El Catrin

This used to be my favourite restaurant- but after this visit it will be hard to get me to go back. Food and ambiance are still awesome, but we had the most horrible, rude server I’ve ever experienced anywhere!! Totally ruined the feel of the night 🙁

This is by far one of my FAVOURITE place to eat when I come to the city! I'm from up North and I alway bring work clients when here, the food is amazing the drinks are fantastic and the energy is always awesome... We booked for inside but wanted to sit on the patio the staff made all the necessary changes but due to the VERY SLOW service outside we went back in... I'll not let this experience stop me from coming back... I've been there over 20 times and this is the first time I've ever been able to say anything other then this place is AMAZING. Keep up the great work

This was our first time at El Catrin and we really enjoyed it! Server was knowledgeable, food was tasty, and love the decor. We look forward to the next time.

Food took long to come out. Set menu wasn’t great for lunch.

Hard on if I would recommend. The food is good and has been in past. But the service left me to the point of not wanting to return, and for a place like this I loved says something. Been in service industry for years as a server and as a manager, was so surprised at this experience

Thank you for another wonderful night at your place

Excellent service on a busy Saturday evening, and the food was delicious. Portions were a little small, but overall a recommendable experience.

We had probably one of the best servers I have ever had. Food exceptionally good. Great vibe. Fun evening

Fantastic!

Terrible experience. It started with our waiter messing up our appetizer, then went onto us ordering the tasting menu and after our drinks and everything else arrived, he comes back saying they are not doing it today. Why weren’t we informed of us this earlier? I will not be returning to this restaurant - others had warned me of this place with its terrible service but now I know why for sure.

We had a perfect time at El Catrín for my grandfather's birthday, it was beyond our expectation.

The food is good, our server was lovely, but the noise level in the restaurant (boosted by loud music) was intolerable.
Unfortunately, for that reason, I won't be able to return.

Everything was excellent. Very friendly staff.

El Catrin defies all the clichés about restaurants in tourist areas. The space is beautiful, interesting and all at once, airy and cozy. The cocktails are creative and, without exception, sensational. Food offerings combine truly authentic Mexican sensibilities with modern, innovative twists – there's no Tex-Mex here! – and the flavors match the lovely presentation. All that coupled with the option of one of the best patios in the city, and attentive, knowledgeable, friendly service, make El Catrin one of my favorite hang-outs in town.

The staff seemed friendly enough but not so knowledgeable. Our server was friendly, not so knowledgeable, very slow and not attentive. but the server who ran food to our table was very sociable and friendly. The price for what you get does not equal out at all. Unless a client picks this restaurant again I will be avoiding it. Not a terrible place, but for what you receive the menu items should be decreased by $5-8 easily. I’m sure location drives up the menu cost so I am not comfortable tagging on the restaurant for trying to stay in business. Great patio however.

Excelent service, Maxime made it an amazing evening...the amount of tequila helped too ;-)
Food is authentic Mexican enough for Toronto and Margheritas are just superb!

The service we had was terrible. We waited 50 minutes before we had our first drink. We were a table of 10 and I also organized another table of 10 who were in a separate part of the restaurant. They had their drinks, appetizers and food all in a timely fashion. I will say this is not the norm as I have eaten here before. Our server was painfully slow! as far as I'm concerned we walked away with money in our pockets as we were easily prepared for 3 drinks...not one each. Important to note...most portions are very small, but the food is extremely tasty...just go knowing you will need to order extra aps or an extra taco or two

Our first time at this restaurant. We did the tasting menu. You will be full at the end. We enjoyed it very much. The Black Berry and Mango Margaritas were excellent as well. Our server was great. In fact the entire experience from the staff was excellent. Jim

So so good!!!

Beautiful decor. Wonderful service.
Brilliant food.

This place is more like a snack bar, good for have some drink and share snacks. Too noisy and the time servings between cuisines for the guests weren’t managed well at all.

Great service and fabulous food!

Fabulously Fabulous!

Amazing food, great service and a lovely place! Loved the corn appetizer and the pulled pork and shrimp tacos. The restaurant is very cool looking and I was happy to take my cousin from Poland.

The drinks and the service were excellent. Atmosphere was great. A wonderfl room. On the food side the flavours were a little bland. The ceviche had no flavour at all which is hard to do with Lime as your main ingredient. The same problem with a good number of the entres and apps. The corn was fantastic with a great late kick of flavour and heat. The deserts were perfect.

Tasting menu was a good choice for variety of dishes. The best way to judge a restaurant is whether you would go back ? El Catrin is definitely a restaurant that I would go back too.

Very good
Love the location

We were ignored and had to constantly get our server’s attention. Drink order was wrong and server was nowhere to be found.

Food was great, as expected. Service was excellent, also as expected from previous visits. This place is great!

Thank you to Justice, Brittany and Zara for helping out with the balloons. Our servers did a great job providing insight into the menu and recommendations. Highly recommended!

our experience was made great by Pamela who was taking care of us

We had a fabulous dinner, with help from our server, Justin. The menu includes lots of sharing items and Justin explained each item and how we should order. His knowledge of the menu was perfect and we had a terrific dinner. After enjoying guacamole, four of us shared esquites (charred corn), la milpa (beets, mixed greens, avocado and dressing), molotes (plaintain stuffed croquettes), and quesadilles. We had just the right amount of food and it was served fast and was delicious. The wine menu is extensive. We will definitely be back so that we can enjoy dessert. Reservations are recommended as the place was packed.

Ricardo is by far one of the best restaurant servers I have ever encountered! I have been to El Catrin multiple times and he makes each visit that much more memorable. He is so knowledgable about the menu and recommends the most delicious items that appeal to some tricky dietary needs. It feels like he genuinely wants his guests to enjoy every minute of their visit to the restaurant! Thank you Ricardo!

My wife’s birthday. Server was very pleasant and attentive. Food was really good, although I would have loved to see a bit kore variety. Portions were of decent size but could have been 20% larger.

House beers were also pretty good and they have some tough competition with Mill Street just around the corner.

We love the environment and the vibe. Overall, although not a straight 5 Stars for a hair, a very solid and well-deserved 4. Looking forward to seeing the improvements take can take them to a 5.

Yummy and good service

This wasn’t the first time my husband and I have been to El Catrin. We usually go for the tasting menu so we can try a few different dishes we normally would never order. But this time the tasting menu had changing... for the better. Just wish tacos were included. It’s officially my favourite restaurant. Absolutely love it.

Super delicious food, attentive staff and fast service - would definitely recommend and come back again!

We have been to El Catrin many times but introduced friends for their first time. They were super impressed with the unique ambiance, delicious food and wonderful service. Thanks for another great dining experience.

I booked a reservation for seven people to celebrate my husband's birthday. The reservation was for 8:15 and we arrived at 8:32. When we entered the distillery district, someone in my party actually commented on how much of a ghost town it was. When we arrived we were told that our table had been given away as we had exceeded the 15 minute grace period. We were told that I had been called twice after the fifteen minutes (as is their policy) and the table had been given away accordingly. I had been called once at 8:20. The strange thing was that the restaurant was by no means full. They were able to seat us at a different table but not until after we had been lectured by both the hostess and the manager.

We sat down for our meal at our new table which was tight but perfectly fine. The upstairs portion of the restaurant was completely empty and there was an eight person table that had booth seating in which there were three girls parked next to each other occupying only one side of the table. Our meal was enjoyable, our server was very nice and helpful and everything we ate was good. The churros were a definite highlight! I asked the server to bring the churros with a candle in them for my husband. When they arrived with the candle the manager came over and said sorry for the confusion and that the churros were on the house. This was a much appreciated gesture but he definitely made it seem like the birthday celebration aspect was done by the restaurant and not requested by me.

All in all none of it was a big deal but the service was all a bit strange. I can acknowledge that I am at fault for not giving the restaurant a call, but I have never been given such a hard time for being late, even at much more upmarket or trendy restaurants. With that in mind, while I wouldn't avoid coming back the food an ambiance were not so amazing that I would go out of my way to come here either.

Our server was super friendly and the ambiance was amazing! We made reservations but realized they were only for the indoor space so we waited in line for the patio since it was a nice night - totally worth it! The food was delicious - Definitely start with the chips and guacamole and end with the churros and dipping sauces! The portions were small but we were surprised how stuffed we were having tried a few things. Will definitely be back again to try the rest of the menu!