El Caserio

07/05/09

Gem in the Jungle

by pattersonniel at Citysearch

The food is awesome. My favorite is the ceviche. The service is given by real people not by fake "thank you folks" that are only interested in the tips. This is a great neighbourhood restuarant.......:)

• Pros: Great Location and Food
• Cons: ?

04/10/09

Good food, SERVICE DOES NOT EXIST!!!!

by Nozferat at Citysearch

We went here a week ago think it'd be a great place.

I called ahead of time to reserve a seat for outside.

Once we got there, I stated that we had made a seating reservation outside. Suddenly, there were about 6-7 waitresses that began surrounding us and speaking Spanish...yapping away while shaking their heads and giving us dirty looks. It was like a hoard of angry army ants.

I stated that I'd made a reservation and the head waitress or manager stated our names were not on the list. After about 10 minutes of this nonsense, we decided to go ahead and sit inside anyway because it was too obvious that these workers were completely overwhelmed by a problem and they simply did not know how to resolve such a minor issue.

When we ordered our food, my friend and I got the wrong dish...we asked for the basic skirt steak and got the potato cakes with eggs inside. This was not going well.

We order a 1/2L of sangria. There were 4 of us. We don't drink much...this was enough for us. But apparently the waitresses though otherwise. Again a flurry of ranting and talking in Spanish ensued and they began giving us dirty looks again as if we had 3 eyes or something.

Disgraceful service...pathetic quality of hosting. I'm truly surprised this place is still in business with this sort of service. It goes to show how low expectations people have these days.

Ironically...there was a table outside that was meant to seat 4 people that was NEVER filled...that was for us but the idiots didn't bother to ask again.

To be sure, we'll never go back again.

• Pros: Food, overall ambiance
• Cons: Extremely poor service, rude manager, rude waitresses

08/21/08

interesting food choices, good decor, but TERRIBLE service

by jrt12 at Citysearch

Went there for the first time for a friends birthday dinner. Got there and thought i'd really get into the place right away. i dug the decor and the food (mix of south american and italian), but that was all lost after consistent terrible service. First, after not getting any attention at our table (on a wednesday, the place wasnt packed or anything) I went to the bar and once again, its not packed, there was only one other person sitting there at the bar. I waited for 10 minutes for a waittress to finally come over and help me. She had no idea what a 7 & 7 was, even after I explained it to her, it seemed like too much trouble so i just got wine instead. That was just the beginning.... our food took forever. we literally waited over an hour. and to top it all off, as we finished the night with more wine and desert, we asked if they were closing soon. The waittress told us no, we could finish up, no rush. well someone obviously disagreed with her because 5 minutes later they turned up the outside mood music to levels where we had to yell to hear each other. instead of asking us to please finish up, they took the not so subtle and completely rude approach. I couldnt believe it. but i know this, they'll never get another dime from me or my friends again.

• Pros: great decor and cool food
• Cons: terrible service, outweighs the rest

05/05/08

Yummy Foreign cuisine, no passport needed

by kwofo at Citysearch

Granted, we did pass up the restaurant on our first encounter, but upon circling came upon the restaurant in a cul-de-sac with a smiling attendant waving his flashlight to the generous parking lot. Upon entering the restaurant via a substantial carved door, and immediately seated, we felt like we were in another "country" and not in the middle of swirling cars coming around the corner of Silver Lake Blvd. Warm lighting, soft music and even though the restaurant was busy, we could converse nicely. The service was very friendly and warm. The little individual loaves of bread were divine and just the right amount, served with a slightly spicy dipping sauce or butter. Being light eaters, we opted for entrees and a shared dessert. We each had the pork dishes which were tender and ample, which were served with beans, plantains, light crispy lettuce salad, and potato patties with a light peanut sauce. For dessert, we shared the chocolate torte which had the texture of caramel with a smidge of peanut flavoring. Quite nice and delectably served.

• Pros: Parking/food
• Cons: None

The fancier sister restaurant to Silver Lake's longstanding Ecuadorian eatery, this lovely spot blends Italian and Latin American flavors.

by Andrew Rosenblum at Citysearch

In Short
Even with cooking duties split by one Ecuadorian and one Italian chef, this is a Latin American restaurant at heart, albeit one with a larger selection of hearty pasta dishes than at the original location. An inviting curved bar welcomes visitors into the attenuated main dining room, handsomely apportioned with a gleaming wooden floor and paintings of Quito. But the real draw is the seafood and meat-heavy menu, with dishes like whole fish braised in Creole sauce, grilled steak sauteed with tomatoes, and boneless goat in red sauce with beer.

02/14/08

el Caserio

by cutiepienurse at Citysearch

Valentine's Day Dinner. The place looked really promising. You walk in and the first thing you see a really nice looking bar. As we walked in no one greeted us.; we had to flag a waitress down to escort us to our seats. The food was plentiful but just ok. I had the skirt steak which was flavored really well (but tough) with potato cakes (yummy). My boyfriend ordered the T-bone steak but was told they weren't serving that tonight instead they offered a NY steak. The steak had no flavor and tough. It was served with cold fries. Once the food finally came out our waitress disappeared. She never asked if we wanted another drink, or if the food was ok. Again we had to flag her down to get the check. All in all it wasn't that great. As much as I want to support local merchants I may have to be really hungry to check this place out again.

• Pros: parking, patio seating, large portions
• Cons: bad service, mediocre food