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| - Came for dinner around 8PM on this cold, rainy night and was surprised to find the place so packed! At first we tried booking an online reservation on opentable, but couldn't find seats for around 8, so instead we called El Catrin and found out that there are actually seats available at our desired time. So tip of the night is to call them to make a reservation!
Food- 4/5. We really like the small bites (tapas/appetizer size) menu options here since there are so many vegetarian ones! As usual we ordered the regular guac, which they mash right in front of you and you can truly appreciate how fresh all the ingredients are. The corn off the cob (esquites) appetizer was so flavorful, warm, and creamy - I highly recommend it despite how small each of the 3 shot glass portions were! For mains we ordered the vegetarian enfrijoladas, which is a corn tortilla with cheese and avocado inside and soaked in a black bean sauce with cream on top. It looked kinda gross presentation-wise, but tasted amazing. I ordered the octopus confit (pulpo a la diabla) and was a little disappointed. The portion size was tiny; I was still hungry afterwards. And the dominating tastes were bitter and spicy, which was not what I expected.
Value- 2/5. There are definitely way cheaper Mexican places around town including Cocina Economica, which is also in Corktown and nearby. However, El Catrin is one of those treat-yo-self places, so enjoy the experience and try not to fret over the $$$ and tiny portions. From apps to mains, all the portion sizes were small, small, small, which seems to be the theme here - very tapas-like. So my advice would be to eat before you come because you will likely leave hungry unless you plan to splurge.
Service- 4/5. Lost a star for forgetting about us later in the night and we had to wait quite a while for the bill. Otherwise very good! Constant water refills, friendly servers, and the dishes came so fast (in under 10 minutes all our dishes were on the table it seemed).
Venue- 5/5. Gets very loud inside, but in the winter and summer they have a huge outdoor patio that can be heated. Interesting traditional decorations inside.
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