Katalina's, Too!

First time visiting Katalina’s after it came highly recommended from the Columbus subreddit as a good brunch spot. We initially tried to go to the downtown location but they had had an electrical fire and were only doing pickup, so we drove the extra 10 minutes to get to Clintonville.

It was busy and there was a line which is usually a good sign. The parking situation is a bit wonky, you have to go past Katalina’s and down an alley that’s only accessible from one side of the restaurant feeder streets to park in back. Go in through the back door, and someone takes your name to be put on the waitlist for dine in. There were maybe 5-6 groups in front of us and we waited about 25 minutes.

First - the experience - We ordered, GF got Dulce de leche pancake balls, sweet and spicy bacon and a side order of elote. I got the breakfast tacos with chorizo.

After you order you are given a number and told to seat yourself. We went outside and were pleased to see the host who took our name cleaning off the only available outside table, but when we got close he said it was reserved. Weird - there was no indication anywhere I could see where there was a process to reserve tables. As far as we saw it was first come first serve but maybe we just didn’t ask/see. Whatever - we went back inside and sat down at the only available inside table which happened to be right next to the service entrance. We watched as the family of 3 that had arrived just after us were seated at the outside table we were told was reserved. We also watched as they were served food before us and the couple sat immediately before us. I don’t want to make any assumptions about their situation or why they were singled out for what appeared to be special treatment, but in the moment the optics did not look good to first time customers. Staff was otherwise friendly and personable in our interactions.

Onto the food:

My tacos were tasty - The shells were awesome, craggy and soft and crunchy in all the right spots, but the chorizo was flavorless and not at all how you typically expect chorizo to be. If you had asked me to guess the ingredients on a blind taste test I would have had a hard time identifying it. The hot sauce offering at the table is good, and saved them from being overly bland.

The elote was not our style - the corn was amazing by itself, but it was covered with what was billed as Parmesan on the menu but tasted closer to better cheddar powder and was so fine it made the mouthfeel of each bite gritty and ruined it. Girlfriend and I are huge fans of elote and were both not feeling it.

Her pancake balls were exactly as described. Slightly larger than a golf ball each - crispy outside crust, dense moist inner batter + filling. The filling was 10/10 but I prefer a fluffier batter - it’s a likely a result of the ball shape so no big deal - it’s why I didn’t get them myself. She enjoyed them.

Bacon was thick cut and had a chewy jerky like consistency. Flavor was awesome, meaty and a hint of sweetness and a little spicy. I thought it was excellent, but the GF wanted something a bit more crispy.

Overall it wasn’t bad, but the reserved table thing left a bad taste in my mouth, and the food wasn’t especially good to compensate for the little inconveniences that led up to it.