Restaurant in New York City, United States
Serious Peruvian food at a fair price.
Chef José Luis Chávez's Upper East Side dining room goes well beyond his popular market-stall origins. Rated 4.6 across 3,200+ Google reviews and named by Opinionated About Dining's 2025 Casual North America list, it's the strongest sit-down Peruvian option at the $$$ tier in Manhattan. Book one to three weeks out and order the ceviche duo and pulpo al olivo.
The most common mistake first-timers make with Mission Ceviche is treating it like an upscale version of the market stall. It isn't. Chef José Luis Chávez's sit-down restaurant on the Upper East Side is a full-service Peruvian dining room — with a wine list, a cocktail program, and a menu built around carefully sequenced plates that reward a slow, multi-course approach. If you're planning to pop in for a quick bowl and leave, you're underusing the room.
The space itself signals this immediately. Where the Gansevoort and Canal Street Market outposts were counter-service and fast by necessity, 1400 Second Avenue is clean and modern, with a polished, easygoing vibe that invites a longer stay. The layout is comfortable rather than cramped, with enough breathing room between tables to make conversation feel easy. It reads as a casual fine-dining room, not a cevicheria. That distinction matters when you're deciding how to book it , this is a sit-down dinner destination, not a lunch counter.
For a first visit, approach the menu with a tasting arc in mind even if the format is à la carte. Start with the ceviches , there are two distinct styles worth ordering together. The traditional Peruvian ceviche delivers the citrus-marinated precision that built Chávez's reputation at the markets, while the Nikkei ceviche brings in Japanese technique and ingredients, reflecting the significant Japanese-Peruvian culinary exchange that dates back to late 19th-century immigration. Ordering both side-by-side is a practical way to understand the range of the kitchen and the depth of Chávez's point of view.
From there, move to the pulpo al olivo. The octopus is prepared with tiger's milk tinted purple from olive, with avocado and fried capers alongside. This is the dish that most clearly demonstrates what the kitchen can do beyond ceviche: textural contrast, restrained richness, and Peruvian flavour logic applied at a higher level of execution. It's the plate that justifies the price tier on its own.
The cocktail program includes several takes on pisco sours, and the wine list is described as solid , a meaningful claim at a $$$-priced Peruvian restaurant, where wine pairing is often an afterthought. Factor both into your budget and your visit timing.
Mission Ceviche carries a Google rating of 4.6 across more than 3,200 reviews , a volume that indicates consistent traffic, not just a buzz cycle. Opinionated About Dining named it in its 2025 Casual in North America list, which is a meaningful credentialing signal in the fine-casual category. Combined, these suggest moderate booking difficulty: you won't need to plan eight weeks out as you would for Atomix, but walking in without a reservation on a Friday or Saturday evening is an unnecessary risk.
Book one to two weeks out for weekday dinners, and two to three weeks out for weekend prime time. If you're planning a visit for late spring or early summer , when the menu's citrus-forward plates feel most seasonally aligned , book at the further end of that window. The restaurant draws a consistent Upper East Side crowd and fills predictably. If you're coming from outside the neighbourhood, check the full New York City restaurants guide to plan your evening around nearby options as backup.
Mission Ceviche works leading as a two-to-four person dinner where you're splitting several plates across the menu's range. Solo diners or couples can make excellent use of the counter or smaller tables. Larger groups should confirm table availability before assuming the space accommodates parties of six or more. For groups where Peruvian cuisine is a shared interest, pairing this with a visit to Caleta 111 Cevicheria on a separate night gives you a useful point of comparison within the New York City Peruvian category. Outside New York, ITAMAE in Miami and Causa in Washington, D.C. are the peer reference points for Nikkei and contemporary Peruvian in the US.
| Detail | Mission Ceviche | Caleta 111 |
|---|---|---|
| Cuisine | Peruvian | Peruvian |
| Price tier | $$$ | $$ |
| Awards / recognition | OAD Casual North America 2025 | , |
| Booking difficulty | Moderate (1–3 weeks out) | Lower |
| Leading for | Full dinner, multi-plate | Casual ceviche-focused |
| Location | Upper East Side, Manhattan | New York City |
For broader planning: New York City hotels, bars, wineries, and experiences.
Yes, at the $$$ tier, Mission Ceviche delivers clear value relative to what you'd spend for equivalent execution. The OAD Casual 2025 recognition backs this up: this is a kitchen cooking at a level above its price point. The pulpo al olivo and dual ceviche format alone justify a full dinner spend. If you're comparing across the New York City Peruvian category, Mission Ceviche prices higher than Caleta 111 but delivers a more complete, sit-down dining experience. For the $$$$ tier, you'd be looking at Le Bernardin or Eleven Madison Park, which operate in an entirely different format and service register. Mission Ceviche is the stronger value if Peruvian cuisine is your specific interest.
Mission Ceviche's format is à la carte rather than a fixed tasting menu, but the kitchen rewards a structured multi-course approach. Order the traditional ceviche, the Nikkei ceviche, and the pulpo al olivo as a core sequence, then add cocktails or a pisco sour from the list. That three-plate-plus-drinks arc gives you the full range of Chef Chávez's technique at a fraction of what a formal tasting menu at a comparable Manhattan restaurant would cost , Atomix, Masa, or Le Bernardin all require $$$$ commitments with fixed-format seatings. If you want Peruvian Nikkei cooking at the level Mission Ceviche delivers, without the full tasting menu overhead, this is the right room in New York City right now.
| Venue | Price | Value |
|---|---|---|
| Mission Ceviche | $$$ | — |
| Le Bernardin | $$$$ | — |
| Atomix | $$$$ | — |
| Per Se | $$$$ | — |
| Masa | $$$$ | — |
| Eleven Madison Park | $$$$ | — |
Side-by-side comparison to help you decide where to book.
Yes, for what it is. At $$$, Mission Ceviche sits in the same pricing tier as plenty of Manhattan spots that deliver less precision. The OAD Casual recognition for 2025 backs up what the menu suggests: this is serious Peruvian cooking, not a market-stall concept with a dining room attached. If ceviche and ceviches-adjacent plates are your format, the value holds — though diners looking for a broader multi-course experience may find the menu range narrower than comparably priced options like Atomix.
Mission Ceviche operates as an à la carte restaurant, not a tasting menu format — so the question is really about how you build your order. The strongest approach is to treat the table as a shared spread: anchor on both the traditional and Nikkei ceviches, add the pulpo al olivo, and work outward from there. Two to four diners splitting four to six plates will get the most out of the menu; solo diners or couples ordering conservatively may leave feeling the $$$-tier spend didn't fully pay off.
Mission Ceviche is primarily known for Peruvian in New York City.
Mission Ceviche is located in New York City, at 1400 2nd Ave, New York, NY 10021, United States.
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