Rancho Cafe 570 Amsterdam Ave. (87th & 88th Sts.)
Upper West Side
212.362.1514
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Rancho Cafe:
Not so much a bar as it is a somewhat pricey attempt at a Mexican cantina, the Rancho Café attempts to appeal to the young and hip, with decidedly mixed results. The food isn’t spectacular—better and more authentic Mexican food can be found in the many taquerias in the neighborhood—but the open-air seating is a nice setting for enjoying one of their legendary frozen margaritas on a hot summer night. These icy delights come in a slew of flavors, and they’re priced right at two for $7 during happy hour, Monday-Thursday, 4pm-7pm. And if you’re hungry, the alambres (skewers of seasoned roasted meat and veggies) come highly recommended. Unfortunately, the occasionally sub-par service and long wait for a table can slow your salsa down to a waltz.
Its a mixed review this one. First of all the food took too long to get to our table, once it was there we were in for a treat, we really liked it. Margaritas were amazing, my friend ordered a Lemon Drop Martini which was made by the Manager, since the bar was really busy and he didnt want our table to waiting on food and drinks at the same time...seemed like if it were up to him he would have cooked the food for us. Really helpful, amazing very cultured individual, Neo I think was his name. What struck us the most is how much he knew about the food, and was able to engage deep in how our plates were prepared. One of the people in our party said he was new since she is a regular there. But let me tell you this, he is amazing. Server were ok, nothing bad...we didnt think it was his fault that the food took sooooo long, but thanks to the manager it was a bearable time. My husband got very excited when they started talking about Irish food even though he was SouthAmerican he was very knowledgeable about our culture and food. We have been here in NYC for over 10 years and its the first time someone who is not from Ireland knows about what we love. In the other hand we couldn't help to witness a very horrible incident with the bartending girl, a really nice girl whow seemed to be a little bit overwhelmed with the big crowd that was there and when the person who seems to be one of the owners or the owner (a chubby guy with horrible english and worse manners), swept the floor with her IN FRONT OF THE WHOLE PLACE, he couldn't call her to his office, or maybe to a place where no one could hear him. He had to belittle the poor girl in front of what seemed to be the rest of the managers and staff, and my friends and I that were a mere 6 feet away. Horrible to say the least. Pricing was right on the spot, but we were in the middle of the happy hour and our drinks of course were cheaper (we drank a lot lol), but the food itself was a bit pricey. Really good food, but Cilantro and Rosa Mexicana offer the same for less. Good service, excellent Manager, very good food, amazing drinks. Owner tsk tsk SMH, let's just say having money doesn't mean you are culturized or a gentleman if the place was only him, we would never come back. But since he seems to be away (never saw him again an hour after the incident happend), we will continue going there.
8/24/2010 1:20:00 PM
rafael says:
el mejor en ny
en rancho es el mejor en sus ceviches fui hace 3semanas y me facino sus ceviches y del flan nise diga que delicia felicitaciones sigan asi..
7/27/2010 11:34:20 PM
Lily says:
Even though we had plenty of drinks at the table, the manager and waiters started hovering and trying to kick us out after an hour - when the restaurant was EMPTY! They were incredibly rude and had no reason to want us to leave - we were quiet and the restaurant was literally half empty. The drinks are also gross!
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