Casa Latina — Restaurant in City of Hudson

Somewhat off the main strip of Warren street, but not far, this colorful Latin American no nonsense kitchen offers indoor and outdoor dining with a lot of personal Mexican and El Salvadoran homestyle comfort foods and sauces.

We were greeted warmly and offered some fresh chips and handmade salsa. We sat outside and the restaurant was very accommodating and efficient , taking our orders after we looked at the menu.

Curious, we tried one each of the vegetarian offerings of papusas, which are delightfully savory filled flatbreads from El Salvador. These traditional breads were really satisfying, delivering a perfect ratio of crispy outer grilled bread to gooey inner hot cheesy stuffing . We tried gooey beans, fresh jalapeños, and plain cheese. They came with a sweet not so spicy red tomato sauce. All were grilled to perfection and absolutely so delicious. You could have these as an appetizer or order 3 or more for a meal. They are perfectly executed, not too cheesy or greasy at all. I'm glad the place is called Papusas y mas. They are a MUST try.

We also ordered a few vegetable tacos a la carte. They arrived served on a little metal holder tray and did not disappoint as traditional street style tacos. They were filled with a good portion of grilled cauliflower, carrots, broccoli, and other charred fresh veggies covered in a green verde sauce. Fresh and served with a juicy lime wedge and farm...

It’s really hard to wrap my head around how this place has so many great reviews. But that’s why we went, so I feel like I should give an honest review for anyone else blindly looking for a place to eat in Hudson. I don’t think I’ve ever left a restaurant leaving my entire meal untouched. The food was just that bad. I ordered vegetable fajitas, and what I got was a plate of very soggy frozen vegetables — carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, you know the bag of frozen vegetables you get at the dollar store — swimming in entirely unseasoned tomato sauce. My husband had the chicken enchiladas, which were unseasoned shredded chicken in a tortilla also covered with the blandest sauce, and the whole thing was barely warm. Honestly, the only edible things tonight were the plain unseasoned canned black beans and my toddler’s quesadilla (hard to mess up a quesadilla!) The service was extremely slow, but they were friendly. I know we are spoiled because we have lived in California and the South and traveled to actual Latin America, but this was exceptionally bad food even by New England Mexican standards. How can you have Latin food with NO SEASONING or spice whatsoever? And who has ever made vegetable fajitas with a bag of frozen sliced carrots and soggy brassicas soaked in...

I stopped by here during my upstate New York roadtrip. I asked one of the waitresses if the outdoor seating was available for me to sit in and she just looked at me for a couple seconds and then responded, “yeah” in an irritated tone. Mind you, I literally just walked up to the restaurant as a fresh customer and asked a very reasonable question. I wasn’t sure why she was irritated from the early start. I ordered a steak burrito that came out fairly bland. Not terrible, but just very average and the spice level was…watered-down. I usually finish my plate, but I stopped eating half-way because the flavor was quite disappointing. The whole bill came out to like $14, and I tipped more than what was deserved.

In my opinion, both the service and food quality need improvements.

I overheard that this restaurant is planning to move to a new location. Perhaps improvements like better quality staffing can accompany the new location in the near future. I definitely will not seek this...