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| - While a two-star rating may seem harsh, I feel it's misleading to give three stars and say I had an ok experience. My only two main issues were the lack-lustre service and the small food portion. Their food would probably rate a 4, if not for the meagre portions. El Catrin, as a new restaurant in the area, has a lot of potential to develop into a trendy hangout - that's definitely what they're going for.
My friends and I came here on Saturday at about 5 p.m. as we were looking for somewhere to catch up and I have just moved in the area. It was really chilly, but the patio is heated, and the ambiance was very upbeat and casual.
The servers and hosts were wearing full face paint, which was definitely interesting and makes the experience distinguishable from other tapas restaurants, though they only do this every third Saturday of the month. However, shout outs to our server Evan G. for providing truly memorable inattentive service.
I ordered the raw beef on crispy tortilla, which had great, elevated presentation, and a generous helping of the meat. My only suggestion would be the tortilla chips seemed really delicate and it was a very messy eat. I would have preferred the chips to be more stable/sturdy. I also ordered their house sangria, which tasted good, but I was expecting more fruit.
We also ordered the Costilla Corta off of the sharing section of their menu, and then kind of just stared out in confusion at the small slab of braised beef short rib in front of us. The meat was very tender and well seasoned and the presentation and plating was impressive, but the portion was really small to be part of their "sharing menu". We had another server bring out three different sauces and explained what each one was. We sat there confused looking on at the other tables with chips wondering if those were complimentary or if we had to specifically request them... or just spoon these sauces into our mouths...
We eventually asked for the chips ourselves and 30 minutes after sampling our first plate, we were ready to order, but our server Evan was no where to be found. One of my friends mentioned we were looking for our server so we could order more. A host?/staff member said she would find Evan for us, and 15 minutes still no one. We eventually flagged down another server and ordered the grande grac (made with 2 avocados). A staff member made this in front of us, which guaranteed the freshness and was a nice touch. The guac tasted great and was a good spilt between three of us. Evan stopped by (maybe the paint fumes got to him?) and asked us how the guac was.
My friends were full at this point, and I wanted to order more. Evan was making helpful recommendations, and I would likely have ordered their tacos and a few more drinks, but I decided to call it quits with the subpar service and frequent disappearing acts and head somewhere else. Anyway, the ambiance is spot on, and you'll likely have a good time. This definitely won't be one of my go to places for the summer, as there are tapas places that are just as fun in the city with better service.
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