Cantina 1838

Came in on a random afternoon with a friend after a long walk in Central Park and I couldn’t have asked for a better place to come across, seriously, it’s a hidden gem in the city! There was a happy hour deal for tacos and margaritas which is right up my alley. Tacos ran for $ 2.50 and margaritas were $ 6. I started off with the cucumber which was refreshing, then moved on to the mango, passion fruit, pineapple and eventually at the recommendation of the Bartender Jakob, the perfect margarita, which is not on the happy hour menu but was the perfect way to end a boozy afternoon. It was strong but delicious! In between all the margaritas I enjoyed the yummy tacos, falafel and the fish were by far my favorite with the lime chicken reaching third place. All in all, good food, strong drinks and great service for a very low price so we will be back!

I came here on a Wednesday with a friend & little did I know, it was the first day of their launch for «Fajita Wednesday». So I ordered the chicken fajita. I literally heard the sizzle while the food runner was brining me the skillet. I must say my eyes were full before my stomach! It had so much flavor and the price was a steal! I’m happy I’ve came for the first time on a Wednesday. I’ll definitely be coming back soon. Also, need to add the margaritas were strong and authentic with the fresh lime juice. Well done Cantina! :)

Jacob was an amazing bartender. He suggested better drinks and gave me and Crisel an amazing time. Go Colombia!

Well, Kelsey the new manager, deserves a lot of credit for trying hard. Hopefully he ‘ll reach the goals he has set for this place;There is still room to grow with the menu and service (so far the 4 stars). The staff is very friendly, the food tried to be Mexican fusion with a variety of tacos, so there is plenty in the menu to choose from. The atmosphere is pleasant and convivial. The décor is warm and cozy, good selection of drinks and liquors, we had the special with 4 different kind of tacos, and some appetizers, Brussels sprouts need to be a little cooked extra, and some cilantro with radish would be nice with the tacos on the side. The key lime pie was really great. You can sit at the bar, and have food and cocktails. The price is about what one would expect in Harlem, reasonable for two, the check came to $ 60 minus tips. Mind you it is coming close to downtown restaurants. They have some special, one day of the week Taco Tuesdays you can gulp as many tacos as your stomach can muster for one price, and also happy hours.
Enjoy !!

I’m not generally a big Unilocal reviewer; something has to go dramatically right or dramatically wrong for me to hop on. Cantina 1838 is pretty dramatically right.
My wife and I have been getting takeout from here for the last year or so, every since we moved back to NYC. And in that time, it has gone from over-​salty and chaotic to delicious and well-​run. Let me give you a recent example.
My wife likes guacamole. So she always orders «a side of guac». At Cantina, that had meant paying $ 14 for a not-​that-​big container, since they only had a full-​order guac option. As the admittedly frugal member of the household, it was driving me crazy.
So I finally wrote them an email last night. And by the time we got back from our walk this morning, the manager had emailed back, promised to add a new $ 3 «side of guac» option, and to send a memo about it to staff so that it would be available within a few days.
What more could you possibly want from a neighborhood place? This is what management should be.

Jacelynn is a great server! And I really enjoyed the Guac! The small $ 9 one is more than enough to share between 2ppl.
The waffles are great too! Be sure to know that the second round of chips and salsa isn’t free.

I love happy hour. The idea of being able to go out after work and hang out, have good food and drinks all while being home before your shows start is just awesome.
I went for Taco Tuesdays, the deals were great, the food was yummy and staff was friendly.
Solid go to if you are uptown.

Came on a Thursday afternoon. Waitresses were great, tacos were delicious and so weren’t the margaritas. The prices are hard to beat, I definitely will be back.
Chili lime chicken tacos are amazing!
Strawberry margarita by far is my favorite.
Ps: The Margs are strong and not watered down. That’s a major plus.

I came here near the end of happy hour and my party of 2 was seated right away. Our waitress let us know that they were short-​staffed at the bar so drinks would take a few minutes longer than usual. Ohh super polite. We ordered a few tacos and must say the falafel and fish tacos are very good. I enjoyed my coconut margarita as well especially for $ 6. The space is snug and you can clearly hear everyone’s conversations within 2 tables but still a cute chill spot. Oh and the bathroom was clean and nicely designed.

The real deal!!! I’ve been living in south Harlem for two years and at last found the truly awesome place that brings joy to my soul.
The food is unreal or so real, just delicious, you can feel the love that went into it, trust me!
Best happy hour ever! This little place has it all.
Thank you Cantina! You made my cinco de mayo afternoon unforgettable! Thank you Jacob! You are the best!

Good food, good drinks, good vibes. Nice location. Jacob is a stud, let him make you a drink (or 2). This is more like 4.5 stars, not 4.
We’ll be back

Great décor. Fish tacos were the best I’ve had on the east coast. The sauce gave a nice kick and the crispness of the fish was perfect. Was very busy so took a while to get drinks, but the blood orange margarita was delicious. Happy hour prices were on point. Will be back.

After reading reviews on Unilocal about this restaurant, I finally decided to come and here is the disappointment; The happy hour’s margaritas aren’t that good because half of the glass is ice and there is too much salt that it left a sour taste in my mouth. But definitely the attention of the waitress’s kindness balanced it out. But definitely… I’m NOT coming back.

The quesidilla’s are amazing!!! So are the chicken tacos!!! I’ve also had brunch here before and the bacon breakfast burritos are great! They also make great margaritas!!! Try the fries, too… Made fresh, not frozen and seasoned just right. Love this place!

My first time visiting Cantina was great! The waitress was attentive and actively at our table. The drinks were great (Watermelon and Mango Margarita were delish). I loved the vibes there. HOWEVER after raving about the spot to coworkers I invited them out the following week and was far less impressed. Our waiter was so inattentive. She was standing around dazing into space, we had to flag her down numerous times to put in an order or when we needed to pay our bill. Lastly, they discontinued Ladies Night on Wednesdays where you could get a wider variety of drinks at a discounted price :(I would have given them a 5 had my second visit not been so unpleasant

This is my new favorite brunch spot. The food is very reasonably priced, costing anywhere from $ 10-​$ 14. And they aren’t skimpy with the portions. You’ll definitely have leftovers. Sangria, margaritas, and mimosas all range from $ 4-​$ 6, which is a steal in NYC.
The service could’ve been better, in my opinion, but I’m cutting the waitress a break since she was the only one serving a large portion of the restaurant.
I recommend giving this place a try. It’s not very crowded, and it’s just a few blocks from Central Park, which is a great location to lay out in a food coma.

I love this place so much that I almost don’t want to write a review because I want to keep it to myself! Although a tight space, it’s cute and cozy. I went on a Tuesday during happy hour after tweeting the business a few times. Words can’t even explain how delicious the crab and shrimp tacos are! They were just so perfect and so life changing. I’m upset at myself for not discovering this place sooner, but all things in due time. I was pleasantly surprised at the margaritas, don’t let the fact that it’s well tequila during happy hour fool you, they pack quite a punch. They get extra cool points because they use fresh lime juice instead of sugary sour mix.
Safe to say I enjoyed my experience here and will be back soon!

Just left from Cantina 1838 and I think I am mad this is my first time visiting this fine establishment and I have been living here in Harlem for almost 2 years. My husband stumbled upon this spot about a week ago and has been raving about these crab and shrimp tacos. Today was the day I did not want to make dinner so I asked for his recommendation and it lead us to Cantina.
It is located on the lower level of this space and I must say they made excellent use of the space and so centrally located near the 2, 3, B, and C train. I walked in around 6:30 and it was pack on a Thursday. My husband had ordered me one of the happy hour margs and to my surprise it was not a weak drink at all. For a happy hour margarita to be $ 4 is first of all insane in Manhattank and with an ADEQUATE AMOUNT OF ALCOHOL… I was surprised. For an extra whopping buck extra you can get a flavored marg. (Side note: Happy hour is 4−7pm, Taco Tuesday Specials, and Wednesday is Ladies Night)
There were three other things that won me over which included the service, food, and overall ambiance. My husband and I had intentions of sitting down at a table for dinner but the bartender Jacob won us over. I asked for a margarita with Mezcal and he made a slightly different drink and IT WAS EVERYTHING. I ordered the shrimp & crab taco and sweet plantains. Can we talk about these tacos real quick? LIFE CHANGING! The fresh guacamole is to die for as well, and I pretty much ate my husband’s guac as well.
The ambiance overall was great but the music was flowing and everyone was enjoying themselves. I am going back for Taco Tuesday SOON! Thanks for a good time and you got yourself a returning customer.

I guess you get what you pay for. The brunch here is cheap (entrees are around $ 11 – 12) but the quality of the food is just not great. The cheese they use did not taste fresh and they do not have ketchup at the restaurant. I have been here twice and neither time they carried ketchup which is pretty ridiculous if you are serving eggs and potatoes IMO
The one perk of this place is cheap and strong drinks. I would suggest just coming here for happy hour and not getting the food (except for the tacos– I have not tried those yet but my roomate says they are good).

Si quiere las margartas barata y buena, este lugar es para ti! De 5pm a 7pm, las margaritas alla son $ 4 por una copa y los tacos son $ 2.5 cada uno.
Me encanta la cantina en generalmente. Mas importante, la cantina aqui se parece cualquiera una de D. F, Mexico. Las personas aqui son simpatico.
Entonces, vivo dos cuadras de alli. Es como un café para mi si quiero tomar o divertir

I came here one Friday evening with a friend of mine to catch the happy hour taco specials. She’d been raving about these tacos so I just had to try them. When I arrived I was shocked at how packed the place was. Happy hour seems to be very popular here among the Columbia crowd, so all the tables were packed and the bar was even more packed. My friend already had a table so there wasn’t a wait to be seated, but from then on, there would be a lot of waiting to do. Our waitress was clearly overworked because she was one of only two people I saw taking the never-​ending taco & drink orders from customers. It was almost impossible to get her attention to place an order.
Once I finally got the waitress’ attention, I decided to sample the menu, so I ordered a chili lime chicken, mango jerk chicken, slow roasted brisket, crispy fish, and pulled pork and pineapple tacos. They were all quite delicious but the mango jerk chicken was by FAR my favorite. I ordered another of these, along with another crispy fish taco. After happy hour ended, we split an order of lobster & crab tacos which was also pretty decent. I definitely understand what the hype is about! However, the crowding and the subsequent service should definitely be worked on.