Recommended by: A guy sitting next to us at Varsity Inn
Name: Mojito
Description on their website: Serving the best Latin American & Cuban food in the Seattle area.
Neighborhood: Maple Leaf
Address: 7545 Lake City Way NE, Seattle, WA 98115
Type: Latin American/Cuban
Packed?: We went for an early Sunday dinner around 4:00 and every seat was taken.
Music playing: Upbeat Latin American music
What we ate/drank: Pabellon–Seasoned shredded beef, red peppers, onions, and spices, slowly cooked and served with black beans, white rice and maduros, Vaca Frita- Shredded beef marinated in lime juice and sauted with onions, garlic and sweet peppers. Served with congr and maduros. Passion Fruit Shake,Two beers- Modelo Especials
Comments: Mojito is a small triangle shaped restaurant that’s pretty difficult to find. If you’re driving South on Lake City Way it will eventually fork to enter I5 or split off to what will become Roosevelt Ave. Mojito is located as Lake City Way turns into Roosevelt Ave. It’s a one way street. There’s no parking lot, so you’ll have to park on the street. We had no issues.
With the space relatively small and the place full, the atmosphere is very lively and loud. If you’re looking for a place to have a quiet conversation, this isn’t it. Mojito is very bright due to windows being on all sides of the restaurant as well as the vibrant colors with yellow walls, green trim and blue ceilings including clouds. There’s also a small patio out front that’s used in warmer weather.
Vaca Frita(Fried Cow) is a traditional Cuban dish with shredded beef marinated with onions and garlic. It has a citrus tang to it and comes with beans and rice. Pabellon is the Venezuelan National Dish. It’s a shredded beef dish with a tomato based sauce with beans and rice. It also comes with cooked plantain. Both dishes were so good we’ll order both again the next time we come back. There definitely other dishes that sound really good. The Parrilla Mojito is their most popular dish, which is a marinated steak dish. Their rice is also really good all on its own. We were told it’s made with onion, garlic and cilantro. The best way to go is to order a bunch of dishes and eat family style, so you can try a little of each dish.
Ratings(Scale 1-5)
Service: 5
Food/Drinks: 5
Bang for the Buck: 4
Overall: 4.75
Locals Only Rating: Locals “in the know” know about it
Eavesdropping Convos: It was too lively to overhear any conversations.
Server recommendations to visit in the future: Server was busy, but the table next to us asked if it was our first time here. We told them if wasn’t, but it was their first time. They mentioned their routine was normally to go to Korean Tofu House, but it was packed, so they came here. So we will go there next.