Mission Ceviche Union Square

Mission Ceviche Has Opened in Union Square — And It’s Mobbed | Eater NY

"Located at 7 East 17th Street just east of Fifth Avenue near Union Square, the Union Square branch is a second outpost of a slightly more modest Upper East Side restaurant that opened in 2019 from partners Brice Mastroluca and chef Jose Luis Chavez, who previously worked in Lima, Peru. I found the vibe to be a full-on clubstaurant — a labyrinthine layout with curvy secluded booths, throbbing music, nautical ropes dangling from the rafters, and a beautiful mosaic octopus greeting at the door — and it was already mobbed with well-dressed scenesters. The space offers two bars (one for booze and one dedicated to seafood, with a counter along a glass case displaying unusual and expensive seafood on ice). Start with the classic ceviche ($27), a cold soup of raw mahi mahi in a tiger’s milk marinade with red onions, crunchy corn kernels, and diced sweet potatoes; there’s also a mixed seafood ceviche with octopus in a thick olive sauce and a ceviche made with cubed melon. The Nikkei plates are the most interesting: the Peruvian take on shrimp tempura heaped with a green spicy aioli ($24) is especially good, and there are nori rolls (though I’d skip the one made with rare filet mignon). I’d bypass most mains — including a Peruvian-style risotto ($45), a decent-but-bland aji de gallina ($36), a whole red snapper for two ($95), and a list of expensive seafood specials the waiter will reel off. For drinks, get the pisco sour ($19) with a layer of foam and a row of orange bitters; beverage director Adrien Lefort also offers six other pisco-based cocktails, pisco shots from different Peruvian distillers, Japanese-whiskey–, mezcal-, rum-, and gin-based mixed drinks, scotches, and a seemingly endless list of spirits and digestifs. A few tips: there are $1,000 bottles of French red wine that don’t pair with the menu; go early to enjoy a ceviche or two with a pisco sour, then leave before the place fills around 8 p.m., when the noise level and throbbing music make conversation impossible." - Robert Sietsema