Hot Tamale Rating: 3
(1=worst, 5=best)
Plastic flowered vases on green and white checked tablecloths, a telenovela on the big screen, and Mexican music blaring several decibels too loud - those are the first impressions your senses register as you enter Catti on 14th at Parkwood Pl. NW.
The Tex-Mex-Trio, along with friends Alice, Adam, and Kelly (Billy was conspicuously absent...), were seated upstairs on the balcony overlooking the bar, the big screen and a wall of smaller TVs.
Later, when we left, Kelly commented that "We're the most interesting thing to walk into this restaurant tonight." Kelly's assessment was pretty much spot on. The clientele was all males, sitting at the bar or tables - by themselves - face deep in cerveza with eyes on cell phones, televisions, or flitting over the female wait staff.
Speaking of the wait staff, their service was quite good. In spite of our poor waitress having to continually ascend the stairs to check on us, and run down and back up again to fetch more salsa, margaritas or water, we were rarely in want of anything.
As we waited for the margaritas to arrive, a man in black approached our table and asked if it was our first time here. We replied that it in fact was.
"Oh, cuz I thought you were that guy ... that I hassled 'bout lookin' too young to drink. I said I'd buy him four drenks if he ever got back in here."
This place clearly had character.
The chips and salsa came - ostensibly out of a bag and out of a can, respectively. Nothing to write home about. The margaritas arrived too and were pretty decent.
While the food had thus far been largely unremarkable, the entree made up for what was lacking, at least in Jason's case. Jason had requested Cecina Estilo Yec... something, something. Because he couldn't recognize any words when he ordered, nor pronounce them, he automatically assumed it would be great. His unpronounceable meal turned out to be skirt steak with refried beans, stick-of-butter shaped cheese, an avocado, zesty red sauce on the side, and home made tortillas. The beef was tender and flavorful, the avocado soft and buttery and the beans were fresh and almost creamy.
Jaime ordered Puerco en Salsa Verde. The plate contained equal portions of refried beans, rice and chunks of pork in salsa verde, a garnish of shredded iceberg lettuce and an accompaniment of two thick corn tortillas. The beans, a pleasant surprise, tasted homemade, rather than canned, and paired well with the tortillas. The slightly under cooked rice disappointed, but did serve as an adequate vehicle to collect any excess salsa verde. The Salsa Verde was the real point of this plate. The chunks of pork combined a thin, crispy covering over a tender-fatty morsel, but they took a backseat to the bright and spicy Salsa.
Would Jaime order it again?
"Probably, but I’d like to try some of the other items on the menu that looked interesting," Jaime explained.
Anna tried Camarones del Diablo which were spicy shrimp covered with a smoky chipotle sauce. The shrimp were large, tasty, and there were plenty of them. Instead of beans, Anna was presented with a pleasant, fresh salad with tomatoes and cucumbers.
Our fellow compadres all tried and enjoyed el Diablo, but alas, Anna learned a hard life lesson this evening – "I don't like smoky chipotle sauce."
Our friends who joined us highly recommend the seafood fajitas and the chicken mole. However, Anna was also saddened to discover that, like the smoky chipotle, the mole didn't agree with her unrefined palate either.
The Mexican dude-ranch music progressively gave way to Mexican pop-rock as our plates cleared, our margaritas emptied, and our first Mexican Restaurant dinning experience came to an end.
(1=worst, 5=best)
Plastic flowered vases on green and white checked tablecloths, a telenovela on the big screen, and Mexican music blaring several decibels too loud - those are the first impressions your senses register as you enter Catti on 14th at Parkwood Pl. NW.
The Tex-Mex-Trio, along with friends Alice, Adam, and Kelly (Billy was conspicuously absent...), were seated upstairs on the balcony overlooking the bar, the big screen and a wall of smaller TVs.
Later, when we left, Kelly commented that "We're the most interesting thing to walk into this restaurant tonight." Kelly's assessment was pretty much spot on. The clientele was all males, sitting at the bar or tables - by themselves - face deep in cerveza with eyes on cell phones, televisions, or flitting over the female wait staff.Speaking of the wait staff, their service was quite good. In spite of our poor waitress having to continually ascend the stairs to check on us, and run down and back up again to fetch more salsa, margaritas or water, we were rarely in want of anything.
As we waited for the margaritas to arrive, a man in black approached our table and asked if it was our first time here. We replied that it in fact was.
"Oh, cuz I thought you were that guy ... that I hassled 'bout lookin' too young to drink. I said I'd buy him four drenks if he ever got back in here."
This place clearly had character.
The chips and salsa came - ostensibly out of a bag and out of a can, respectively. Nothing to write home about. The margaritas arrived too and were pretty decent.
While the food had thus far been largely unremarkable, the entree made up for what was lacking, at least in Jason's case. Jason had requested Cecina Estilo Yec... something, something. Because he couldn't recognize any words when he ordered, nor pronounce them, he automatically assumed it would be great. His unpronounceable meal turned out to be skirt steak with refried beans, stick-of-butter shaped cheese, an avocado, zesty red sauce on the side, and home made tortillas. The beef was tender and flavorful, the avocado soft and buttery and the beans were fresh and almost creamy.
Jaime ordered Puerco en Salsa Verde. The plate contained equal portions of refried beans, rice and chunks of pork in salsa verde, a garnish of shredded iceberg lettuce and an accompaniment of two thick corn tortillas. The beans, a pleasant surprise, tasted homemade, rather than canned, and paired well with the tortillas. The slightly under cooked rice disappointed, but did serve as an adequate vehicle to collect any excess salsa verde. The Salsa Verde was the real point of this plate. The chunks of pork combined a thin, crispy covering over a tender-fatty morsel, but they took a backseat to the bright and spicy Salsa.
Would Jaime order it again?
"Probably, but I’d like to try some of the other items on the menu that looked interesting," Jaime explained.
Anna tried Camarones del Diablo which were spicy shrimp covered with a smoky chipotle sauce. The shrimp were large, tasty, and there were plenty of them. Instead of beans, Anna was presented with a pleasant, fresh salad with tomatoes and cucumbers.
Our fellow compadres all tried and enjoyed el Diablo, but alas, Anna learned a hard life lesson this evening – "I don't like smoky chipotle sauce."Our friends who joined us highly recommend the seafood fajitas and the chicken mole. However, Anna was also saddened to discover that, like the smoky chipotle, the mole didn't agree with her unrefined palate either.
The Mexican dude-ranch music progressively gave way to Mexican pop-rock as our plates cleared, our margaritas emptied, and our first Mexican Restaurant dinning experience came to an end.
- Location and Atmosphere: 2
- Service: 4
- Cost and Value: 3
- La Comida: 3
Rating:
Medium distance from metro; Too loud!
Slow with chips and salsa, otherwise good.
Little pricey, but big portions. You will not leave hungry.
Mediocre chips and bad salsa. Margarita didn't use the best tequila and the taste of the margarita mix lingered long after the meal. Entrées were by and large very good, though.
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6 comments:
Nice to see that your blog is finally up and running. Too bad your first restaurant was sort of a let down. Wish I could've been there to lie to the man in black to get the free drinks. Anyways, just want to let you know that you folks are doing a great service to the D.C. metro area.
Thank you Mexican Restaurant Catti. Thank you, not only for the food, for the value, for the service, but for taking me gently by the hand down this long, hard road of self-discovery. Gracias Catti. Gracias.
- Anna
ooh... I heart pupusas! Count me in if you visit a pupusaria! (Is that even a word?)
Gentle Reader,
Welcome to the comments section of the Tex Mex Trio’s inaugural restaurant review. The comment section is where you will find the personal takes of the TMT members on their current review. Think of the review as the majority decision and the comments as minority decisions that either support or dissent from the consensus. It is hoped, nay, expected that non TMT members who accompany us on these movable feasts post their own observations here. Since Anna has already chimed in, I guess I should get to business.
Most of the comments in the rating section this time around are mine, so I can’t complain about the rating. That being said, I offer this, if you are thinking of heading to Catti please take note of the noise level and the quality of the margarita. This is not a place to whisper sweet nothings to your SO. The music in this place rarely lets up and when it does you might be caught shouting something awkward to your dining companion. While I generally hold that alcohol can make most things bearable, the margaritas here are not the answer. They are rough and expensive. Try one of the many bottled Mexican beers instead. Catti is one of the few places in town that I have run across that serves Sol.
This is one big scheme to get restaurants to comp your meals, I know it!
Maybe it was the sweet shyness of our server. Maybe it was the fake dew on the fake flowers. Maybe it was the gruesome surgeries playing on the Discovery Channel on the TV upstairs. Catti had a certain charm to it. Okay, maybe not charm: but it certainly had its own flavor (and an authentic one at that). I liked that Catti didn’t try to be something that it’s not. It seemed to be a simple, unpretentious place local folks can go to have a decent bite—and, if they’re lucky, something that reminds them of a home cooked meal by mom. I played it safe with the fajitas mixtas (shrimp, chicken, and beef), which tasted great with the beans, avocado, and sour cream. The spiciness of the meat crept up on me; mid-way through my meal I realized that I was sniffling and that my burning lips matched the color of the canned salsa! Thanks, TMT, for having me. Keep up the top-notch work!
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