Oyamel
Oyamel is one of Jose Andres’ restaurants. Its first location is located in Washington DC, so they decided to open a second here in New York City in Hudson Yards. Jose Andres is one of those chefs and restaurateurs that has a good track record every time they open a restaurant. For his restaurants in NYC, we have been to Zaytinya, Nubeluz, and Spanish Diner. Coincidentally, Spanish Diner has closed and was replaced with Oyamel in the same location. I made a reservation for 2 for 5:00 PM easily for a Friday evening without issues the night prior.
Ambiance & Service
The interior reminded me a lot of his Jaleo restaurant in Orlando. It has a lot of orange accents, and it reminds you of a food hall type of ambiance. What is cool about this location is that the doors open, so you can get some fresh air from outside. They also have good ventilation overall.
The service for the food was extremely speedy. When we placed our order, all of them came within 10 minutes, excluding the entree.
Food
They provided complimentary chips and salsa. According to the menu at the front of the restaurant, it said $5 for refills. However, our server gave us an extra bag of chips when we asked if we could, since we got the guacamole.
For drinks we got a Tamarind Jarritos Soda ($5 - left) and an Agua Fresca ($8 - right) of hibiscus. The hibiscus was pretty sweet, but once the ice melted a bit, it balanced it out.
We ordered 2 street tacos.
The Menudo de Res ($7 - top) came with beef tripe trotters and chile morita stew with chorizo, and chickpeas served with lime and cilantro. This was actually pretty good, albeit slightly pricey for just 1 taco. The tripe was very tender, and the sauce overall was bold and flavorful.
The Carnitas ($7 - bottom) came with confit pork with avocado, salsa verde, pork rinds, red onion, lime, and cilantro. My partner had this and said this was good.
The Guacamole ($18) was freshly made to order with green tomatillo, serrano chile, crumbled queso fresco, and a basket of fresh tortilla chips. The guacamole was pretty good, but you can tell it was missing some citrus in it to give it that nice zest. For the price, I was expecting something extraordinary, but it is anything but. If you have to have guacamole, it’s good, but just know you can probably make it better at home. When you enter the restaurant, you can see the guacamole station where the worker makes it fresh. I thought it’d have something more, but really it’s not that much different than if you make it at home.
The Cochinitia Pibil ($59) came with Yucatan-style Korobuta pork cheeks with Mexican sour orange and pickled red onion served with fresh corn tortillas and avocado cream. The tortillas were warm and seemed to be freshly made. However, some of them did stick together. The pork was good, though I thought it was a bit pricey for what it was. It’s essentially glazed, steamed pork. The pork could’ve been cooked a bit longer to be very fork tender. Instead, it seemed that the pork may have been heated up because it was lukewarm. Regardless, the food was good when you make your own tacos with the condiment and the pork.
Here are the condiments, which some pickled red onions with sliced red peppers, some greens seasoning and some type of herb that I recall was used in pozole soup, and the avocado cream. All of these condiments were complimentary to the overall taco seasoning.
Overall Impression
Oyamel is a decent Mexican restaurant in the Hudson Yards area. We didn’t order any cocktails, but we thought the food met our expectations for what it was. If you’re in the Hudson Yards area and desire a sit down Mexican restaurant, I think Oyamel will satisfy that requirement. Otherwise, the restaurant is definitely mid-tier and is not worth making a special trip for.
Yelp Jabs
Pescado Baja California tacos- I get the hype & see why they’re easily one of the best things here. The fish is perfectly fried & the sauce complements it very well.
I thought about ordering the Baja California taco, but one of the best in the city is going to be at Los Mariscos in Chelsea Market, even at a slightly cheaper price.
The chips to start were cooked fresh and fabulous. It comes with salsa but we ordered the guacamole also, which wasn’t bad but just a small portion.
The chips were in this toaster machine, and it seemed they just used tongs to take out the chips. The guacamole was a decent portion for 2 people, but for anyone more, you probably want to order more.
Revisions
- Jun 27, 2025 - Initial revision.