Dakota Hain

Review of Chino Latino Restaurant

I want to rate this place higher; it's really cool...

I want to rate this place higher; it's really cool inside (and I'll bet it's a total meat market on the weekends... just sayin'), the service is good, the drinks tasted great (though I'm skeptical about the amount of booze in them) and there are all kinds of options for food. But that's the thing.. The food really wasn't all that amazing and it was pretty damn expensive. I guess it probably depends on what you get but it definitely seemed hit or miss and like there was a sizeable mark-up just for the ambiance. I felt like I was back in New York.
The "pork crises" was a large dish, for sure, but for the price I wasn't too stoked about the amount of meat and it didn't have a lot of flavor. I had to order some salsa to make it more interesting. It looked pretty cool though, kind of primal. But not cool enough to make it $28. Should be about half that price, maybe a little more. But! I have lunch for the next couple of days.
My wife and a friend both had sushi, which was good but not worth the extra ten dollars over our regular sushi joint. It came out quick, which seemed great, but the presentation was decidedly lacking and the portion was definitely not proportional to the price. We are used to sushi taking more time and being wowed when it comes out. It better be locally sourced, farm to table (little joke there, yes it's dumb...).
Our other friend had a Phad Thai type of dish which he pretty much inhaled, so it must've been alright (food snob) but I didn't ask. Sorry, my bad; I should have tried it.
I'll tell you though, the tacos were pretty good and I look back and wish that I'd just stuck with those. I think that would actually be a winning strategy with this place; tacos and drinks. They have 10 tacos for $30 on the dinner menu and that's not bad but then there are $2 tacos on the happy hour menu.
I had a couple of mojitos which were pretty damn tasty and my wife had a couple of the 1800 triple margaritas (I forget the name but that's the gist), which were also good but didn't actually seem to have three shots of booze in 'em. Neither of us copped much of a buzz. She didn't eat a lot so six shots shoulda laid her out.
Oh yeah, the kid had some badass drink that came in a pineapple. She dug it. She also liked the tacos and the pot stickers. We should have just followed her lead.
So, I guess, if I were to sum this up I'd say that there are just too many "buts." I wouldn't mind checking out the happy hour but I'm not gonna trip over myself to go back. There are too many other great places to check out that aren't so damn expensive.