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137th St (1)
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Gay night - held every on Weds night is so cute! It feels like a local pub - friendly people, nice music and a cute bartender. Not a "scene" like that other uptown gay club, No Parking. Much more casual. Delicious margaritas - locals of every stripe. Just a fun place to stop in for a couple of drinks - no pressure. Awesome!
Finally a casual place for the gays in Hamilton Heights - see you there.
Surprisingly packed with college students, not your typical crowd in Hamilton Heights. Food is average and drinks a bit pricey for the area (5 bucks a beer?) they have a flat screen and show most of football, baseball and soccer games, so if some important game is playing expect people at the bar.
they carry almost any liquor imaginable and good wine, i would go here to hang out on a low profile night and maybe grab a bite but wouldn't recommend it for dinner, there are much better Mexican joints in the area
enjoy
I love Picante! Nuff said. I take off one star, however, because I have only had the quesadilla de pollo (DELICIOUS), and I have nothing to compare it to yet. PROPS TO PICANTE.
Although I'm no connoisseur of Mexican cuisine, I'm pretty sure Picante offers some of the best Mexican food in NYC. Suggestions: fried chicken torta, al pastor taco, horchata and spicy guacamole (this is the best I've ever had).
After reading some favorable reviews of this place on Yelp, I decided to give Picante a try this past Saturday.
I ordered three different tacos and put them to the AT taste test. Let me say all three were great but the Al Pastor taco was excellent, the carne asada taco was very good and the pollo taco was average to better than average.
All in all, damn good tacos at this place and I'd definitely return por mas tacos.
The service was average. There were tortilla chips with a slightly tame but delicious green salsa, and there was a fairly impressive horchata. I assume the rest of the aguas fresca are just as good.
I got two tacos, al pastor and lengua.
You know how some old women will give out hard candy as a treat? My bubbe gave out slices of tongue. I love it. Like a good Jewish boy I associated tongue and other fatty pieces of meat directly with love and affection. This is why when I paid $3 for a taco and got two tortillas and enough seared cubes of beef tongue to stuff both of them, along with the usual taco greens, I immediately felt a deep and abiding love for Picante. The al pastor tacos, grilled spiced pork and pineapple, filled me with a similar but much less Kosher love.
This is the probably the best Mexican restaurant food I've had in NY, but I've had a lot of Mexican food in Texas, so 4 stars it is.
If the quality of their tortas & guacamole are *any* indication of the delights ready to be discovered in their other dishes....holy pop-lockin' Jesus Christ on a cardboard box!
We have a winner, kids!!!
AND the fact that they're a couple of blocks away from the pad toootally helps the cause as well...plus they're clean establishment & decent service.
Had passed by this place a couple of times, but being so disillusioned with other Mexican spots, I was a tad leery to go in.
I'm glad my homie coerced me to do so.
The homie had the beef torta.
I had the chicken fried steak torta.
We had an order of guacamole & a round of horchata.
The horchata is the best I've had so far in this city...we know that's saying MUCHO.
The guacamole was official, as was the green salsa they had on the side. Kudos, my Mexican brethren.
The tortas were created on the correct kind of roll, they were smothered with pinto beans, had the correct Oaxaca queso at the right amount, slices of avocado, pieces of jalapeño well distributed, the right amount of lettuce. The respective meats were well done.
The guacamole was well made with the right amount of avocado, cilantro, onions & jalapeño.
I'm going back, suckas! I don't want to get my hopes too high...but I think I'm crushing harrrrd.
Picante has great bartenders, waitresses, drinks, and food @ really great prices! Now the have gay night on Wednesday nights which is great for Harlem to have. I bring a lot of friends there and they just love it :)
If you have a hankering for any of the following:
- affordable and strong margaritas
- reasonably priced Mexican food
- live mariachi music
... in a relaxed, festive environment, take the 1 train to 137th Street and treat yourself to a great meal.
My burrito was $7.50 and stuffed full of cheese, beans and ground beef. The party really got going after 8 PM, when lively groups arrived to drink Coronas and enjoy the live mariachi band.
Oh, and the salsa verde and chips are fantastic!
Friend and I went to discuss a curatorial project over beers and tequila then got tacos a little later on. Attentive staff, great music, good tacos. Cazadores was a little pricier than expected.
It was very comfortable place to chat, drink, relax. I look forward to spending several hours at a time here.
Friendly staff with great food! The small plates are some of the best things on the menu. I also really like the cheese enchiladas.
before you sit at ur table .. the waitress get a dish on tortilla chips with spicy salsa sauce .. they have a huge list of cocktails .. but i think its a bit expensive for the place .. so we stuck to ordering few beers and we were in before 8 pm so we got the happy hr price.. yay.. we order shrimp and chicken burrito .. which was not bad at all .. the serving size was pretty huge.. my friend hated his burrito but I liked it .. so i will be back some time..
For cheap, good Mexican this is my favorite place!
Visited one time with a group of 6 girls- I'm not sure if that was the reason for the off service, but it really was horrible. Our food took more than an hour and it took more than 30 mins for the check. If we didn't have five pitchers of sangria on the table we would've been pissed. The food was good but I was annoyed about the waitresses and almost didn't come back. Almost...
I decided to give Picante one more shot and am so happy I did. The waitresses were perfect this time so I got to enjoy the food much more. DELICIOUS! The guacamole is amazing- finally, a place where you can taste the fresh cilantro! The burrito is literally the largest burrito I have ever seen in my life. You do not need to order anything else if you get one. The tacos are good and my favorite is the chicken huaracha. I don't even usually like corn tortillas but the tortillas here are so good! The food doesn't taste like Dos Caminos or Caliente Cab or Blockheads, or Taco Bell- I don't know authentic Mexican but I think this may be it. On top of that the prices are unbeatable.
One more thing- the sangria is very good here and a small pitcher that holds at least 4 glasses is only $20. I'm in love! It doesn't have the ambiance of some downtown spots but I prefer good food over shiteous food and nice tables.
This is the best Mexican restaurant in Harlem. Tasty and cheap tacos, enchiladas, sopa des mariscos, and guacamole. I end up here about once a week. Ask for the salsa verde, it's much better than the red stuff.
They've finished the expansion, so the place now includes a nice bar filled with people watching futbol. It's not as racous as it sounds. You could meet someone here and have a conversation and a glass of wine. The menu is a little bit more expensive, but the decor is nicer and the staff is bilingual. Plus, they have fish chalupas, which are just amazing. Vegetarians and the cheaters who eat fish (like me) will have no problem here. They have lots of options.
YUM! Very good fresh mexican food, cute place. We'll be back!
Mmmmm....carne asada nachos. Delicious tacos, especially the chorizo. Great sandwiches. Inexpensive prices.
I suggest going to pick up your meals as occasionally delivery isn't that prompt, but it's usually worth the wait.
ETA: I've been getting great delivery service lately, usually with my food arriving before a half hour is up.
I've been to Picante a couple of times... the food is good but I was a little surprised to see all the props for the margaritas. Why? Because one night I was sitting at the bar and from that vantage point, I could see that they were making them from a big bucket of some kind of prefab mix they'd bought. Yuck.
I just recently moved to the area and decided to check this place out since it's a block from my place.
I couldn't have been more pleasantly surprised. I'm told the place was recently rennovated and it looks marvelous. Intimate lighting and red candles make for nice atmosphere.
Oh, and the food was GREAT! I had a mexican sandwich packed wih chicken, egg, cheese, peppers, veggies and more. I ate with a vegetarian friend and we split some veggie nachos, and even I had to agree they were some of the best nachos I ever had.
The wait staff was kind and quick, ensuring that I'll be back soon.
One of my top 3 favorite restaurants. Easily the best Mexican food I've had in NYC. And cheap too! Also the recently updated menus have more vegetarian selections - whoo hoo!!!!
A warning - the veggie nachos are addictive like crack. They are on my mind non-stop.
The highlight of this place was the accommodating staff and quick service when our group of about 13 arrived. They were quick about coming by with chips, drinks, shots and tolerated our slightly rowdy behavior. The food was tasty americanized Mexican (rice in the burrito). Picante is a good choice for a casual Mexican spot in the neighborhood.
I grew up in El Paso, TX, arguably the Tex-Mex capital.... This place is authentic! Great food with borderland prices! As an opportunity for enhancement, I'd suggest adding to the menu a "chili con queso" dip, a Tex-Mex favorite. Also, the staff could automatically anticipate a drink or chips and salsa refill. But, all-in-all, I LOVE this place. I'm here at least two times a week. Enjoy!
If I am not mistaken I believe the same people/person that owns El Toro Partido, across the street owns Picante. Which might explain why the burritos are made very similarly. Anyways... Other then the Shrimp Burrito (yuck), which I received by mistake I have only ever had the salad there. Now I have never been one to order salad under any circumstances. Even when I get the choice between a soup or salad free with a meal, but after having a bite of my friends chicken salad , I was hooked. I have only taken this to-go, but it truly with bragging about and unbelievably it is only $5.
Dropped by here for a quick meal. It was OK. Their chips are not homemade, like at Acapulco restaurant - right down the street. If you are in the mood for chips and guacamole (without alcohol), I highly recommend Acapulco. The rice and beans were very good. However, I thought the milanesa de pollo was a bit overcooked. A great waitstaff - I can easily see myself coming here for a few drinks, but not for dinner again. For Mexican, I'll stick to Acapulco.
We went here last Sunday. I was starving and being that this was our first time at Picante we decided on ordering a chorizo burrito each. We figured when trying any new place order the General Tso's of the place. These 2 behemoths come out of the kitchen. I am starving so I manage to eat the entire burrito my wife on the other hand could not finish it so we had it wrapped up to take home. Honestly I think I could only handle half of it myself if I wasn't starving. The place is nice and the bathroom was clean, I am sorry but if your bathroom is atrocious then I probably will not eat at your establishment. The service was great and attentive but not bothersome and last but not least the 2 burritos and 2 negra modelos came out to like 20 bucks so high marks for these guys and gals.
Great spot for delicious mexican food. Good prices and decent service. The bar is fun, and is one of the few good alternatives in the neighborhood..the kitchen stays open late.
They should add a few more salad choices and the spot would be perfect.
this is probably the best restaurant in the neighborhood. it serves up heaping portions of quality (fresh, not too greasy) mexican food for cheap. and there are plenty of options for vegetarians. i went there pretty frequently when i lived in the area in 2005. i still remember the time when i ordered the torta gigante and it was really, well, gigantic... i can usually put away a lot of food but that one was a struggle.
i revisited it two months ago and it was pretty clear that i wasn't the only one loving it -- it had been successful enough that it had doubled in size and gotten menus with full-color photographs. the torta gigante isn't on the menu anymore, but i bet they could whip up something if you asked.
Good Mexican in NYC? Relatively, at least. My friend, missing the huevos a la mexicana from the taqueria next to her in Chicago, was overjoyed at Picante's version.
Dios mio, que sabrosura! Let me say that I hadn't visited Picante before they had their expansion despite the fact that I live just 3 blocks away. It personally did not appeal to me much as I had a decent tex-mex delivery system in Jesus Taco. However, I was impressed by the changes they made to the decor and I vowed to stop by. On Saturday my galpal and I walked over to Picante for dinner. I love the bar/lounge area. The bar table itself is made of some type of marble and they are nicely stocked. Lighting and colors were very nice. We were seated and greeted. I wanted to try something other than the common staples I have been accustomed to...tacos, burritos, fajitas. However, I do always judge a mexican restaurant by the power of their quesadilla and the heat level of their salsa. So we ordered the steak quesadilla. It was huge and tasty as hell! The salsa that came with the nachos was literally on fire. I loved it! We ended up ordering Cemitas for our main meal. On the menu the description for a Cemita seemed like something fancier than what it really was. In actuality it was a sandwich on a roll. But that's where the simplicity ended. In between was heaven! I had the puerco asado sandwich which had an amazing seasoning, veggies, and a couple hot peppers fused in there. My date had the chicken one and she loved it. To top things off we each had a margarita. Top marks on their margaritas. Strong, tasty, refreshing! The place only lacked a bit in the service dept as I ended watiing too long to get some water and given my battle with peppers and hot salsa I felt they should have been more prompt with that stuff. The staff was quite friendly however. I'm definitely going back. It's definitely setup so you can just hang out and have drinks with your friends or indulge on same authentic and delicious mexican cuisine.
Neighborhood: Harlem
Category: Mexican
Neighborhood: Harlem
Category: Mexican
Neighborhood: Harlem
Category: Pizza
Neighborhood: Harlem
Category: Coffee & Tea
Neighborhood: Harlem
Category: Italian
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