Calle Sol Latin Café & Cevicheria — Restaurant in Charlotte

My wife and I come here to eat all the time. Typically, we love it; it’s great w/no complaints. But of course, we tried to take my mom here on Friday night and it was the worst service we have ever had here.

For starters, we went before we were starving because I know it’s typically a long wait; like I said, we come here all the time. We were told there was a wait for 55 mins. That’s fine. We were not starving + when I got the text message, it said there was a 40 min. wait...even better! We decided to order a drink at the walk-up window + told the person who took our order that we were JUST DRINKING until our table was ready. She said that wasn’t a problem + someone would bring the drinks to us at the table OUTSIDE where we were posted up. A few minutes later, our drinks arrived + we were told we couldn’t sit there since they were trying to seat people that were EATING there. Hm. Ok. It’s hot af out here + we were still planning on spending money…but whatever. We drank on the other side.

Am hour passes and the SAME three groups that were outside when we were asked to move were still out there…two of them were looking at one’s feet above the table, but nobody was eating or drinking. Just socializing. I checked on our table + was told we were third in line. 25 more minutes go by. I check again - same answer. By now, we have seen so many groups of three or more in + out. I check again at what was now an hour 40 mins later. This time, I pressed about the wait. I got the response that others had reservations. That’s fine, I absolutely get that. But why tell me 55 mins, send me a text that says 40, then have me wait an almost two hours? Spare us the last minute scramble for a different place to eat + be so effin’ for real about what’s going on.

While we waited alllll that time, a guy came to get his online order he had placed an hour earlier. He waited about 40 mins with us. He kept checking in too. The lady at the walk up window kept checking on his food, telling him it wasn’t ready. Later on, after she blessed the kitchen out a few times, she double-checked the name and finds out that she’s been looking under the wrong name the entire time. It had BEEN ready. And he left, having paid for an entire meal.

I love Calle, but this really pissed me off. Our server said she had seen us outside for over an hour and knew that when she asked how we were, it was not going to be a good answer. But she was great + the food was good as always.

Front host stand + how this (treating paying customers who are willing to stand in the heat for as long as we did while STILL buying drinks) is managed should be...

Calle Sol Latin Café brings some good Latin flavor to North Carolina. It's not the best I've had, but outside of Miami and a few other places, it's hard to beat. There are a few tweaks service, presentation, and quality that would really improve things.

The service was friendly but spotty. When I asked for a minute to look over the menu, I was given 10 - throughout the meal I wasn't checked on but my waitress was okay to chat it up with her coworkers.

She had recommended a mojito for mojito Monday. I wasn't paying attention, so I'm not sure if a large batch is made for the occasion - I don't recall seeing a bar tender muddling anything for my mojito. Also, visually it was disappointing and that was because of the mint - it was brown and sad looking. It's not the best I've had and it wasn't very flavorful.

Food wise the major critique is presentation - we eat with our eyes first. Ceviche - it felt like the plantain chips were crowding the dish and drawing attention from the ceviche. Vaca Frita - just looked really basic and a bit small on the plate that's used.

Flavor wise both were good, but I preferred the Vaca Frita. Ceviche - leche de tiger should be bright and spicy - I didn't find it spicy or too bright, sour was the main note. I'd double check the limes or add a squeeze of orange to brighten it up. I will say I love ceviche and have had good ones when visiting Miami to as far away as France. So I have a decent reference for my expectations.

Vaca Frita - flavorful beef with some crunchy exterior bits, black beans had good flavor, rice was seasoned, and the boiled yucca was great with the beef. Personally, I would have been okay with an option of removing the rice and beans and adding more yucca - pairing the yucca and beef was the combo for me.

I'd like to come back and try something else the next time I'm in...

There is so much that I could say about this establishment. First off we had the most wonderful hostess, Izzy, she was wonderful and very accommodating. Although we came in a busy time they made sure to get us in the establishment as quick as possible because we were quite hungry.

To say the least when you drive up you can tell that this is an authentic place. The music is amazing and at the right level. The smell is delicious. The food is just something that I cannot even describe to tell you how amazing it is but I will try.

I ordered the Vaca Frita. Everything about this meal was exactly what it should be. The rice was cooked perfectly. The beans were the right amount of sauce to be in ratio with such a flavorful sweet taste. The Yuca was absolutely perfect. It had the right amount of seasoning and was cooked to the best texture ever. The beef itself was crispy, juicy and wonderful. As someone who is not a big beef fan, well done.

As someone who has food allergies this was a very welcoming restaurant to come into. The staff is well-educated and if they do not know something they have an allergy list to tell you exactly what you can and cannot have. Additionally this restaurant really does care about having the utmost customer service possible. As soon as you walk in there is a business card with the restaurant manager's name so if there are any issues you can go directly to him. We had no issues and would come back here a million times.

One last point to make is definitely the price. This is one of the most reasonably priced places in the area.

Clean, well prices, authentic, and great...