La Barbona

What a gem. I went there since a close friend recommended to me. Unique space and the food and service was super. Had the steak tacos and the frozen margarita, better than in Mexico, for real. Also they are open until late hours, cool,

Authentic Mexican with a NYC vibe. A little tricky to find your way into it. Worth the hunt though.

Very very cool! A little hard to find (which I like), but once we got down there it’s like your not in NYC anymore. It feels like an old Mexican cantina gem that had has been hidden there for ever. Clean (I didn’t feel gross after stuffing my face), fresh and very authentic Mexican food and great margaritas. We met a lovely couple from Canada on the next table that agreed! Staff were charming and super knowledgable about the diverse Mezcal and tequila menu and details of the food and where it came from.
Highly recommend. Try the Tuna Poke!
Ill will definitely return with friends…

Loved this place– great atmosphere– great people, and simple but great food. Like a cool speakeasy with great food– I recommend bringing good friends and eating/​drinking here.

I love this place! The casual atmosphere with nice ambiance. Fish tacos and margaritas are delicious. It was definitely worth the wait.

It’s like a secret speakeasy, I was invited to check it out and very glad that I did.
It’s a small hidden spot that has incredible tacos and ceviches, I only tried the vegetarian & fish ones, the fish was not fried… the best fish taco and ceviches I’ve had, and I’ve tried many! The vibe is very cool, an excellent hangout, ended up staying and drinking way longer than I had planned.

It’ in the basement of its «parent» restaurant De Santos and it seems like somebody decided to try and generate some revenue on what was once a storage area by putting in a bar, some tables, and calling it a restaurant with an «underground feel». My girlfriend and I made a reservation on a Saturday night for 8PM. After sitting for 25 minutes our waiter finally came for our drink order and told us nothing on the menu was in stock because they had only been open two weeks. Instead we ordered two frozen margaritas that my 8 year old niece could have made… since it was clear nobody there was actually tasting what they were serving. They cost $ 25. After 50 minutes we left without eating since our waiter never came back to take our order.

I went to La Barbona on Saturday night with a group of 8 people for a friend’s birthday, and our experience was so terrible we had to laugh. I don’t even know where to begin. The place was half full when we got there at 7:30 but was packed when we left at 10:30. The waiter let us know that they were out of half of the already minimal beverage options. The place is cute but dark as a cave and loud.
It took three hours to serve us two rounds of drinks and an order of food. Everything we ordered took over 30 minutes to get to us. I asked the waiter for water and he pointed to the carafe in the middle of the table and asked me if I wanted a glass. Like I was supposed to chug a huge carafe of water? We waited almost an hour for our second round of drinks, which we ordered before we ordered food, and received after we were finished eating.
The food: $ 8 for two minuscule tacos — I ate them in two bites. The waiter could not recognize the different types of tacos (perhaps because it was so dark), so the vegetarians were served pork tacos, the person who ordered fish tacos got steak tacos, and so forth. We also ordered a side of beans, which arrived 45 minutes after we got our tacos. We also ordered two different types of ceviche — the tuna and shrimp. I told the waiter that I was allergic to avocado and asked if the chef could put it on the side with the tuna ceviche. He made a big show of presenting me with the ceviche, confirming it had no avocado in it. Guess what? There was plenty of Avocado it in, hiding under the tuna. It was too dark to even tell I was eating it.
We asked for our check. It took them 20 minutes to bring the check. Then it took them 30 minutes to come back for the check with our money. In that time, a piece of the décor — a wooden board about two feet long — literally fell off of the ceiling onto my friend’s lap. We asked a passing waitress for the manager and she said that he was «really busy at the moment». Um — the ceiling fell down on a customer — you are not too busy. He took $ 50 off the bill, so we had to wait almost another 30 minutes for them to bring back the adjusted bill. As we were waiting for our change, a waiter had the audacity to ask us to hurry up because someone had been waiting for our table for over an hour.
Even with the $ 50 off the bill, the check was $ 46 per person for two drinks and two tiny tacos. Also — they charged my card twice. I had to call them the next day to have it removed.

This was legitimately one of the most unpleasant dining experiences of my life. We were a group of 8 celebrating the birthday of one of our dear friends. I arrived late and was never asked if I would like a drink or what I would like to order food wise. The food took FOREVER to come out and when it did, the waitstaff didn’t know which tacos were shrimp, steak or veggie. And it was impossibly dark in the restaurant so if you didn’t know how the dish was plated, it was near impossible to tell. Two of my friends happen to be vegetarian. Also, one of our friends is allergic to avocado and alerted waitstaff to this and ended up with avocado in her dinner and not placed on the side of the ceviche as requested. It took about 30 minutes to bring a second round of yes, mediocre margaritas at best. Then, a wood panel from the ceiling fell on my friend, literally stabbing her in the leg. We alerted the hostess who took it with her and never came back. We then asked what was up and to speak to a manager, she pointed to him and said «there he is, but he is very busy.» Ummmm, too busy to talk to a customer who was almost very seriously hurt by falling wall detailing?! We finally got a hold of the manager and he apologized and took 50 bucks off the bill. Great. THEN, it took forever for the bill to come out, forever to break a 20 (I’m talking 45 minutes with no food or drink wanting so badly to get the hell outta there) and then this manager has the audacity to come over and tell us «I have a party that has been waiting here for 45 minutes for this table. You’ve been here a long time.» By this time I informed him we would never be back. Horrible service, eh food and the only star is for the one reasonable waiter that validated that this must have been a terrible experience for us and apologized. Do not go, taco/​margarita haunts are a dime a dozen in this city and this management crew has no idea what they are doing and were frankly, flat out rude.

I had high hopes for this place. Unfortunately when I showed up with my guests, no one knew was they were doing. The wrong drinks came out, not to mention half the menu was not available, the tacos were food the ceviche was awful. They never brought out plates for us to eat on, charged $ 16 for a ok margarita, again the cocktail menu half of it was unavailable. The kicker was they said they’re machines weren’t working and we had to pay cash. Bottom line they took the basement of DeSantos and tried to make it a restaurant, it doesn’t work. Save your money and go to Empellon.