El Meson

Hands down my favorite restaurant in the world. I moved from Minneapolis 5 years ago but I still think about the carne frita con mofongo at El Meson. The arroz con pollo is amazing. Everything is amazing! The buffet is pretty good too.
Oct 10th, 2012

Caribbean food with flare. Try the Pescado Caribe if you like fish. Service was a bit slow, as I waited 10 minutes for a Pacifico refill.
Aug 25th, 2012

I have enjoyed dining in this place - especially when I can sit in the cozy private booth areas.   A Terrific date-dinner for two with excellent service.  My dishes have always been prepared just right.   Fresh bread served, nice wine selection, and desserts great.   This is another place that can get busy on prime dining times,  make a reservation.   Busy place,  original dishes you will not see at other places.
Aug 10th, 2012

In the handsome manfriend's book, El Meson gets two stars instead of one only because they are not part of the school-to-prison pipeline. His mother was in town and offered to take us out to dinner- this was our choice. Admittedly we probably should have stuck to a tried-and-true, but had heard such good things (and I had HAD such good things here in the past) that we chose El Meson.When we were seated, I happened to glance up over his mother's head and nearly choked on my drink when I saw that the ceiling was being held up by stapled plastic. Oh! Delightful! I love that added thrill of never knowing when the ceiling is going to cave! MAKES EVERYTHING TASTE LIKE ADRENALINE.We ordered easily one of the worst ceviches I've ever had- soupy, hardly any fish, nearly flavorless, no robust lime or cilantro to speak of. We then tried the vegetarian coconut risotto, which was having one major identity crisis after another- I have no idea what they were doing with this dish. Watery risotto. Peppers? And mango? And artichoke? Wtf?? Desperate and still hungry, we pulled the trigger on an order of brie + tostanos, and both were lacking- the brie was TINY (three bites), and the dips for the tostanos were basically french dressing and mayo. LISTEN, guys- Not being able to execute a strong menu is a serious problem. But the fact that you can't execute your menu AND you charge $8 for brie and $16 for bad risotto, with portion sizes that would leave even a light eater like me hungry, makes me flat out pissed. Get it together.
Aug 26th, 2012

My Spanish vocabulary is limited, but I'm pretty sure El Meson translates into spectacular.   We went here for dinner last night, and surprisingly the place was pretty quiet for a Saturday evening.  The place is dark and cozy enough to be intimate but not so much that you can't see your food or feel cramped. We started off with sangria (delicious) and cheese empanadas.  Our waiter suggested them over the meat option, and though they didn't blow me away they were pretty good.The main event was for our entrees, which required a bit of deliberation.  In this our waiter was no help, professing that everything was good.  Well, everything sounded good and our eventual choices did not disappoint. I had a dish with shrimp and fried plantains- the sauce was garlicky and buttery, with a mysterious orange tint from mystery spices.  After my shrimp was gone I looked for something to soak up the rest of the sauce with. Yum. I liked my dish more than Nate's, which consisted of chicken and vegetables in a slightly spicy sauce.  It was still good though, and we finished everything on our plates. As an added bonus, there was a flamenco dancer and a guitarist performing in the front corner of the restaurant- I hope this is a frequent event! The service was great and the food was fantastic. Ole!
Aug 18th, 2012