Mission Ceviche Union Square — Restaurant in New York

If I could give my experience at Mission Ceviche Union Square 0 stars, I would. This was the worst dining experience I’ve had in a very long time. My girlfriend and I have gone to Mission Ceviche Upper East Side for years. It’s the place we go to for birthdays, anniversaries, special events, Valentine’s, etc. We’ve recommended Mission Ceviche to friends, family, and countless others. We were very excited when we saw they opened a location in Union Square as it would be closer to us, and we chose to eat there specifically for New Year’s Eve to close out the year on a good note. What happened instead was we were left feeling incredibly disrespected and like we had wasted our money.

We had a reservation. Nowhere online did it say we would only have 90 minutes to dine, but as soon as we were seated we were told that we would only have 90 minutes—OK fine. But we noticed that when others were seated around us, they were not given this 90 minute timeline. We found that odd and we felt like we were being targeted. As soon as our waitress came we ordered all our drinks and food. We ordered 2 drinks, yucca fries, acevichado, ceviche, pulpo, and aji de gallina. The drinks took at least 45 minutes to arrive. It took an hour for our first dish to arrive. Each successive dish took 25 minutes to arrive after the other. We waited so long for our first 3 dishes that we decided not to stay for the last appetizer and entree and just asked for the check. The only time our waiter checked on us was when we made eye contact with her, and she kept asking us whether we hadn't been served our dishes yet. To make matters worse, people who had arrived after us were served before us! And they had ordered the same exact dishes as us. 2 people who were sat next to us arrived at least 45 minutes after us. They seemed to be influencers of some sort and they were served so quickly! It felt like we were valued less. Every time we go to Mission Ceviche we order the Ceviche Mixto. This time, the dish was presented haphazardly and was missing ingredients. It all felt cobbled together. Plus, our other two dishes were cold, like they had been sitting for a while! Like I mentioned, we gave up and asked for the check early. We were given no comps, just a half apology from the waitress. And gratuity was already included! We were going to tip anyway, but adding gratuity on bad service felt like a slap in the face.

This is actually the second time we have been to Mission Ceviche Union Square. The other time we went was for my girlfriend’s birthday, and even that experience left us feeling disrespected (long wait times, bad service, etc). But we decided to give this location another shot because we love Mission Ceviche Upper East Side so much. We will never return to this location. At the end of the night, I felt like I had wasted my money (the meal is not cheap!) and that we were let down by our favorite restaurant. I think a big part of the problem is that this location has so many tables and the kitchen and the bar can’t meet the demand. Stop taking so many reservations! Focus less on the party/club vibe and more on quality food and service!

Again, it was New Year’s Eve and the restaurant was busy. Stuff happens. But I’ve never had a dining experience that left me feeling so frustrated like this. It was a sucky way to end the year. And I was stuck with a big check at the...

I have known Mission Ceviche since they were in the Gansevoort market. I was never really impressed with their ceviche. I couldn't pass the puree of mashed sweet potato that they put on the side. It interfered with the citrus of the ceviche in a disturbing way and turned into a sweet potato soup. I also was not impressed with the aji de pollo. I know they also opened a restaurant on the Upper East Side, which I never went to because I didn't want to travel that far to be disappointed.

Now that they recently opened a restaurant on 17th street, I wanted to give them a fair chance considering they didn't have a real kitchen at Gansevoort Market. On a positive note, this place looks amazing and has great ambiance and service.

In regards to the food, it is a disgrace to Peruvian cuisine. This is how Mexicans feel about Chipotle representing Mexican food. Cheap ingredients and no authenticity whatsoever. I ordered a ceviche and I specifically asked the lady, concerned about the mashed sweet potato that ruins the ceviche, please bring sweet potato on the side. She said she couldn't because they already prepared ceviche that way. As you see in the picture, they brought a very insulting plate of little diced slices of sweet potato and very little fish buried in decoration and very bland flavor.

Then we ordered the Lomo Saltado and Chaufa which were a total disgrace. I was insulted, hurt and disgusted. For the Lomo Saltado, again trying to cut corners and fill the plate with cheap decoration and ingredients, I got a plate of McDonalds French Fries. Underneath was four pieces of dry beef, one onion and two little pieces of cherry tomoato with no flavor, SOAKED in a weird brown looking broth with PEAS that have nothing to do with Lomo Saltado. The whole idea of Lomo Saltado is to taste the beef, onion and tomato together. This looked more like Chinese food.

The chaufa was another mess. How can you go cheap on rice!!?? There were three scoops of rice buried in this weird white decoration that almost made it look unappetizing. Again, putting extra cheap decorations to distract you from the lack of taste. I cannot say the chaufa was terrible, but it's a dish you can find at any corner in any Chinese restaurant in New York.

The prices are a bit high for bad food, but even more annoying, they have trained zombies that every time you put your fork down, they come trying to rush me out of the restaurant. Within forty minutes of dinner I had to tell them four times "No I'm not finished, I'm trying to enjoy my conversation." Because the trained staff were not successful in rushing me out of the restaurant in forty minutes, a very angry and irritated gentleman with a suit and ponytail came to our table and gave me no choice and picked up our plates to rush us out. Not only bad food, but you can't even enjoy conversation because they are so trained to rush you out of there.

To me, right now, Mission Ceviche is the Chipotle of...

My colleague and I decided to visit Mission Ceviche for lunch per the recommendation of another colleague and we were not disappointed!

We had to get back by a certain time so we arrived as soon as they opened. The space is beautiful, modern and instantly transports you to the hot foodie scene of Lima. Our server David was excellent. Once we were seated and placed our order, he asked if we had a time restriction and planned the meal accordingly.

We started off with the chicha morada, a sweet non-alcoholic drink made of purple corn. I loved it when I visited Peru several years ago and it isn’t easy to find so I was thrilled to find it on the menu here. My coworker tried it for the first time and she enjoyed it too!

We ordered from the pre fixe menu because it seemed like a great value and a way to try different dishes. I am pescatarian and every dish we ordered was seafood based. We started off with the Causa (another favorite of mine) which featured fresh crabmeat, potato purée, avocado and quinoa for a bit of crunch. I loved the different flavors and textures together, and the crabmeat was prominently featured. Our next appetizer was the scallops topped with Parmesan, super flavorful and fresh as well! For our mains we ordered the tallarin saltado and the arroz con mariscos. The tallarin highlighted the Asian influence on Peruvian cuisine. The noodles were tossed in a flavorful sauce with shrimp, vegetables and a poached egg - super flavorful and appropriate for this cold day. The arroz con mariscos was described as a Peruvian paella but it reminded me a bit more of a risotto. Also super flavorful, though a completely different profile than the other entree, and contained grilled octopus and fish. My colleague and I enjoyed both dishes and finished them off. We ended lunch with the beautiful chirimoya mousse. I am not familiar with chirimoya but the flavor profile of the mousse reminded me a bit of mamey. It was topped with orange granita and berries, a light and fresh sweet treat.

After finishing our meal, my coworker and I agreed that we would have to come back soon. The food was excellent and the lunch special was a steal at $35. The service was excellent throughout thanks to David, and the atmosphere was beautiful. Looking forward to my next journey to Peru via...