No :-( Remi's review (Sep 29th 2006)

So what happened here? La Katrina has very quickly gone from being the best Mexican food in town to among the worst. It is unknown f this is because of new owners or not, but the food has changed at least, even though the menu hasn’t.

The carne asada was plain and chewy, and was served with a lot of sour cream. Yes, sour cream. At the La Katrina of yore you would only get that from the so-called “American menu.” As it looks now, the entire menu is prepared American style. There is probably something to be said for that style of Tex-Mex cooking, but it is not what La Katrina used to be about, and I feel this was several steps down in quality from previous visits.

I also tried the menudo which I couldn’t get half-way through. Apparently flavor had been substituted with oil, and even the traditional accompanying spices (oregano, chili flakes, lime, and onion) couldn’t kick it up to an acceptable level. Isn’t menudo supposed to be a hangover cure?

It’s too bad, really. La Katrina was great, but as it stands, it is no longer worth visiting. Try one of the trucks instead, or Guerrero for a sit-down experience.

No :-( thoughtful's review (Sep 29th 2006)

Spencer and I are on a quest to tap all the recommended Mexican joints in Spokane, and we unfortunately made the rounds to La Katrina yesterday. Let me tell you, this was by far the worst Mexican food I’ve ever had in my life. So bad in fact that we left half way through the meal and went elsewhere.

The chips were dripping with oil and had no salt, the “hot” salsa A) wasn’t hot and B) looked/tasted like it was from a jar. The beef tamale was just wrong. It was in an oily, crumbly masa and had three (yep, count em, three) small pieces of beef inside – at $2.50 each! Smothered in enchilada sauce and cheese. This was the most inedible part of the meal. I ate the meat and left the rest, and Spence wouldn’t go for a second bite. The shredded beef taco was so dry and flavorless that I had to drink a glass of water to get half of it down, and then passed it on to Spence who took one bite and left it laying on the plate. Spence had the carne asada taco, which he says was just OK. He also had the “traditional style” chalupa, which was piled high with shredded cabbage and carrots(!?) and was edible, but not repeatable. The service was also nothing to write home about. 30 minutes waiting for food, we never got drinks, and they brought me the wrong meal so I had to watch Spencer eat for awhile while I waited. Definitely not recommended.

No :-( Sandy's review (Jun 5th 2007)

Without knowledge that the ownership had changed (because before it was highly recommended), my friend and I decided to try it out at lunch. Other than ourselves, there were two other tables occupied in the establishment. We were seated quickly, our drinks were brought right away; however, our food took longer than usual since it wasn’t busy and once it finally got to us, it was gross. Everything tasted like it had been sitting in oil before it was cooked. After finishing our meal and waiting for at least 10 minutes, we had to ask for our bill. Once it was finally brought to us, we waited again and no one ever came back to take our money. Although walking out was tempting, I got up and located the waitress to take our money. Going back is NOT an option as far as we are concerned. We won’t waste our time and money next time.

No :-( Janessa's review (Jul 16th 2008)

I went to La Katrina the night before a big move almost a year ago. Our old place was very near and we’d heard good things. Apparently, we’d listened to the wrong sources. Our waiter couldn’t have been of legal age to work and every time he appeared it was in a different outfit. The food was more bland and boring than what we would have made at home—had our whole kitchen not been packed. It was not disgusting but certainly nothing to write home about. Just like Fiesta Mexicana, Taco Time or Bell or Senor Froggy has more flavorful food.