Catrina Tequila Bar — Restaurant in Riverside Township

DECOR Upon entering, you are greeted by a La Catrina statue, the symbol of The Day of the Dead, which the entire place has a theme of. Whether or not you drink tequila, it's worth a visit here just to see the painted murals & artwork hanging throughout the bar. It is evident how important festive decor is to the owner. Every detail has been attended to from the front entrance to the emergency exit door in the rear. Each table has a centerpiece of battery-operated candles hugged by bright orange marigold flowers with a butterfly. There are white pillar candles wrapped with red roses placed along the bar as well.

Even the bathroom has decorations, including an oval ring of red roses bordering the mirror & a candle altar, keeping with El Día de los Muertos tradition. Be sure to look up when you are in the toilet stall! Above you large orange flourish puffs hang from the ceiling.

DRINKS The menu starts with your classic lime margarita & works its way down to the more stylized tequila crafted cocktails, followed by the smokier mezcal crafted cocktails. If you don't like drinks with tequila, the bar also mixes up sangria & mojitos. Although not on the online menu, there was also a list of beer posted on the wall. We asked what their house drink was & of course, it is "La Catrina!" The bright colored drink was appropriately served in a skeleton glass, garnished with an edible orchid, making it the star of the night.

FOOD This is more a bar than a restaurant so they only serve a handful of appetizer items. However, the food they do have is amazing! Their homemade salsa was salsa verde & their guacamole has a little kick to it. A family recipe skirt steak is the only meat offered for nachos, quesadillas, & tacos, but it is delicious! My companions said the arrachera nachos were the best nachos they had in awhile. I woke up craving it the next morning!

MENU A couple of us had difficulty pulling up their menu on their website prior to visiting. My sister said she was able to get the page to load on her phone after turning WiFi off. At the restaurant, they are using a QR code to scan for the menu. Apparently, it doesn't always work to connect to their website either unless you are on their WiFi, so we were given the password. Once connected, all our phones were able to pull the menu up from the QR code scan.

PRICE The drink prices are not listed on their Web menu, but they were on a sign on the wall. A margarita was $12, & the crafted cocktails started at a few dollars more.

SERVICE Our server/bartender (who think was the owner) kept checking in to see if we wanted another round of drinks or some more to eat, but was polite & not at all pushy to rush us. Even as it got more crowded inside, she made sure to check back in with us. We had told her we were celebrating a birthday, so when she brought us the check, she also brought all of us a coconut lime shot on the house.

COMFORT It's a small location, but there was not loud music, so it was good for conversation, at least early evening on a weeknight. Even as it got more crowded, I didn't notice the volume level as being an issue in communicating with my group.

There are two regular tables, each with chairs for four by the front window & a handful of small pub tables along one wall that have vinyl stools without backs. On the other wall is a long bar that has traditional bar stools. The bar is L-shaped & behind the short edge in back is where the bartender mixes the drinks, so you are able to get a close view of the shaking action!

LOCATION It's across from the historic Riverside Water Tower with limited angled street parking in front of the place. Be sure to read the parking signs with the rules of the village. The bar is on a short block with parking on that side of the street only, so if you don't get a spot on that block, you may have to walk a bit with the triangular design of the streets. However, the Riverside Metra train station is only a block away so commuting on the BNSF line...

Nice little bar in downtown Riverside that is quite the treat. Started off with a guacamole and chips appetizer which was tasty but the guac was a browning already which to me, shouldn't have been served. Ordered a classic margarita on the rocks, which is delicious, and then had a mango margarita which was very tasty and sweet. I typically don't like my drinks too sweet but this was a one and done. It was however, very tasty and am definitely not knocking it, just not my preference. The decor is all about the Catrina and the calaveras. I like the alter above the bar and other decor. The only thing that confused me was the sign that states the 2 hour limit. Doesn't seem very inviting as that is the first thing you see especially when I get together with friends, we like to dine, have drinks,...

Friendly service and yummy cocktails. I do not mind spending good money for a good drink and this place was perfect for that philosophy. My husband and I wanted to try two drinks but ended up deciding we really wanted the same one because it had both Tequila and Mezcal. We ordered the Muerte Lenta with pineapple juice, jalapeño and cinnamon. I would recommend this one! We will definitely be back to try the one we skipped this time around. The cocktails were $28.60 after tax, and tasted great. They also have Arrachera food options as well as cheese quesadillas and chips and salsa or guacamole. Cool atmosphere with a lot of black lights and bright art/employee shirts. It makes me want to decorate my house with black lights like I did in my bedroom as a teen 😆 Give this spot a try if you’re...