Estela New York - Buy Reservations

Wow! This place is amazing! If you really love tapas like I do, then I highly recommend coming here. The employees are very attentive and helpful. Our waiter was very educated on all of the menu items and told us what are the popular dishes that people order. This is a very cute place to go on a date night. My boyfriend and I ordered their snapper with uni and seaweed, fried arroz negro with squid and romesco, steak tartare with elderberries, steak yuzu kosho mignonette, and panna cotta. My favorites were the fried arroz negro with squid and romesco and beef tartare. Those are must orders! Everything was delicious.

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Tried 3 dishes, 1 dessert, and 1 drink for lunch 2 people ($157 after 20% gratuity) on 7/23/22....it was alright I guess?Made a reservation for lunch, but there were empty tables throughout our entire meal despite it being a Saturday, not sure we really needed to. Our entire meal took maybe 1-1.5 hours, didn't feel rushed or like we were waiting, great pacing.When we showed up on time for our reservation, there were deliveries still going into the restaurant, we had to wait ~10 minutes for them to finish up before we could even get by (the entrance is tiny, no way you're going in at the same time as anyone else). Kind of weird, but maybe they don't control their delivery schedule and they were running late, I'll allow it.We were seated at our table for 2, right next to a table of 4. There was another empty table for 2 next to us that wasn't taken for our entire meal. Why not give everyone some space?Which brings us to the next point. The dining room, and the tables, and the space between the tables, are TINY. You can hear everything the table next to you is saying, and forget about getting up at any point without bothering the people next to you. There are mirrors on the walls which try and make the space look bigger, but they do nothing for the loudness of the room. I actually used the Apple Watch noise level measuring and it tipped into yellow "Loud" at times - I know you make do with what you have, but some cushions/decorations/anything might go a long way towards making it a little more tolerable.Drinks were great. I ordered the Bloody Mary and it came with a lot of pepper and Thai chili, definitely not a recipe I've had before, big fan.At this point, the server recommended that we order 4-6 dishes for the two of us. If we had followed this advice, I think we would have had to take food to go - absolutely not what I want to do on a hot NYC day. The portions are decently sized (even for the Michelin star price), go small and order more/eat dessert after.Two of our ordered dishes were big hits. We ordered two signature Estela classics, the fried arroz negro and the ricotta dumplings, and both were great. The arroz negro had a different texture every bite - my partner and I ate this one really slowly and tried to figure out the ingredients the entire time we were enjoying. The ricotta dumplings are just simple goodness, and it was a great touch for a server to bring us some complimentary bread to soak up the mushroom broth at the end.One dish missed. The "steelhead trout with sea urchin and seaweed" broke apart oddly (trout is one of the easiest fish to get to be flaky?), the sea urchin was actually used to make the sauce and therefore I could hardly even taste any of the rich, buttery, seafood-y taste that's its signature tasty goodness, and the kelp-y seaweed was drowned in a citrus-y vinaigrette. I couldn't even taste the saltiness of the seaweed, that was a super weird experience.The "panna cotta with vinegar and honey" dessert was awesome - not too sweet, not too much vanilla, not too acidic, perfect temperature for a HOT summer day in NYC. Great touch by the server to choose this moment to acknowledge our special occasion as well!I think I'd return with a bigger group to try the entire menu - it's the sort of place where you WANT to try everything. With a bigger group, you're also less likely to get bullied around with the space concerns since you'll literally be taking up more table space, and you'll definitely be able to hear everyone in your group since you can hear everything that's going on in the dining room anyways. I'd LOVE for Estela to fix the dining room to be better for small groups - I really think it'd be as simple as putting in furniture to absorb some of the loudness of a room with brick walls and mirrors. But right now, the environment definitely detracts from the food, and I'd only be back alone at the bar or in a group that'd take much of the space (and unfortunately, that'd probably be at the expense of others).

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This is what it looks like every day in front of Estela on Houston Street. Food scraps waste trash strewn. I can't believe anyone would walk down this block to eat there because it's so incredibly disgusting. The sidewalk tree planter beside it is full of huge rat holes for huge rats. I avoid walking on this block at all costs because it's just one of the most disgusting blocks in all of the neighborhood. It amazes me that people walk thru this trash to eat food there. Beyond gross. The business owners clearly don't care for their neighbors or their own outward appearance.

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Walked in on a Saturday at 6pm and got bar seating, which was a bit cramped, but beggars can't be choosers! Our waiter/bartender was super sweet and had great recs for both food and drinks. We started off with the seasonal crab + celery root and seaweed dish, then went on to the beef tartare (crunchy and creamy!), endive (refreshing, tart, yet savory, and super fun to eat), the foie gras (perfectly tender and rich, wrapped in greens), and ended with the ricotta dumplings, which were the highlight of my night. The food was extremely well thought out and delicately presented; it felt like we went through a whole gastronomic journey with all the textures and taste profiles.We also got a cheese to share as dessert (it looked like a flower!) and each got a drink - a white wine for myself and a spritz for my friend. All in all, it was a lovely dinner - perfect for date nights or intimate special occasions! It's probably not a great choice if you have a large group, but so delicious that you should stop by.

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Tiny spot and a little crowded but the food and drinks really hit the spot. Definitely worth the late night res

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The vibe inside is nice (it's a small restaurant and sitting at the bar feels very New York in a good way). Beef tartare with sunchokes and elderberries - quite good; you don't taste much elderberry but the sunchokes add a nice crunch.Foie gras in grape leaves - really nice, would recommend! The grape leaves add freshness/bitterness and the foie is cooked perfectly. Arroz negro - way too salty. Flavor is nice if you like squid ink, but there wasn't much squid. Was a bit like Rice Krispies baked with table salt. Ricotta dumplings - the raw mushroom was an interesting touch, dumplings were nice but a bit mushy. Would recommend to try at least once though.Sweet potato with rum ice cream - much too alcohol-forward for me. Not much depth of flavor or texture either, just alcohol flavored mush.

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Two bites into this meal, I declared it my new favorite restaurant. The vibe is low-key but the food is upscale. It's perfect for a date or girl's night. It's dimly lit so it's a good spot for an anniversary celebration as well.

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I came in for a lunch estela was hosting benefitting planned parenthood. I sat at the bar and was immediately served a drink and the first of four courses on the menu that day. I had reserved the lunch knowing it was going to be four courses, but it was really more like 9! Everything was executed perfectly. I especially loved the endive salad, which I know is a staple on their normal menu. The chocolate cake was perfectly balanced with sweetness and a hint of salt, and it was one of the only chocolate cakes I've eaten where I really got to appreciate the flavor of the chocolate (and trust me, I've tried plenty of chocolate cakes). The drinks were creative and paired amazingly with the courses, and I loved the more sophisticated sub for an espresso martini, which have gotten so popular at bars that it's losing some of its luster. At the end of the meal I asked if I could add gratuity even though I had prepaid for the lunch. The bar staff insisted they were all working that day so they could help raise money. This place seems to be not only a food destination, but a place where its staff want to do good. Would definitely love to come back for dinner next time I'm in the area!

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Sublime across two visits, lunch and dinner, about 6 weeks apart. Having eaten and most of the best restaurants in NYC this genuinely my favorite. Pictures are from lunch in June.

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Food was delicious. It was meant to really be savoured, enjoyed. Unfortunately the experience was really ruined by how much the staff rushed the meal. Plates were meant to be enjoyed one by one. We'd not even finished one plate before they'd brought the next one. Also, it seemed strange that our plates weren't changed once during the meal causing the flavours from very different dishes to mix together. Also the sommelier absolutely did not add any value to the wine choice. They should really recommend directly next to each dish on the menu. Perhaps even offer a wine flight to accompany one's meal.

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