Fonda

Was excited to try this place as I’ve heard great things and it looked like there was a great deal on Sundays on guac and $ 9 drinks (check this carefully though) Made a reservation for 5:15 on a sunday, not exactly primetime.
We were seated immediately… and then the service stopped. Waited about 10 – 15 minutes in a relatively empty place before we had to ask someone to come over to take our drink and appetizer order. He seemed very confused when we ordered asking us to repeat ourselves several times. About 15 minutes after that our waitress came over and asked for our drink and food order. We placed our entrée order but there seemed to be a general lack of what was going on as we asked about the rest of the order. About 5 minutes after that, someone asked if we had a reservation. We let them know of this when we checked in. We finally received our appetizers. They were delicious. We got the ceviche and guacamole. Both were generous serving sizes and distracted from our still missing drink order for a bit. Finally we asked a few people and they were able to track down our missing drinks. Drinks were ok, I got the hibiscus margarita and my boyfriend got the mi casa. Entrees came out and I got the shrimp and scallop dish while my boyfriend got the chile relleno. My dish was ok but the chile was amazing! Very flavorful and portion size was great. Also, this is a veggie dish! We continued the process of getting another drink (again took an extremely long amount of time) and finally we asked for our check. We were a little shocked to find our bill was charged full price for our drinks. We asked the waitress and she said that cocktails are $ 9 but margaritas apparently aren’t included. Not sure when it was determined that margaritas are no longer considered cocktails. Would have been nice if this was clarified at some point as I’m sure the two of us weren’t the only patrons who were misled by this.
Very disappointed as I really wanted to like this place. Margaritas and guac, how can you go wrong??? Unfortunately, probably won’t be visiting this place again anytime soon.

If you need a break from your basic American brunch fare of pancakes, eggs benedicts, etc, then you def need to check out Fonda! Serving delicious Mexican brunch dishes with the option of unlimited boozy drinks, this place won me over.
We made reservations for a Sunday at around 11AM and were immediately seated when we arrived. They’ll hold your reservation for 15 min. before giving it up. FYI, your whole party doesn’t HAVE to be there at the time of your reservation to be seated, but they SHOULD be. Your unlimited drinks time (1.5 hours) will immediately start when you are seated, so if you have tardy people, their time will also be cut short.
When we were seated, our server immediately asked us what drinks we would like. Our brunch was already off to a great start. :) Then he gave us time to look over the menu, but asked if we would like guacamole to start off. The way he asked it kind of implied that it was complimentary, but just as a warning, it’s not! But definitely get the guac, OMGG words can’t describe how delicious it is. It serves up to 3 people, maybe 4 tops. There were 3 of us and we devoured 2 orders of it LOL. I think guac for brunch is perfect. Actually, guac anytime of the day is perfect! Anyway, we all got the huevos divorciados, which are two sunny side up eggs smothered under two different salsas. Soooo good! This is one of my favorite Mexican brunchy dishes. So flavorful, yet not too heavy. Throughout the meal, I only tried the mimosa and the hibiscus margarita. While the hibiscus margarita was just okay, I really liked the mimosas! Yummy with just the perfect amount of booze. Will def be back (and often)!

I absolutely love this place! Found it by mistake after sleeping in and not being able to get a table anywhere for brunch on a Saturday morning. The amazing hostess, God bless her soul saw the struggle on my face when asking if I had reservations. Which I didn’t. She was able to get me a table within 5 minutes, thanks to a party of two not showing. This place has the best brunch deal I’ve seen yet! $ 29.95 bottomless Mimosa, Margarita, and Bloody Mary! Plus your choice of entrée. I had the Burrito Texano– Texas style breakfast taco; flour tortilla filled with eggs, chihuahua cheese, potatoes and chorizo covered in a creamy tomatillo sauce. My fiancé had the Chilaquiles Rojos– Crispy tortillas tossed in roasted tomato-​habanero sauce with your choice of scrambled eggs, shredded chicken, or grilled skirt steak. Both were really delicious and the portions were huge! Chilaquiles definitely being my favorite! Really spicy, which I love. Drinks were also really good. Strong but great, and the amazing staff kept our glass filled the entire time! Great service! Great food! Great drinks! I’m sold!

I’ve had the pleasure of dining at the Fonda location in Chelsea so I was hoping that this location would be just as good– AND IT WAS. We dined at this location on a Saturday (we made a reservation). Unfortunately, my full party hadn’t arrived yet so I was fully willing to wait at the bar (because let’s face it, they never seat incomplete parties). The hostess was kind enough to seat us anyway, which i really appreciated.
My friends and I had the cucumber and hibiscus margaritas as well as their mojitos (which weren’t on the menu) to start. We loved them all. We also ordered guac for the table– so delicious. Then we opted to get almost ever appetizer on the menu instead of entrees. We did not regret that decision. We had every taco on the menu, the duck, flautas… Let’s just say, there was nothing left by the time we were done. We were stuffed and so satisfied with the meal. I really love this place!

definitely fonda of good Mexican food, but don’t call me Jane or Peter. seewhatididthere
most people know Fonda bc there are three of these joints: one in the Slope, one in Chelsea, and one in Alphabet City. i am frequent customer of the ABC location.
and let’s be real most people know FONDA bc of its banging boozy brunch. AYCD (all you can drink) for 1.5 hours + an entrée for about $ 28.50. though FONDA (in Alphabet City) seems to have cut its boozy brunch from 1.5 hours to 1 hour and raised the price to $ 29.95. definitely call ahead and check this out bc 1 hour of AYCD is just okay not the awesome insober-​ing 1.5−2 hours.
the boozy brunch is/​was bananas. if you do the boozy brunch deal the entrée you get is savory and filling… like the huevos rancheros, chiliquiles rojos, burrito texano… the entrees w/​o the booze option are about 14 – 15 on their own so basically your paying about $ 14 (not including tax and tip) for the unlimited booze option for whatever time limit it is now. if you’re doing drunk brunch, definitely get the guacamole, it feed 3 – 4 people well and comes with chips, tortillas, & some tasty spicy salsa. booze options for the unlimited: rosalitas, margaritas, bloody marys, mimosas, and beer. there used to be more options before. oh well.
PRO TIP: boozy brunch on the early or late side… so your drinks get to you quick. if you DRUNCH during primetime hours… the bar is going to be slammed there fore your drinks will be delayed. the bartenders rock here but there are capacity issues when all tables are full. you were warned.
Fondas looks small from the outside but the dining room and table set-​up stretches way back.
the ambience is tastefully festive without going overboard. there is some shine and a nice color palette to the space. it’s slightly muted to keep the dining experience in-​line with a classy dinner experience as opposed to a loud (in terms of color) chain restaurant experience. the décor is still very evocative of Mexico without delving into the typical Americanized tropes of Mexican culture etc. in any case, even without reservation for brunch – you should be able to snag a table with a little bit of a wait. the restaurant works well for brunch (small or large groups); casual dates, family dinners, and entertaining out-​of-​towners downtown.
in terms of dinner, this place is solid and delivers on warm comfy eats on coldish nights. not sure i’d hit this place during the high heat of summer bc the fare can be a lil heavy.
do try: apps like the GUAC (as i rec’ed above), ceviche, fish tacos. also try entrees like the carnitas fonda (crispy pork yo!), guisado di castillo (short ribs Son!), fish tacos are also served as an entrée at a higher price than the appetizer version, & the chiles relleno. not really a fan of the sides or salads at Fonda ehh. apps run between $ 9 – 12 and entrees $ 21-​$ 28. so it is a lil pricy, but the quality of food is top-​notch.
the service and staff? excellent. fast. friendly. answers q’s without upselling. brunch booze service is pretty quick and does not lollygag. the dinner service is awesome. i really like the waiters here. they work hard to make your experience a good one without hovering over you.
is this the most authentic Mexican food i’ve had? nope because i’ve been to Mexico a lot and i ain’t talking about Tijuana. however for NYC it’s really good. the flavor and spice notes really hit some of the eats i had in Mexico without introducing weird Americanized ingredients (like kale, and other rando boojee ingredients etc.). that said, Mexican fare and your love of it is largely going to be determined by the region or regions that the chef and kitchen are pulling from like Fonda feels like it’s more Mexico City style. idk and i’m no expert. so if you like food from Guadalajara and Oaxaca or elsewhere you may feel this isn’t Mexico you know… however if you like food and are not a food critic in the making… you’ll enjoy FONDA!
drop mic because it’s rude to freestyle while eating.
i out.
zzzz

Happy hour food and drinks specials are fantastic — guacamole at a fraction of the price and same quantity!

I love, love this place to brunch. The food is incredible, you get 1.5 hours of booze, and the servers are really good about grabbing drinks for you to maximize your time. An excellent little gem of a place that I keep happily forking over my brunch allotment for the week.

Amazing brunch option in the village. Opted for the unlimited drink brunch with one entrée and 1.5 hours of unlimited cocktails. The brunch entrée options all seemed to be identical. The variety could have been a little more I would have also liked to se some sort of taco option as well.
The guacamole and spicy sauce that came with it was quite good. They hand make every order and the ingredients tasted fresh .
I ordered the chilaquiles as my entrée and was very impressed with the flavor. I do prefer a little more sauce to chip ratio but it was good none the less. We received a side of rice and beans with our entrees and the rice was very tough and seemed over cooked. The refried black beans were standard.
Service was fine we were checked on several times during the course of our meal however it took forever to get of bottomless refills.
I would probably come back for hh it’s 7 days a week and there were plenty of seats at the bar on the tail end of our 2:15 brunch.

booooooooozy brunch is the best. this place is cute! they have two establishments in the city so make sure your friends know where they are going. thankfully we were able to make a last minute reservation for a long overdue brunch catchup. as soon as we walked into the restaurant we were greeted by the hostess. that day their credit card machines were down but it didn’t deter us from canceling our reservation. thank gooodness my friend had extra cash on her. (the chase bank around the are was closed).
we ordered the huevos divorciados, huevos rancheros, and burrito texano. I had the divorciados dish and it was a bit spicy for me. however the eggs and bacon complimented the two sauces.
the drinks did not disappoint. the waiter was kind enough to come to our table and constantly refill our drinks every 10−15mins. we had the hisbiscus rosalita (tequila base drink), margaritas, and mimosas. By the end of our meal, we were pretty satisfied and opted for wafels nearby.

Went here for dinner again for my birthday weekend with my BF and his cousin. We ordered the guacamole for starters. Always, always order the guacamole. I promise you it’s probably the best idea you’ll have all week, apart from the idea to come here in the first place.
The guac is always served with fresh and warm tortillas. The best guacamole I’ve ever had.
For entrees, we decided to share two for the table. We got the chicken tacos and the pollo norteno. Both were extremely delicious. The pollo norteno was served with warm tortillas as well.
As for drinks, I didn’t order one since I wasn’t feeling well. Can’t remember what my BF and his cousin ordered, but they definitely liked it.
As for me, I’d definitely like to try the frozen hibiscus rosalita the next time I’m there.
If you like good Mexican food, go here! I know they have two other locations and I wanna give them a try soon as well.

Pro tip: go here on a weeknight. They always have some great special like 2 for 1 drinks and tacos. Monday is happy hour all night — and these drinks are STRONG.
Large portions so you’re getting your money’s worth.

My friend and I came for brunch on a rainy Saturday and had to wait approximately 20 minutes for a table in this loud, boisterous environment. Come ready to party, because it’s that kinda spot. He had the brunch burrito and I had the chicken torta. My sandwich was gross — I bit into a weird gross part of the «meat» (maybe a tendon) and I was done eating after that. I only have ¼ of my sandwich but didn’t complain bc I couldn’t even find the waitress.
The service was soooo slow. A bus boy was bringing around drink refills, which was fun. I understand they don’t want to over serve but we barely had three drinks at an «all you can drink» brunch before the waitress said our time was up. I asked if we could have one more round, considering there was no warning and I wanted a Bloody Mary and she refused us. My friend tends to over tip, so he left her a $ 30 tip on a $ 70 bill which is crazy for two people. She still didn’t bring us another round, which was really disappointing.
A positive is that the mood here is high energy and fun, for sure. If you have no self control and need to be abruptly cut off at an AYCD brunch, this is the place for you.

Boozy Brunch anyone?!
Immediately when you walk into Fonda you will be welcomed by the bright décor and music. The place is bright and the staff is very welcoming. I had always had my eye on this place because it is across the street from Poco which I also love, so I am glad to know another great option in the area.
For brunch we opted for the unlimited drinks for $ 28 and you can switch between mimosa, margarita, bloody mary or the rosalita. I had the mimosa and the rosalita which was new to me and very tasty! The staff here doesn’t disappoint with the glass filling so be prepared.
As Mexican food is my favorite, I must say the food here did not disappoint. I highly recommend their guacamole as it was the absolute best! It comes with warm tortillas and chips.
My friend had the Torta De Pollo which he says he will go back for and could eat everyday while I enjoyed a dish that I really wish I remembered the name of lol but it was delicious!

Best tacos, mole and nachos I’ve ever tried in NYC, the food, waiters and location couldn’t been better.
I’m glad to discover the culinary nght life in East Village.

I came here on a Sunday for a little boozy brunch. It’s kinda a big thing now to do, so I’ve been to a bunch and wanted to try something different.
We had a reservation for 3, which we showed up just a couple minutes after, and wait for a good half hour. Towards the end of the wait, we were served complimentary mimosas so that was a good pro.
It’s one of those places where for $ 28, you can get an entrée and unlimited drinks. Pretty good deal. My problem was that the service was somewhat lacking. They weren’t too quick with the drinks, and when you’re on a time crunch, it’s essential to be quick with the drinks. We started with the guacamole which was good, and I had the chilaquiles with a side of skirt steak. The steak was cooked well and the side of retried beans were good too.
There are too many good places in NYC to eat brunch at for me to come back here. I prefer a few others and I haven’t even been to most of them

First off, make sure you have reservations or brace yourself for a good 45 – 1 hr wait minimum for Sunday brunch.
I’ve been here a few times for Sunday brunch and I’ve always had a good experience. The food here is really good. I’ve tried the huevos rancheros and I’m a fan. They give you a big portion with a side of black beans (yummy!) and yellow Mexican rice.
Oh, you must get the guacamole, it is delicious!
They offer 1.5 hours of unlimited mimosas and margaritas which are strong. The frozen Rosalita is refreshing and tastes like pure tequila, well at least the one I had did. Solid drinks and the waiter made sure to keep them coming and inform us when our last round was coming up.
Overall, legit brunch spot in alphabet city. Delicious strong drinks and tasty Mexican food for a fair price.

Copious amounts of alcohol and I have never gotten on that well (sans a few sporadic incidents…), so I’m always happy to find a happy hour in Manhattan that not only offers drink specials, but edibles as well. Fonda was one of the strong contenders for a much-​needed catch up with a few friends of mine, so we opted to stop by the East Village location on an early weekday evening. It should be noted that they have three locations throughout Manhattan (Park Slope, Chelsea, East Village) and menus and prices vary between the three; unsurprisingly, Chelsea will take the highest chunk of your wallet.
The East Village space is quintessentially Mexican, featuring terra cotta-​hued walls, a lengthy bar counter, and plenty of two and four-​tops. We were able to take our seats at the bar and as there were only a handful of other guests present, were immediately greeted by the bartender and handed menus. While the dinner menu is quite tempting, we combed our way through the abridged happy hour selections, and opted for drinks and a handful of shared appetizers.
First, Fonda serves up a serious margarita, which are available in several varieties; I opted for the Mango, which was just the right amount of sweet and tangy to counter the tequila, and the sips that I had of my friend’s Frozen Rosalita (hibiscus, cointreau, lime juice) was just as delicious and refreshing. Although I’m certainly not the best judge, one or two of them is certainly enough to get your night off to a good start.
As for the food? Don’t skip out on the guacamole, which is creamy, tart, and customizable in spice (low, medium, high). It’s not completely blended through, so there are still a few surprising chunks of avocado in there, blended with tomatoes, lime juice, chilies, and cilantro. The portion is quite generous, and the staff is more than happy to refill your basket of chips to make sure you can scoop out the entire base of the bowl.
Also worth an order are the Tostadas de Carne, which come three to an order. A sizable tortilla square is topped with habanero-​infused shredded beef, black beans, lettuce, onions, and radishes. It’s a daunting bite, to be sure, and I’d recommend that diners tackle it first with a fork before biting into it. The flavors are spot-​on, with the habanero making a noticeable presence, and the dollop of cream serves as a welcome foil to the savory-​spicy components. Just as tasty are the Taquitos San Andres, which are soft-​shell tacos generously filled with carnitas and black beans and garnished with aromatic cilantro and onions. The pork shoulder is braised to a commendable tenderness while retaining its flavor, and the additional tomatillo sauce adds dimensions of spice and acidity to each bite. Clearly, our plates were clean by the end of the evening.
While I can’t speak to Fonda’s overall menu, I can vouch for the strength of their happy hour. A casual environment paired with well-​priced drinks and small plates certainly encourages guests to enter and linger — and certainly, you’ll know where to find me the next weekday I can get out in time…

Fonda, the Mexican equivalent of the French bistro or the Greek taverna. While it might be a small space, trust that there is bold flavor oozing out of every crevice. First of all, let me just say that it warms my bitchy little heart when the hostess and servers are all so genuinely happy to greet and interact with you. The young lady taking care of my threesome gave us suggestions, explanations, offers to customize certain dishes, never let our drinks dip below the halfway mark before checking in to put another order in at the bar. On POINT! And you know what else was? The food, of course.
My callos y camarones was perfectly cooked. Silky textured scallops danced with my spicy chorizo and tomato cream sauce. My god! My mouth was on fire and so happy. You may want to order a side of something starchy to compliment the protein fest, since the dish doesn’t come with one. Enter platanos fritos and my friend’s side of rice that she happily shared from her fish taco plate. My tongue was on sensory overload and the classic mezcal margarita did little to tame the festival happening in there. I decided the perfect remedy was the plate of 3 sorbetes. I devoured the coconut one, but the other two didn’t strike my palate. My friends shared a slice of the Coconut Cream cheese cake, which honestly was the lightest version of cheese cake I have ever tasted. Like a coco-​pillow to rest your lips on; no wonder it was that evening’s desert special. A perfect ending to a very long week… gracias, Fonda, muchas gracias!

Bottomless brunch! Mexican food! Loud music! All the above.
Excellent brunch options, even for large groups.
Order the guacamole and the «divorcedadez» something eggs. It was super tasty, like a fresher more interesting huevos rancheros.
The margaritas are VERY strong, and they are good at refilling your mimosa.
Great waitress who didn’t get annoyed at or large obnoxious group, I will definitely return.

Happy hour here is on-​point. Despite there being a disgusting wintery mix coating the streets and skies of NYC, I arrived here around 6 on a Tuesday to find the bar already packed. Luckily I was able to snag the last 2 barstools, and I’m so glad I did!
Happy hour at Fonda (5 to 8pm) offers a selection of bar snacks/​small plates for $ 6 and awesome drink specials as well, ranging from $ 4 for a beer to $ 6 for margs. I got the Rosalita ($ 6), basically a hibiscus frozen marg. It was delicious, strong, and the hibiscus salt around the rim was a nice touch.
Since it was Taco Tuesday, Fonda also offered a selection of mini tacos, $ 5 for 3. We tried the pollo, carne asada and al pastor– the carne asada was definitely the juiciest and our favorite, but the other two were flavorful as well.
The real star of happy hour, however, was the guacamole ($ 6). You get a choice of mild, medium, or hot, and it’s made fresh to order in a huge mortar. The guac was a little heavy-​handed on the cilantro, but came with both tortilla chips and fresh blue corn tortillas to scoop it up. I kept making guac burritos just to eat more of it at once!
The bartender was super friendly all night, and checked in on us often. Can’t wait to come back here to try some of their other offerings!