Catalina’s

This is my favorite little neighborhood restaurant. All of the food is fresh. The flavors are authentic.
The prices are very reasonable.

Sopa de Lucia is amazing! I’ve enjoyed every meal I’ve had here. Nice presentation, friendly staff (helped teach my two year old her first Spanish words) very fun. Also nice quesadilla option for the kids. Another hidden gem in a quiet strip mall — yum!

Great tasting authentic food. Fantastic service with a smile. I love the Honduran tamales. Opening a tamale wrapped in a banana leaf is like unwrapping a Christmas present. Will definitely return. Thank you.

Excellent. The most beautiful presentation of Latina cuisine I have ever seen. I almost didn’t want to eat it. However I did and it was delicious and authentic. Very attentive, polite and authentically dressed Restaurateurs. Small establishment, but very clean and very neat. This restaurant was highly recommended to me, & I now highly recommend it to you.

Very much a mom and pop place, it feels like you are entering someone’s home kitchen. The wait-​staff/​cooks are very friendly and fun. The food is fresh, tasty and has a home-​cooked taste. The food may take a couple minutes but that because it is being cooked, not just dropped frozen from a fryer or assembled in Chipotle-​style factory line.
Salsas have good head to them and the enchiladas were excellent. I look forward to trying more dishes here.
Just a heads up, no beer/​wine but the horchata is awesome.

Wow… Great experience. Lovely staff. I’m not for beans and rice kind of guy so asking them to leave it off they made, without asking, a fabulous side salad that was fresh, clean and crunchy. Lucia was vey attentive in a very clean and efficient environment. The flautas were great… hotter than a shingle from hell! Not in a spice way but right from the fryer way… outstanding!

Catalina’s food is delicious. A friend recommended this place to me. It’s a small, family owned Honduran restaurant located in a very unassuming strip mall in Columbia Heights. The spicy salsa does not disappoint. I highly recommend the Platano Fritos. Will definitely be back.

Catalina’s caught my eye because it’s the only Honduran restaurant I’ve seen in the Midwest. My dad is full Honduran, so I was excited to bring him and my family here. The food was fantastic, and my dad was in love with the La Sope de Lucia, and asks to go back every time he visits. I tried the flautas and the bistec encebollada, both of which were very good.
The service was friendly but very very slow the first time we went. (My dad’s been back and said it was fine the next time around). We waited a long time for our check at the end, and not too many check-​ins to see how we were doing. Again, super friendly… just very slow.

SO I eat here about once a week now after I visited Mexico, because short of visiting Mexico, this is as close as it gets.
The food is authentic, and you won’t find these flavors from anyone who isn’t from the places these foods originate from.
SNOB WARNING: This is not a gourmet restaurant, it’s a ma/​pa joint that you might find on Diner’s, Drive-In’s, and Dives. It’s run by a family, and they don’t have a «Super fast wait staff, and a kitchen filled with Michelin Chefs». They do the best that they can, and turn out quality food, which takes time. It’s not fast food, and it’s not fine dining, it’s authentic Latin American Food.
the food speaks for itself, and I haven’t found anything on the menu I didn’t like. Should you visit more than once, you’ll become family. The gals and guys there do what they can to make you feel their warmth and hospitality.
DEFINITELY CHECK THIS PLACE OUT!

The food was really good, you can tell it was not the canned American version of Mexican food. I can see the complaints on the service. Once we got our food, we did not see anyone after that. That being said, we were warmly greeted and given the specials and suggestions. Super nice, just not very attentive.
As for the rest, I can personally handle poor service for great food. The mixiotes were awesomely homemade happiness! Was not crazy about the beans (but I’m usually not). Rice was okay. Chips were homemade and yummy but the salsa was nothing special. Salsa Verde on the enchiladas was really good. As for the concerns over portion size, they were not super-​sized American-​eat-​until-​you-​break-​the-​scale-​sized, but I was stuffed and could not stop eating.

Catalinas offers an excellent mix of Mexican and Honduran food. Everything we ordered was made fresh and from scratch. The pork with plantains was spectacularly flavorful, as was the Honduran-​style sour cream. The banana leaf tamales were unique and a perfect mix of spicy and filling. None of the dishes were overly spicy, but the hot salsa, if you ask for it, will knock you down. The ambience is not elaborate, but forget that and enjoy the food. I ate here before surgery, in case it was my last meal, and if I live, I’ll get take out to go home with me.
[Ignore the negative review. Portion sizes are appropriate, not gross restaurant excess. Quality trumps quantity here. Service was attentive and delightful. The menu is in English-​you just have to look below the Spanish. If you took Spanish for years in High School and can’t read this menu, you need to watch more Telemundo-​probably El Gordo y La Flaca].

Been coming here for 2 years now. Great prices, wonderful home cooked fresh Mexican food. Wonderful friendly staff. This is a must try!!!

A regular here, and love this place. The Platano Frito is my #1 choice, and to top it off– a Horchata!
Such a wonderful bunch, and fresh food– highly recommend it!

The best red enchilada sauce I’ve ever had! Hubs had the al pastor tacos (pic) also very tasty. Guacamole was nothing special but everything was very fresh and had home cooked taste. I’ll be back for sure!

I don’t know the previous reviewers of this place and how they could possibly give it almost 5 stars, but it absolutely has to be the worst experience I’ve had in a very long time. I dine out a LOT, too…
Firstly, I had purchased a CrowdCut deal for a *family* entrée that normally costs $ 26. It was supposed to be half off, but of course my certificate expired. I was willing to pay full price since I had not redeemed it on time. I figured it was no huge issue because I expected a filling meal with high-​quality ingredients that was prepared fresh. I understand the terms of the deals I buy, and this review has been in NO WAY influenced by having to pay full price. I first purchased the deal because of the good reviews for this restaurant, and now I whole-​heartedly regret that decision.
The problem began with the fact that it took FOREVER for the people at the front to figure out what the deal was for in the first place, and to seat us with menus. They kind of had a «whatever» attitude, like they didn’t want to be there at all. Yeah, it was late in the night, but I asked first if we could be seated or if we had to have take-​out because of the time. They said we could do whatever we wanted. I would have ordered take out if I had known how horrible the service was going to be.
We sat down and after a while, they brought us a tiny basket of chips. TINY cannot be overstated. It was maybe half full. This was AFTER we had drank our tiny glass of water 10 minutes prior. We were so hungry we ate anyway, and our chips were already consumed before we even got water. We only received one small glass of water and no refills. The «waiter,» who was definitely not doing anything or busy at all, was no where to be found. There were at least 5 workers in the empty restaurant, so SOMEONE could have attended to us regardless. I can see why no customers were in there.
When the waiter finally came back to take our order, we had questions on what the things were. He could not explain the items very well to us, and just said «it’s good.» What competent waiter doesn’t know how to explain in INGLES what a Spanish dish is? The menu was in Spanish, and we didn’t have any idea of what most of it was, so we just guessed. I took 3 years of Spanish in high school almost 2 decades ago, so I knew a few words, but that’s it. I know the usual dishes, but since this is Latin American food, it was quite a bit different than the usual menu.
When we finally got the food, the portions were TINY. And it was bland. My boyfriend was so mad that he swore he’d write a review. He almost never bothers to leave reviews about anything, so this is serious business. I cannot fathom how this meal could feed a family when it barely fed two of us. We were still hungry afterwards and had to go elsewhere to get full.
We couldn’t believe the horrible service and the tiny portions we got for almost $ 30 dollars (with tax). We only saw the «waiter» a few times during our meal, with no refills on water or chips or anything. For someone who’s used to dining at local Mexican restaurants with plentiful chips and nice (American-​sized) portions, this was a shock. Yes, there are cultural differences, I understand. But you die, adapt, or move to survive in business and in life…
I appreciate that they are making authentic Central American/​Mexican cuisine fresh, but this had little taste. I love fresh local food, but our meal was beyond disappointing. If we had gotten a large portion of chips (and perhaps a refill) as well as been actually checked on by our server and given enough water rather than just one glass, I might have given this restaurant a 2-​star review.
Note: For reference, anywhere else I would maybe have paid at most $ 15-​$ 18 for this meal. I generally am willing to pay more for gourmet, local, fresh cuisine, but this meal did not meet my criteria for ponying up the extra cash.

I wish I could give this place more stars, but the service is just terrible. It’s really bad. The food makes up for it, but the service is so bad that I can’t deal with it. Been there twice now and both times (one lunch and one dinner) it was really slow. Slow as in there are only 2 tables with customers, and food still took 20+ minutes. And that was for one plate. The person I ate lunch with got his food ten minutes later (no joke). However, having said that, the food was great. I just don’t know if I can keep going here with service like that, but maybe as a to-​go? I don’t know, I’m sure I’ll end up here again at some point and probably regret it with the slow service.

Oh man, this is another one of those places that I don’t want to review, lest other people catch wind of it and I can’t get a table whenever I want… but at the same time, everyone needs to know about Catalina’s, because their food is SO GOOD.
Seriously, the boyfriend and I end up here at least twice a month. It’s close to his house, the food is fabulous, and the staff knows what we eat, we’ve been here so often. I can heartily recommend the handmade flour tortillas, though I wish they were corn instead of flour. I always take any opportunity to eat handmade tortillas when they are available. The boyfriend loves any and all items on the menu that involve their steak. It’s got a good flavor, and always comes in a generous portion.
Their chips and salsa are to diiiiiie for. Seriously, they are so good. They are fried fresh, and you often get them at your table still warm. The salsas are delicious, too, and there is usually enough left over after your chips to use it on your meal.
If you’re ever sitting at home and wondering, «Hmm, what should we eat for dinner tonight?» the answer to that question is «Catalina’s.»

Food gets 5 stars, service gets 3.
My date and I both got the flautas. They were AMAZING. The side of beans were delicious as well. We should’ve thought it out better and each got something different, but I must go back and try more. Their menu had many yummy-​sounding dishes and if they’re anything like what I had, I won’t be disappointed. Everything tasted fresh and tasty.
We were the only diners in the place (small dining room, 8 or so tables), and our waiter (also manning the front counter) never returned to refill our drinks, and brought my date a water instead of the Pepsi he asked for. It really wasn’t a big deal though, the food was so good.

This is a little hole in the wall in a strip mall next to Unique Thrift store, with plenty of parking.
Better half took the recommendation on the chicken tinga– it tops the list for chicken tinga– very savory and melt-​in-​your-​mouth tender.
I did also order a whole fish with roasted garlic to make DIY tacos– this was only okay, a lot of work and it probably won’t be on my crave list anytime soon. (I do order a whole fish at any restaurant that offers it.) It was actually kind of busy when we visited and that’s always a good sign. However it is just far enough away and Riendo is around the corner from me so it’s not a fair competition.

We are happy and very satisfied after a Thursday night dinner at Catalina’s.
Our server was friendly, although we didn’t see him too often; they could use more help. Food = excellent! Different tortillas than I’d ever had before — thick and chewy, almost like fry bread. I had the mixiotos, two chicken legs stewed with peas, potatoes, and carrots in a spicy tomato broth. Another person in our party had the beef meat pie, which would make a good State Fair food, as it’s very fried and very delicious — something you should probably eat no more than once a year but enjoy it thoroughly when you do. There’s definitely a Latin twist here, not just a regular Mexican restaurant.
The server was nice enough not to quibble about accepting our restaurant certificate even though we were a shade under the required total check amount. We’ll definitely go back to this family-​feeling, bright-​and-​cheerful, strip-​mall gem.