Came here for weekend brunch and got seated outside. The only available table was completely in the sun so the waiter had to move some umbrellas around to get more of the table covered. Food was good and the waiter we had was nice. Would try this place for other meals next time! read more

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We loved the Sunday brunch!!! Food was amazing and we really enjoyed the live music. Overall a wonderful experience. Will def come back! --from preCOVID era end of 2019 Update: returned 12/23 for brunch again with high expectations and It didn't disappoint! Incredible flavor and complex yet interesting textures. Chic and modern decor with plenty of sunlight. Wish they can bring the the live music back but the food alone impressed us more than enough. read more

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Amazing service (our water was always filled), ambiance, food (especially the desserts! Wow) and ambiance! It was even more of a pleasure to have live entertainment (beautiful voice and music to accompany the beautiful evening outside). Yes it's pricey, but fresh ingredients and I recommend taking advantage of the Dine in LA menu. read more

Maestro Restaurant - Guava cheesecake and carrot cake - Cocktail Bars Near Me - Pasadena, California

Food is yummy! Service is amazing! The esquite bone marrow is a must try! Even my 9 and 11 year old loved it. OMG the tees leches carrot cake is unbelievably delicious. The owners are so kind and always checking in on you. read more

A Mexican restaurant serving delicious dishes and specializes in Mezcal and Tequila cocktails. ::Drinks:: Their cocktail menu is impressive! They have several unique and refreshing drinks to choose from. I would come back here just for the drinks. It's very tempting to try every cocktail on the menu!! If you like the smokey Mezcal taste then you will enjoy the Guayabita. It has asperol, guava, and lime. The La Fresca has tequila blanco, kalani coconut liquor, strawberry coconut milk, and lime. It's served with a big rock (ice cube). La Morita was a bit too strong and spicy for me. My favorite is the Tamarindo Margarita!! ::Food:: For appetizers, we got the Guacamole & fried plantains which were so addicting! The Calamari was mixed with roasted bell peppers purée, paprika, chive oil, and arbol chilies. I would have preferred it to be more breaded and crisp. The Carne En Su Jugo is a tender and flavorful braised short rib with bacon lardon, frijoles, and came with tortillas. We also liked the Mole Confit which is chicken with potatoes, avocado purée, queso fresco, and jasmine rice. The sauce on the chicken was savory. ::Desserts:: The Tres Leches Carrot Cake was sweet, moist, and filled with spice. Maybe I was too full to appreciate the cake but it seemed like a regular carrot cake to me. ::Safety:: -Staff wears masks -Mask Required ::Highlight:: -Vanessa and Ivan Fabian were friendly, observant, and accommodating. -John & Vaughn specializes in creating tasty and unique cocktails. Their fun and positive vibes are entertaining. -The staff is welcoming and attentive. -One of the cocktails was too spicy, they happily got me something else. ::Tips:: -Make reservations via Yelp or website ::M's Notes:: -Indoor & Outdoor Seating -Parking: Garage, Lot & Street -Delivery & Takeout read more

Maestro Restaurant - Tamarindo Margarita - Cocktail Bars Near Me - Pasadena, California

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I've come to this place 3 times in the past 3 weeks and it's been Amazing every time. This has to be one of my favorite restaurants in Pasadena. They serve great cocktails, great dishes (servings are bigger than your typical tapas), the service is good and also they tend to have live music on thursdays-Saturday's. I highly recommend to be seated outdoors because of the live music. The restaurant is on the pricey side but it's all great quality and it's worth it. Great place to celebrate your birthday, go with family (make sure to call to reserve a table greater than 6) or go on a date! read more

Maestro Restaurant - Pork belly dish - Cocktail Bars Near Me - Pasadena, California

I have never dreamt of a dinner for months on end after eating at a restaurant until Maestro. The ceviche and scallops were incredible. I was at a loss for words and will keep coming back. It is such a special occasion place and my hats off to everyone preparing the dishes read more

I love this restaurant. The quality is just amazing. I recommend making an reservation it's easy and will ensure you get a table. We always choose outside because it's more of a romantic vibe in the evenings. Tonight we came for the Dine LA menu and it was such a steal. We have tried so many dishes here it's hard to try new ones because we didn't wanna stray but tonight we did and it paid off. We had the octopus and tetela. I love the tetela its a delicious tortilla stuffed with veggies on a bed of bean purée and topped with the most amazing green sauce and oaxaca cheese!!! To die for. For entrees we decided on the enchiladas and the pork belly. Wow the pork belly was out of this world. So tender and flavorful. We thoroughly enjoyed our dinner here tonight and will come back again and again. read more

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Came here to celebrate my mom's birthday! I absolutely loved the experience my family and I had! We were all a bit skeptical as we thought it was going to be americanized Mexican food. Well, to our surprise, most if not all the food was savory and tasteful, and felt like a home cooked meal. Food: Chicken Enchiladas: 8.5/10 (I love my enchiladas spicy, so that's the only thing it needed, otherwise very good) Aguachiles Oysters (8/10, again would have loved for it to be spicy!) Ceviche (6/10, not my favorite as it did not have the most flavor) Tamale: 10/10, (HIGHLY RECOMMEND! One of the best items on their menu) Chicken mole plate (8/10, another good dish and it wasn't too chocolatey in taste) Watermelon Margarita: 10/10 Tarmarindo Margarita: 7/10 I also just want to give a huge shoutout to Augustus. The best waiter! He was great and really gave the best recommendations. He also has the mariachi serenade my mom for her birthday! He definitely deserves a raise for just being on top of his service and care for the customers. read more

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Food and drinks overpriced for the quality and portions, 3 tortillas were charged at 12 dollars octopus was really good the rest we asked was ok need improvement on their salsas. Not sorted to spend 300 dollars for dinner read more

Excellent Mexican food, service, and ambiance. They were very thorough with the sanitization before seating my party. I really appreciated that because usually restaurants do a quick spritz of cleaning solution and don't really wipe down the table. Our waiter was awesome, he answered our questions about certain dishes and even provided historical context! I ordered the carnitas plate and it was very yummy. The lemony flavor of the beans took me by surprise but the flavor was splendid. The meat was very tender and not dry. Great portion size for one person. Parking: there is a structure west of the restaurant which is convenient. However, it costs about $12. You can try for street parking at a meter but it's super limited especially on the weekend. read more

Maestro Restaurant - Carnitas Plate - Cocktail Bars Near Me - Pasadena, California

During the pandemic we ordered from here a dozen times. I had never heard of it before. Only know it because it came up on DoorDash. I always thought that the food we ordered was great and when we finally came to the restaurant the food was even better. The food is really well prepared and the flavors are complex and melds really well together. It's not just a mixture of ingredients. You can see that it's very well thought out and works in a way that evelates the dish. I had the chicken taquitos and the short rib burrita. The drinks were fantastic as well. Service was excellent. The wait staff was very attentive. Overall great experience. read more

We came here because they were part of dineLA. Three of us wanted the dineLA menu & the other two wanted to order from the regular menu. We were told everybody needs to be on dineLA to order from dineLA menu. That makes absolutely no sense. First time this happened in all the years we went out for dineLA. Anyways... we decided to order off the regular menu. Ordered 4 appetizers... spicy calamari, guacamole with plantain chips, grilled octopus & ceviche. Everything was good. For main course, we ordered 2 scallop entrees, 2 medium rare skirt steaks & 1 beef short ribs. Everything except for the skirt steaks were good. The skirt steaks were overcooked & dry. Overall, dinner was alright. My issue was more with the service. They didn't allow us to order the dineLA menu coz not everybody in our party liked the menu. The server was hardly around. My friend ordered a second drink & my friend kept waiting for his drink so he can have it with his meal but the server was nowhere to be found. Server came when we all finished dinner & brought my friend's drink which was a bottle of beer. How difficult is it to go get a bottle of beer from the refrigerator? The server was friendly & nice tho... but who wants their drink served after they're done eating? read more

Cute little place in Pasadena serving modern Mexican food. While everything was flavorful, nothing necessarily stood out as exceptional, especially when the competition is so high everywhere. Not to say it was bad, far from that, just didn't stand out. The Tamarind margarita was very good, with a nice balance of if flavor and tequila. The grilled Octopus was a little oh the chewy dude for me but was drained well. The burrita with short rib stood up to the sauce covering it, never getting soggy, which was rather impressive. Overall a good restaurant, just nothing that blew our minds read more

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Came here for dinner and everyone enjoyed the food immensely. We ordered the Enmoladas, Carnitas Plate and Burritas. The Mole Sauce was rich and had many layers of flavors. I could have eaten plates of it. The atmosphere was really nice. We sat outside on the patio and it was beautiful with the lights. There was a guitar player who was playing twists of classic songs just loud enough to tap along to but not loud enough to interfere with our conversation. A couple of nit-picky things that I mention only because they make me not necessarily want to come back here immediately. The place is popular (rightly so due to the great food) so it's hard to get in. We made reservations the day of and couldn't get in until 8pm. (Good for them.) We got there and were briskly informed that our table was outside and that it would be an hour wait for an inside one. We weren't sure everyone in our party would be ok sitting outside. Other restaurants let you select inside or patio when you make the reservation. This restaurant has heaters outside, but if I had known, I probably would have passed for that night and called to make a reservation for another day for inside. Also our experience ordering the drinks was a bit odd. Not sure if the guy delivering the drinks was new, but he sure didn't know what he was dropping off as when he got to the table there was confusion and our waitress had to come over and correct. I had ordered the Maracuya for example and he held up my drink and said "passion fruit drink." I didn't remember all of the drink's ingredients and didn't have a menu readily available to check. A situation that was solved later in the night as he started coming to the table and just dropping drinks with saying little to nothing. My husband ordered a Modelo and the guy comes up to us and says "beer" and leaves the drink. I guess being vague is a good way not to get it wrong. Again, all not big, but the meal wasn't cheap so I'd hope that I'd leave excited to come back. That said, our waitress was nice and attentive. She did a great job! read more

This Mexican restaurant, while not related shares a name with the popular steak house in Beverly Hills, offers an array of modernized and upscaled Mexican dishes. As a part of the pandemic outdoor seating it took over the adjacent alley and actually managed to set up as many tables as they would have inside. The service was attentive and our server was eager to meet any of our requests. The oyster aquachile came with 6 freshly shucked oysters submerged in aquachile made with green chili pepper, cilantro, and lime juice. The oysters were fresh; unfortunately the aquachile was so strong that it completely overpowered the oysters. I think something lighter like a lime infused mignonette would have been better. The grilled octopus was tasty and tender and served with frijole beans and nopale. The nopale is a kind of cactus and is typically quite crunchy; for some reason this was not. Nevertheless, this dish was still quite satisfying. The tacos ahogados was an interesting dish. Two chicken taquitos served in a shallow plate of chicken broth flavored with lime juice. While the concept was interesting it didn't offer any noteworthy flavors. The mole confit seemed like one of the popular dishes. It was a piece of mole covered airline chicken (a boneless chicken breast with the drumette attached; so named because it was once upon a time the way chicken was often served as an inflight meal). The mole was complex and delicious; but, the chicken was quite dry. I'm not sure if the chicken was actually cooked in oil or chicken grease and therefore called confit; it should've been sous vided instead. The carne en su jugo was a piece of well braised beef short rib. The short rib was tender and flavorful and was served with nixtamal tortillas. The lamb shank was our favorite dish of the meal. The lamb was superbly tender and void of any gaminess. The Mexican rice under the lamb was superbly delicious. I'd come back just for this dish. For dessert the tres leches carrot cake was just ok; it sounded more interesting than it really was. Overall, the food deserved 3 and 1/2 stars. I rounded up for the excellent service. read more

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I've been wanting to dine at Maestro for the past couple years, and, after trying it, I can definitely say that I've been missing out this entire time! It was date night and we decided to go somewhere that we haven't been before. It was Saturday night and we didn't have a reservation, but luckily they were able to squeeze us in (thanks, Mike!). I would definitely recommend making a reservation because this place fills up fast! Carlos was out waiter and he took very good care of us. He explained the concept of the restaurant and gave us a tour of the menu. We went with many of his recommendations. We started with a couple cocktails, moved onto appetizers, shared an entree and finished with dessert and two more cocktails. I really enjoyed the Drink of the Week because it was kind of a tamarindo-like mezcal margarita. Yum! All the food was amazing, but I will say that the Carne En Su Jugo was my favorite. The short rib was very tender and extremely flavorful from the broth, and the handmade Nixtamal tortillas were some of the best I've ever enjoyed. Make sure to ask for more tortillas! We decided on the Guava Cheesecake for dessert and it did not disappoint. Their outdoor seating is great and we happened to come on a night that they had live music. It was quite the vibe! I also heard that they have a live mariachi band on occasion, so make sure to check this place out! read more

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The food was absolutely amazing! My husband and I dine here for DineLa and everything was fantastic! The service was personable, the food was full of flavor, and the cocktails hit the spot! I wish they would make the duck carnitas a regular menu items read more

We arrived a few minutes earlier than our reservation time for a small family (4) dinner on Saturday evening. We were seated promptly as the restaurant was not full. Upon being seated the waiter arrived to ask about drinks and we requested a few moments to look over the menu. After another inquiry we placed our drink orders. Again the waiter came by and asked about food orders and we requested more time as we were conversing with our family. When he came by again we requested two appetizers. The first course had not arrived when the waiter again asked if we wanted to place our entree orders and we stated that we needed more time. At this point, the waiter informed us that we had a 90-minute time frame to have dinner. We were shocked but quickly placed our order. We enjoyed the quality of the food: cochinita; enchiladas; carne en su jugo; arrachera; along with drinks and dessert. As we enjoyed our supper the waiter explained that our table would be joined with another table for the next party. Thus, I kidded the waiter that we would only order dessert if we made their 90-minute cut-off time. Overall, the price for dinner was fair for a nice dinner in Pasadena ($400 with tip). When we were departing I had an opportunity to speak with the manager named Claudia. First, I explained to her that we enjoyed the food. I explained that I did not request anything in return from her like a refund or discount. I stated that although the food was good, the service left a bad taste in my mouth as I felt rushed by their constant pressure and 90-minute time frame. I decided on their restaurant to take my family because we wanted to enjoy our time together along with a nice meal. If the restaurant was full and people were waiting I would have been more tolerant of the rushed service, however, it was not. I explained that they should use discretion when families are eating and enjoying time together. She seemed to agree that it was not an appropriate manner to treat families. Overall, Claudia listened to my concerns and apologized. I cannot recommend this restaurant to families who want to spend a reasonable amount of time enjoying conversation and a meal. Their food may be good, but it is not extraordinary for the prices, and the service was less than respectful to my family. read more

Been here several times and each time gets better and better! Quick summary? Everything is so good: drinks, food, music, vibes and service. Important stuff: - Street meter parking or various lots around Pasadena starting from $1/2 hrs - $10/flat fee. - Indoor and outdoor seating - Great ambiance - Try the different margaritas - Try the different appetizers - Lovely service from the hostess to all the different servers (our guy tonight was Max, he was so great. Friendly, helpful, such great vibes) - Night time, they have live music from a man called Gabriel Garcia, he was amaze. So yes, been here many times, but I love mainly coming here for drinks and appetizers. My fave drinks: - Watermelon margarita (seasonal) but was one of the best margaritas I've had - Guayabita: Guava margarita, sweet, sour, such a treat My fave foods: - Tacos Ahogado: So so yummy. Crispy, chicken taquitos in a delish chicken broth with veggies and cheese. The broth was the best. - Guacamole: The plantain chips and cotija (?) cheese, yummy yummy - Calamari: spicy, sweet, chewy, can't go wrong Overall, will be back for more and def recommend for yalls to give it a try :) read more

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What?! The food the ambiance the service wowowowow Just amazing i used to work in casual fine dining and this place is tops! The margs are outta this world too read more

We celebrated a birthday dinner at Maestro. It was a nice evening for outdoor dining; a little chilly, but they have powerful outdoor heaters that made enjoying the evening outdoors very comfortable. Then like a dream, a musician playing guitar with the voice of an angel s started serenading the diners. It was lovely and turned an already beautiful evening into a romantic night. All of our dishes were perfect! We had oysters, queso fundido, guacamole with plantain chips, shredded beef main courses, guava cheesecake, mezcal cocktail and coffees. Everything was perfection! Service was attentive. Pricing and portion sizes are very good. read more

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Perfect little date night spot! Make sure to make a reservation. I love sitting outside when the weather is warm, but inside is really cute and cozy. The food is great, and the drinks are well crafted and delicious! The place is pricey for the portions, but still very yummy. Parking is also easy in the parking structure right next door. There is often a live performer for the outdoor space on the weekends. The margaritas are the best! And also very Instagram-worthy. :) read more

Excellent food and service! The restaurant never disappoints. Delicious food and the staff is very friendly. read more

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I can't remember the names of all the dishes. There was a queso, empanada, a tamatale. Food was good! Drinks were great. It's a small place. Don't bring your nice coat. I didn't see a coat rack so mine was dragging on the floor over my chair. They have a 2 hour maximum per table but the seating is set up so that you won't want to anyway. Unless you get a booth. We had reservations and tried to get a booth but they gave it to another group of 4 who hadn't even arrived yet. Didn't love that, but perhaps they were regulars and could make special requests like this in advance. Our server is was quick and attentive but also very busy. I don't think they have enough space for too many servers at once. There was a mistake with one of our dishes but they quickly took it back and fixed it. Overall we had a nice night. For the price, I won't necessarily be back, I'll try another place instead, but we had fun! read more

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Came here for brunch with a friend. I would definitely come back for dinner. I really want to try the mole dishes. Unfortunately, there were no mole options for brunch. I ordered the Birria Tacos from the brunch menu. I was torn between the birria tacos and the chilaquiles. Hands down without a doubt, get the birria tacos! It came with two birria tacos and I wished it came with more. The taco shell was crunchy and the braised beef was juicy. The consomé was rich, flavorful, savory, and delicious! Highly recommend! For drinks: I got the drink of the week, which was this black tea sweet vermouth and lemon with tequila. It was a nice sipping drink. It was sweeter than I thought. I got the Mezcal Campfire after. I recommend both. They were both fun to drink and complimented really well with the food. My friend and I shared the guacamole. It was so creamy. It was perfect. Guacamole went so well with the drinks we ordered. read more

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Just had dinner last night with a group of friends. Wow. Every single item we ordered was absolutely delicious. From their guacamole to their cheese fondue thingy, to their mixed drinks, everything was absolutely delicious. The homemade tortillas were probably my favorite. Would definitely recommend and would definitely visit again. read more

Great place! We celebrated my daughter's birthday there and the food and drinks were amazing. And the staff is very welcoming and attentive, I highly recommend!!! read more

I was order the octopus and it was burning and take my heve soda And the service it is bad read more

I recall taking my nephew right before pandemic began. I love the ambiance and the food and drinks were yummy. I loved the carrot cake tres leches sooo much that I commissioned a full one for my dad's 80th birthday. I can't wait to go back read more

Exceptional service, authentic food and attentive service. What more can you ask for in C19 times. Be grateful for all and good food. It's certainly quite traditional little bit high in pricing but overall a wonderful experience if you have not tasted authentic Mexican food. Seating is quite limited as it is only on one side of the outside patio so definitely recommend reservations especially on the weekend. Parking is right next-door so you cannot miss it if you're on Union and Raymond eight dollars flat rate. I heard the busy times are on the weekends but I came at the opening, beware yelp says 5 PM opening but it does open earlier! I recommend calling the restaurant always for it latest updates. Menu also updates so today's I scored on Oysters! Not featured in scan menu. Oops forgot pics too. Oh well what do you say when the drinks are so good it catches you by surprise. read more

Food is not fresh and too much cover up salt in dishes. Coffee was warmed over. Not happy with the quality of the mole chicken - salty and old. Overpriced. read more

* Price: starters are less $20. Main dishes are around $35. Good portion. 4 star. * Ambiance: casual, urban chic. But not too crowded or cramped. 4 star. * Location: Old Town Pasadena. Many street parking. 5 star. * Meals: elevated Mexican cuisine with local products. 5 star. * Services: friendly and pleasant. 5 star. We were looking to try a new place at last minute and found this place on Yelp. The restaurant is in outskirt of Pasadena Old Town, walking distance to Pasadena Cpurthouse, the Westin, etc. They have outdoor patio. However, they close service for outdoor patio early. The restaurant is small but cute The seating is nicely arranged that you don't feel cramped nor have to listen to other patrons' conversations. For Starter, we got calamari, $17. Calamari was roasted with red pepper, chili oil, paprika. It is quite surprised tender and different since the Calamari is roared instead of deep fried. Probably one of the best Calamari we've ever had. Thumb up! For Mid dishes, we ordered fried quesadillas, $17 recommended by our waitress. It is a miss for this one. Quesadillas is buried under pile of cabbage, cheese and beam puree. Quesadillas get a bit saggy from everything else. I would not order this one. For main dishes, we got Arrachera or skirt steak , $34 and scallops, $34. Skirt steak was perfectly cooked, very tender and juicy, even the next day. I also like chimichuri suace with the steak. Scallops were very tender, seared, seved with huitlacoche rice. This is my first time having huitlacoche, a corn smut or fungus. It tastes like mushroom risotto. We also tried their Tamarindo margarita drink which is pretty tasty, hint of sour tamarind, with chilly salt. So, LA peeps, check this place out. It is worth a drive. read more

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Good vibes, cute and chic decor. The cocktails are like how I like my men strong and to the point. The food is most of the time orgasmic perfect spot for a date or with your homies also a sola date at the bar is divine oh and hands-down, the best customer service ever! Cheers the BONE MARROW ESQUITE Street Style Corn. Arbol Aioli. Dried Hot Sauce. Swect Com Tamale. Salsa Verde is my favorite so far read more

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I had a beautiful time here. The servers were great and the ambiance was amazing. I really enjoyed the mariachi night. I really like the cocktail drinks, I tried a couple of them but I don't remember the names. One of them was a cucumber mix and another was spicy and smokey. They were both really good. The food was so good, and I want to thank the cook Alan, for coming out and letting us know he was the cook for the night. We had a lot of questions about the ingredients and the plates so wanted to make sure the questions were answered by someone who is actually cooking the food. I really enjoyed the shrimp tacos, although the price is not justified I'm glad I did try it. Presentation was excellent and the portions were good. You definitely have to try their guacamole, I love it when it's a little more citrusy and this one hit the spot! Amazing experience overall! read more

Had a reservation but had to wait a while to get seated despite there being many seats outside. Definitely get a reservation, especially if going on the weekend because there are a looot of people. There was live music outside, which added to the vibes. Ordered the tacos de cameron, which was delicious! Food is a bit pricey here imo , but it is Pasadena. Service was fine, but nothing spectacular. read more

Maestro Restaurant - Tacos de cameron - Cocktail Bars Near Me - Pasadena, California

Not much special things or good than we expected from reviews. We actually had a BD party with friends. We had ceviche, guacamole and plantains. Quesadilla and so on. Also lots of cocktails and drinks as well. But.... According to the main dishes, I am not 100% sure about satisfaction. The skirt steaks I order for mid-rear was pretty much well done and too strong to chew.... And others doesn't seem that nice neither; we ordered sea bass, enchiladas, lamb, short ribs and so on. Even they offered BD champagne, I may expect too much. read more

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I love this place and have for a long time. This 5-star review is long overdue as Maestro consistently continues to impress. The food is terrific (although I've never had dessert because I'm always having another margarita!), the space is charming, the staff is simultaneously folksy but polished, and the patio kept my husband and I sane during covid. It's just an all around great neighborhood spot. Pasadena is lucky to have it! read more

From start to finish, every dish was a masterpiece of flavor and presentation. With a party of five we had the pleasure of trying a variety of dishes. We ordered pork belly, Carne en su jugo, birria, Oysters Aguachile & Mole. The drinks served were equally impressive adding an extra layer of enjoyment to our meal! read more

OYSTER THURSDAYS! $1! Need I say more?!? Yes, actually, because these are the best tasting oysters I've ever had! They are green and beautiful bursts of agua chile, cucumber, onion, lime and cilantro and each bite tastes like a mini mexican ceviche flavor bomb. Mmm mmm mmm. Too tasty. And let's talk about value; regularly a half dozen costs $15. This alone deserves the full 5, but I've been here enough now to really understand how delicious (and well executed) everything truly is. The happy hour menu is phenom. What to get? Easy! Get the guac, the chorizo queso dip, and if you still want more (which you should!), try the tacos ahogados. Never had I tried tacos in broth, but they were great! Crispy tops with a little soggy wet bottoms, totally unique and delicious. Excellent flavor. I liked! For dinner, definitely try the Mole chicken (such complex flavors!), the arrachera for amazing skirt steak, and the red and green enchiladas. Oooh and if you find yourself here after happy hour, get the Mezcal campfire! Strong and smoky! read more

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