Catrin Cantina — Restaurant in Poquoson

Editing this now about two hours post meal and I definitely have food poisoning. Lucky me. If my husband doesn't start getting sick then I will assume it is from the steak because that is the only difference in what we ate.

We were really excited to try this place because we have heard great things about the food and presentation. I absolutely love Mexican food and have tried many local restaurants, most of which don't really impress my taste buds. This one was unfortunately no different. The chips and salsa were fine, looking back I wish I had asked for a refill on the salsa because I ended up leaving still hungry. We ordered the elote (because it looks incredible) and the lumpia. I'll start with the one thing that actually tastes great, the lumpia was so worth it. I wish we had ordered two servings of it. We couldn't decide which meat to get so the server told us we could do half and half, we asked for half chicken and half beef. We kept biting into the next one thinking it'd be beef but they were all chicken, which was fine because they were very good. The elote was one of the most disappointing parts, it seems that presentation takes priority over flavor. The corn was just kind of soggy and extremely bland underneath of their mayo butter mixture or whatever they use, like not even a touch of flavor. The little cup of cheese they brought to top it with was literally 1/3 full and not enough cheese for even two of the pieces. I'm confused by what seem to be crushed hot Cheetos or something as a topping as well, I did not enjoy that at all. We brought the other two home so I can top them with my own lime juice, cotija, and probably some tajin or something with flavor. Now onto the entrees, we went with our usual comfort meals for our first visit because that's typically a good indication of whether or not we will return to try other things. I like a good steak burrito covered in cheese sauce with various other fillings and my husband tends to get the same but chicken. We both went with the azada burrito and asked for sides of pico de Gallo. The menu description of this burrito is misleading, I wrongly assumed the rice and beans would be inside. I received two onion "burritos" that had a little bit of steak and the slightest drizzle of cheese sauce that might as well have been left off because you couldn't taste it at all. The tortilla (I ate one of them, I was too disappointed to eat the other) was chewy and not appetizing, it also wasn't wrapped or stuffed like a burrito hence my quotation marks above. The steak was not hot, had zero flavor at all, and a majority of it was chewy to the point where I had to spit it into my napkins. The rice on the side was oddly chewy but I mixed it into the beans and ate it because I was actually starving; and having my food remade when I'm hangry is seriously not an option. The pico was good. My husband's "burritos" were the same but he had even less chicken in his than I did steak, like he couldn't even tell if his chicken had flavor or not because there was so little especially in comparison to the amount of onions in every bite he took. He didn't even finish his first one. He described his rice as bland and flavorless but he did enjoy the pico. As far as our comfort meals go, I'd never order it there again. If anything brings us back it would be the lumpia, I just don't know if I'm willing to waste even more money on trying something different from the menu when the reviews appear to be inconsistent regarding flavor. I'm not sure if this means the food is inconsistent in taste or if some reviewers just have bland palates. We enjoyed the ambiance and that alone will get one star, the lumpia...

Maybe this visit was a "one-off" consiidering all the great reviews, which were actually why I decided to try Catrin. I arrived to order a take-out order of Nachos Locos. I was greeted with a friendly employee who promptly took my order at the greeter's station located at the entrance. I sat down at the small waiting area for my order. A few moments later a young woman comes in to order a take-out of Carne Asada and steps to the side to wait for her order. A few minutes later another lady comes in to order take-out. I couldn't hear the exact order, however I did see the total ring up to $51.00+. So that's a hefty order. So I wait, and wait. I look at my receipt for the order placement time, and it was 12:33pm. It's nearly 12:53 at this point. I didn't realize an order of nachos would take this long especially considering the place was far from being in a mad busy lunch rush. A minute or two later, one of the employees comes out with a take-out bag and I assumed it was mine considering I was the first of us 3 that ordered. Nope. The order was for the Carne Asada. Hmm. So I wait, and I wait. Another employee comes out with a take-out bag (surely this is for me-Nope). This order is for the large $51.00 order. So I wait, and I wait. FINALLY my order comes out. At this point I'm disappointed and perplexed. I live literally less than 8 minutes away. I get home - assuming the Aluminum bowl that contained all of the Nacho ingredients would surely be very hot to handle, getting it out of the bag. Nope. Barely luke warm. Now I'm kinda upset. I waited excessively for a cold order of food. The bowl wasn't even warm. The cheese had begun to solidify. And in my opinion the Nachos were lacking in seasoning. So it seems someone dropped the ball in the kitchen and left my Nachos dieing in the window while orders later than mine were picked up. Again, this is my first visit. I'm not going to write Catrin off at this point. But my next visit better wow me. Or it will be me...

This place has a nice date night vibe with low lighting and Mexican music playing not too loudly in the background.

Here’s the thing the food is some of the best tasting Mexican food that I’ve had in this area. HOWEVER, CLEANLINESS IS SEVERELY LACKING! My friend was served her burrito was a fly literally on top of it. It didn’t just land on top of it. It was all up on the burrito and white sauce. It was gross. We had to send it back. The server delivered my trompo pastor and knocked over my onions and left it. The onions were literally dripping down the side of the bar table onto the floor in between my friend and I. The guy did not come back and clean it. It took us 5 mins to get someone’s attention to either give us napkins so we could clean it or they clean it. The onions just slowly slid and dripped. The guy comes back with his hands and just wipes the onions into his hands. No napkin or cloth. Smh. So we’re still like we need a napkin there’s wet onion residue in between us. Towards the end I ordered churros to go. But as we were waiting the server kept sneezing IN HER HANDS WITH HER GLOVES ON AND DIDN’T REMOVE THEM OR WASH HER HANDS. At that point I said no thanks. I paid my bill with tap to pay and left.

The food here is so good. The Trompo pastor was huge and flavorful. The elotes were good too. Everything was tasty. But, the cleanliness WASN’T there. The ICK factor is present. I won’t be back for a while.

They get 2 stars solely...