Cascalote Latin Bistro

I went to the bistro with my daughter and was greeted by a nice warm smile from a waitress. This impressed me and the décor was warm tones and inviting. The meal was great, fresh and flavourful not overly seasoned. The empanadas were FABULOUS. I make them myself for my family, and loves this version. The Frenchtoast was my daughter’s delight, not to eggy. My special was the skirt steak, it was delicious. Thank you to the waitstaff. If was an enjoyable experience and definitely would go again, except on a date with my husband.

This place gets better and better. It’s rare to find a place that does Latin food with so much joy, care and flare. Combine this with impeccable and casual service and you’ve got yourself a regular. I love Cascalote. The only change I would make is to have them be in a bigger space. I’m afraid once everyone starts flocking here It will be challenging to get a seat.
See review below for first five visits.
Brunch worthy spot.
So, Anthony Bourdain says not to eat eggs Benedict at any restaurant for good reason. See my review for Maison Harlem if you want to know why.
Cascalote’s brunch menu is pithy. They focus on doing the very best at what they do.
I’ve ordered pretty much every brunch item — short ribs Benedict, dulce de leche pancakes. But it’s really the eggs Benedict cascalote which carries this entire review.
The potatoes are sautéed with peppers and onions. Not mushy or an afterthought. They are firm, soft, crispy and well seasoned.
The Cascalote Benedict consists of two hefty crab cakes topped with sautéed spinach, poached eggs and a rich, creamy spicy hollandaise sauce. It is out of bounds.
The crab cake is chunky, creamy and firm on the inside with a crispy panko crust on the outside. It is beyond delicious. Spinach is not wet but sautéed. The eggs poached perfectly. No water. Nor over cooked. Then topped with a rich buttery hollandaise. Worth every plank pose and mountain climber.
They have a full bar. As well as coffee, jarritos and aguas.
The décor is perfectly comfortable. The whole restaurant seats maybe 25 small people.
The music wafting in the background varies from reggaeton, elie Goulding, to rated X hip hop. In my mind it kind of completes the whole Spanish Harlem vibe.
Staff is well trained albeit not fancy.
But, oh well. Come to Cascalote Bistro for the best brunchy breakfast you will have for many years to come.

Such a great spot for good food in Harlem.
I’ve only had brunch but thoroughly enjoyed it. A bit on the pricy side, but perhaps only seemingly so due to the more modest price point of the neighborhood. My only gripe: they don’t do more than one refill for coffee. That said, when requested I was denied and then the sweet waitress came back later with a smile, wink and refill.
The whole family was there. I love to support new and unique local business, particularly when they’re so delicious! Definitely give it a try!

I’ve been here twice for dinner so far and even though it’s pricer than other spots in East Harlem (above $ 20/​person on average), I love this spot! I came here today for brunch because my friend told me that Cascalote’s brunch is excellent and yes, Cascalote didn’t disappoint me. I had today’s special which was zucchini quesadilla with green sauce, fried potato balls and eggs and even though tres leches pancakes was one of the brunch menu, my fiancé and I ordered it as an appetizer. Even though I don’t know what kind of dish it is from the menu, this place is one of the few restaurants that I can be adventurous and know that I’ll be satisfied. The drink menu is expensive as a glass of margarita is $ 12 but considering how delicious this place is, I’m willing to give this spot 5 stars instead of 4!

Popped in here for lunch while visiting some friends in the city. Our table had the short ribs eggs Benedict, a burrito & huevos hornados (sp). The short ribs Benedict were the table favorite, the biscuit on the bottom (rather than English muffin) made the dish in my opinion. The portion was fairly large, we wished we had shared and skipped the burrito. Margaritas were on point.
The menu at the restaurant was more limited than what’s posted on Unilocal,but still full of yummy sounding options.
One criticism– I was accidentally charged the happy hour price for my drink even though it wasn’t happy hour. After taking my ticket & card, they came back to tell me they adjusted it for the higher price, $ 4 more. That’s fine as I had planned for the regular cost, but I feel like it would have been a nice gesture (and good business) to let that one slide.

Well crafted dishes with delicious flavors and international spin on Latin food. You absolutely must have the salmon tartare and whatever special they are offering that night. Today’s was a Korean dish which impressed and pleased. Lots of attention to detail, affordable, great ambience, spot on service.

I’ve dined here so many times I’m pretty sure I have tried everything for dinner and a few of their Brunch specials. This place never disappoints, I have brought friends and family here with different palettes and everyone enjoys their meals.
Favorite for brunch is the Eggs Benedict with crab cake
Favorite Dinner shrimp and watercress salad– dressing is amazing!
This place is best for a smaller group or a date.

Delicious! Yummy steak and chimichanga, will def be back.
Good drinks as well, worth the price

I took my sister tonight for a bday dinner and we enjoyed the food and drinks. It was a very good first experience for us both and I wanted us to try something different anyway. The waitress we had was very nice and attentive to us, which is a plus when serving people. Its a small spot but those are usually the really good spots. I will be returning.

The Benedicto with crab cakes and the tres leeches pancakes are to die for. Also, the owner gave us mimosas on the house! Incredible incredible place to eat

Amazing food, great music love the simple décor and how small it is I would definitely be back but this time for brunch and did I mentioned the service rocked

A perfect lil gem for a scrumptious meal. Been here for dinner & brunch, what got me to writing this 5 star review are the crab cakes on the brunch menu. The place is cute, cozy, waitresses are warm & friendly, food is awesome. Now the crab cakes, given the delicate flavor, could have gone easily gone unnoticed in the medley of poached eggs, sautéed spinach, potatoes topped with the spicy hollandaise sauce. Not here. The cakes were soft, moist with a hint of lime complimenting the delicate sweet flavor of crabs, that bursts through a thin crust. Just perfect. Enjoyed every bit of it, paired with other items on the plate, as much as by itself.

Diamond in the rough! Place is tiny and casual, but the food is made with lots of love, and a gourmet touch!
Highly recommend the Costillitas Benedicto, Huevos Horneados, and the tres leches pancakes. Best eats I’ve had in east Harlem so far.

Took my mom and brother for their birthdays.
Overall, I enjoyed the place. It is very small, but that’s what I liked the most, the fact that you weren’t competing with other tables to have a conversation. the place has nice décor, Mexican inspired.
The service was ok, I believe it definitely could have been better, considering we were the only large table there. The waitresses just kept talking among themselves which was cool if it wasn’t the entire time we were there. It was weird.
The food was good, my mom had the fish tacos which she liked and so did I, spicy but not too much. I had the churrassco which was really good, the fries were ehh not the greatest. I ordered a side of yucca fries those were so goooood, definitely a must. We also ordered the shrimp cocktail and ehh for the amount they charge it lacked actual shrimp, just a lot of tomatoes and onions. I had a mango margarita and it was very bland, mango flavor was pretty much nonexistent.
For desert we ordered the flan and tres leche, hmmm the flan was ok, again nothing special, the tres leche I did not like at all. It tasted old and hard.

Everything was delicious! My bestie, her NRC friend and I headed over after a great workout on a nearby track. I had no idea what to expect but needless to say I was not disappointed. The service was great! The food was so good. Plates were full of food! This is a place where you can share! A big plus for me because I’m so greedy and I want to try everything. Can’t Wait To return.
We order the Tres Les Pancakes, shared. They were like, crispy, yet soft, sweet and perfectly cooked.
I also ordered a veggie omelette. Cooked to perfection. Homefries were delicious too… seasoned, not dry, a little crispy.
This is a must do for any foodie!

Amazing casual Latin restaurant with interesting menu items and outstanding food for brunch/​lunch… service was friendly… I saw several dishes come out that looked amazing — I ordered a short rib Benedict dish (I forget what it was called on the menu) — how they prepared the dish and how delicious it was– wonderful. This dish was recommended to me, and the couple sitting next to us who were regulars said that’s the best/​their favorite dish. Soooo good!

I came back recently for brunch and felt it necessary to write a quick update. First off, the fact that I needed to come back here within a week of my first visit says something! Again, my experience was spot on all around. We tried the Tres Leches Pancakes, which was basically the reason for my return. I had to try them and they did not disappoint. They are crisp on the outside, and soft in the middle. The dish is not too sweet or heavy, which is key, and I love the addition of banana and walnuts to top it all off.
We shared one savory item as well, the Short Ribs Benedict, and it was absolutely delicious. The short ribs were flavorful and literally just fall apart because they are so tender. I really enjoyed the adobo hollandaise on top. It gave the dish wonderful flavor and was a nice change from the standard hollandaise sauce that you get elsewhere. I also appreciated that they used buttermilk biscuits as the base for the dish. The home fries were perfect as well.
I have yet to have a single dish here that doesn’t leave me ooooing and ahhing and dying to return. Of course I did my usual food stalking of the surrounding tables to see what everyone else was eating… Everything looked so good. I’m looking forward to coming back and sampling more of the menu. I think it’s safe to say this is officially one of my favorite restaurants in NYC.

This place is amazing!!!
It’s pretty small, it has like 7 tables, but the food is delicious!
We were there for brunch, we had brazilian cheese bread, which are very good. Also, the huevos rancheros with steak; they were great, but I would love a creamy ranchero sauce instead of the one they have.
For drinks a margarita on the rocks with salt, and my girl had a mimosa! The margarita was delicious and the mimosa was on point not too much orange juice! Just the way it’s suppose to be.
We also had the shrimp salad, watercress, tomato, corn, avocado and like 4 grilled jumbo shrimp with a citric chipotle sauce! If you don’t eat spicy do not worry if just a pretty small touch of chipotle.
For desser: The tres leches cake!, its a pretty good cake, but was dry on the top part. If they could drop a passion fruit sauce or a strawberry sour sauce to kill a little bit of the sweetness of the cake it would be amazing! Give a try ;)
I would recommend anybody to go to this place! Trust me it’s worth the trip, just don’t eat too much because I was unable to do anything after I left!

It’s OK. We came here because of the reviews. 4.5 stars here, same over there, etc.
It’s definitely not what I expected. I been in Mexico several times and this doesn’t taste like the real thing.
Tacos, cemitas, tortas all had a tasteless flavor. Tacos al pastor lacked pineapple. The torta didn’t have enough ingredients and the skirt steak was kind of chewy. The tres leches pancakes didn’t have enough dulce de leche.
Anyway, wouldn’t come back nor recommend this place. There are many many Mexican options in the city and around the area.

Maaaaaaaaan this place was great.
One of the many reasons I love Unilocal is that I can select an area and find whatever I want in said area. One Sunday what I wanted was brunch (But really, when do I NOT want brunch?). Living in Stockholm city has made me really testy when it comes to taking trains in NYC. I expect to get anywhere in half an hour, and because I was staying in the Bronx, my options needed to be close to me. Furthermore, I have wayyyy too many bookmarks in lower Manhattan, meaning I really need to explore a little more.
I came across Cascalote and the reviews were what made me decide. I was so glad I did! We arrived around 12, just an hour after they opened and we were the first ones there. The waitress sat us immediately and began to explain the history behind the restaurant. Her parents own it, buy all the ingredients fresh, and make all the food. A heavy claim to make, but believable, and made me so excited to try the food.
It was tough deciding, but I eventually ordered Las Tortugas (Mexican sandwich). It arrived and I was pleased to see how big the portion was. It must’ve taken at least an entire large potato to make my side of fries. They were DELICIOUS, and I had to stop myself from eating them before I ran out of space for the sandwich. The sandwich had pretty basic bread but the ingredients were tasty, fresh, and abundant. Good thing they wrapped both halves in parchment paper because it’s so packed, the fillings tried to escape with every bite. My friend ordered the huevos rancheros and they were equally, if not more amazing (Don’t tell him but after we exchanged bites, I just wanted to keep the rest of his dish).
We also shared tres leches pancakes, which aren’t exactly pancakes in the traditional sense. They were denser and thicker, and had a slightly crisp crust. Aside from the crust which put me off a bit, these things were INCREDIBLE. Damn. I would go here just to eat these.
I really wanted to give this review 4.5 stars for a couple of reasons. Firstly, I couldn’t replace my fries with a salad, which I thought was strange. It annoyed me because having options and accommodating customers’ wants and needs should be a priority at restaurants. Secondly, the pancake crust. The service, atmosphere, and tasty food definitely make up for it though, and this place is worth at LEAST 2 more visits (plantain crusted salmon, I’m coming back for you!)