Cilantro

My first time here. Service was excellent. Drinks were nice and strong and my food was delicious. The only complaint is the complimentary food in the beginning is random and not Mexican food. I prefer just chips. But I won’t count that against their review since I didn’t pay for it

Really enjoy eating at Cilantro, good food, nice and friendly staff. I am a regular every week and the Guacamole is a must.
Fajitas nights on Monday are great too. There is only one thing missing, fresh limonade!

I have the steak taco salad and it was tasteful. It’s a pretty decent size and I would recommend. The drinks were on point, nice and strong. The size is good for the price. I would give it another try. I didn’t want to give 5 stars cause I need to try more things on the menu + the service was just okay.

The food is ehh. Service is horrible. The servers just stand in a circle talking and laughing with each other. Had to try and get our server to come and bring us water. Our server saw that we were down with our appetizer (which were the nachos and was the only thing good) but never took the plate away from us as they were bringing our food. My boyfriend got the steak tacos and his steak was over cooked and bland. The green shot sauce helped the taco though. I got the garlic shrimp and they left the poop on the shrimp. (gross) it’s also a bit pricey. I wouldn’t recommend. Won’t be coming back, as this was my first and last time coming here

What a great find! Parked close by to go to the AMNH and stumbled upon this cute place. HUGE portions and tasty food with great service. Kid friendly too!

Wandered in on a Monday and ended up with the best deal on the UWS, probably. $ 10 fajitas (cash only), and they were AWESOME. I had chicken, and my friend had shrimp. I ate 2 fajitas and had leftovers. Minus one star because we had the world’s worst waiter, but that won’t stop me from returning.

I am from Santa Cruz, CA where Mexican food rules. Cilantro is a loooong way from good Mexican food. We picked up first/​last order:
Burrito: got 1 Steak and 1 Chicken, both totally without flavor wrapped in cold, uncooked tortilla, then cut in half which should never be done! Meat on it’s own totally unseasoned.
Also got wings because «Habanero Wings» sounded good – turned out to be traditional Buffalo wings with distinctly Tabasco (nothing else) flavoring.
Nice manager, lousy food.

It seems to me that the general quality of food in New York City has deteriorated significantly over the past ten years. In this case, we ordered several dishes from Cilantro for delivery. One of the dishes — soft tacos with a fish base — were not only disappointing, they were downright distasteful. Utterly bland and the fish was topped with wet, floppy onions that just did not match the sense of being real tacos at all. They all had to be discarded without being eaten after the first couple of bites. Separately, we ordered salsa, which also was generic and without any quality whatsoever.
The only good news was that french fries had been ordered as a side to a separate dish and these were hot and excellent. However, stay away from the Mexican dishes… particularly the salsa and tacos.

Sangria was way too strong, you could only taste liquor. Chicken was dry and tasted cheap… Empanadas were overly fried. The waitress come by three times, to take our drink order, food order, and give us the check. The servers walk around on the floor like they’re
Attentive but honestly, I wouldn’t bother going back. Nothing special.

Antonia is the bomb! Absolutely love her professionalism. What an amazing manager for an amazing restaurant. Atmosphere is great! We’ll be back! ;)
xoxo,
Rebecca

Fajitas Monday! Yeah baby! So good and so cheap. $ 10 fajitas and it’s plenty of food. You can share that with an appetizer and you’ll be satisfied.
The tres leches was the first one I had in my life and it’s still the best one I had. The rum makes ALL the difference. So good!
I loved that they have Terra chips instead of the traditional tortilla chips.
The service is ok, no big issues. Sometimes a little bit slow.
Would recommend for a Monday night

This place was so delicious! Ritza was our waitress and she was so quick and amazing. Not only did she keep my drink full all night, she was helping me with the menu, making suggestions, based on what I told her I liked. She was the quickest and nicest waitress I’ve met in New York.
The owner/​manager was also walking around the restaurant talking to my family and I and other families and couples around the restaurant asking us if we needed anything and making sure service was exactly what you need.

Had a fantastic experience at Cilantro. Came in with a group of 5 around 8:15 at night on a Friday and there was no wait. Could be a bad sign for a restaurant in NYC, but my sister had been here many times in the past and assured me that it was delicious. We were seated at a booth in the back, a little bit of an awkward set up, four people, two sitting across and next to each other and one person stuck on the end in the booth. We quickly got over the strange seating arrangement once we were given a big basket of DELICIOUS chips and salsa. The salsa was great, definitely had a kick, but not too spicy for the average person. Our waitress was one of the best I’ve had in a long time. She spoke in detail about the specials, took drink orders which came out very quickly after ordering and didn’t make us feel rushed when ordering. I had the chicken fajitas and they were HUGE and SO SO good. Not salty but well seasoned. They had an option for whole wheat tortillas to accompany the fajitas which I loved! My sister and I both had chicken fajitas and they brought one plate with guacamole, pico de gallo and sour cream for the two of us. We were absolutely find with that because we were sisters and had no problem digging out individual forks into the sour cream and guac, clearly double dipping when necessary, but any other two people who maybe didn’t know each other as well might have a problem with that. I recommend asking for your sides to be on individual plates if you are close with someone also getting fajitas at the table! This was definitely done to maximize space on the table, so we appreciated it. My other sister got the chicken and blue corn enchiladas which were huge and really delicious, I enjoyed the crunch of the blue corn tortilla. My friend got the chopped salad with chicken and it was MASSIVE and tasty. The size of the mussels was unbelievable too, HUGE portion. We were hesitant about dining here at first because of the prices, but the portions justified the price and the quality was great. The food came out VERY quickly and our waitress did an excellent job of refilling our drinks and making sure we were satisfied with our meals. Definitely looking forward to trying a margarita next time I come in and I hear they have a decent brunch too!

Consider Cilantro a no-​frills gem on the Upper West Side (as well as the Upper East Side). If you’re looking for an upscale eatery in the neighborhood, I would suggest elsewhere; however, Cilantro is a casual spot that’s perfect for after work or a chill night over the weekend.
The food is more reminiscent of your run of the mill grungy Mexican good — cheese smothered on everything and savory rice, for example. Most dishes are in the $ 10 to $ 20 range, and you get a lot of food for that affordable price. Whenever I go to Cilantro (or order delivery), I’ll opt for the nachos, vegetable quesadillas (with sun-​dried tomato sauce) or the chicken fajitas.
But be warned, light-​weights, their margaritas are delicious and strong!

Such an adorable little Mexican Restaurant. Came here to catch up with a few friends for dinner and drinks after work and we were able to take advantage of their happy hour special, where drinks are $ 6 until 7pm. I suggest the Sangria! It was very refreshing. They have outdoor seating, and the inside area is open to the outside as well. The chicken fajitas were delicious. Service was a little slow, but we had a great time here. Definitely a go-​to for Mexican on the Upper West!

This place was great! I got the breakfast quesadilla off their brunch special menu and it was really nice an wholesome. None of that overly oiled or fried crap. Super nice with a home made feel.
Also get their home fries! Taste great and much better than the fried french fries (They are different items on the menu!)
Also, they take their corn off real cobs! Not the frozen stuff. So their salads are definitely on point.

First time here and I simply love it ! The ambiance is comforting inviting and friendly. Dress code casual. The food is absolutely delish! We had skirt steak, chicken potatoes served with chimichuri sauce. The meat cut like butter juicy and seasoned perfectly. Guacamole and the chips are plentiful and really good can’t wait to go back and try cilantro rice.

The thing about this place is that you get what you pay for. As one of the more affordable restaurants on the UWS, you can get pretty decent brunch, wings (not spicy but plump!), fajitas and such, with laconic to nonexistent service. I’ve been here multiple times where we tried in vain to just get water while the staff chatted at the bar, and you typically never see your waitress again after ordering. Nobody is outright rude, and they’ll eventually get you what you need if you really really try, but god is it frustrating after a long walk on the UWS or the park to not even be able to get a drink.
Kid-​friendly, or at least kid-​filled, with oddly nice toilet paper in the restrooms.

So we stumbled upon this place on a search for guacamole and happy hour.
We got here on a summer afternoon just in time for happy hour. Ordered some flavored frozen margaritas, medium spicy guac and chips. The chicken quesadilla is also pretty good. I noticed their portions are big for the price.
The guac needed more flavor, but it was still good. Loved their plantain chips!
Their margaritas are strong and come in a reasonably large glass. I’m a big fan :)
The bartender we had was very nice. Our phones needed some juice so he charged them right where we were sitting the whole time.
Overall, great Mexican spot in the UWS with great prices. Stop by for a margarita or 2 and Make sure to take advantage of their Monday night $ 10 fajita specials!

Nothing to write home about. The food is what i would call a Chevys in the UWS. Either bland or fatty. The price point is reasonable.
The single sangria is actually pretty large but it’s just okay.
Their salsa and chips the start you off with were ok.
Guac and chips is def your money’s worth but it was really bland, after my friend added salt is was good.
Flautas as are okay, the appetizer brings 3.
Queso fundido was not my favorite – the cheese was average and I’ve just had much better queso fundido and better chorizo at other places.
Overall this place is just okay, not a bad choice of yore in the neighborhood and want to snack on some stuff, you’ll leave full.