Llama San — Restaurant in New York

Llama San is a Nikkei (Japanese-Peruvian) restaurant from the team behind Brooklyn’s Llama Inn that opened in the West Village last fall. Since its opening the restaurant has been one of the most difficult restaurants to get reservations at so after waiting a month and a half for our reservation we were really excited to try it.

We had thought that we had made reservations for the omakase, but when we got there we were told that the omakase menu had to be made in advance even though we had made online reservations more than a month ago. Apparently the Resy reservation system is different from the reservation page on the restaurant website and the Resy system didn’t have the part where we could select the omakase option. If you’re interested in their omakase menu we would recommend that you either make your reservations directly on their website or call ahead of time to make sure that they have you on their list for the omakase. We were slightly disappointed that we weren’t able to get the omakase since we had waited over a month to try it, but we still decided that their a la carte menu may be worth a try.

We each ordered a cocktail and seven dishes including the dessert to share:

Hiramasa tiradito with uni and matcha foam: We thought this was a refreshing and light dish to start off the meal although the uni pieces that were in it were a bit small in proportion to the pieces of the fish.

Scallop ceviche: We agreed that this was the best dish of the night.

Duck nigiri: We thought the duck was really good, but the sauce was a little overbearing and reminded us of those fusion sushis that have a little too much sauce on them.

Iberico pork with udon and cucumbers: The pork was like the Japanese Tonkatsu, which we thought was done well - crispy and not greasy. However, the udon and the sauce did not go well with the pork. The udon tasted like pasta with too much pesto sauce and the sauce that came on the side was not what we had expected. It was similar to mole sauce and we would have preferred to have the pork with regular Tonkotsu sauce. The server had told us to eat everything together, but we thought that they tasted better eaten separately.

Rice with octopus and crab: We thought that the spicy sauce that was on the dish was unnecessary since the rice already had flavor and that the octopus was overcooked.

Red snapper: This was our least favorite dish since we tasted more of the charcoal than the fish itself.

At this point we debated on whether we wanted to try a dessert, but ended up trying the miso ice cream with banana bread in order to complete our experience. The ice cream was a bit heavy, but the banana bread was good.

Overall, we thought that the food at Llama San was overpriced and were slightly disappointed with our experience, but were glad that we had tried it once since it’s such a popular restaurant that is still pretty difficult...

Ive had this place on my radar for over a year because Ive never heard of Peruvian-Japanese fusion, but never found an occasion to go. However, an unfortunate occasion presented itself: Llama San is CLOSING! I’m so glad I checked in before they left and got to have a great meal here.

Loved the vibe inside, it was like a natural bohemian, heavy on the natural with the amount of stone everywhere. Even the tableware was very stone-esque I loved it. Also the music was great, they were playing Daft Punk’s Aerodynamic upon entry which had me so thrilled for this meal.

Started with the Blue Crab with Potato and Japanese Curry which was one of my favs of the night. A small bite but powerful in flavor. I was honestly impressed by how the potato was presented because while eating it I couldnt even figure out what it was. The crab with the curry was divineeeee.

Next, had the Tuna with Ponzu Leche de Tigre and Citrus. This was really refreshing, I loved the citrus sauce with the mandarin orange slices alongside the tuna (which was amazingly smooth btw) and the sauce had a very very subtle spice to it which was interesting. This dish had a lot of these leaves in between the tuna which I wasnt sure what it was but it was extremely bitter so that wasnt a fun start but for the rest of it I just didn’t eat the leaves.

After that we went into some mains. First was the Iberico Pork Tonkatsu with Udon Verde, Tsukemono Cucumbers, and Walnuts. The pork was fine but loved the katsu sauce over it. It was on the sweeter side but that’s the side I like to be on! The udon was FIRE. So incredibly soft and some of the creamiest pesto Ive ever had mmmmm. I ate the two items separately but then combining them together was actually so great wow idk like you got meat, carb, greens, sweet, sharp, all in one bite.

Second main was the Rock Shrimp with Uni, Rice, and Chalaca. For some reason I did not expect this dish to be warm but it was! I thought overall this dish was good, but like a fine good. I didn’t really get any inventive flavors out of it but it was really good. Had a slight kick to it but some acidity too which I really liked with the rice. This dish was so beautiful though!

Lastly, had to try dessert DUH. Got the Tres Leches with Lemon and Tonka Bean. I loved the presentation here it was like a cream dome over the cake. I am partial to a heavily soaked, wet tres leches, which this couldve had more milk, but the flavors here were on point. The cake was nice and dense and the tonka bean + rum added a really great nuttiness to the cream that was sooooo tasty I lowkey wanted to order a second one…

Sad to see this place go because I wouldve seen myself return to try some other dishes, but alas all good things must come to an end. I’m glad I got to catch it on...

I took my family for a birthday dinner here and wow, it is tricky to review this place. It's because there are some truly outstanding dishes here so if you measure good dishes against those standards, they feel mediocre. $350 (food + tips) later, will I go back? Maybe! To revisit favorites and to try the other dishes.

Outstanding: *Scallop Ceviche ($22) - Yes, it's true what everyone is saying, this is an insane dish. The freshest scallop with a creamy, refreshing citrus sauce. Don't waste the sauce by not finishing it!

*Eggplant Salad ($18) - I don't even like eggplant and this blew me away. Paired with savory pine nuts, mild soft cheese, and sweet grapes, it left us speechless.

*Duck-Breast Nigiri ($26) - A really intriguing combination of flavors. The unique taste of duck, with the rich rice is perfectly balanced by the sweetness of the banana...banana! It's genius!

*Satsuma Mandarin (Dessert) ($11) - It's lightly sweet, slightly tart, and just plain cool. It's like a creamsicle with gooseberries. Don't forget to dig your spoon all the way into the bottom to get some sweetness.

Good: *Quizás, Quizás, Quizás (Cocktail) ($18) - If you order this thinking it will taste like a typical pisco sour, you will be disappointed. But if you've always hated the sweetness of a pisco sour, you will like this. It's much much lighter. The matcha flavor dominates the coconut and yuzu. Considering how light it is, it's still a good cocktail with interesting flavors.

*Tuna Ceviche ($22) - They were out of the hamachi. Good but not memorable. Good for less adventurous eaters.

*Iberico Pork with Udon ($36) - It was fun to eat: Take a piece of the pork, dip it in the sauce, add a noodle and pickles and eat it all together. The pork was good, not outstanding but the udon noodles were delicious.

*White Sesame (Dessert) ($11) - It's basically banana bread with ice cream on top but much better than that sounds.

Disappointing: *Wagyu Short Rib ($38) - I haven't been this disappointed by food in a long time. The beef was tough and tasted like a much cheaper cut of meat. The potato salad was decent. Everyone at the table was visibly disappointed.

*Lobster Beef Hearts ($32) - The lobster was pretty good but covered with too much aji panca mayo (?) sauce. The beef heart was ok but not that flavorful.

*Octopus, King Crab rice ($32) - Good pieces of seafood but the rice was a little mushy.

*Flaming Creatures (Cocktail) ($17) - It's basically an old fashion but sadly it was much too light. It just...