El Meson

I am in MN for business and rented a furnished unit a block away. This food reminded me of what my mother makes at home. Great flavor!
Atmosphere is cozy and has the opportunity for an intimate diner date with the misses. The cave like booths are a nice touch.
I will be eating here very often.

In the handsome manfriend’s book, El Meson gets two stars instead of one only because they are not part of the school-​to-​prison pipeline. His mother was in town and offered to take us out to dinner– this was our choice. Admittedly we probably should have stuck to a tried-​and-​true, but had heard such good things (and I had HAD such good things here in the past) that we chose El Meson.
When we were seated, I happened to glance up over his mother’s head and nearly choked on my drink when I saw that the ceiling was being held up by stapled plastic. Oh! Delightful! I love that added thrill of never knowing when the ceiling is going to cave! MAKES EVERYTHING TASTE LIKE ADRENALINE.
We ordered easily one of the worst ceviches I’ve ever had– soupy, hardly any fish, nearly flavorless, no robust lime or cilantro to speak of. We then tried the vegetarian coconut risotto, which was having one major identity crisis after another– I have no idea what they were doing with this dish. Watery risotto. Peppers? And mango? And artichoke? Wtf? Desperate and still hungry, we pulled the trigger on an order of brie + tostanos, and both were lacking– the brie was TINY (three bites), and the dips for the tostanos were basically french dressing and mayo.
LISTEN, guys– Not being able to execute a strong menu is a serious problem. But the fact that you can’t execute your menu AND you charge $ 8 for brie and $ 16 for bad risotto, with portion sizes that would leave even a light eater like me hungry, makes me flat out pissed. Get it together.

My Spanish vocabulary is limited, but I’m pretty sure El Meson translates into spectacular. We went here for dinner last night, and surprisingly the place was pretty quiet for a Saturday evening. The place is dark and cozy enough to be intimate but not so much that you can’t see your food or feel cramped.
We started off with sangria (delicious) and cheese empanadas. Our waiter suggested them over the meat option, and though they didn’t blow me away they were pretty good.
The main event was for our entrees, which required a bit of deliberation. In this our waiter was no help, professing that everything was good. Well, everything sounded good and our eventual choices did not disappoint. I had a dish with shrimp and fried plantains– the sauce was garlicky and buttery, with a mysterious orange tint from mystery spices. After my shrimp was gone I looked for something to soak up the rest of the sauce with. Yum. I liked my dish more than Nate’s, which consisted of chicken and vegetables in a slightly spicy sauce. It was still good though, and we finished everything on our plates.
As an added bonus, there was a flamenco dancer and a guitarist performing in the front corner of the restaurant– I hope this is a frequent event! The service was great and the food was fantastic. Olé!

Came during restaurant week, $ 30 for an app, entrée and dessert. Was pleasantly surprised to discover that wine bottles were also half off!
Will definitely come back, but will request a booth. The tables are close together and the noise gets loud quicky when the restaurant fills up. Food was delicious and service was great!

Service: Great
Portions: Small, even for non-​overeaters
Atmosphere: Freezing cold, not very cozy or romantic, unless you get a booth.
Prices: High, especially considering portions & atmosphere
Dietary Restriction Accommodation: Vegan-​not really. Gluten intolerant-​fair.
Wine List: Not terribly edu-​ma-​cated; however I enjoyed my malbec quite a bit
Sangria: Yes.

There is not a bar to wait at, but we ordered wine while watching the flamenco dancer/​guitarist. The food was incredible — brie apricot to start, and then conchas (sea scallops over coconut risotto) and mango crème brulee. Delicious. The sangria… not so much. It was watery and light on fruit.
I asked the waitress about the menu, and she was so knowledgeable that she probably could have sold me anything on it.

Unique interior, fairly good service, and tasty food. Unfortunately, the larger impression was made at the end of the evening. My fiancé and I used a Groupon valued at two dinners and two glasses of wine. It seemed very straight forward. As my fiancé does not drink, I enjoyed two glasses over the course of our meal. When we got our bill, it came as a surprise then to see we were charged for the second glass of wine. When I asked our server she stated that it was one glass per person. Seriously? No where on the Groupon did it mention this, nor did our server make any reference to it as we ordered. When we were leaving, I stopped to share my disappointment with the manager, who provided us with little sense of remorse, nor was any attempt made to make us feel like we hadn’t just been baited.
There are so many neighborhood restaurants I wish I could patronize. Unfortunately, El Meson misses the mark.

Went here on a Saturday night with a friend and they had live Flamenco… how awesome! Was kind of loud, which I didn’t mind, but if you’re out to have lots of intimate conversation, this is not the place.
The food was awesome… lots of spice! I had the Puerto Rican arroz with shrimp and my friend had the Concha. We both liked the food. We also got a pitcher of Sangria which was REALLY good and hit the spot.
What a little gem in uptown! Make sure you make reservations… this place is popular!

Really felt like a sardine this time around.
J & I met my folks who were already seated and who had already ordered us some waters. Due to the tables being so small and crammed together, I knocked my water over.
The food was great as always. We all liked our dishes. Jambalaya, Carne Frita and Chicken Coconut something.
Our server was really dull and didn’t seem that into it. We received more attention from the runner who was excellent at filling up waters and getting us more of the bread with garlic butter which our server came and tossed out without asking if we were done.
While the flamenco dancer is fine at what she does, the space is far too small to have her clopping around. You can barely hear yourself think, let alone try to have a conversation. Thank goodness she took a break. We left before her next bout.
Service has been better the last few times we have dined. This time we were not that bowled over.
The food remains a solid 4.

El Meson was a wonderful accident. My boyfriend and I happened across this restaurant the other night while heading to another eatery up the street.
By chance we weren’t able to eat there so we came back and enjoyed a truly lovely meal at El Meson.
It was a Tuesday and Tuesday is half-​off bottles of wine night, as well as the sweetheart deal night where you get a fair bang for your buck.
I chose to have the Asado, a Tandori style pork tenderloin served over sour cream mashed potatoes, grilled asparagus, with a caramelized fennel/​onion ragout, in a creamy asparagus sauce. It was delicious!
We sat on the patio and enjoyed the cooler temps and the company of the nearby tables who told us of terrific menu items to try. Our waiter was absolutely excellent, referring to me by name all night and really making the two of us feel well taken care of, but not smothered.
It was a lovely experience and we plan to go back very soon.

The «Mofongo» is not that bad but when serve with «Carne Frita» that is really pork cooked in soy sauce it is not good anymore. «Tostones» where a disappointment the plantains were almost ripe, so they don’t taste the same.
Puertorrican sauce, Mayo & Ketchup??? Garlic anyone?
Prices… Way too pricey for the quality of the food.
I would not go back.

I’ll start by saying the food is pretty good. I particularly like the Asado which is one of the better executed pork dishes I’ve had.
Service is my big complaint here. On my last visit I had my valid
coupon rejected because, well, apparently the owner didn’t feel like it I guess?
I understand Groupon /​
/​etc. doesn’t always work out the way owners prefer or would like. While I am sympathetic, as a customer I expect them to be honored.
The owner doesn’t leave any way to contact her and leave feedback as she doesn’t seem to want any.
This is a neighborhood restaurant that I was once fond of but their poor form has lost a customer both at El Meson and Café Ena.

Overall the décor and atmosphere of El Meson is cute, hip, even a little romantic. It has a very casual feel and the service was decent, but we did go on off hours.
I was a little disappointed with the result though after reading through many positive reviews for the place — but the problem definitely came down to the food. It wasn’t bad, but boy was it salty — to the point I was ingesting more of the garlic bread just so I could have multiple tastings. The portion was perfect for lunch, but I’m not sure I would be willing to go back as my friend had the exact same issue with over-​salting.

It was OK… (at the time of my visit, they had 4.5 stars)
not thrilled with the service, and the paella was mediocre.

Me encanta comida latina! (I love me some Latin food!) While visiting my sister in Minneapolis we were looking for a tapas joint around town. I happened upon El Meson on OpenTable and checked it out on Unilocal.Here’s what I have to say about that:
–The amount of tapas is quite limited at roughly 10 options. This is not a Spanish tapas kinda place, so you’ve been forewarned. It’s more Caribbean/​Latin American fusion.
–Agreed. The interior is super cozy and reminds you of the rural backstreets in Latin America. Could be a romantic date spot.
–There are three waiters (I think they added a female, and two bus boys) who share all the tables and most likely split tips equally. They were fairly on the ball by keeping drinks full drinks and touching base with us. I thought it was odd for a table of 5 to have 20% gratuity included.
–Everyone recommended their guacamole to start off. There is nothing mentioned on the menu about it (possibly because it’s winter and they’re out of season) so I asked the waiter. They whipped it up and served it with chips, not fried plantain chips, however overall the guac was delish!
–Out of all the dishes we ordered, a few favorites were: Arroz con pollo, Pastelillos/​empanadas, Zetas, & Camarones al ajillo. Prices are a bit steep but we enjoyed our meal, all in all.

El Meson is certainly refreshing for being a chill, pretty classy place on the edge of Uptown. It definitely wins points for being sort of islandy and sort of plantationy all at the same time (by this garble, I mean it seems like an old, going to seed plantation house in an old Mexican mission town.) Anyway, nice décor, but too many hard surfaces inside so it gets really, really noisy when all the middle agers get out the sangria.
Boyfriend had a lamb special dish that evening and he said it was decent, with pretty good spices, but it wasn’t cooked exactly to make it tender. I had the seafood stew with rice, and it was definitely good, but it didn’t knock my socks off either.
It does make a cute date place, though.

El Meson has remarkably pleasing décor. There is a flavor of Spanish and the Caribbean with it’s rich colors and pillars.
The food is showered with flavor but call ahead if you plan on having the paella. It takes time but so worth it.
A fine selection of wine to compliment the various dishes. You can order little or order a lot. They will accommodate a small romantic couple or a group of ten.
They have a nice lunch buffet that is small but offers a nice variety.
This is a wonderful place to eat.

As a whole, I thought El Meson’s lunch buffet was slightly below average. Piece-​by-​piece, there were a couple of memorable things that make me want to try this place for happy hour (sangria!), but probably not again for lunch. I was hoping for more than just «meh» at El Meson, but it didn’t really deliver — and a girl cannot survive on guacamole alone. Even me.
Atmosphere: The atmosphere is classy in the way of crumbling Mediterranean villa. It’s cool and different for Uptown.
Food: I love guacamole (I just ate some homemade guac, in fact), and El Meson has that down. I think about how the guacamole at Barrio costs a fortune and it’s barely even one avocado worth of the stuff. Then there’s El Meson’s lunch buffet, which has all-​you-​can-​eat guac and it only costs a couple of bucks more than that spoonful at Barrio. That’s one win for El Meson.
Unfortunately, the Latin American/​Caribbean/​Spanish flavors translated a little blandly in some of the dishes. I liked the Veracruz-​style fish, which reminded me of something I ate in Mexico in a fishing village on the west coast. I also thought the BBQ ribs were pretty good. The Spanish rice and coconut green curry chicken (similar to Thai green curry) tasted OK. The seafood soup had little flavor outside the seafood in it (which wasn’t much, by the time we got to it at 1:30 p.m.). I know I tried some sort of chicken dish but I can’t recall what it was named.
For desserts, they had rice pudding and flan. I was too full of guacamole to indulge, but I had a bite of my BF’s flan. It was more like a pie with half-​flan with some sort of mousse on top – I never do very well with gelatinous foods, but I appreciated that it was a little less sweet than most flan I’ve had.
Service: Our server was aloof. Perfectly nice, but certainly not on top of her game. Since it was a buffet, we survived just fine.

El Meson has a very Brooklyn feel to it when you walk in the door, and that was an instant plus for me. It feels a bit old and shabby… lived in. It’s dark and the restroom doors look straight out of a medieval castle… cool. The atmosphere is pretty nice.
I went in expecting a tapas menu, for dinner, but that was not what they had on the menu… Clearly more of a Meditteranean Spanish/​Carribean full fare deal. That night, on a Tuesday I believe, had a $ 40 couples dinner which gave you a nice multi-​course meal with a bottle of wine… a pretty nice deal. We weren’t super hungry, so we just ordered 2 appetizers and a, happy hour half-​priced, bottle of wine. Our first was fried plantains with salsa. They were crispy and worked ok with the salsa. The second was a salad with toasted almonds, crumbled gorgonzola, and apples, but damned if the apples weren’t Red Delicious… c’mon now… Red Delicious? The worst apple ever. Aside from the mealy Red Delicious, the salad was good. I can’t remember the wine we tried, but it was fine and the half price made it better.
The mini-​meal was leisurely paced. The service was friendly. I’d go back to try some of the more proper dinner items. No socks were knocked off, but it was all a pleasant experience.

MMmmm Sangria…
It was a girls dinner last night with 2 carafes of El Meson Sangria. Each carafe was $ 20 each. The weather was perfect and we sat outside to enjoy one of the last nights we can still be outside without freezing.
We started the meal with the Peras appetizer. It was pears with warm Brie wrapped in prosciutto. Totally Delicious! I ordered the Arroz Con Pollo, a chicken and rice dish that tasted like a Sunday meal at home! My friend ordered the Merchada which had tender chunks of meat and came with rice and black beans; my other friend ordered Camarones al Ajillo which was okay but should have been served with something else to round out all the shrimp. Accompanying the meal was a basket of bread with garlic butter that was irresistible. After all that we still had room to share the Chocolate Torte with an orange cream that I could have done without. Next time I’m trying the Mango crème brûlée.
And yes, there will be a next time!!!