Pampano

Elegant, courteous, serene space and staff. The terrace is lovely, but we chose the indoor tables to better accommodate our party of five. The décor feels more Mediterranean than Latin, and it’s a welcome change to the typical brightly colored, almost obnoxiously dark décor of other Mexican restaurants. You are bathed in white fabrics and wall coloring and it adds a zenful, peaceful mindfulness to the experience.
We enjoyed a bottle of pinot noir, easily the best guacamole ever tasted, appetizer of Huarache de carne, and for main course the Churrasco Pampano, grilled beef tenderloin, corn on the cob, grilled cactus, with wild mushrooms and mash potatoes, as well as the Cordero
grilled rack of lamb, beluga lentils, platano maduro and tres chiles sauce. For dessert we enjoyed the chocoflan, coconut icecream and the pastel de chocolate, which was gluten free and amazing, topped with a delicate butterscotch foam. The perfect balance of heat and seasoning. I love these types of eating adventures where you sit and eat and talk for hours. It’s so satisfying! Planning to return when I am struck with the need to feel special again… so, see ya tomorrow?! (just kidding… can’t afford to feel THAT special)…

Delicious meal lovely atmosphere very accommodating !! Great brunch spot will definitely be coming back

We came to Pampano at 10 on a Friday night and it was fairly crowded so I suggest making a reservation in advance. The atmosphere is very classy and the décor is representative of that. Our waiter was very friendly and provided great service from our first drinks to the checkbook.
What really impressed me about Pampano was their menu choices. It was incredible how many different things I saw on there. I ordered the hallow I margarita… It was really good but spicier than anticipated. I still really enjoyed it. We ordered the lobster dumplings which were UNBELIEVABLE. We were considering getting another order since the portions are small for the price. The paella was the best I’ve ever had. Excited to come back.

Really nice balcony and interior! Went there with friends for an after work drink. There were seats open before 7pm on the balcony, but the place soon get crowded post 7pm. So make a reservation or call 30minutes before you go.
We ordered chips with guacamole, beef tacos, lobster dumplings, fried seafood rice as main dish, and three flavors ice cream/​sorbet for dessert. Everything was good but usual. I like the lobster dumplings most. Dumplings are nice and warm bathing in soup. Inside, the lobster meat is juicy, creamy, and cheesy. The vanilla ice cream was pretty good too. Everything else was about average.
Overall, okay-​good level food and drinks on a very nice balcony. Worth a visit if you are hanging out with friends/​a date.

By far the best Mexican place in midtown east area, and it’s so close to my company! I came here to meet my friends so we shared a couple of small plates.
Recommend the lobster dumplings and the seafood fried rice. The rice had a slight crunchy taste, delicious!
Should definitely sit out at the second floor balcony with great ambience.

Great food, and drinks. Pricey for dinner, but good for drinks and appetizers. Loved their octopus appetizer on my last visit!

If I could give a lower rating, I would. I’ve visited this place before and loved it. How can you go wrong with a great experience? I’ll tell you how… customer service! That’s how! From the top down, the service was crap. Two friends arrived early, ordered the bottomless brunch and were already eating by the time the rest of the group arrived. We check the menu and I quickly notice the brunch includes alcohol. Two of us aren’t drinking and informed the waiter right away so he could make arrangements. This guy tell us since the other two ladies ordered bottomless brunch, we had to also.
I’m sorry, what was that?
Those are the rules he says, you have to order what they did. Clearly, I must be dreaming or living in a socialist country. I asked for the manager. (Insert nose dive in service and delivery here). The manager, oh the manager, basically reinforced what the waiter said but with, «I am the manager and I can do whatever I want but if I do that for you, some people may think you are my friends and I cannot do that. Therefore, I will not change the rules’.
I’m sorry, what was that?
His pathetic attempt to offer an exchange for no alcohol was homemade ice cream. Would that be a child size serving or the entire carton? Because according to my calculations, the two don’t add up to a fair compromise… at the same price. Is there a new math out there? How does that equate? If his disposition & delivery didn’t read «take it or leave it», I would’ve taken the deal since my friends were already eating. But his arrogance and condescending delivery was too much. We weren’t looking to ‘nickel and dime’ this guy, but why pay for alcohol if we don’t drink? Worst yet, tell us its this menu item or pay more, but you get a free dessert.
Really dude?
I wish the fun stopped there but it doesn’t. The waiter returned to presumably take our order. I explained to him his delivery like his manager’s needed work and that I would not be patronizing the business. I didn’t order anything, but waited for my friends to finish up so I could go elsewhere.
Done? Nope!
The manager returns to our table to say, «I understand you are still unhappy» (I thought he was going to offer a compromise, not so much!). He continues, «I also understand that you are talking behind my back. (Is he serious?). «Do not talk to my staff badly about me behind my back.»
The waiter is a snitch. Exit scene.
I’ve seen plenty of YouTube videos to know this could have easily turned into on. I opted out.
My friends and I were lost for words and pissed that this jerk off had the nerve to return. In addition to his arrogance, horrible customer service, lack of compromise, he has now shown that he is a Petty Betty. He’s the gift that keeps on giving.
Once they wrapped up their meal, I filled out the entire comment card. As I left, the manager was waiting for us near the exit. I handed him the card and told him I wouldn’t want him to think we were speaking behind his back, so I’m tactfully delivering my comments on his crappy, arrogant service directly to him. I know the card won’t make it to his superiors, but who cares? That’s the beauty of social media. Those cards don’t matter as much as the immediacy of the internet. This guy needs a customer service clinic asap. #neverreturning

I have eaten at Pampano many times over the last few years and food and atmosphere have always been excellent.
This week however things were very different. My reservation for Tuesday evening was cancelled on the day because a private party had booked the whole restaurant. Pampano must have known for many weeks that the restaurant was closed for bookings so why the late cancellation? Then three days later, having reserved a table, I arrive with a guest to be be told that the main restaurant upstairs is closed for another private function and we are therefore to be seated instead in the downstairs bar area. This area, whilst fine for drinking at the bar and casual dining, is a very, very poor alternative to the main restaurant. It even has three tv screens broadcasting live sport.
When we complained we were simply told we should have stipulated that we wanted the upstairs restaurant and we would then have been told it was not available. Pampano has always served great, modern Mexican food with expensive prices to match. This is fine if you are seated in the restaurant. A cramped table in a noisy bar is a very poor value experience — beware.

Mother’s Day Brunch
From the moment we walked the service was pretty lousy. I requested a table for 5 next to the window and they wanted to seat us at a table for 6 across on the other side of the room. When I made my reservation I had asked if they had a special menu, the girl said no, regular menu as they always have. Of course when we sat they said the menu will be family style, which was a big turn off since this is a normally small plates place. The waiter was not friendly, took forever multiple times and then got our dessert order incorrect and never returned. So all in all, service terrible.
Food was good minus the family style way which was we were not told about until I sat. Drinks were not delivered to table quickly, the waiter told us they originally had no blood mary’s then eventually said they had them. We order some bloody mary’s and it took them 30 minutes to bring them. The waiter also told us we could only order 3 or 4 dishes at a time, which was ridiculous.
I’ve been to Pampano 5 times now; and I will not be returning again. The service was horrendous which made for a lousy Mother’s day celebration. $ 300 for a lousy 2 hours was a lot of money and I can spend my time and money elsewhere next time.
This place has really gone down since my 1^st experience here, many better choices in the area.

If you’re looking for Mexican in midtown east, this is your go to spot. Excellent margaritas compliment a pretty good guacamole starter. Rock shrimp appetizer has some nice spice and heat to it and the churrasco entrée is packed full of flavor.

Classy and very elegant environment. Make a reservation in advance because it was packed on a Friday night! The hostess was very friendly and brought us upstairs. We were seated by a well-​mannered gentleman dressed professionally who even slanted the table diagonal so I can move in to sit in the interior side. Then he returned the table to its original position. He was very eloquent and treated us like royalty.
The staff were very attentive, from filling out water, exchanging utensils, bringing dishes and clearing our table. We ordered the tortilla chips with delicious, tasty guacamole (not complimentary), mango peach sangria and the tamarind cocktail. My sangria was very sweet and fruity, and not that strong.
The ceviches were amazing; I recommend the shrimp, halibut and octopus. The lobster dumplings were yummy (4 pieces in a bowl with soup base) and the seafood paella was a large, excellent portion.
For dessert, we had the passion fruit panna cotta which was the perfect ending to a romantic and eloquent dinner. Their balcony looked gorgeous with Christmas lights decorated around; it was still closed but will be magical when it gets warmer!

Lovely upscale Latin cuisine in a upper east side townhouse. Chef Richard Sandoval’s menu is intricate yet simple. Paella was very good but did not have the crispy soccarat but the flavor was spot on. The halibut was prepared to crispy perfection and beautifully played. Sea Bass was also a hit. Desserts included corn cake and chocolate cake. Both outstanding. We sat upstairs for a Saturday night dinner. The ambiance was quiet and reserved. Service was excellent.

I went yesterday and participated in the bottle less brunch for $ 43. Definitely worth it! You receive unlimited drinks and small plates for 3 hours. The chicken and waffles was my friends favorite! My favorite was the red sangria. I also had a Bloody Mary which was tasty but very spicy! I would 100% go to this restaurant again especially for the bottomless brunch.

Do try their jalapeño margarita — my friend who tried it said «the best». Another restaurant week adventure when a friend was visiting from the west coast.
The guacamole was excellent — we had them make it extra spicy for us. I had the shrimp ceviche, chicharron de camaron, and choco flan.

Sorry Pampano, I really really want to like you more, and I hardly ever give bad reviews as I truly like to focus on the positives which you had a few — the biggest one being your elegant décor and great staff, but that was probably as far as it went.
My partner and I came here as you were promoting your brunch menu on Pulsd from which we tend to get many great ideas for trying new brunches at new places. The deal is pretty amazing, $ 35 for two entrees and 4 brunch drinks and the brunch food menu is pretty extensive here. So might jaunt have been my orders.
To start, we decided to get a Guac, and when asked what level of heat, I quickly said mild, I don’t enjoy heat (I know. Not all Latinos love spicy). In any case, our Guac came out and in my first bite. I find myself going for water as the piece of jalapeño was actually pretty fresh and juicy (or maybe I am over sensitive to it). I asked the waiter if he was sure it was mild, in my head mild is NO SPICE, to which he mentioned that Pampano puts jalapeños in their mild for flavor… Would hate to ever try their spicy one, but spice lovers might probably want to! Next, my first brunch drink was a Margarita, (frozen machine is broken) so ok, let’s get on the rocks, the drink is a great size, looking forward to try the fresh flavored of tequila, simple, fresh lines and … A ton of sour mix! I was surprised and crushed, how could such an elegant restaurant with a great chef name tagged to it, serve sour mix margaritas. That is the level of quality that you get a when ordering one from the airport or a pre mixed pouch at the super market. This was no good. And I hate to wine at restaurants, but I could definitely not have this. I love margaritas, I drink them at my favorite restaurants, and when you get a bad one, you should not drink it! I had to ask if I could return it. It was ruined with the sour mix. I moved on to the strawberry mint sangria. Definitely sounds amazing, yet, for some reason my stomach hurt every time I drank form it. Maybe the mint, I tend not to drink mojitos because they give me the same type of reaction. My next and last drink was a regular red sangria. Again, another big disappointment. The taste was that equal to store bought Carlo Rossi sangria that you just throw some fruit in. Now, I am sure that any respectable and great restaurant knows how to make a simple sangria, and I don’t want to say that Pampano is serving store bought sangria, but I will say that this was again not enjoyable. Isis not drink my sangria and left it at the table. All brunch drinks are only $ 6. Sounds great, so if you Donny know the difference between great drinks and meh, then this is a great deal.
On to the food. The Guac as mentioned has jalapeños even if ordered mild. My main entrée was the steak sandwich. Two things, my bread was burnt, on one side, which I took off cause the flavor of burned buttered bread is not very delectable to me. The steak was really good! The sank device also has guacamole in it, I did not taste the spice in it which was good, however I did bite into something small and hard that seemed like a seed or wood-​like while eating my sandwich. After spitting that part out and taking off the half of bread that was crisp and burned, I found my meal to be pretty good. They served with a small portion (but did not really need too much of anyways) fries. The plate also comes with a nice serving of a mayo-​ketchup type sauce to either dip the sandwich or the fries. Not sure for which, but both tasted great when dipped in the sauce! Great sauce!
Sadly, my two stars are solely on how beautiful this restaurant looks and the service was also great, sadly, my meal and experience was not amazing. Sad to say, was expecting a bit more on quality, especially when you put the name of Richard Sandoval on this! I’m a huge fan of Maya and I do many of my birthdays their and get friends to go all the time. Sadly, Pampano is not a place I would come back to.
Not that I recommend it highly, but it is a great and impressionable place for a first, second or third date.

Pampona
This is my 2^nd time coming and once again I’ve been impressed. Now granted both experiences were for a work holiday dinner, but they’re serving the same food right?
I kinda love the food. The portions are good without being overwhelming as is typical in many restaurants. However, If you tend to lean towards having a large appetite, you may be a bit underwhelmed.
I tasted a variety of things
Lobster tacos as an appetizer. They were nice and light. Not sure that this should really be considered shareable although it comes with 3 (very small).
Sea bass as an entrée. Perfectly cooked.
Good service with the waitstaff always available to refill a glass of wine or help out.
One downer I noticed is that there is only a bathroom available on the 2^nd floor. This could suck a bit if you have challenges with stairs.
Overall, this really is a good restaurant.

I’m not sure what it means if I visited this restaurant 3 years ago but couldn’t remember — couldn’t remember the name or what meal I had — I just remembered the restaurant once I saw it was beside the Smith & Wollensky’s…hmmm
Anyways, we went because of a Blackboard Eats special (sampler ceviche! sangria!). The requirement was 2 appetizers or 1 entrée per person.
Sampler ceviche was three amuse bouce-​sized spoons of halibut ceviche, octopus ceviche, shrimp ceviche. The halibut had your typical, vinegary flavor that I like; the other two were on the sweeter side and the shrimp was definitely overcooked.
We got 2 apps and 1 entrée.
Rockfish app — Not bad — breaded shrimp in a thick sauce. Nothing stood out, but solid.
Slices of scallops app — Not bad either, but nothing to crow about. Just 4 thin slices of large scallop in a sauce. Those fried purple potato chips I was excited for? Just small slivers, like baby anchovy size :(
Seafood Paella entrée — the kitchen kindly split this onto two plates for us. Flavor was great — a mix of chunks of chorizo, squid, scallop, 2 pieces of shrimp, and one itty bitty chunk of lobster for each of us — haha. But, still, one of the better paella’s I’ve had — good balance of seafood and chorizo and just salty enough.
Total for 2 apps and 1 entrée (no additional drinks) was $ 75. I’m telling myself it’s because the seafood quality is above par and the service was really excellent, but it was a little hard to swallow the price for the slightly unforgettable food we got. This feels more like a early-​dating scene or a older generation get-​together place.
Giving this place 4 stars if you enjoy Mexican-​style seafood and a nice trendy/​upscale atmosphere. However, I probably won’t crave this place and won’t come back on purpose.

I had the pleasure of dining here a few months ago, and kept pushing off writing a review until I realized that I forgot the names of the majority of dishes that I had. Anyway, I was very impressed with Pampano. This is a high end Mexican restaurant with a great selection and good food. For my appetizer, I tried the Corn Soup, which was splendid. It might be the best corn soup that I’ve tried, and I hate making statements like that about food, because I hear myself say it in the most pompous, elitist way possible. Stupid voice in my voice. Anyway, the soup was served at a perfect temperature, and tasted very sweet. The soup also has a bit of a kick to it, which is always a bonus. Also tried the Pork shoulder and tried several dessert items which I don’t remember the names of (it’s been a while), and all were excellent.
The atmosphere and décor were also solid. The high ceiling and white walls looked really great during the day since the place is so well lit. The staff was friendly and attentive, and would stop by our table often, but without hovering. Would come here again to try their dinner menu.

3.5 stars for overall service and food.
It was my friend’s birthday so he picked this restaurant looking to try some authentic Mexican food. Not sure that was what we got.
We arrived here for our 1:30pm lunch reservation. We were probably the youngest table — most people were older patrons. None the less we felt pretty comfortable — until 10 minutes after they seated us and still didn’t bring napkins and utensils over… (It’s okay I forgive them. They were pretty attentive afterwards)
Anyway we opted for the fixed menu (menu fijo) because it was the best deal (29 for three course meal hell yea!). We also got a small pitcher of sangria (of course we got carded). The sparkling strawberry mint was probably the best thing about this meal!
Coming down the list was the guacamole and chips. Yes! I had more of this than the main dishes itself. Not ashamed. They got some good guac and chips!
My friend and I both got the ceviche for appetizer. This was this first time but a totally let down for me. I had just recently visited Peru and had one of the best ceviches of my life… This was a disappointment — I also didn’t understand why most of the dish (other than the octopus) was cooked. Isn’t ceviche supposed to be raw?
For entrée we got the chile relleno de mariscos and pescado platija. They were both average. Although i enjoyed the bed of mashed potatoes on the mariscos more than the main dish itself.
For dessert we just got one of each. Standard not made in house.
Overall I had expected more from this restaurant from the reviews and the $$$ that I paid for.

Like anyone else, I enjoy a good taco or bowl of guacamole and chips, but Mexican cuisine and I have yet to fully see eye-​to-​eye. Pampano looked promising, however; it’s one of many restaurants under chef-​restaurateur Richard Sandoval, a CIA graduate who spent his early days in Mexico City. Making reservations for brunch was a breeze (thanks to OpenTable), and the Saturday afternoon, we arrived on time and were quickly checked in and led to the upstairs dining room.
First and foremost, the space is worth its own paragraph. No other dining room I’ve been in has had rotating fan blades the size of Pampano’s in the ceiling; they reminded me initially of windmills. There’s a predominance of white the the ceilings and walls as well, which offers a spacious feeling during the daytime hours. Nonetheless, the ambiance is casual and relaxed, the kind of place one could dawdle in for several hours on end if so desired; thankfully, it’s not one of the most trafficked locations in Midtown East.
To begin with, our group got the Guacamole, a decision that was initially made at the last second, but it turned out to be the best plate of the meal. There was something so addictive about the dip, a seemingly basic mix of mashed avocado, tomato, onion, cilantro, and lime juice, that we couldn’t help but ask for a side order of warm tortilla chips in order to fully utilize it. Seasoned well, refreshing and savory, with an optional punch of heat at the end thanks to a trio of salsas, it made us hopeful for our following courses.
The Pampano Benedict turned out to be quite the disappointment, however. Even at first glance it was an unimpressive plate; two small poached eggs placed on top of sopes (instead of the traditional English muffin halves), topped with a salsa verde. On the side were two small portions of a black bean purée and home potatoes, both of which were far too soggy and underseasoned. The benedicts themselves similarly fell flat on flavor, which I can attirbute partially to the dearth of a proper hollandaise, as well as the lack of a main protein (which traditionally would have included slices of ham or bacon). The eggs themselves were slightly overcooked, so I was similarly robbed of the runny egg yolk, which is quintessential to any plate of eggs benedict.
Admittedly, the service and the guacamole is what ended up saving Pampano from a less-​than-​average review. While I can’t say anything about the other dishes offered, if the overall ambiance weighs more heavily than the actual execution of the food… Well, Pampano might be a strong contender.