D’La Santa Mexican Cuisine & Grill
Recommended by: We advised in our Senor Moose review that we thought Senor Moose was the best Mexican restaurant in Seattle for the mid-tier level(see below) and probably the best overall Mexican restaurant in Seattle. A reader suggested that we try D’La Santa Mexican Cuisine & Grill and promised we would be impressed.
Description on the D’La Santa’s website: We pride ourselves on being 100% family owned. A team of brothers, uncles, aunts and daughters serving grandmothers old recipes. Combined with new rustic and old traditional Mexican food we thrive to serve you the best quality prime meats and organic vegetables.
Neighborhood/Type: Capitol Hill
Address: 2359 10th Ave E, Seattle, WA 98102
What we ate/drank: Tuetanos-Fire roasted bone marrows boat with cotija cheese and green onion, Picocitos- Jalapeno peppers stuffed with cream cheese & bacon, Tacoarte-Platter filled with a variety of delicious taco fillings: carne asada, pollo asado, cochinita pibil, pastor & refried pinto beans. Tortillas served on the side. (serves 2 people)
Comments: Not taking into account taco trucks, because you know we love us some taco trucks, but in our opinion there are three tiers of Mexican restaurants in Seattle.
- The fancy modernish ones like Barrio, Mezcaleria Oaxaca, Chavez, Fogon Cocina Mexicana, Poquitos
- The mid-tier ones like La Carta de Oaxaca, El Quetzal, Casco Antiguo, El Borracho, 418 Public House, Senor Moose
- The hole-in-the-wall cheaper ones like La Conasupo, Mendoza’s Mercado, Taco Chukis, Gorditos
D’La Santa falls in the mid-tier category.
As mentioned above, a reader suggested D’La Santa as a worthy adversary for best Mexican restaurant in Seattle. We’d never heard of D’La Santa, which opened in late 2017. And I don’t think anybody could blame us since it’s located near a secluded stretch of businesses in North Capitol Hill on 10th Ave E away from the more popular areas of Broadway and the Pike/Pine Corridor. It’s almost borderline Eastlake. Regardless, we gotta give props to this reader for pointing us in the direction of D’La Santa. It is indeed a worthy adversary.
Because the area is away from the more popular streets, parking is no problem at all. The outside has a façade of hanging lanterns that continue inside with a massive tree in the middle of the restaurant also with hanging lanterns. The lights are dimmed, so it definitely gives a romantic vibe that would be a perfect date spot. It did seem like a lot of couples there were on dates, but there was also a good number of groups there with kids in tow.
Another thing that makes this a perfect date spot is the dish that literally every table we saw ordered. That dish was the Tacoarte, which comes as two platters. One filled with a variety of taco fillings: carne asada, pollo asado, cochinita pibil, pastor, pork chorizo & refried pinto beans. For those keeping track at home that’s one steak, one chicken and three pork. The price of this dish is $31.99, but it serves two people, which we feel is totally reasonable. You can definitely fill up 3 people with this dish. Along with the meat fillings, came another platter of toppings, which included onions, cilantro, salsa, pico de gallo, radishes and pickled red onions. The refried beans are really creamy, not lumpy like what you see in most restaurants. This is the perfect date dish because you’re interacting, sharing, you can discuss your favorite fillings, topping and combinations. We quickly ran out of tortillas since the fillings and toppings will easily make 15 tacos minimum. We were asked if we needed extra tortillas, which we did. Every single table had ordered this dish and if when we go back, we’d definitely order it again.
The filling rankings:
1) Carne Asada (my favorite)
2) Al Pastor (wife’s favorite)
3) Pork Chorizo
4) Conchinita Pibil
5) Pollo Asado
One other item that most tables ordered, but we didn’t, was the House Margarita that came in a coconut shell. I noticed there were four tables in a row that each ordered it. We also ordered some appetizers. The Picocitos, which are jalapeno peppers stuffed with cream cheese & bacon. This dish was $4.99 and again we felt it was a very reasonable price considering how big the peppers were and how much cream cheese was applied. It had just the right amount of bacon for a very balanced dish.
The other appetized we got was the Tuetanos, a fire roasted bone marrow boat with cotija cheese and green onion. This was more of a dish for me since my wife doesn’t really enjoy bone marrow. The frustrating thing about bone marrow is there’s just so little of it per bone, but oh how I love me some fatty goodness.
Picocitos $4.99 (3) Jalapeno peppers stuffed with cream cheese & bacon
I have to say that service started out a little rough. We arrived and we had to wait awhile to be seated as there was no workers to be seen even though there were about 6 tables already being served. Somebody eventually came out from the back and we were seated with menus. Again, we waited quite a while before our order was taken. In fact, in thinking back we actually had to flag down somebody to take our order.
To their credit, after this service was impeccable. Our server answered our questions about the dishes, warned us that the bone marrow would take a little longer due to the preparation, periodically checked on us, took away dishes as we finished, asked if we needed more tortillas and also asked if we needed anything boxed up.
Aside from the dishes we got there are so many other interesting dishes that we’d love to try in the future like the Torta Caramelo, which is bread stuffed with anaheim pepper and melted asadero cheese, filled with your choice of meat. Taco Gobernador, which is shrimp sauteed with garlic, onion, butter & cheese.
Let’s not forget their extensive steak menu, starting with a reasonably priced (Wagyu) Mishima Reserved Ultra, grade 8 at $29.99 all the way up to their 40oz Tomahawk for two that’s $119.99. We’ll save that one for a very, very special occasion.
Finding this undiscovered(to us) restaurant is the main reason we try to ask locals where they like to eat. We would have never visited D’La Santa without a local reader suggesting it. This quaint family run restaurant would probably never appear in a Seattle city guidebook. We’re not quite ready to hand over the mantle from Senor Moose as Best Mexican Restaurant in Seattle. We’ll take a few more visits and try a few more dishes, but they are in fact a worthy adversary.
Ratings:
Atmosphere: 4.50
Service: 4.50
Food/Drinks: 4.75
Bang for the Buck: 4.75
Overall: 4.65
Locals Only Factor: “Locals Only” grading-We’ll assign a grading as to how “local” a place is.
-
- Well known or Touristy. Most locals don’t go there unless they have business dinners or visitors in town.
-
- Most locals know about it
-
- Locals “in the know” know about it
-
- Only those who live close by know about it.
-
- You’re in on the secret. Don’t tell anybody!
Servers recommendations to visit in the future: Up above we mention La Conasupo Market,which is one of favorites.
Related Articles: