Sarita’s Grill

never disappointed with Sarita’s…the food is solid… beans, sandwiches, tacos… the folks are great… highly recommend!

I’m Peruvian and was hoping for some authentic and good Central American cuisine. What I tasted at Saritas seemed like recipes done in a hurry with very basic ingredients. Had what some call «flautas,» they called them something else. They were fried to a crisp and so salty. Salt was the most flavorful ingredient. Just as well, there wasn’t much spice or other interesting ingredients. As a disclaimer, I’m not a big queso and chips fan but if you do something interesting or really season the queso with the right ají you could win me over. This queso reminded me of the stuff you get from Tostitos in a can. Not good for me. The service was cold and the sangria tasted like cheap alcoholic punch. Don’t think I’m coming back.

They have a simple menu and a nice set up. Good prices on beer and big cups of water. The free queso was tasty and we both ordered custom bowls. He ordered one to go for his lunch the next day and I took half home of my dinner home to save for next day’s lunch and ended up eating it as soon as I got home. Good service and inexpensive and filling meal!

Sarita’s has a plain and even «tumbledown» exterior and interior appearance (a dive?). The waitress was friendly and helpful. I ordered the Steak Tacos, and they were simply delicious. My partners remarked that their orders (flautas and the Steak Plate) were also very good and enjoyable. The appetizer chips, cheese sauce, and salsa were also quite nice. I would recommend this place and certainly return. RJT

Yo, straight up, canned cheese whiz as their complimentary «queso». We asked for salsa instead, they don’t even have salsa. My boo got the $ 11 «shrimp bowl» which consisted of grilled shrimp, iceberg lettuce, a couple slices of tomato, and some rice. It was about 5 bites worth of food for $ 11. No flavor whatsoever. The «fish taco» was a JOKE. Thousand island dressing masked as «tartar sauce». Our bill was $ 30 for a shrimp bowl and 3 tacos — not one cent of the meal was worth it. All of the prices listed on their Unilocal page are $ 2 – 3 more in reality. DON’T WASTE YOUR TIME OR MONEY: DON’T INSULT YOUR TASTEBUDS LIKE THIS FOR $ 30

Great food, GREAT service, would come back here over and over again. They were so friendly, and when they were missing an ingredient for one of our dishes, the owner/​manager sat down with us at our table to talk through alternatives. Simply wonderful service– even when they were full and busy, they were attentive and patient. Loved it.

This is a modest, dive-​y place but the tacos, bowls and guacamole are great. I’ve had many of the tacos but my favorite are the chorizo (not greasy at all) and fish tacos. They give you free queso and chips which aren’t stellar… but they are free and bottomless and still craveable. The guacamole is freshly prepared and good. Their sangria and margaritas are solid as well. A great, inexpensive place with good food for your Mexican fix.

Heads up! The menu on Unilocal is wrong and prices are inaccurate. Grilled steak is not $ 10, it’s $ 15. Other things went up as well. I mentioned this and the guy was unimpressed. I wasn’t looking for a refund, but a quick «sorry» would’ve gone a long way. Supposedly someone else posted the menu and they haven’t been able to change it. All that said, the steak was fatty (not in the good way). TWO stars because the tacos and tostadas are pretty great. Disappointed this time, buy I’ll try something else next time.

The small and disarmingly authentic ambiance of Sarita’s is fun and unique on Freret street. The setup is simple and humble, much like the food in a refreshingly honest display of Cuban cooking with not-​over spiced flavors.
The Cuban sandwich is a masterpiece of simplicity that I keep coming back to. The salsa is made fresh and the «mexibowl» is a generous helping of meat with all the fresh ingredients that a truly Latin dish should overflow with.
Compared to Panchita’s, another favorite for Mexican, Sarita’s gives them a run for their money but is still a close second. I would like to see a seafood option on the menu and some bolder entrée options but I don’t want the place to change. Freret is overcrowded with hip establishments competing for edginess and Sarita’s is original and disinterested and knows it.
Keep up the good work!

Sarita’s is my favorite restaurant on Freret St. It’s just around the corner from my house, so it’s a natural choice for my family. We’ve eaten just about everything on the menu, and nothing disappoints.
The fish taco is my favorite. The fish is fried crispy, and it’s tucked into a flour tortilla with a helping of their house-​made slaw. The cabbage and cilantro add crunch and flavor that takes it to the next level.
After the fish taco comes the ropa viego plate. That whole platter is delicious. The sweet, slightly caramelized plantains, the savory shredded beef. Amazing.
Love the cheese dip. The margaritas are fantastic. The staff are super friendly and attentive. And I love the bright colors and the café lights. Charming!

Breakdown:
Chips & Queso (complimentary)
Chips were standard, but they’re chips so no need to nitpick. The «queso» however tasted like knock-​off Velveeta nacho cheese. Movie theater queso is better than this gloopy food product.
Plantains
Plantains were hard and unevenly cooked. They were not sweet either. Maduros are served fried in this style when ripe and sweet. These were bitter and would be fine as tostones (the flattened, twice-​fried dish), but these did not satisfy. I needed every bit of sour cream to flavor these.
Empanadas
They weren’t bad, but they weren’t great either. Very salty, but the pastry portion was well-​done with a light and flaky texture.
Cuban sandwich
Sub-​par sums this up. Tough pork and very bland.
Tacos (chicken and fish)
First of all the menu said flounder. They served us tilapia. If you think that doesn’t matter, you should know that while tilapia doesn’t taste bad, it is VERY cheap. $ 4.95 is completely unacceptable for fried tilapia on a flour tortilla with sad looking produce on top. The pork taco was not much better. Again, tough meat, sad produce, and salty.
Service
We waited 30 min for appetizers and our entrees to come out at the same time. To be fair it was busy, but the empanadas were not made right then and there and plantains take about 5 – 10 minutes to fry up.
I never ask for a discount on bad meals. I basically make it a point not to return if we’ve reached that juncture as business and customer. I want an entire refund, I won’t return, and will call it a day.
Oh,
I asked about the fish. They owned up to it being tilapia. +1 for being honest, but I shouldn’t have to ask and this is not acceptable!

This is a nice little Cuban inspired restaurant. They have good drink specials even for dinner. I had a grilled ribeye with rice, black beans, and plaintains. The steak was cut thin which is how I like it depending upon the application. I thought it worked here, and it was tasty. The rice and beans were what you expect, not very seasoned, designed to be a bland accompaniment to the entrée. My friend had a pork bowl which is similar to the Chipotle program. The pork was delicious as were the accompaniments.
Sarita’s is a nice place to hang out with good but not mind blowing food. And the price was definitely right. I think the bill was under $ 30 with no alcohol.

I love checking out new tex-​mex type places. I’m a fan of Felipe’s, but it was time for me to venture out of my comfort zone… I’ve been to Sarita’s a couple of times. First, I had the tacos and then the rice bowl. Everything was pretty tasty to me. I dig the location on Freret street. This place is simple, I like how you get free chips and queso upon each visit. The prices are reasonable and it’s got that Mom and Pop kinda feel.

Just an update. My gf and I walked here for lunch (about 4 miles round trip). As always, we were greeted enthusiastically and sat at a table at the front. I had the nicaraguenses and yucca frita. My gf got her usual tacos and we scarfed down the free chips and queso. Our service was flawless as usual, and our meal was oh-​so-​delicious!
Sarita’s never fails to more than satisfy us.

Had high hopes for this place because I had read some good reviews about the fish tacos so we went over for lunch today.
After the chips come out, we place our drink order. I try to get sweet tea… nope. I’ll have water. I try to order fish tacos… nope. Ok. I get a chicken taco and a chorizo taco and then we split an order of empanadas ($ 5).
The empanadas were bangin’, but left little room for the food that we had afterwards. Despite this, we were totally impressed by the flavor of the meat and the flakyness of the pastry. Naturally, I was looking forward to tacos of the same caliber. But, these tacos were lame. The chicken was bland, the chorizo was tough, and the cheese definitely came out of a plastic bag. It looked like a color by numbers assembly of a kids meal. My boyfriend ate his rib eye and chorizo tacos, but we were unimpressed nonetheless.
Also, the queso that people rave about being served with chips instead of salsa? No. It’s gross. It’s not creamy, white queso; it’s that stuff that they squeeze out of that machine at the movie theater for your nachos. Not worth it.

Maybe my friend and I made the mistake of ordering the bowls (which I felt i felt sone arbitrarily named mexi and Cuban but lacked any indication as to why). But we were both very disappointed. I ordered a bowl with chorizo and when it came out the meat was BROWN. I’m sorry but I have never seen chorizo brown and it tasted like rouses sausage taken out of the casing. Which isn’t bad but shouldn’t be paraded as chorizo.
My friend got the mexibowl and it was obvious the beans were canned, on top of being flavorless, they just threw shredded cheddar on top (that also seemed to be preshredded). The chicken didn’t taste like it was seasoned either.
We felt that our meals were something that college kids or parents would do for a «Mexican» night. Someone mentioned before that it seems to placate to gringos. Even the queso they give you to start tastes like Tostitos.
To be fair, the tacos seemed to be the popular dish here and maybe we just chose poorly. So we may venture back again some day.
The service was good, they have plenty of people tending to you so you don’t really have to flag anyone down, which is better than most places. But they either need to buck up the bowls or nix them all together.

Sarita’s is another place that I never would have tried had it not been for Unilocal.
Located on revitalized Freret Street, Sarita’s is not what I expected. Unlike many of the other fancy business on this street, Sarita’s maintains a homely feel.
The restaurant is small, but tables are spaced far enough apart that a private conversation can be held. They were also able to accommodate our large group with no issues.
Another thing I was impressed with was their ability to cater to multiple different tastes. At out table was one of the most difficult diners I know; my oldest daughter. She doesn’t seem to like most foods I find delicious, but she loved their queso dip.
I am a huge fan of Cuban sandwiches so that’s what I ordered. Their version was very good and used traditional Po-​boy bread. I’m sure that’s not what would be used in Cuba, but I love it. It may not be my favorite Cuban in the area, but it’s high on my list.
Service was friendly, prompt and prices were fair.
If you find yourself on Freret and in need of a Cuban sandwich, I encourage you to check out Sarita’s.

I’D EAT HERE EVERY WEEK IF IT WERE NEAR HOME IN THE QUARTER: all tacos are on char grilled tortillas, the sirloin is especially flavorful, and the fish is generously portioned BUT ask for extra remoulade!
THE CUBAN IS JUST OKAY and unfortunately not on authentic glossy-​crust bread. Rather they use an ill-​suited flimsy Leidenheimer. (Having lived in Key West the benchmark Cuban is at the venerable El Sibboneh). But it’d be darn close if Sarita’s were to use a pressed, hollowed out banh mi baguette, some extra mustard and a few more pickles!
OUTSTANDING PRICE/​VALUE: four tacos with gratis toppings; an assortment of sirloin, shrimp, roasted chicken & fish; with complimentary chips and queso; easily splittable, just $ 13. And the staff are so endearingly friendly that the messy bathroom can almost be overlooked.
HOUSE RED AND GREEN SAUCES ARE TASTY and should be sampled! I mixed them into the wiz-​ish queso to up the heat.

We recently found ourselves wanting tacos and were near Freret… Unilocal suggested Sarita’s, so that seemed like a good option.
Tacos? Delicious.
Between the three of us, we got a little bit of everything. It was all cooked fresh and reasonably priced.
We escaped with a bill of $ 29-​something + tip for 2 adults and a kid. That’s awesome.
My only complaint was the overly loud music. It was nice music (Latin of some sort) but loud enough that we couldn’t really have a conversation, or hear our waitress.

Perseverance I tell you. Sometimes you have to just keep trying to go to a restaurant and eventually it will be open when you’re hungry. Since this is mostly a lunch spot and I’m not often in the neighborhood until evening, I thought I was star crossed with Sarita’s. Yes, they have evening hours, but I can never remember them so inevitably go on the closed nights.
I had their delicious flounder tacos out on the street at Freret Fest last year and I’ve been craving them. So the other day, I realized I had less than 30 minutes until their closing time and so I zoomed over. I was able to grab my amazing tacos (1 fish and 1 shrimp) to go. Add an iced tea and it totaled less than $ 10. YUM.
I noticed that they do have a liquor license. I’m going to have to fix into my brain when they’re open for dinner and get over there again soon.