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Calle Ocho: Everybody’s favorite UWS neighborhood staple has moved…but only around the corner, thank goodness. Now housed in the lobby of the Excelsior Hotel, we’re sad to report Calle Ocho has undergone a bit of a make-under. The ambience is a little stuffier, starting with a formal, well, hotel lobby bar, which replaces the previous sexy candlelit-lounge entryway. The main area now only seats 140 (the old space hosted about 200) and only 80% of the menu is the same—but don’t worry, you can still get sweet plantains, mind-blowing sweet rolls and your favorite paella. Try three new cocktails (like delicious El Ma’qua, made with rum, blood orange liqueur and guava, $12) in addition to their unchanged top-notch mojitos and sangria. If we’re being a bit harsh on the new locale, it’s only because we adored Calle Ocho just as it was and hate to see a good thing change—but hey, it’s nothing that those delicious caipirinhas, mojitos and pitchers of sangria won’t cure.
Reviewed 7/31/2011
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