Yes
Caters: Yes
Price range.
$$ Price range $11-30
8 reviews
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Pro tip : live music on Wednesday nights around 10. It's loud in the front bar eating area so eat outside or in the back if you want a more intimate (quiet) vibe.
Good ole Mexican cuisine, however, not your $5 burrito kinda place, good enough to bring a second date or the parents. Great for happy hour and group guacamole share! Very friendly staff!
Favorite dish: mushroom quesadilla $10. Filled with so many mushrooms and the best cheese… Makes it sound healthy but I can't make any promises 🙂
Downside : found plastic in my food and my roommates food once and now I'm scared. 🙁
This is my all-time favorite Mexican place in the Upper East side! Their margaritas are so delicious and strong! They have a bunch of different flavors, but I keep going back to the traditional because it's just so good! Beware because you won't taste much alcohol, but you'll feel it when you stand up. I recommend a maximum of 2. They are also only $6 during happy hour (M-F until 7)!
The chips and salsa are also delicious. Their chips are a mix of regular tortilla and veggie chips like sweet potato and plantain. The salsa is so addictive! We usually go through 3 or 4 bowls during a meal.
I usually come here on Mondays for fajita night where you can score $10 fajitas all night. You can get either shrimp (my personal favorite!), chicken, or veggie. The portion is generous, and it comes with a side of guac and sour cream. You can even ask for wheat tortillas for no extra charge.
Everything I've had here is great. It's not fancy or trendy or trying to be something it's not. You should definitely come here for no frills tasty and affordable Mexican food.
Hmmm charging $10 for a frozen margarita that tastes the same as a $4 concoction across the street at Blockheads? Not sure how I feel about it.
Otherwise, this place is cute? The chips were good and the food tasted okay.
I'm bummed I missed the outdoor courtyard…that would've been cool.
Not bad. It's okay.
Pro's:
There are $10 Fajitas which were HUGE, on Mondays.
The pitchers of sangria are $27 and you can get 5 LARGE glasses out of it (well worth it).
Overall pricing on beer and margaritas are also cheaper than neighboring places.
The guacamole was probably the best I ever had. Hands down.
Con's:
The staff took my husband's plate while he was still eating!
We made our reservation on Open Table, we were meeting a couple there. The couple arrived before we did and said they had a reservation and they were given a seat. When we arrived, I told them that we had a reservation and were waiting for friends to arrive. They told me that they had no tables available and that I had to wait. When we were finally seated we get to the dining area and find our friends at the original table. The problem here is that they were willing to give away our table to someone who they weren't sure if they even had a reservation for. Not cool.
The place is open and welcoming.Nice decor and pleasant service, cant say the same about the bathrooms, the doors don't lock and the toilet was filthy. They need to improve in he hygiene wise.
My sister took me out for Mother's Day and I was open to good food and great ambience. We got the steak and egg Brunch menu, the guacamole with chips for appetizers and for the dessert we got the Dulce de tres de Leche.
The guacamole was delicious fresh and perfect in bites . I like my steak medium well and I change my home fries for French fries with no problem. The dessert was horrible, the ice cream was melted like it was put on he microwave to defrost the cake which it was watery and no sweetness. We took a bite and that was it .The waitress kindly deduct the dessert from our tab but it left a bad taste in my mouth.
Oh can forget the drinks are huge !!!!! you will get drunk with the first one. Hahahha. Not sure if coming back. Will give it another try but maybe not.
This place has good food and good drinks, especially during happy hour. Food is slightly overpriced but the margaritas make up for it. My only complaint is that they must have Adam Levine radio on repeat EVERY DAY. Every single time we are here, it's the same damn songs! Today was the first time in probably two months that they had actual Mexican music playing and that only lasted for thirty minutes before best of Maroon 5 started up again…
Let me begin by saying the service at this place is good and they get an A for effort. We decided to have dinner here on a beautiful almost-spring evening so we could eat outside and enjoy the warm weather!
We were seated immediately at a little table for two in the sidewalk section of the restaurant. They had nice heat lamps right over our table which kept us warm enough to enjoy the fresh air.
We started with the fresh guacamole as an appetizer. I ordered medium spice (I love a little bite in my food!), but unfortunately the guac they gave us was very mild with no spice at all. For a $10 appetizer I would've hoped to get what I actually ordered, so this was a disappointment.
They give all customers a basket of tortilla chips mixed with plantain chips and sweet potato chips. This is a cool take on the usual basket-o-store-bought-chips. They made sure to refill these whenever they got low.
I ordered the steak enchiladas with salsa verde as my entree. There was nothing wrong with them, but they weren't memorable. I thought there was a little too much salsa and not enough cheese, but those are just my personal preferences. It came with rice and beans which were standard.
Overall, I'd say this place is pretty good but not the best Mexican I've had. I really wish the fresh guac had been a little spicy as ordered. That said, service was great, our water glasses were never empty, and the chips kept flowing throughout the meal.
It's been difficult to find Mexican food I enjoy in New York (being Mexican and from California) but Selena Rosa Mexicana was A-OK. I went with several friends and only one had a minor complaint. Everyone else enjoyed their meals and mentioned they wouldn't mind coming back.
They started us off with an assortment of chip options–one sweet and one savory. The sweet ones were like churro chips. They used to have similar ones sold at Taco Bell. It was sooooo good. I ordered the vegetarian burrito without the veggies, so it was essentially, rice, beans, cheese, sour cream, guac. Sounds simple but you'd be surprised how many places can mess it up. Well, Selena Rosa Mexicana didn't. It was definitely filling and I had no complaints. I was surprised I even liked the side salad, although I do wish there were another option for my dish, as i felt like the dish itself didn't look terribly appetizing. They could probably work on their presentation of dishes.
The location was larger than expected, as there is a back room for guests as well, so it might look full but there will more than likely still be room there. Our waitress was nice and tolerable of requests. She would come by and fill our water/check in just enough.
Overall, a positive experience. Oh and the happy hour deal is a steal. $6 for a tasty margarita and it was surprisingly a large glass!