Ceviche 517 — Restaurant in Garfield

We came to Ceviche 517 Restaurant & Lounge as a group of five, hoping to find good food, great music, and some fun new cocktails—and this place absolutely delivered on most fronts! A quick heads-up: on Google Maps it’s listed as Ceviche 517, but the sign on the building says Tavern 517, which initially threw us off. We were circling around until we decided to just trust the physical address—and we’re so glad we did.

As soon as we walked in, the name didn’t even matter anymore. The decor is stunning—definitely has an upscale, Instagram-worthy vibe with a modern lounge feel. We might’ve come a little early because the place was quiet when we arrived, but that worked in our favor as we got to settle in comfortably and explore the menu.

Drinks were a mixed experience. We tried the margarita flight, which included coconut, passion fruit, and strawberry. The coconut and passion fruit margaritas were absolutely delicious—fresh, balanced, and memorable. The strawberry, however, was a big miss—tasted like kid’s medicine and no one at the table could finish it. We also ordered a drink called something like Chicola—it had ginger ale, lime juice, and some type of liquor, and unfortunately, it was another one we couldn’t get through. The flavors just didn’t mix well, and everyone at the table agreed it was a no for us. On the flip side, the Perfect Mule with a strawberry twist, the Henny Mojito, and a bold and fun drink called No Sheets were much better received.

Menus are displayed on sleek tablets, and we were pleasantly surprised to see that the in-house menu offered way more options than what’s listed online. And the food? Absolutely excellent. The Tallarín Saltado with vegetables was beyond delicious—we placed it in the center so everyone could dig in. The ceviche flight was fresh and flavorful, and the jalea (a fried seafood platter) didn’t last long on the table either. One friend had the larger ceviche bowl paired with a mojito and already asked to come back just for that combo. Even the kid’s arroz chaufa with chicken impressed us, with a big enough portion for leftovers.

If there’s one thing that fell flat, it was the atmosphere—at least early in the evening. When we arrived, the music playing sounded like retro video game tunes, but thankfully it transitioned into upbeat Spanish hits, including some great bachata that gave the space some energy.

All in all, despite a few drink misses and a quiet start, this spot is a gem. The food alone is worth the trip, and we’re definitely planning to return—next time a little later in the evening to hopefully catch a...

Well.. I can’t really give a rating on the service or the food because we didn’t get either of them. It was our first time at Tavern 517 and I won’t be back nor would I suggest anyone waste their time. I wasted over an hour of my own time in this place and in that hour couldn’t even get someone to offer us water! We tried giving the benefit of the doubt but when you see people working, you see people brining food out, you know some tables were getting service, really makes you wonder what the heck is going on?!?! Someone tried bringing us plates of food TWICE, and we explained we hadn’t even been able to place a drink order yet let alone a food order. Someone did come by clearly in a rush and took our drink order FINALLY but never came back with our drinks. We watched him at the bar making drinks.. who’s idk because we sat for another 25 min before finally calling it quits and leaving. While on the way out the same guy who was confused twice about what table food belonged to was leaning near the door and offered his apologies. At the end of the day if something was going on and you didn’t have any servers say so!!! Come by and say something… anything!!! We entered an establishment and were told to seat ourselves and someone would be right over. To allow an hour and 15 min to go by and not acknowledge that table says to me that something is clearly wrong with the runnings of your business. I really don’t know why we even waited that long but we were a large group of friends out celebrating a birthday and had our sights set on Tavern 517. Needless to say once we left we had an amazing time at a restaurant 5 minutes away!!! If you took the time to read this review don’t waste your time on this place unless you’re the dude from that show who tries to save...

Food was not good, multiple guests shared that the food was not good tasting. Service was slow as they provided only one waitress to take drink orders despite multiple meetings, calls, and texts with the staff including Carlo to discuss the logistics of the event. After paying the deposit upfront for the “contract” and MULTIPLE discussions stating if numbers were off by a bit that was okay as everyone will be paying their own drinks- and the amount per guest over would be dependent on the amount of food they would have to provide. End of the night Carlo talked to ONE of the parties outside and instead of allowing time to discuss and receive a breakdown tried to confiscate her license as “collateral” for the rest of the payment - after another 800 was provided in cash and further discussion and breakdown was requested to identify the reason for the extra money- following SEVERAL conversations in person via tex and via phone call. What was thought to be a good night and having good staff and management working with us to make sure our wedding day was great everyone was on the same page in terms of event flow and money- turned into what seemed to be the establishment backing out and denying their original statements and agreements and professional discussions- to 3 staff/ management talking outside the restaurant making the bride cry because of the lack of ability to allow for real discussion between the two parties.

Would not recommend having events here - if you do make sure you keep paper record of everything said by Carlo and his event management as they will back down and deny their words. You are also better off with going with just the alcohol package and not food as the food isn’t great and it’s slow for drinks unless you just pay to...