Cafe Salsera

I always pass by this place but never go in. Maybe because it’s so close in proximity to the sketchy ⁷⁄₁₁??? Anyway, I tried it for the first time yesterday and have mixed feelings. I LOVE Latin food and was craving mojitos. They were advertising $ 10 mojito carafes, which I thought sounded like a great way to kick off my weekend. What I got was not a mojito at all. It was greenish in color and tasted like straight sour mix with some mint leaves tossed in. I will say though, the bar tender was very willing to make me a new drink. She let me know that I was the first person to ever order a carafe and she wasn’t quite sure of the ingredient proportions. The single mojito she made me was very good (even though I paid for a pitcher/​carafe). I also ordered some chips and queso. The queso was REALLY good, but the chips were stale (womp, womp). All in all, I may return for that mojito but will not be ordering a carafe or anything from their menu.

This place has a great atmosphere. Obviously, Deep Ellum has plenty of bars, but Café Salsera is so much more than that. The food is amazing, in a delicious Latin fusion sort of way. Great variety on the menu, and it’s all chef designed. The weekend nights are really hopping, with a DJ every weekend and then live music pretty often. Check it out if you’re looking for a new spot in a Deep Ellum!

.. This review is STRICTLY for the salsa class .
Every Tuesday @7pm they have Free90Free beginner salsa dancing lessons! Talk about a work out, I haven’t danced in years but it felt so natural. I did tap, ballet, & jazz from pre-​k thru 9^th and band from 6^th-​12^th so I’m not musically inept I just missed the first and most important 10 mins of class where they went over EVERYTHING so when I arrived they were finishing up the warm up and about to put all the moves together, yikes! Thanks to great instructors and me being in the back I caught on in no time just had some trouble with the 123 567 lady turns or if the guy wasn’t «leading» me the right way! Lol, that can get super confusing, but it’s all for fun and go get our blood flowing! I’ll for sure be going back next week, but with better non-​slip shoes!

What brought me here was the artsy mural, I drove by here a bunch & never noticed until recently when the art stood out!!! Glad I stopped in good food & friendly service ;) live salsa music playing so my ass was ah swaying!!!
Cool Latin vibe

Decent food, yet not the best food for almost 20 $ a plate. Beautiful atmosphere though!

So I visited this establishment last night because an associate was having a watch party there. He was on the Food Network show «Beat Bobby Flay» and actually won!!! Anyway, back to the review. The only reason this place got two stars is because of the venue itself. I love the layout, upstairs patio overlooking elm street and the Latin inspired art and décor. And because there were some semi-​cute guys there, even though that was only because of the private watch party. The reason this place was deducted 3 stars is for food and service. My friends had already arrived and been seated for a while for they got there and apparently they had been looking for the waitress. It took at least 20 minutes before someone showed up to take our orders. They were having $ 5 hurricanes. A bit too sweet and syrupy for my taste but my friends enjoyed them. No biggie. For food, I ordered the chicken taco platter. Our food took so long I almost forgot that we had ordered food. I get my plate and the chicken tacos are literally just flour tortillas, grilled chicken breast with minimal if any seasoning and raw onions. I can tell it was extremely dry. The kicker is that the chicken was COLD. I asked the waitress to please drink hot tacos and grill the onions. Meanwhile I just sit there eating the beans and rice. The rice was literally plain white rice and pieces kernel corn. No seasoning. Also, I specifically asked if the beans were refried and our waitress said yes. They were more like whole pinto beans. This is what i imagine people in jail eat. At least that’s how i felt when eating it. My new plate gets brought to the table. This time, there are no limes for my tacos and there were raw onions once again on the tacos. I immediately handed our waitress the plate. She claims they didn’t have grilled onions. Ma am, if you have RAW onions in your Kitchen, then you have everything you need for GRILLED onions. No extra ingredients are required to grill the dang onions. I didn’t feel like arguing. Instead I just drank, enjoyed my friends and mingled. Two of my friends ordered the chicken nachos and said that their chicken was cold and that the cheese tasted like canned cheese. One of my friends even went to Fuel City afterwards to get tacos since this place did not bring there A game and she was still hungry.

The food was ok but the menu is really limited. I was expecting exciting variations on enchiladas, tacos, etc, not 4 different types of burgers.
They don’t serve tacos during the day (umm why not??) but the chef made them for us anyway 2 for $ 5. The beans were flavorful but didn’t come with rice. The chicken was well flavored but only served with onion and a sprinkle of cilantro so it was a little bland and on the dry side.
If you are looking for traditional Mexican food, this isn’t it. But it looks like a GREAT place for dancing!
Parking in this area is not easy. Street parking is rare, so you have to pay $ 5 or $ 10 but at least it’s for all day parking.

Café Salsera is a unique edition to Deep Ellum. It offers a great Latin fusion of popular Latin foods. My suggestions would be the Cuabn sandwich and a Caipirinha which is the Brazilian version of a margarita.
On Tuesdays they offer free Salasa Lessons which I need to tell you is better than paid classes I have taken in the past. After just a few lessons I can get on the dance floor and look like I know what I am doing. Well sorta anyway. The owner actually had a live band to play just for our lessons.
On Saturday is when they have the salsa band and they clear the floor so you can dance. Café Salsera is the only Salsa place in the area so I really hope it takes off. I love how this place still offers the Deep Ellum feel with a mix of latin fusion. This is a very fun place. You should check it out.

In a city with a million MX restaurants, it’s great to see another Latin cuisine arrive.
–The empanadas we had were the larger size, picadillo and chorizo and they were delicious. The dough was soft even after being fried, which is rare to see but great.
–The mac n cheese with chorizo was my favorite, well done, rich in flavor but still light and not as heavy as I imagined it might be. The salad they brought with it was great.
The place looks great inside and I’ll definitely be back soon to try more!

Great food sadly there’s a lot of homeless people that walk in there which is awkward.

So I had a big group of friends go here for a dinner before our wedding weekend and the service was disappointing. The service was slow and they messed up the orders, management was inadequate, and all in all we will not be returning. It took an hour to get our tab at the end of the night.
Also the entertainment which was Thursdays comedy night was awkwardly disappointing. Rarely leave negative reviews but that was the impact left.

So we gave Café Salsera another try this past Friday. Why we did I am not sure. Still same issues with VERY slow service, poorly managed kitchen and management that hides when things are not going well. There are so many details I could include but really, it is just plain and simple. This restaurant is not ready for prime time. The food is ok and was definitely not as fresh as before. We had the Jamaican jerk spring rolls and they tasted like they were made several hours before.
So, we will move on. Maybe other folks have had good experience but after two fatal attempts to give this place a shot we will move on.
Good luck to the owners but to be honest my husband and I don’t think you will make it past the end of the year. But if you do then maybe… maybe will give you another shot. But then again…

Just tried this place out for the first time. Jessie our server was wonderful.
One of our party members had severe food allergies and the chef made the effort to come to the table and go through the entire menu and discuss alternative preparations to accommodate her.
The service was above and beyond and the food was spectacular. Loved the shrimp quesadilla.

The first week or two they were open, they had great happy hour specials that amounted to about half off their specialty drinks. Assuming that would still be the case, I popped in after dinner the other day to see what they had going on. Tuesday is apparently DOLLAR TACO DAY. Also, half off Tequila if you really want to party. The tacos were chicken or beef if I remember correctly. I wish I hadn’t been so stuffed so I could have tried one. Definitely a great deal!
The ambiance of the restaurant is fine — kind of like a chilis but cleaner. Their bar is WAY too small though. It can only accommodate about 6 people, and if they don’t sit right next to one another there are wasted seats in between. They have a few tiny high top tables with stools in the bar area but they felt wobbly and hard to get up onto (taller than the barstools it seemed). I think a bunch of the bar was eaten up by their coffee/​desserts station which theoretically could bring in close to if not more money than the alcohol area. At any rate, it’s worth stopping in for some dollar tacos or a specialty coffee (also half price on Tuesdays).

This was a great place and wonderful food, but there is one catch.
If they have a large party of 25 people you can expect that it will take about 45 minutes to receive your food. I went on a Saturday night about 9:45 and ordered the cucumber lime drink (refreshing) nachos (must try), the wings (nothing special) and the trio. I waited 30 minutes and was told that the kitchen was backed up. Only after talking to a manager that my appetizer was sent out in another 10 minutes. Then I told that it would take another 20 minutes for my trio, I was ok with that. I was aaked another 2 times if I really wanted the trio, because of the wait. I said yes. It lead me to believe that they didnt want to cook my food. Once getting the trio it was excellent.
Key notes:
Dont go close to the closing of kitchen.
If you see they have a big party expect a wait, Long wait.
Once that is fixed, im sure that this place will be a favorite in Dallas.

Ok so before I review I nedd to make a disclaimer: I am Puerto Rican therefore I will
be more critical than most when it comes to Caribbean food.
I came in the first week they were open and it was very underwhelming. But since they were just starting I decided to come back later time to give it a real chance once they had the full menu up and running.
Came back and started off with the mofo go dumplings. These were actually not bad at all, not too dry and the garlic sauce was nice. Mofongo being a very Puerto Rican dish I can suggest two things that might take this plate to the next level:
1. Add pork cracklings to the plantain. That’s the secret to great mofongo.
2. Serve with a side of mayoketchup or pink sauce like people in the states call it. Simple, mayo and ketchup with a bit of garlic.
For entrees my wife had the pulled chicked which was faaaaantastic and I had the son cubano dish which is pork with rice and beans. The pork was great, nice and moist and very flavorful. But we need to talk about the pinto beans. Ground beef, canadian ham AND bacon? I tell you what, take them all out and put in some cooking ham and voila! Traditional Caribbean beans don’t have all that. What they do have is pieces of pumpkin or potato. And one last thing, beans with no caldito!!! Caldito is that liquid where they are stewed which is great when you dump it all over a bed of white rice.
All in all it’s as close as Caribbean comfort food I’ll ever get here in Dallas. Keep it up Café Salsera, I believe in you.

My friends and I tried Café Salsera for the first time this weekend and I’m still conflicted about my experience. Let me explain.
We came for a late brunch Saturday and were the sole customers for the entire 2 hour meal. Despite the sweltering heat, we decided to dine upstairs on the balcony– which has zero misting fans and zero Big Ass fans. (hello, this is Texas). Then why did you sit outside, you ask? Honestly, because it’s a sweet spot and a great view in Deep Ellum and at least other humans were gathered outside walking about and socializing.
As this is a brand new place and a new concept, we asked our server lots of questions– pretty much none of which she had an actual answer for. She giggled at every enquiry, and that’s about all we got, giggles, and a tin grin. To be perfectly honest with you, I’m not sure she’s even old enough to have served us alcohol, and I don’t think I’ve ever been served by anyone with less experience or knowledge. I will however, give her mad props for climbing the stairs with our drinks each time without incident and for remembering our food orders, all correctly. She didn’t write a single thing down, which rarely works out in anyone’s favor. It should also be noted that she was equally as sweet as she was inexperienced. Herein lies more conflict.
The GOOD news: We ordered a lot and we ordered a wide variety of a lot: drinks, apps and entrees. Everything, and I mean everything, was delicious. Admittedly, my palate is an immature one when it comes to authentic Latin food, I know nothing. But, I do know what tastes good and the food was really spot on. My dining companions (including at least one mature Latin palate) were also pleasantly surprised and impressed with the food.
Bottomline, I’ll be back for certain to check out the dinner, live music, and late night salsa dancing vibes. This place deserves a second (and third) chance. It’s an authentic, festive concept –in Deep Ellum– with pretty damn good eats. I do hope the owners will take note of the constructive service-​related critiques offered by several others. I’d really like to see a place as unique as Café Salsera thrive!
Give Café Salsera a try and see what you think. I sincerely hope to update this review with a couple more stars in the very near future!

Hmmm — Lucy, you got some ’splaining to do. Not that you owe me anything or my opinion counts for anything…
It’s week three. I want you to be a WILD success.
You’ve GOT to get it together! Deep Ellum and I NEED you.

It must have been the second day Salsera was open, that I stopped in. The interior is very well done. I really love the upstairs patio, and I will have to check that out another night. The inside also features a raised stage, where bands can play, with a really pretty backdrop!
The seating is really nice as well. I dug the booths for two, because sometimes you just prefer a booth seat! The waitstaff is very pleasant — and high tech! All your orders are entered into a phone, as opposed to pad and paper.
The menu is not very large, but I expect it will grow as their business does. I ordered the Albóndigas with Diablo Sauce, which looked pretty appetizing. The band started up, and it was really entertaining. So much so, that I almost forgot that it took quite a while for our food to come out. Finally, though, it came out. Points for nice presentation… my meatballs were arranged attractively together and topped with the sauce, which was topped with fresh cilantro. The yucca fries were stacked neatly next to that, and there was a small dish with the jicama/​carrot salad.
The Diablo Sauce was not as spicy as I was expecting it to be. If you want SUPER spicy sauce, this is not going to be for you. However, it was pretty damn tasty. The meatballs have rice in them, too, FYI. Super yum! The yucca fries were nice and crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. The only things I would change about my meal would be to put some seasoning on the yucca fries, and to pickle the carrot and jicama a little longer so they would be easier to eat. Otherwise, great meal!
I will be back. I love the ambiance and the concept of this place, and I would love to catch a salsa DJ or band here sometime!

I understand this place is new, but I’ve come here twice already and experienced the slowest service ever. Food, drinks, whatever. You’ll be turning your head wondering where your server went. Empty drinks on the table. Been here an hour and haven’t even ordered food yet. Not enough workers maybe? No manager in sight. Grand opening week and this place should be on Restaurant Impossible. The waitress Juliana is so nice though. She knows the right way to handle situations. I mean we had a table over 15 people twiddling our fingers sipping empty drinks of ice with no food on the table for over an hour and there should have been more people helping out. I give this two stars because I have tried the food and it’s unique and delicious. The atmosphere and music are also wonderful and fun. This place has GOT to get it together if they want to survive the Deep Ellum vibe.