El Corazon- Review
Bottle Service Tacos
El Corazon translates to “The Heart”. When applied to the new Latin-American restaurant in Westblock….It translates to The Heart of Bullshit.
Came here for a birthday and the experience was terrible. Let’s start with something redeeming about this place though. The cocktails were great. All of them were. Well thought out and tasty. The sips of cocktails I had from the Corazon Classic list were decent. The pitchers of mojitos were refreshing too, however, after finishing the first pitcher I started to get concerned about how much ice they actually put in this glass pitcher and how many glasses we got out of this drink. What was also somewhat decent was the fish taco. Corona Battered Fish Tacos had corn tortillas filled with ChimiChimi sauce, pico de gallo, salsa roja and fresh lime. It was fine but for 2 tacos, paying $8 a taco seems steep AF. If this taco was amazing I’d not even care about the price but it was just a solid 2/5.
The other dish I was recommended was the Spanished Blackened Basa. Imma tell you right now that this is when this dinner went downhill for me. The waitress suggested it and was upselling me an appetizer or side. She was adamant in pointing out that there was no side aside from this pathetic-looking “Chunky Fresh Pico”. Just an attempt to a side when it’s just someone being lazy cutting veggies. When I received the dish I was so underwhelmed that it resembled something I would bake in the oven for meal prep yet was not as tasty. For $24 I was still hungry, maybe I should’ve bought a $5 dollar side of rice. Then It would be $29 which would be on par with offerings at Cactus/Earls. Cause down to the core this place isn’t too focused on food. It’s cocktail forward and that’s fine.
I just don’t think nickel and diming customers by upselling sides is kind of shitty. The menu reminds you that there are no sides included in your meal, and when it doesn’t say it the waitress will remind you to buy one of two. We were always pressured to buy Tequilla shots that were on special, only to get half shots? At the same time, some of us were charged for top-shelf Tequilla. Hold onto those mojito pitchers as well, seems like the waitresses were trained in taking them before you’re even done with them. We had to stop them from taking ours twice. Why did it take close to 45 minutes for everyone to get our bills as well? Couldn’t decide whether to charge a 1942 or Clase Azul I guess……
Really think some of the dishes need to be reassessed in terms of flavor and presentation, It feels too lazy. Adding some yuca fritas to a dish would’ve been nice and brought better value to any dish. Also charging $2 for any sauce seems kind of ridiculous. Even the smallest of taco spots in Edmonton has a tray of sauces for free.
So if you enjoy cocktails in an environment that resembles Tony Montana’s dream restaurant then this is the place for you. This just feels too much like eating in a VIP area of a Las Vegas club where 20% is recommended on top of the gratuity that was included in your group.
Sal says: Just Skip It (0.6/5)
