El Gato Negro Gretna — Restaurant in Gretna

Food is very tasty, fresh and of high quality. The corn masa is amazing. The approach to customer service was not good this visit. The nickle and dime approach is a turn off and does not lend itself to build a customer base and generate repeat visits. We were a table of 2 and the chips and salsa were served. We nicely asked for a 2nd salsa as my friend was not feeling well, so we did not want to dip into the same small tiny 3 ounce dish. We were immediately told - there would be a charge. What's crazy is, if I dined there solo, I would get my own chips and 1 dip. If my friend dined solo, she would get her own chips and 1 dip.........so what's the difference?!?! So for a mere few pennies of cost, negative right out the gate......it was an immediate turn off. Ordered the "margarita of the day" and for a $16 "cadillac" margarita.......the alcohol was so minimal it tasted like fruit juice. Wanted a taco which was almost $7 and was informed that ANYTHING I wanted on it was going to cost extra. So the $7 single taco was meat and tortilla. Insane! The server was short, snippy, rushed us and had zero personality. Thank goodness the food was tasty. Not sure how this place is surviving with this business model. It always looks empty, never any f&b specials....maybe they are riding on the coattails of the other 2 restaurants. Such a missed opportunity...

Amazing atmosphere/decor. Very pleasant staff. The food was very, very good. However, this place is TINY. you're so close to everyone else. There's no booths or a bar to sit at. Just small tables that are very close together. Their menu is also pretty limited in comparison to any other Mexican restaurant that I've ever gone to- not to mention a little pricey. Personally I wouldn't be going back because our server brought us chips & salsa without asking us (which we wanted, of course) but when we got the bill, they charged us for chips, 2 salsas(tiny little bowls), and they charged us for a tiny little cup of sour cream that I asked for. To each his own, but I cannot stand being charged for things that are either usually customary at similar restaurants or something that you just shouldn't charge for, like sour cream. Server was very nice but clearly way too busy so we didn't exactly get the service we hoped for but overall it was still alright. I'd just recommend you ask if you're going to be charged for...

I've heard about El Gato for years... gotta try it, gotta try it. So, I tried it.  Went to the one in Gretna. Very nice interior, colorful, clean. Got the salsa and chips. Salsa... really sweet tomatoes and onion. No cumin, garlic, no jalapeños,  no FLAVOR. Chips, very salty. I ordered the Enchilada trío, with beans and rice. I cant go any further. Its food. Its fresh. Its mexican STYLE food. Its not mexican flavor. I guess in some áreas if you throw anything on or in a tortilla they call it mexican food. Everything I had was bland. I could taste no garlic, no cumin, no heat, no spice. I saw no jalapeños,  or even cilantro. As a matter of fact, I thought I saw cilantro in the pico de gallo. Nope, turns out Its just bland old parsley. I ate 1/2 of the entree. Couldn't go any further.  If you like bland food in a nice setting, this...