Mancora
“My friend ordered the bistec a la pobre-grilled steak with two eggs, rice, beans, salad, slaw, maduros and fries.”
“The duck was a little dry, but the rice was soft and flavorful, providing a nice counterpoint to the duck's dry gaminess.”
“For food, we shared two tapas, the anticuchos (grilled beef heart skewers) + the chicken taquitos, and then we also ordered the arroz con pato from the dinner menu.”
Mancora
Takes Reservations: Yes
Delivery: Yes
Take-out: Yes
Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
Bike Parking: Yes
Good for Kids: Yes
Good for Groups: Yes
Has TV: Yes
Waiter Service: Yes
Caters: Yes
Price range.
$$ Price range $11-30
8 reviews
Rate and write a review Cancel reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Came to Mancora for a friend's birthday party. The food can be improved on.
Pros:
* Good for big groups. My friend easily made a reservation on OpenTable for a party of 10 people on a Saturday night.
* Decor was traditional Peruvian, the ambiance was fun and low-key.
* Wide variety of drinks: I loved my Pico Passion $8 (Pisco, passion fruit pulp, lime juice and jarabe de goma). Drink was sweet and strong!
* Recommend their famous Roast Chicken (Pollo Rostizado) as meat was tender and juicy. Prices are affordable ( 1/2 Chicken $8.00, Whole Chicken $15). We also loved the Green Mussels cooked in Creamy Garlic Sauce and Ceviche Mancora $16 (Mussels, clams, octopus, shrimp, squid, scallops marinated in lime juice).
Cons:
* We were very disappointed with the meat entrees we ordered. Our Bistek A Lo Pobre $18 (Grilled sirloin steak with chimichurri sauce with French fries) and Entrana A La Parrilla $20 (Grilled skirt steak with chimichurri sauce, served with yucca and rice and beans) and Rack of Lamb tasted like cardboard – meat was bland and tough. Seriously, just go for the chicken…you cannot go wrong there. Get your steak fix elsewhere.
* Horrible flan, had the consistency and texture of a heavy cheese brick.
"Dark Peru"
I have been to this spot a few times over 8 years in the city. I have mainly stuck with the seafood dishes and I have not been dissatisfied. A couple of my Peruvian friends like the food and say that it somewhat represents the local cruise of Peru.
I will say that over the past few years the service has suffered, just a bit. For example, some times a waiter may forget your drink order or forget to bring you a drink menu when you have asked for one 2-3 times.
The restaurant itself is pretty dim and cozy but the tables are placed very closed together. You will be cozy with both your party and the people sitting next to you. For the area and the amount of food that you receive, the prices pretty generou, which probably is one of the reasons why the restaurant is packed during the weekends.
Walked in on a whim- AWESOME happy hour deal, drinks were fabulous. The food was also delicious! The mussel appetizer and the sauce was so good. I had the salmon, my boyfriend the skirt steak- we were extremely happy with everything. Great lower east side spot- looks like they have a good brunch/lunch deal too!
From the pictures I saw on Yelp, I anticipated this restaurant to be a lot smaller than it was. It turns out there is plenty of seating inside and it wasn't crowded at all when I was here for dinner last week.
The waiter first brings out fried plantain chips with a spicy cilantro sauce which was a great appetizer; I asked for more before the real food was even brought out.
There is a small happy hour menu for both drinks and tapas that is served until 8p.m. It appears that the majority of what's served on the happy hour menu is also available on the regular menu but just at a cheaper price.
I ended up skipping the appetizers/tapas and split two entrees – a steak and an order of 1/2 chicken. The steak was cooked just right but wasn't as flavorful as I was expecting it to be. Even then, it was definitely still good enough to eat. The chicken was good and tasted even better with the typical spicy green sauce that I forgot the name of.
I was able to try the rice and beans, the spinach mashed potatoes and some yuca. The spinach mashed potatoes probably won't be what you imagine it to be; I was imagining mashed potatoes with strings of spinach leaves cooked and twisted into it. As a matter of fact, it is actually green mashed potatoes, and it tastes exactly like garlic mashed potatoes. It may sound interesting to some of you, eating green mashed potatoes, but I also think it lost some appeal because I was expecting strings of cooked spinach mixed in. The rice and beans was decent, as was the yuca.
Altogether, it was a fair dinner and I would like to return to try some of the seafood or other entrees. I'm very anxious to taste something that can fanboy about.
Walking into this restaurant I was hesitant. It was a weekday lunch, and the store was empty, like… EMPTY! My friend and I didn't actually even get recognized for an awkward five minutes, where we didn't know if we should sit ourselves or wait for a server. After we sat down to eat and figured out our choices, the server took a good fifteen minutes to take our order, and the food was slow too.
Service was slow, but the food made up for it. We ordered the Cheviche and it was fantastic! Ask for some plantain chips on the side if you want a real treat. They were delicious. The crushed corn tamale was a very nice appetizer with a very subtle spice. The corn was very sweet and made a very nice appetizer. The arroz con mariscos was decent but it wasn't too amazing. It just seemed like a jumble of stuff not very well seasoned. All in all, the appetizers were way better than the entree and they in itself were worth it.
As someone who was in Peru two months ago, I approve of this spot. The food is authentic and affordable, and the atmosphere is very cute. Dimly lit, not loud, but space is tight, so table neighbors will hear your conversations. My friend and I got the cow heart appetizer, she got the salmon entrée, I got the mixed seafood entrée, she got a coffee, and I got a tea. Service was solid but they took an abnormal amount of time bringing my friend her coffee. We each paid about $25, not including tip. Recommended for dates and friend get-togethers.
This is usually my plan B when in this neighborhood if where I want to actually go is overcrowded. They have a happy hour if you're into Pisco Sours and they do make them good! The Capirinhas (not too sure how to spell it) are also pretty potent and so good- made with real limes mashed to sweet & sour alcoholic goodness.
The food here is good! Is it the best Peruvian I've had? No. Doesn't beat the authenticity of Peruvian spots in Queens BUT it's great for East Village and the prices are decent. Pretty good ceviche ($8) although sometimes the fish might be dished out fishy so if that's the case… Well, do as you will. I've only had ceviche here twice & it was slightly fishy once.
The Jalea here is awesome & better than the one dished out at the popular NYC Peruvian chain, Pio Pio. It's a variety of fried seafood (octopus, calamari, fish, etc) and quite addicting but it is ALL fried so not the healthiest if that's what you're looking for.
I've also had the lomo saltado (steak cooked with French fries) served with white rice. It's filling and delicious!
Solid Peruvian spot. One of my favorite spots in this neighborhood if you're in the mood for Peruvian. Small intimate bar in the back if interested in a solo date!
Food = 1.5 stars, Service = 3 stars
I'm sorry but honestly the food at Mancora is just not good. The service was the only redeeming quality of this place. I was able to sample a number of dishes including the ceviche app, green mussels appetizer, roast chicken, grilled sirloin steak, and the rack of lamb. The only dish that I actually enjoyed was the green mussel appetizer with creamy garlic sauce. Everything else was below average. I found the most of the meat dishes tough and tasteless. Another thing to note is this place is very loud so it is quite hard to hold a conversation. Bottom line is that I won't be returning and I can't recommend this restaurant to anyone.