Pata Negra
“We ordered the Monte enebro, Jamon Iberico, Gambas con ajillo, Octopus, Ceviche, and Strawberry Tres Leches.”
“We ordered a full spread – tortilla, jamon, garlic shrimp, and so on – and it was all incredible.”
“Back to the tapas bar, disappearing between two of us:
The Jabugo platter, a mountain of pan tomate, w pata negra, coppa, chorizo and manchego…”
Pata Negra
Takes Reservations: Yes
Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
Bike Parking: Yes
Waiter Service: Yes
Price range.
$$ Price range $11-30
8 reviews
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Great little restaurant. It was dead when we went in on Sunday of labour day weekend at 7pm but that didn't detract from the experience at all – I can imagine it being really nice when it's full.
My friend and I shared 4 plates and they were all really good. They had a special on of duck rilettes which was my favourite. Would go back.
Very very excellent tapas in the East Village. I had been slightly skeptical/turned off by the "house rules" on the website and that I was requested to read when I had made a reservation the other day, but the food and service was great, so if you're willing to ignore that aspect of it, then you're golden.
We ordered the sangria, two different cheese/meat plates, shrimp, eggplant (they were out of asparagus), the tortilla potato dish, chorizo, gazpacho soup, dates wrapped in jamon, octopus, and maybe a few other things. I loved every single thing we ordered except maybe the chorizo. The gazpacho soup was also too adventurous for me (soup + sodastream = ?? ) but it was a neat experience I suppose. The menu is not expansive by any means, but all of it is very very good.
Not a large space, but I did not feel like were squished; and though there was only one waitress for the entire space i felt as if we had enough attention.
I'd definitely go back.
this is an awesome little tapas place, came here craving some jamon iberico during happy hour. They had 4 types of jamon: serrano, iberico, mangalica and pata negra. I came for the iberico, but our waitress couldnt stop talking about the Mangalica jamon, which is a pig which looks like a sheep raised in hungary. I was sold at pigsheep. The Mangalica jamon was absolutely fantastic: it was oily, fatty, felt great in my fingers, smelled like heaven and most of all, tasted incredible. I liked this much more than the iberico, and next time ill try the pata negra. One main thing about the Mangalica is that it is raised on cereal grains which is unlike the grass and acorn-fed iberico, but I couldn't notice the difference.
The service was great, very knowledgeable about the meats and gave us great background and details on all the varieties they had, even checking with their "jamon representative" to get more of the backstory on the unicorn-like pigsheep. The happy hour specials are pretty good too, 3$ for estrella and 5$ house reds and whites, and the house red was surprisngly tasty as well.
Only giving it four stars since we didnt try any of the tapas plates, but when I go back and try these out, I'll update the review. Definitely a place to check out.
If Spain is like Pata Negra, the world is a good place.
I admit it; I've never been to Spain. However, I do love cured meats enough to feel overjoyed when my sister smuggled jamon back into the country.
Was seated promptly at 6 with a group of 6, when sangria was ordered in liter quantities. Food was also ordered in large quantities, including the jamon iberico, pata negra, mangalica (a collection of cured pork), shrimp, octopus, jamon-wrapped dates, chorizo, blood sausage, and manchego cheese. Basically the only thing the menu lacked was papas bravas, and I doubt that a ketchupy potato dish is authentically Spanish.
Top marks to the mangalica collection, as spicy and creamy cuts worked together to create a progression of tastes. Agree with our waitress that it didn't make sense to get both the pata negra and the jamon iberico, as they were pretty similar – perhaps the pata negra was a bit more sophisticated and a bit more chewy, but it's hard to say as the jamon iberico had the benefit of melting time as well as previous alcohol intake.
Didn't really like the blood sausage, which was pasty, unctuous, and a task to swallow. Call me crazy, but I prefer blood sausage done Irish – cooked until it dies again, and served a bit firmer. But this was an isolated low point, and I was properly forewarned, so caveat emptor.
Came here at 7PM on Saturday night with a reservation with my husband. The place is fairly small and tucked away between a plethora of larger restaurants, with tables for 2 for couples and tables of 6-7 for larger groups. It seems to accommodate at most 30 people and thus gets filled up quickly on busy nights. The service is friendly and personal and the feel of the restaurant is intimate – a good pick for a romantic date night over a loud and rowdy group outing.
We started with the Bellota plate which includes Chorizo, Salchichón, Lomo Ibérico, Pata Negra, & Manchego. Although the most expensive item at $40, it is definitely the highlight of the menu. I also got Monte Enebro, a type of goat cheese that came highly recommended by the waitress. My husband (the meat eater of this duo) thought the Pata Negra was some of the best ham he had ever had, commenting that he could taste "the acorns the pig ate before it died." I was especially impressed by the Monte Enebro cheese which exhibits many strong and complex flavors that I favor in soft cheeses. Other standouts were the Datilles, Tortilla, Morcilla, and the Almendras, Aceitunas, y Quicos. The restaurant also let us bring our own bottle of wine, a Rioja Reserva, for a $25 corkage fee.
Quality over quantity here definitely, considering the kitchen is very small with only one cook in the back. I am used to frequenting Boqueria which tends to have more options and day-to-day specials, but the food here has more of a personal touch then many of the other Spanish restaurants I have visited.
Came here with a few friends last night. I gotta say that the thing that makes this place is the wait staff. There's only one server as the space is quite small but she was just so friendly and pleasant that we couldn't help but be happy. She gave us excellent wine recommendations and food choices.
The have a 2 liter pitcher of sangria here that's pretty delicious. The chorizo was on point. The duck salad was a little salty but also pretty good. The octopus was tasty and tender. The cheese that we had was awesome and came with a delicious jam.
This place is a little pricier than I would normally pay but for a special occasion this is the spot to be. Definitely plan on coming here again for my next intimate gathering or date.
Sorry to say that the service has gone dramatically downhill here. We've been eating here for the past several years and always been so pleased with it for the good food, and warm and cozy ambience created by our friendly servers. However it looks like something has changed – service was brusque, the food came out slowly and in a strange order (jamon long after the hot tapas) and they got our bill wrong. Lastly, the food was not as good as before -in particular the dates wrapped in ham; the dates were very small and the ham was overly cooked. Very disappointed to see Pata Negra go down like this! I miss the old version.
Good food but can get pricey once your party goes from 2 to 4 people since each plate is pretty small. My husband and I came several months ago and really enjoyed the food and were adequately full. Came last night with a party of 4 and the food was still equally good but the tab was a pricey and I don't think anyone was completely full.
– Bellota meat plate: this was a mix of their signature Pata Negra, other cured meats, a cheese sample and little pieces of the bread with a tomato sauce on top. Everything was good and tasty, but SMALL. I don't think it helped that we just got back from Italy where we had meat plates that had meat piled on top of meat that was the size of your hand. Here the slices are probably half the size of your palm, very snack size. Between 2 people it's definitely enough but with 4 people it was a bit skimpy.
– Gambas al Ajillo (shrimp in garlic): this was tasty
– Patita Campesino (Cured Pork Loin & Garlic Mojo): these are basically like bruschetta but with meat on top, wasn't that memorable
– Tortilla: I actually really liked this even though it was a very simple, I think it was just made of egg and potato
– Cheese: we tried their special "birthday cake cheese" which was a soft cheese but had a little funk to it and another hard cheese. I'm not a big fan of cheeses so can't say much about them
The place is small (prob seats around 30 people) so we had to make early reservations at 6pm to accommodate 4 people. They initially said they had a party at 7:15 so we had only an hour to eat but luckily they cancelled last minute and we got to take our time. Also we probably were there for a good hour til 7pm before anyone starting showing up, so I think walk-ins for 2 would be okay since the weather is also starting to get colder.