Lulu’s Taqueria

Popped in here on a late Sunday afternoon. The place was pretty empty so grabbing a table was no problem. The bar had a good vibe to it. However it was a nice day outside, so most people were probably outside. As a vegan, Lulu’s catered to my diet and also my buddies non vegan diet.
I’m a major guacamole fan, and Lulu’s met the minimum expectations. There wasn’t much for the price, however it was chunky and good to know that it was made fresh hourly according to the menu.
I ordered the spinach, mushroom and tofu tacos and a side of black beans. I was happy to know that the black beans were made vegan with oil instead of lard. The food came out quick but very small portions, the beans were in a very small ramekin and the tacos come in twos. Maybe it’s the Arizona in me that’s used to tacos coming in threes. However they were delicious, a little too much released moisture from the tofu, but very good flavor which is not easy with tofu.
Overall Lulus is a great local place in Harlem to grab a quick sit down meal and see what the rest of Harlem has to offer.

Good Mexican food. Stopped here on a Saturday night before going out and had a great time. The quesadilla is great, the shrimp fiesta was oily but tastes awesome and the chicken fiesta was ‘phenomenal’. All these options come with beans, rice and extra tortilla, a side of guacamole and pico de gallo. We sat downstairs and upon request they turned on the music. Overall it was. A great experience because the service was A+. Shoutout to Sarah! For the great service!

Very Nice! First time in New York and a friend recommended we go to a Mexican Restaurant for dinner. Luis did not disappoint! Crab and Shrimp tacos were amazing!

Came by on a cold Sunday night for dinner with a couple of friends. The upper level has a nice sized bar with a fair amount of space for seating. The lower level was closed due to a problem with the pipes. No biggie, it was relatively early so we were able to be seated promptly.
For dinner, we shared the blackened fish tacos and the seared tuna tacos. The blackened fish tacos were very nice in that texture of the blackened fish contrasts very nicely with the slaw and avocado. The seared tuna tacos were also good, the soy citrus and pico de gallo added a nice sweetness to the tuna. However, of the two dishes, I did prefer the blackened fish tacos. We also enjoyed a side of maduros (fried ripe plantains) which were perfectly sweet and straight from the fryer. Heavennnn.
The food was very fresh and very tasty. Each taco order comes with two small-​ish tacos, so if you are starving, I would recommend also ordering appetizers and sides, or sharing an extra taco entrée with someone (or with yourself).
Why 3 stars…*sigh* I’ve been here twice, and both times the service was quite slow and the waiter/​waitress would kind of disappear for a while. I understand that ppl can have a bad night, but…

Walked past this spot on the way to a show last night, ¹¹⁄₆. Upon leaving the show, a couple friends and I decided to try the place out rather than go to our normal haunts. It looked really cute, so we went in.
Our waitress comes over with water and glasses. Off the bat, she’s distracted by something and over pours the first glass of water. I don’t know what distracted her because other than bar patrons, we were the only ones there. She wipes up the water but leaves the glass still filled to the tippy top, so that if you picked it up it would continue to spill. I had to ask her for a straw for my friend, noting to her that the glass is too full to pick up and drink from, at which point a good server would have replaced that glass instead but a straw will fix the situation for my friend to get some water into her so we took it.
We place our food orders. I see the taco orders come with two tacos. The shrimp taco and the hangar steak tacos are the same price so I asked «Is it possible to get one steak taco and one shrimp taco?» The waitress replies «Yes». Then I add on an order of chipotle truffle mac n cheese because it sounds like something I should try! My other girlfriend decides she’ll play it safe with the fish tacos.
When the food comes out, it’s one order of fish tacos, one order of hangar steak tacos and one order of shrimp tacos. So I say, I asked for just one steak taco and one shrimp taco to which the waitress then says «Oh no, we don’t do that here. I don’t own the place, I don’t make the rules. Which one do you want?» My friend reiterates that I specifically asked her if I could get one of each and she said «Yes». I wind up taking the steak tacos. Being that both orders have come out and it was the waitress’ misunderstanding a good server might say– «Well, they are both here so go ahead and take one of each. Sorry for the confusion» and might have gone on to clarify «but just so you know next time, we cannot split the orders even if it’s the same price.» The chewy, rubbery texture of the meat was the least of my disappointments while dining there. Then the Mac n cheese comes out and it’s just pasta shells in orange chipotle «water» sauce with queso blanco sprinkled on top. Nothing about this will pass for Mac n Cheese. So that just sits there after each of us at the table takes one bite to experience this mess.
Never once after receiving our food does our waitress come back over to check to see if everything is okay. My sangria glass sat empty after I finished the first. You must remember the place is not busy. She’s been standing with the other staff, chatting it up this whole time and so we’re just sitting taking note of how inattentive she is to our party. Finally she comes over after we have finished eating and ask if we want the check. Still no «how was everything? I see you didn’t really touch your Mac n cheese. Was something wrong?» etc. so I convey to her the sauce was like chipotle water. It wasn’t good. She says she’ll take it off the bill. Still no real concern for why I don’t like it or anything else. We pay the bill. No one at the table thinks her service is worth a gratuity at all. We leave $ 2. We linger talking for about 5 minutes after she takes the check. She shows the other staff our $ 2 tip and they laugh (they are all right within earshot). We wonder if she’ll bother to come over and ask why was this the gratuity. She didn’t. We left. We’re certain she just thinks we’re lousy tippers and difficult people but my group of people happen to be the folks that even if all the food came out burnt to a crisp, attentiveness to your table’s party will warrant us leaving a sizable tip of AT LEAST 20%. However, I am not one to reward mediocrity. This is a service industry. It is unfortunate that this seemed to be unknown to our waitress.
My review has two stars because the place was cute and inviting from the outside. Nothing or no one inside made me want to return to give it another try.

Came here on a Tuesday for what I thought was Tacos Tuesday but apparently not.
Service: On Oct 6, their IG page indicated they would start to have $ 3 tacos on Tuesdays. When we got there, the waiter told us they no longer had the special because «it didn’t work out». Okay, that was the main reason we went there, so obviously the marketing piece was was working. When I suggested that 2 weeks is not truly enough to see results (this is marketing 101) she said, «the owner has various restaurants so he knows what works». Wow, she could at least said, I’ll give him your feedback, even if she was lying to me. When I ordered a glass of wine they said they didn’t have anymore clean wine glasses so they gave me the wine in a cocktail glass. I’m not a wine snob, actually maybe I am, but for $ 11 for a glass of wine, the least they can do is have enough wine glasses. To be honest, I only saw one person having a glass of wine, so do they only have one glass for the whole restaurant?
Ambiance: Small and narrow on the first floor. They seem to have a downstairs but we didn’t get to see it. Crowd was mostly young professional.
Food: The salsa that comes with the tortilla chip is tiny, like in a container where you pour ketchup; with that said, it tasted pretty good. I had the lobster tacos; they weren’t bad but the lobster was not that fresh.
My friends like their tacos but felt portion was small.
Prices: Overpriced; I know Harlem is up and coming but come on, if you are going to increase the price, please increase the quality.
Not coming back.

OMG Coconut Margarita and guacamole is just what I needed after work. my new spot! Bartender made excellent recommendations.

I came here with some coworkers for happy hour on a Friday evening, but we ended up with a disappointing experience overall. We got there around 5:15pm and the place was moderately empty. However, we had to pretty much «beg» the waitress to let us pull 2 tables together to accommodate all 5 of us. She seemed to be under the impression that we would take up too much space if we joined the two tables, which was not true at all since we could have easily squeezed an extra chair in and that area of the restaurant was really spacious. She actually pulled random bar stools out and put them in a circle at the corner of the restaurant (with no table), and wanted us to sit there even though we told her several times that we were going to order snacks to share. Strange logic. She eventually obliged and let us pull 2 tables together, but we were all confused as to why we had to «fight» for that.
Whoever is reading this — If you’re thinking of coming here just for happy hour, please don’t do it. I can’t speak much for their food as we only had the chips and guac, but I will say that the salsa that came along with the chips tasted weird and was really watery. I don’t know if the person putting it into the bowl just didn’t mix it before scooping it out for us, or if that’s how their salsa is usually, but the texture was just wrong. Anyways back to the happy hour. There was only 1 beer being offered for their happy hour special, and it was the Amstel Light ($ 4 for carbonated water guys!). None of their other beers on tap (e.g. Blue Moon, Sam Adams) were available for happy hour, which was strange and disappointing.
If you’re not about that Amstel Light life (hear hear), their other happy hour specials are frozen margaritas ($ 7) and sangrias ($ 7). To be honest, I personally don’t think that those are good happy hour deals as there are several other places nearby that have cheaper and better happy hours, especially around Amsterdam Ave.
Needless to say, I won’t be back here again.

I’ve been so excited to try Lulu’s ever since a good friend of mine told me about it. I finally got a chance to visit this evening and unfortunately my experience was pretty lackluster. The restaurant itself looks very nice, and the menu items sound absolutely delicious upon first glance. It actually took me a while to figure out what I wanted. So I was disappointed when I attempted to order the coconut curry mahi and learned they no longer had it. What was also disappointing was realizing that the menu I’d been presented was not exactly the same as the one on their website. I’d wanted yucca, either fried or mashed like on the website menu, but it wasn’t featured at all on the physical menu.
Eventually I settled on the pork and pineapple tacos and the hangar steak tacos. Now, when I saw pork and pineapple, I envisioned an al pastor taco, so I was surprised to realize that it was actually ham and pineapple, which was very reminiscent of Thanksgiving, but it wasn’t what I was expecting. The hangar steak tacos were great but I was surprised at how little steak I got, especially considering that it was $ 10 for 2 tacos. I also tried my friend’s chipotle truffle mac & cheese which came out piping hot and was actually quite good. To wash it all down I had a dark & stormy that was very well made.
Overall, I thought the food was good. But the prices for the tacos left me feeling a little cheated, especially considering how little steak I got. There are tons of cheaper (and authentic) tacos in the city that boast more flavor and give more bang for your buck. However, if you’re willing to spend a little extra, you won’t have a bad meal.

I was really hoping this place would be good. Harlem needs so good Mexican food but it was a huge disappointment. Their house salsa was watered down and had no body to it. I ordered the guacamole which tastes store bought and was freezing cold obviously made well ahead of time and stored in the fridge or freezer. Our waitress said the veggie tacos were really good but they were bland and tasted like onion and boiled spinach. I couldn’t even eat the second taco. The burrito was monstrous but was filed with mostly rice. It didn’t sit well in the stomach either.
Over all, the good tasted like it was brought in and warmed up from somewhere else. Silver lining was the house margarita which was good but I don’t think i would go back for even that.
Harlem, I love you and you deserve good Mexican food. This just wasn’t it.

I literally had the best tres leches EVER!!! The service is amazing. The staff was very accommodating and friendly. They made sure that everything we ordered was perfect. I thought that they should have a larger selection of entrées, however what they did have was spectacular. If you are looking for a nice, chill spot after work or to meet up with a girlfriend, and are in the mood for Mexican this is your spot.

This place is great! The truffle max and cheese and the duck tacos are unbelievable. The service is top notch too!
I can’t wait to come back.

Chill casual spot. Good to grab drinks and a small bite to eat with a date or small group. The staff are attentive and friendly. They have the windows opened so it creates and nice feel during the summer. Went on a Fri night and it wasn’t over crowded. No wait. The passion fruit mojito was good. Enjoyed the tuna and avocado tartar. Not 4 stars because my BF said his mojito could have had the ingredients muddled a bit more and the plantains with the tuna tartar were burned, the fish tacos lacking in flavor and portion. But still chill spot for drinks in my opinion.

Found this place on Unilocal.Was looking for fish tacos and realized this is the old «Perks» of Harlem when we arrived. I kept it simple as I was hungry and didn’t indulge in the environment too much. Briefly, it’s a dim lit, low music chill setting. Looks nice for a date nite.
I had the Blackened Fish Tacos and a Lulu’s Margarita. The tacos were great w/​a sweet & spicy sauce topped w/​sliced avocado. Yet the margarita was blah– overwhelmed w/​sour mix, I didn’t finish it.
The hosts and staff were very welcoming and pleasant. Torn, I guess that yet another Harlem staple has gone but hey… Cool spot; seems befitting for a quick night out for people in the immediate area.

Bottom line: Great hole in the wall, friendly staff, average food
Glows: The staff was friendly and helpful.
Grows: The house margarita tasted as though it had mango in it. The lobster tacos only had very little lobster In it and nothing else. The lobster tacos were dry and very average.

Came here on a casual evening for dinner. We got steak tacos, fish tacos, chips and guacamole, and rice and beans. The tacos were good not great. The fish was well cooked, and the steak tacos had a sweet barbecue like sauce that I wasn’t expecting. The rice was just ok, the beans were probably better than the rice. The chips were nice and crispy, and the Guacamole was smooth but probably needed a little more flavor. I also got a margarita which was pretty solid.
The service was the highlight, we were waited on attentively and greeted immediately upon entering and when we left. We did not have to wait long for our drinks or our food. The ambiance is great, with more of a lively/​casual feel. Would be good for grabbing casual drinks here with a friend. The Mexican food though is just average, and there are better options in the Harlem/​Morningside area to be honest.

The tacos are good but, definitely a tease so you get multiples even if you’re not hungry enough for an entrée. Margaritas are nice… from the looks of the plates & the faces of the people all the food is good. The environment is bustling mostly young professionals looking for the next cool spot & folks from the neighborhood happy they don’t have to go to far for some good bites. My friends and I will definitely go back. Also, it gets packed but, it’s not crazy because like shift workers the crowd rotates.

**Had my review under another page. Moved it here*
Wow! A rough start to the grand opening. Don’t even know where to begin…
The place is packed, and that can either be a good sign, or a bad sign. This is in-​between for them. There are a lot of waiters/​waiters, but everyone is all over the place. The machines are not working because there was a line to use the POS system… Yikes. Other issues (not in order of occurrence):
1. It’s dark downstairs. Yikes! We has to hold candles to the menu — be careful doing this, you can start a fire.
2. Lack of chairs. When you have to ask for chairs, especially when they are supposed to be at a table there is an issue. Also, please don’t give me ‘tude when I ask if I can take a chair from someone
3. The waitress (extremely nice) is a big frazzled. We ordered White Sangrias, and it took 20 minutes for them to come. Also, we have one set of utensils for 8 people. No worries… we’ll share.
4. I really did forget what I ordered. Two people from my table ordered, then the waitress left without taking any other orders. She eventually came back, and took the rest of the orders… not sure if they were put in together or not; and lastly…
5. No dessert. Yes — even if it’s on the menu doesn’t mean that have it. My daughter won’t be eating then.
Three stars as these are opening day kinks. Will I come back, yes…
Oh! And these are the same people who brought us Cantina (7^th Ave) and Harlem BBQ (8^th Ave). I found a familiar face ;)

Great place. Great music. Great food. Great overall. See you next time.
Went here for a friend’s birthday and we had some tacos. The truffle mac and cheese are to die for. More than suffices your appetite and that’s just an appetizer.
A relaxed atmosphere playing non stop Afro beats, calypso and soca. We were dancing in our seats the whole time.

Just opened for Cinco de Mayo.
The cocktails are good and strong (maybe that’s why the highboys are wobbly?) with a decent beer and tequila selection. The complimentary chips and salsa are good. Lulu’s is really more for a night out, rather than a grab-​and-​go taco shack bite. The prices (you’re paying for the fun bar ambiance really, food is nothing to write home about) will confirm this. And the neighborhood turns up dressed to the 9’s here, raising their voices with each glass they raise, sure gets loud and crowded on a Friday night… The NEW Harlem, they say. That said, they will still let you in, seat you in a corner and hide you from view, on said Friday night, if you and your girlfriend show up in spandex, tees, and bike helmets after cycling. No shame.
The space is larger than it looks from the painted exterior. Enter in the corner space and past the bar and you’ll run into additional seating in the back and basement. I’d return for a weeknight out or a girls night; it’s a great option to have in the neighborhood if you live here like me, but nothing to schlep uptown for.