Cheap and Delicious Mexican Food on the Upper East Side

Photo Courtesy of Yelp

There are a couple of Mexican restaurants within a three block radius of my apartment and I still need to check them out, but so far Sabor A Mexico has won my heart (there’s also an East Village location). I went a few Fridays ago and was surprised that my boyfriend and I were the only diners in the teensy-tiny restaurant. Immediately this raised a red flag, but by the end of the night we were convinced that everyone else was just foolishly missing out.

They started us with the standard chips and salsa (which had a nice kick to it!), but according to some Yelp reviews, they’ll charge you for an extra basket of them which is not good. One other strange thing is that they didn’t have margaritas. Seriously. They did have sangria and beer, but still, that night I was in the mood for a margarita on the rocks and figured a Mexican restaurant was the way to go, so I was disappointed to learn that was not an option.

But on to the good stuff. For dinner I ordered my favorite - chicken enchiladas suiza. It came with two chicken enchiladas, rice, black beans and a tomato/lettuce combo all for $9.50. I couldn’t believe it. I cannot remember the last time (if ever) that I went to a sit-down, brick and mortar Mexican restaurant in NYC that offered enchiladas for under $10. Usually they’re up there with fajitas inching towards $20. True, it came with two enchiladas versus three, but to be honest, I never finish the third anyway so the portion size was much better for me. And they were delicious! The sauce was just right, tangy and flavorful, and each bite was better than the next. I loved having black beans versus refried beans (but I’d happily eat whichever), so all in all my dinner was a win.

My boyfriend had a hard time choosing between some of the burritos (they had one with pumpkin that was enticing), but after talking it over with the waitress he went with a more standard pork chipotle burrito. I don’t like rice inside my tortilla which is why I never order burritos, but even with that aside I wasn’t the biggest fan of it. I can’t put my finger on it, but something was off about the flavors. He of course readily ate it up, but conceded that my enchiladas were definitely better.

In lieu of my margarita, I just went with a Corona Light and he had a Pacifico and both were $5, not bad at all. Adding together our meals, drinks, tax and tip, the entire dinner came to approximately $40 which is pretty darn good for a Mexican meal in the city without any coupon or promotion. We were very pleased with our experience and will absolutely head back. My fear now is that I won’t try the other Mexican restaurants in the area because I won’t want to pay more than $10 for my beloved enchiladas. But I suppose there are worse things to worry about!