Centro — Restaurant in Raleigh

Oh Where to start?! Wow- I ate dinner at Centro last night and I'm pretty sure I'm still salivating over the memory of it. The food was incredible. Hands down the best Mexican food I've had. Another reviewer mentioned believing the food tastes like it's made with love & I absolutely agree. So flavorful! Perfectly prepared! Top notch!

Let's back up and talk about other parts of the dining experience. The restaurant decor is eclectic to say the least. Various colored walls, murals, picture frames, skulls, crosses, mirrors, and many tea lights. One could be preoccupied for hours viewing all the intricacies. I found the ambiance to be very cozy. The staff provided a pleasurable experience with quick, relaxed, and mannerly service. The margaritas were just what i'd hoped.

Back to the food!! Plain 'ol chips and salsa: delicious and fresh, exceeded my expectations. I ordered the frijolada which consisted of many types of beans in a tomatillo-chipotle sauce as well as rice and a poached egg. The rice cooks the poached egg immediately upon breaking the egg when stirred around, so it tastes similar to a fried rice but healthier. Every flavor in the dish was well rounded and just, mm, superb! I could cover all my food in that tomatillo-chipotle sauce from here on out if I could. My friend ordered the enchiladas and sang their praises as well. Quite the variety in that dish- 3 different enchiladas covered in 3 unique sauces. The portions are ample. We had no room for dessert but couldn't resist. Bread pudding with goat's milk icecream- almost other earthly!!

I certainly recommend this establishment to everyone. Heck- I'd like to go back and try everything else on Centro's...

My wife is from Mexico and we enjoy dining out while visiting down there, so when I say Centro is currently the best Mexican restaurant in Raleigh it's not coming from someone who appreciates a lunch combo #7 or Speedy Gonzales with beans in a strip center. Mexican cuisine can be as modern and refined as any other, and Centro nails it.

The venue is small and intimate, and we sat at the bar which turned out to be a treat, but I'd recommend reservations if you want a table. We started with well prepared and unique cocktails and a botana /appetizer of the tamal with pibil. I've eaten and made many tamales since meeting my wife, and this was perhaps the best I've had. Much lighter and fluffier than is typical, almost a fusion with grits. The pibil topping was superb, and many locals will immediately think of an interpretation of eastern NC barbecue as the sample the shredded pork marinated in sour orange.

My wife ordered the enchiladas which I thought would be a mistake (too close to lunch combo #7), but they were topped with three masterful sauces and wrapped in fresh tortillas.

I ordered the shredded brisket tostadas with shredded kale which was fantastic, but the star was the roasted carrot coins which were lightly charred and probably cooked in beef fat. I could have eaten a plate of just those.

We didn't order dessert (the cherries in my interpreted old fashioned were sweet enough) or the mezcalería upstairs, but we will for sure be back. I highly recommend Centro to experience what Mexican cuisine can be when not constrained to flour tortillas soaked in jarred sauce and...

Food has been great in the past; however, the service, reservation, and hours have become a nightmare since the pandemic.

It is now 2023 and most, if not all, businesses are back to "normal" - new normal, even - being open at regular hours and so forth. I understand some businesses wish to remain as safe as possible during this time still, and that's totally fine! I completely get it. My issue is that, while Centro is only open a few days out of the week, it is close to impossible to actually dine in. More than a handful of times, I've tried make reservations online (the reservation portal isn't even listed on their website, you have to click an alternative link from their google page - needs to be fixed), and it typically doesn't work. And even more than this, I've walked in numerous times throughout the evenings when the restaurant is open for a table for two, and every single time I have been turned away because there "are no availabilities for the remainder of the night." Every single time this has happened, and I'm not exaggerating, there has been MAXIMUM only two customers inside the restaurant. The entire place is deserted.

I have no idea what the huge disconnect is with their reservation website or their inability to seat customers, but I am hoping it gets addressed. I'm not sure how long this behavior can possibly be sustainable for a restaurant that used to be constantly packed to the brim with people, that is now consistently sitting empty every single night...