La Casa (Astilleros) - Chinatown — Restaurant in Vancouver

After having been to their North Van location, I was excited to try out the Chinatown pop up and had a bit of a mixed experience.

Highlights: the food was pretty good, and so were the drinks. The tostada was definitely a highlight.

Opportunities: while I do understand this is a pop up, and a chance to theoretically work out any wrinkles, I didn't see any evidence of this happening.

The food came out as it was ready instead of as a meal, so I had my food about 5-7 minutes ahead of my partner, left to either have it get cold or to eat before my partner, and then sit there while they finished. Could have been timed more like what usually happens at a restaurant.

There was no sauce on the tacos that I ordered (I did see after ordering that there was an option to add a sauce / hot sauce on the side, but it was not clear at the time of ordering, nor was it offered as an up-sell when we placed our order at the counter; they don't offer table service. Most restaurants serving Mexican style food do have hot sauce on the table or on request, but here it is only as a purchase option).

We were charged full price for our drinks, even though it was happy hour and we ordered two drinks from the happy hour menu (we didn't see that it was happy hour until after we had already paid, and did not bring this up as we didn't have the opportunity to speak with any of the staff after seeing the sign indicating we were overcharged).

Perhaps most surprisingly no one came to check on us, ask us how the food was, ask about the restaurant, etc. I've been to many pop ups and soft openings, and usually owners or managers are taking the time to get to know the customers, and looking at ways they can dial in their model for their official launch once they're set. This seems like a bit of a missed opportunity.

Anyway, I'll be back as it's such a convenient location and great food, but I do hope they refine their...

We visited this spot after reading great reviews and were excited to give it a try. Unfortunately, the food was disappointing, though the beer was good. Our bill came to about $100 (including tip), and it definitely didn’t feel worth it.

We ordered the queso fundido, burrito bowl, and birria.

Queso Fundido: It was okay but lacked flavor. A simple addition, like salsa fresca or another topping, could have elevated it. You can add protein for an extra charge.

Burrito Bowl: This was the biggest letdown. The rice was stale and clumped together, the beans were dry and crusted to the sides of the bowl, and the beef consisted of three chewy pieces of gristle. The portion size was very small for the price, though the flavor itself was decent.

Birria: The flavor was decent, but it didn’t feel like authentic birria—more like a basic pulled beef quesadilla. The fries were good!

The service was average—attentive but with little enthusiasm or friendliness. Music playing was super aggressive rap music... could maybe get away with it in a club but in a brewery/restaurant it was brutal.

Great beer (and maybe try one of the other tacos??), the food and experience didn’t match the hype or the...

Went to the Chinatown location of this restaurant for the first time on Saturday. The ambiance was cute. The servers were all really nice and friendly. They could maybe use a few more coat hangers since most of their seating is bench seating so it's hard to find places to put a bulky coat.

The beer selection on the menu was impressive but they were not currently offering most of the beers. Apparently it is more of a "history" of what beers they have offered in the past. It was a bit disappointing to get a menu with a huge list of beers only to find out most were not available. The grapefruit lager was really delicious.

I ordered the fish tacos. They looked nice, but were very bland in taste. The fish had no flavor and the toppings did not add the type of freshness and flavor explosion that other similar restaurants offer, in my opinion.

I was chatting with friends and paid my bill without looking. It was only after I realized they overcharged me for the tacos. I had 3 of the same protein which their menu says is $17.50 but I was charged $19. They also seem to also be taxing the bills during the...