“Walk in as a person and leave like a legend,” reads a promise splashed across Mitica’s social media. The new Greenpoint restaurant opened this past May. A few menu items do assume that description, though not its most flattering definition.
Still, Mitica is promising. Its narrow bar area would be a fine place for a quick drink (though the novel options, each $16, are forgettable), the dining room beside is comfortable enough, there’s a large backyard, and reservations across all are wide open for this follow-up to well-regarded Mariscos El Submarino in Queens.
Mitica serves some pleasant echoes of that Mexican seafood spot. The aguachile negro ($22), made here with four fresh, plump shrimp and sliced avocado under a miny-spray of pretty, edible flowers is as bright and refreshing as it is petite. The taco gobernador ($16) is nice too, stuffed with melty cheese and topped with bits of lobster, though the the sum of its parts is a bit too chewy due to its carrot tortilla.
Other plates might, like a legend, exist only in hearts and minds, if only because they never arrive. That absence, plus the presence of an expensive rib-eye ($85) ordered medium-rare and served medium-well make Mitica one to watch, if not one to book just yet.
Mitica is located at 222 Franklin Street. It is open Wednesday-Sunday from 5pm-10pm.
