Home > Restaurants > Rayuela

Rayuela

Critics' Pick

165 Allen St., New York, NY 10002
nr. Stanton St. See Map | Subway Directions Hopstop Popup
212-253-8840 Send to Phone

Critics' Rating: Price Range: $$-$$$
Reader Rating:
6.1 out of 10

8 Reviews | Write a Review
Cuisine: Latin American

Map

Official Website

Rate & Review

Hours

Mon-Thu, 5pm-11pm; Fri, 5pm-midnight; Sat, 11am-3:30pm and 5:30pm-midnight; Sun, 11am-3:30pm and 5:30pm-11pm

Nearby Subway Stops

F at Delancey St.; J, M, Z at Essex St.

Prices

$25-$33

Payment Methods

American Express, Discover, MasterCard, Visa

Special Features

Brunch - Weekend
Dine at the Bar
Hot Spot
Notable Chef
Romantic
Design Standout

Alcohol

Full Bar

Reservations

Recommended

Profile

It’s hard to know exactly what kind of restaurant Rayuela means to be, which seems to be how the exuberant chef, Máximo Tejada, likes it. The location, on an anonymous stretch of Allen Street just below Houston, is scruffy and a little marginal, and the name, as explained by our tattooed waiter from Texas, means “hopscotch” in Spanish, a reference to Tejada’s penchant for grabbing culinary references from around Latin America and the world. There are numerous exotic cocktails available at the bar, some of them made with quince, guava, and even rose petals, and many of them delicious. There are also twelve appetizers, thirteen entrées, and a dizzying variety of seviches to choose from. The best of these is called “Seven Powers of the Sea,” a bracing agglomeration made with seven kinds of seafood floating in a vinegary tomatillo sauce. Did I mention, also, that the walls at Rayuela are dotted with river stones from Peru and that there’s a real live olive tree (from California) growing in the downstairs lounge area, the gnarled branches of which spread up to the swanky dining room on the second floor? Not that this should distract you from Tejada’s eclectic cooking, which is quite good more often than it is bad. Among the quite-good dishes: the fried-plantain “mofongo” balls stuffed with pork, a cool wheel of paella threaded with fresh lobster and scallops, the creamy Ecuadoran seafood stew called surena, and that Afro-Brazilian specialty fufu (mashed plantains or yams), mingled with spicy shrimp and chorizo and decorated with plumes of fried plantains. Among the bad ones: a sludgy duck breast marinated in sugarcane, a tired portion of overcooked crispy pork, and virtually all the desserts, many of which seemed to have been flown in from some random industrial cafeteria on the outskirts of Lima, Peru. — Adam Platt

Ideal Meal

“Seven Powers of the Sea” seviche, spicy shrimp with fufu or paella, cocktails.

Reader Ratings

6.1

"Mixed Reviews"
Average Reader Rating
on a Scale of 10

Go with time

Ceeuy from 10002 | Posted on 7/12/08

Overall Reader Rating: 5 (Mixed Reviews)


Food:	8
Service:	4

Décor:	5

Value:	4

True to their Latin American culture, the staff at Rayuela take their time. We waited to be seated (even with a reservation), we waited for our order to be taken, we waited for drinks, food, and the check. Basically, too much...Read More

horrible

xmjx from 10002 | Posted on 5/12/08

Overall Reader Rating: 1 (Not Recommended)


Food:	4
Service:	1

Décor:	7

Value:	3

Con(s): Long wait to be seated even with reservations. Long wait for the server to take our orders. Long wait for the food to arrive to our table esp. the entree. Service is awful even the manager was rude. Entree...Read More