[Temporarily Closed] Casa Latina
Solana Bar Street, Bldg 8, Unit 3, 6 Chaoyang Park Road,
Chaoyang Park
朝阳公园路6号, Solana蓝色港湾商业区8号楼3单元
5905-6201
Open Tue, Wed & Sun 11:30am-2am, Thurs-Sat 11:30am-2:30am, Closed on Mondays
Price Y200-Y299 per couple
Accepts International Credit Cards
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- City Weekend says
Temporarily closed.
Delivering the most authentic Mexican food in the city, as well as some stellar cocktails, this place is reason enough to visit Solana's bar street. DJ Cocoloco from Santo Domingo turns the place into a hopping Latin dance party Thursday through Saturday.
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Most Recent Reviews
Casa Latina is temporarily closed, says their marketing manager. We'll provide updates when we get them.
What's happening to this place? Heard they got a new chef from Argentina and was invited to some sort of event last month. Though yesterday my co-workers tried to go here during lunch and the doors were closed. They asked some waiters working in neighboring restaurants and they all said that they have shut down! Are they suffering from the Solana curse? And more importantly, does this mean Sad Cantina will have to suffice for Mexican food in this city? Someone please investigate!
Lovely, lovely enchiladas doused in this green sauce. And the chimichangas---I was totally wowed. After being initially disappointed with the lack of an outdoor dining area, so glad I stayed. It's gonna be hard to go back to Amigo after a Mexican meal like this! The only complaint is that the service is a little too hyperactive ...
I went here for dinner as part of buying the cityweekender meal deal! It was a pleasant surprise. I thought the deal they had put together really allowed me to try a good variety of food they have on offer... I dont eat anything spicy or dairy...so i was alittle concerned. But each dish arrived with spice/sauce/chilli on the side, which was great as it meant each person could adjust it to their own level of taste. We had two soups of their menu both were very nice and not just a watery mess with a few chopped veges thrown in... it was a soup! we were given a salad and a plate of their taco chips which were soo yummy! the salad was a bit of a nothing. Main was the beef tacos and fish tacos... my bf and i shared the two and it was plenty of food and very tasty... dessert was lovely as well!!! all in all a great meals. The cocktail that came with the meal was very strong, but thats perhaps coz of i ordered a capirinha..... service was good... the manager knows her stuff and staff were happy to help alas a bit slowly but still quite friendly. we didnt go on a night when there was band playing so atmosphere wise it was ok.
Do not understand the comment below "bad food, very expensive and fake alcohol".???
I have been there quite a few times and very fond of their offering and services. Their Mojito and Margarita are among the best cocktails i ever tasted in town. Did not find another place offering real Mexican food like here.
This place is over rated. I visited this place the other day. The service was terrible. Took the waitress at least 20 minutes to get our drink out and we have keep getting to their face in order to get service. I understand they are more focusing on servicing the people bought from Groupon. If you don't have Groupon, don' expect to get speedy service.
To melizardi.
I assure you, all of our alcohol is up to highest standards and comes straight from legitimate brand representatives. As for the "bad food", please be kind to specify, which dishes and on which day were not up to par, and we will do our best to reconcile. Thank you.
Bad food, very expensive and fake alcohol during ladies nights!!! be aware!
Great job in improving your service! I hadn't been there for a while, and yesterday it was such a nice surprise to see how things improved over there. Our waitress was seriously nice and attentive, and in general had a nice time. An improvement in the music would be in order too... can't wait for the band to come back after their holidays! Popular Latin/Mexican music would be enough to spice up the place and have the patrons dancing.
LOVE LOVE LOVE this place! Favorite date night restaurant by far!! The crema poblano soup (forgive my spellings...) is absolutely amazing. We dream about it at night until it's time for another date night. We also really love the sopesitos. Delicious. The band does get way loud though when they play, so we generally don't go when they're there, but that's more of a personal dislike than anything wrong with the restaurant! :)
We ordered sopesitos and enchiladas verdes. Both are excellent. I can honestly say before I went to this restaurant, I probably have never tried real Mexican, mostly just regular Tex-Mex, so looking at the menus there I was pretty excited with all the dishes. Mojitos were very good as well. My friend tried Crazy Mojito while I stick with Classic Mojito, the only difference is there are more alcohol in Crazy Mojito. Enough to make you gone 'loco' if you drink two glasses of it with empty stomach. I still prefer my Classic Mojito. Service was unfortunately slow even though there were not many people there. But I will still keep coming back to check out the a la Buena Vista Social Club band. And their mojito, of course.
prob the best mexican food in town. however, i won't be coming back due to poor customer service. food took ages to come to the table. and the two of us ordered guacamole. for 40 kuai it came with about ten tortilla chips stuck into the same bowl of guacamole. needless to say, we had to ask for more...the ratio of guacamole and chips were just not right. they gave us more chips but then we were charged 10 RMB for it. ridiculous! so i talked to the manager more out of principal. he said he will waive the charge this time but that the guacamole was not meant to be shared by two people and for one the portion should be enough. sorry but when are appetizers meant for one? i always thought it was to share..anyway stupid of the management to comp the fee and then make snippy remarks about it..all over a few stinkin tortilla chips....such a shame because as i said the food was quite alright.
I'm afraid I cannot agree with the above ratings. We went there on a Sunday evening at about 8 o'clock. My criticisms would be:
1) The menu; half of it was scratched out with spelling errors covered by stick-on hearts, they also do not accept cards. The prices are extortionate (40 Kuai for a small Qingdao). This alone gave the impression that the place was not ready for business.
2) The restaurant lay out and decor: The furniture looked like it was straight out of Maxim's de Paris, nothing Mexican about that.
3) The food: We ordered the nachos, fajitas and quesadillas. Now I am not Mexican but in my opinion this did not taste in the slightest bit Mexican. The nachos consisted of beef chunks mozzarella Cheese and jalapeno peppers. The fajitas appeared to have been steamed rather than fried as they were swimming in water, and the quesadillas consisted of shredded chicken and refried bean paste. It was all rather tasteless and not in the slightest bit spicy.
My one compliment would be that the service was very speedy and quite attentive.
Overall I have to say that if this is authentic Mexican cuisine I have no real wish to go there.
I'm mexican, and this is the only real mexican restauran in beijing, the others are just normal restaurant with some bad burritos, bad tacos, in general bad food, anyway, mexican food is much more than tacos and quesadillas, Casa Latina has other choices, I recomend sopa de tortilla, or crema de chile poblano, enchiladas verdes, enchiladas potosinas, pescado a la veracruzana. I must say that "El amigo" restaurant is ok, but not as good, because is cheaper... All the others are not worth
Today we went early at 5 PM. They don't start serving dinner till 6PM but the owner accomodated us graciously with drinks for the hour. it says happy hour starts at 5, so when you go make sure to ask and don't expect food till 6.
The mojito was great except not cold enough.
We had their new 99rmb menu, and the Starters - Mexican Salad was good but just like an ordinary salad lettuce mix with spicy dressing. The Soup - Fideo Soup had a great creamy base and interesting noodles to go with it. It was obviously good because we gobbled it down but wasn't the best of their soups. Main Course - Burritos Nortenos was AMAZING! The burritos themselves were worth the price. They were fantastic, not too spicy (like we ordered) and great meat fillng and bean side. The Dessert - Arroz con Leche was also really good for dessert, sweet but not too sweet and filling. I also ordered the Enchilladas which were very good though could have had a bit more filling as the chicken inside was a bit dry. Overall still a great meal and well worth it!
First of all we'd like to THANK each and every one of our patrons and friends who cast their votes for Casa Latina in the CW Awards.
Secondly, following the success of Gourmet Month Special, let us announce the mouthwatering Special Spring Menu. The 99 RMB set includes: Starters - Mexican Salad Soup - Fideo Soup Main Course - Burritos Nortenos Dessert - Arroz con Leche This offer will last till June,7.
And on Fridays head to Casa Latina for a taste of our new Tacos al Pastor!
Oh, for the rating. It's a five, clearly.
I've had dinner at Casa Latina several times by now and this place never fails to deliver. There've been some occasional bumps where service is concerned, but they seem to have finally gotten over that, at least the last couple times I visited, service was prompt and the waitstaff knowledgeable.
As to the food. I'm so surprized reading some of the reviewers complain about the size of their meals, while they obviously never got past the hors-d'œuvre section of the menu! You don't really go to a restaurant to get stuffed on appetizers, people? Or do you?
Anyway. So far I've had (on different occasions) Crema Poblana - which is good past any possible description, with an amazingly refreshing balance between creamy and spicy, and so well textured with it's crispy tortilla strips, melty cheese chunks and corn kernels. Carrot Soup - guilty, I ordered that for my kid and ended up licking every last drop off her plate. Mushroom Soup. Highly recommended. Smooth and creamy, and very satisfying on a chilly day. I still have to try the Aztec, maybe the next time we go. From the much honed appetizer section - The Sopesitos. Ah, the little gems! So much was already written about those, I don't really need to add anything. And the Flautas de Papa, equally good. As many opine, could use a tad more of that killer-salsa. Australian Cod Fish - now, I don't usually order fish, being much more of a steak person, but I thought I'd give it a shot, and was in no way disappointed. The fish comes in a generous serving, cooked to juicy perfection and complete with a side of mashed potatoes and grilled veggies drizzled with some sort of tangy balsamic sauce ever so slightly reminiscent of burned sugar. Yum! Traditional Fajitas. Loved those, especially the homemade tortillas and the perfectly grilled meat. Queso Fundido. This was my big discovery alongside the Sopesitos. As I was explained, they make their own chorizo for this dish. Comes with yet another masterpiece sauce, veeeery picante! And I tried Capirotada for dessert just once, because once again, their entrees are very ample sized, and I'm usually too full for coffee and dessert after I finish the main course.
For the drinks - can't say much, as I'm absolutely helplessly hooked on the Mojito and haven't really tried anything else.
Finally, I absolutely must give credit to their house band. Every time we went, there was a different lineup of songs, so unlike many other places we all know, where the people keep doing the same thing onstage day after day year after tedious year. I love the way they start the set with some quieter jazz impromptus too, allowing the late diners to finish their meals and conversations in a calmer atmosphere without having to yell or hastily gobble down their food. And just to look at these guys so clearly enjoying themselves onstage, so in their element. Not many bands of this level out there.
Keep up the great job, Casa Latina! We'll surely be back for more.
I really love Casa Latina, I am Mexican, as Latin person I can tell that this is a good place to enjoy with friends or your couple, or even Business Meeting, is really good, Food is Awesome it really tastes like Latin food, not like many other restaurants that they are in charge of someone who is not even a Latin person, that says a lot!!! The Chef is Mexican and I can tell you that it really takes care of what do we think and they really work hard, so you can go happy feeling Latin style in your stay here in China I really Recommend this Place is really nice also Latin drinks are really LATIN! Food Everything!!!
There's a sign above the stairs at Casa Latina that has the famous saying "Mi casa es su casa", or "My house is your house", written in a wide variety of languages. This is very fitting, because we found the restaurant to be very welcoming, from the full view of the kitchen on the first floor to the attentive service and generous portions. As many other commenters have noticed, the Gourmet Month menu is a lot of food, and it's all very tasty Mexican food. One problem (which you might not find) was the beans for the fajitas, which one of us found a bit too salty. If salt isn't a problem for you, then try their Gourmet Month menu before the month is over.
Came here with a friend a couple nights ago to try out the Gourmet Week menu. We very nearly ate ourselves to death. It was way more food than we could possibly finish by ourselves, and so good that we (ok, just me) couldn't bring ourselves to stop eating. Normally this place is a little pricey for my liking, but the GW menu paired with the 2 for 1 cocktail deal they have in the evening brought dinner and drinks for two in at an acceptable RMB323 (threw in an order of guacamole and and side of refried beans for good measure). If only they could run deals like this all the time, I would be their helpless gastronomical slave . . .
Finally a place for real traditional authentic mind blowing amazing spicy Mexican food. Once you have tried Casa Latina you will never want Tex Mex again. The 99 rmb gourmet menu is well worth it and more than what is valued. Never have I been to a place where the gourmet menu is 100% perfect. The Chocolate Orgasm cocktail for 45 rmb is tall, chilled, and and yes an orgasmic yes! Filled to the brim with feisty star decor it is goes down way way to easily. The Sopesitors for starters are little salads with spicy green sauce served on top of corn cakes. They were wonderful and got us in the mood for a fiesta. The Creme Poblana soup was the BEST soup I can recall having!!!! Spicy spicy spicy and filled with mozzarella avocado and sour cream, it was heart and smooth and luscious yet fiery. I adored it!!!! The main course of traditional fajitas was massive and layered in great meat and beans. The fajita tortillas were not paper thin but nice to hold and you could tell good wholesome real flour tortillas. It came with spicy sauce and delicious guacamole - and guacamole is the best invention ever. For dessert it was only turned into a latin party with the Capirotada a sweet juicy french toast like dessert with roasted mouth watering peanuts. Casa Latina is one of the best restaurants to ever come to Beijing or anywhere. It is better than any Tex Mex food here or in the U.S The only rival might be going straight to Mexico, but this is a laudable attempt to bring it here. The food is fresh, real, and simply put it wow.
never saw a restautran&bar was so full only 1.5 months after its openning. went there last Friday around 9pm, i had to wait to get a table. I have to say it is realy a fun plac to enjoy the Latin music and food.
Thank you for such a favourable review! Our entire team's commitment is to live up to and go beyond the high expectations set by it.
Bring on the Salsa
Casa Latina delivers authentic Mexican cuisine that truly puts Amigo and the Saddle Cantina to shame, bringing something new to Beijing that we’ve been craving. With great drinks, a fun atmosphere and a rocking Cuban band, this place shouldn’t have much of a problem overcoming its location at the end of Solana’s bar street.
The menu, created by a personable young Mexican chef, brings new flavors to the city that we haven’t tasted since coming to China. The Aztec soup (¥68) is a rich blend of tomato and pepper with a savory, smoky flavor, tortilla strips and chunks of cheese and avocado. The Fideo soup (¥38) is lighter and milder, with thin noodles in a tomato broth with sour cream and large cubes of cheese and avocado. The sopesitos (¥48) come highly recommended—the three beautifully presented corn tarts are topped with shredded chicken, refried beans, lettuce, tomato, onion, sour cream and cheese and served with a stand-out salsa verde. The main courses are large enough for two to share. While the pollo con mole (¥88) is not for everyone, we loved the large, tender chicken leg covered in a chocolate-based sauce and served with rice. The enchiladas verdes (¥85) are fairly spicy and nicely presented with a side of beans.
The cocktails (¥40-60) rival Q Bar’s in taste and beat anything in Beijing when it comes to presentation. Expect umbrellas, fruit slices and novelty stirrers in all shapes and colors. Starting at 9:30 every night (except Monday), great live music à la Buena Vista Social Club transforms the place into a vibrant Latin dance party. The overeager service leaves some room to improve, but the rest of our experience was so stellar that any fiddling over our silverware was soon forgotten.
Sienna Parulis-Cook