09.15.08
Review of Rayuela, Thursday July 2008
165 Allen St. & Stanton/Rivington Sts., 212-253-8840
Great for: fancy cocktails, crab & shrimp guacamole, being ignored and overcharged for mediocre food
A place that calls itself a restaurant should never have better drinks than food. Which is why I propose that Rayuela be repurposed as a pretty bi-level lounge with kitchen snacks. We were here because my friends L and D love ceviche, Rayuela’s putative specialty. Three other friends came along too, so I can say with certainty that, with only one duplicate dish between the six of us, we tried enough of the menu for me to have a pretty good idea of how blah it all is.
At least the very first thing, guacamole with crab and shrimp, was fresh and delicious. We had a hard time sharing it fairly among all of us. Then most of us got at least one ceviche. My cangrejo chino was crab and shrimp marinated in a lychee and guanabana citrus sauce with rocotto and jalapeño. The pear-like fruit strips made it slightly sweet. It wasn’t too sour, as ceviche so often is. The seafood was nice but not marinated enough. I liked it at first and then got tired of it. The hamachi with avocado and orange zest in a wasabi citrus sauce sounded great, tried to be inventive, and failed miserably.
The red snapper, marinated in ginger soy citrus with a rainbow of julienne peppers, cucumbers and jala, was nice but nothing special. One of us hit the jackpot with a yummy langosta revolucion of lobster and shrimp, grilled pineapple, jala and young coconut water infused with lemongrass and ginger, garnished with Uruguayuan caviar. The salmon trio al mango in pan seared, smoked and roe forms over mango, frisée, watercress and bacon with mustard and vinaigrette was fairly decent.
The pera con queso salad of Rioja-roasted pear infused with star anise, cinnamon, ginger, mixed greens, La Peral cheese, toasted walnuts and sherry vinaigrette was long on fancy ingredients, short on quality. Then there was the abysmal asparagus salad. D never sends things back, but she couldn’t just sit there and eat the worst salad ever. The asparagus was waterlogged and very clearly from a can. In fact, everything in the dish was canned, bland and horrid. At least they didn’t charge us for it.
My codorniz con lentejas, better known as roasted quail with a stew of pork belly, apples, black lentils, quail egg and crispy shallots was nowhere near as bad. It was a bit too sweet but I found the quail nice and spicy. The piquillo, a sweet Spanish pepper with lobster, shrimp, crab and chipotle aioli, was pretty good, as was the chile relleno (poblano with lamb barbacoa and creamy mushroom rice). The latter is very spicy. One of us got the restaurant week special of tiradito, which was sliced salmon with passionfruit, carica and citrus drizzled with ginger oil. It was quite sweet but decent.
We decided to share a dessert, since most of us were still hungry despite reaching our budget limits. (I had a ceviche and an app - that was already $34 without tax or tip.) The tres leches de chocolate with pineapple on the side was too fluffy. Its texture is weirdly different from how it looks, and there isn’t much taste. We did not like the random banana shit accompanying it. I hate bananas anyway, but in general I think they’re a bad idea with chocolate.
We had lots of $12 mojitos. One of them was so unacceptable D had to send it back. (The poor girl had some bad luck with this meal.) It wasn’t a big deal until her salad was awful as well, at which point we called the manager over. He was very polite verbally, but only took the salad off the bill. I kind of thought he should offer some drinks on the house, especially since he asked if we needed refills and a couple of us said yes. And despite the nice initial impression he made, he ruined it by scurrying away from us at top speed almost before he finished talking. After a little arguing at the end, he took off the automatic 20% tip.
We were puzzled by the glacial service. They not only took forever and lots of waving to come back to us for each thing, in two hours we did not get a single water refill. We were upstairs but there are lots of tables up there, it’s not as though we were all alone. There was really no reason for them to ignore us. We could not in good conscience leave them 20% for doing almost nothing, and begrudgingly at that. I think it ended up being something over 10%.
This place should just be a lounge. They have lovely cocktails and a bartender with some serious flair downstairs. I can’t understand what the hell is wrong with their food. Other than one or two standout dishes, it’s okay at best, inedible at worst, and quite pricey. At $15 or more for most apps, and $25 and up for all but three entrees, there is no excuse for such mediocre food and nonexistent service. I’ll come back for the drinks, especially the “Coming Up Roses,” but that’s it.
Rating: 5.5 / 10
Our cost: $400, but they took off the automatic 20% tip making it $330 for 6 + a small tip
Noise level: early stages of a party
Chance of walking in: medium, there are lots of tables.
Krista said,
September 17, 2008 at 11:05
It was an abysmal meal with even worse service. Thank goodness the company made up for it!