Empanada Mama East Village, 14th St — Restaurant in New York

I really like this place. Since i started traveling to this area, they have had that Grand Opening sign outside so I'm unsure of exactly when it opened.

The place itself is tiny. I appreciate that they have self service machines to place your orders. It helps those of us who rather explore the menu on our own and at our pace. The drinks are off to the side and can be picked up the customer. I love that idea however, I already witness a homeless person actually take a drink without paying. So thats the only down side to having the drinks available to anyone.

The empanadas here are good. Theres only one that i have fallen inlove with. The reggaeton is the name of it. It has rice and peas inside and pulled pork. It sounds crazy but it WORKS. They put a bunch of flavor into this empanada. Its not dry but very juicy. I highly recommend it. I did get the Toro one and it came with oxtail and sweet plantains. I dont recommend that one. The plantains were NOT sweet and i did not enjoy the flavor on the oxtail. The beef empanadas are good. I've had both fried and baked. Baked is delish.

I took a gambled and ordered the fried pork with tostones. It was horrible but wasnt the best. It could of been crisper but then the meat would of been burned. The tostones were perfect!!! Thin, crispy. I did not enjoy the sauces i ordered. The garlic is really good but i didnt like the pink or green sauce.

I tried the homemade lemonades here. They need to be more consistent. I bought two and one was soooo sour. I tried the next and it was sweet and not sour. So i wouldnt personally try it again because its almost $5 and still needs to be adjusted. I got the cherry lemonade and i couldnt taste the cherry in it at all. Just sour lemon.

Nothing in here is cheap. Not even the empanadas.

Overall, i will continue to come here and order empanadas. I def recommend ordering through the app because you wont have to stand in here and wait. The empanadas do NOT come out quickly as they are fried on...

Perfect food. Blah vibe, miserable young sassy cashier who gets everything wrong. Makes me not wanna go because after a long hard day I don't wanna be defending myself and repeating my order and correcting him when it's handed to me and then getting a sassy attitude for it. LES location is the best regarding vibe and food and service, times square is the WORST literally got into an argument with a rude server. The menus vary by location oddly so at the TSq location it specifically says $2 for fanta. That's it. So I buy the fanta pineapple in a bottle... He says it's a different price ... Saying what the menu doesn't suggest st all which is that the cans are $2 and the bottles are whatever higher price. I'd have stuck to the order if he wasn't rude cutting me off sighing and saying "whatever" and "anyway" like ew you're a grown man not a little teenage girl. I lost my appetite and got a refund and he still has an attitude and tried to argue but when I insisted on the refund he literally got a sweaty upper lip and started trembling his hands as he operated the cash register and swallowed hard lol not so tough now. Anyways go to the LES and EV branches but expect long wait times because they make this delicious stuff by hand i think. They're expensive too. Three empanadas is like $15. Sorry that's a lot because I NEED rice with it which brings it to like $30 after tax. Three empanadas and rice being that much idk but it's delicious so. And they're popular with lots of orders so if you're shy and get skipped on lines a lot then don't come to ANY branches, or get delivery 😋🤤 gonna get some in a...

some foods at the "Empanadas Mama" restaurant at the East Village at 14st and 1st avenue in New York have good tasting food like their Baked Chicken Empanadas for $4 or $5 and also some other types of foods but in front of this restaurant I have seen homeless looking people in front door of this restaurant asking people for money where they look dirty like they don't even take a shower and they also looked homeless and those homeless looking people looked very grose and disgusting too they standing in the front door of this restaurant where they also look like they want money from people who go in to this place to buy food also I seen an old in age man in this restaurant who says he like the food in this place but he look dirty, sweaty and grose like he doesn't even take a shower so why alot people out there are going to go in to this place to buy food and pay like $15 or more in food where there are more other restaurant close by to this restaurant that sell food at almost the same price as this restaurant, I don't even think that the $4 or $5 Empanadas won't also sell very much like the people that work in this restaurant...