Any good and reputable Mexican restaurants in Seoul, Korea? I'm really desperate to know.?

Question

I've been living in Korea for about a year and I am looking for a good Mexican restaurant in Seoul. They have good French, Italian restaurants in hotels (but at very high prices), but they don't seem to have decent Mexican restaurants. Someone told me they do have one or two, but I can't seem to find it. Does anybody know? Please help.

Answer 1

I've been living in Itaewon area for almost 5 years now and there are a few of them around this area. They are very tiny small with 3-4 tables only and obviously you can't expect much decency there. On the other hand, there's one called Casa Loca in Apgujeong-dong area, and it can probably accommodate 150 people at least and the food is pretty decent. They serve Mexican buffets, too. The price here is higher than those tiny ones in Itaewon, but they give so much here that per pound basis it seems about the same price or even less. For example, they give you 4 tacos for each order while the other places give one for each, so if you would order 4 tacos at the other places, the prices would come out about the same. Casa Loca is also famous for promoting their own concept of not having any MSGs, preservatives and other healthy diet concept, and therefore I can tell food prepared here is quite fresh and it feels like homemade food, which is why I really like about here. Restaurant decoration is very well done, music is cheerful, and everything's good. If you are specifically looking for Mexican cuisine, I highly recommend this one over any other. But if you have limited budget, like 3-4 bucks and if you just gonna go for 1 piece of little taco as a snack rather than as a full meal, I suggest that you go to those fast food type tiny little stands like Chili Taco, Taco Amigos or Panchos in Itaewon, or one in Gangnam station at the end of the block(forgot the name). I don’t even know these little ones have their website address, but Casa Loca has one (www.casaloca.co.kr ) in both English and Korean. They have many good newspaper and TV features which you can find in their webpage. They should also have the map somewhere in there.

Answer 2

It's not really a restaurant, but there's a place near Sinchon station that serves some pretty nice tacos and burritos. It's just a tiny little place, but it's very tasty. The Korean guy who runs it learned to cook Mexican food in California and in Mexico City. He's very friendly and speaks English well.



The place is called Choi's Tacos. From the Sinchon Rotary intersection, go down the smallest of the five streets that meet there, the one that is to the left of McDonald's. Walk a block or two, just past the building with the TGI Friday's at the top and Sybarra Records at the bottom. Turn right at the busy street. Follow this street for about five minutes and you should see it on your right. If you see a Baskin Robbins on your right, you missed it. Good Luck! (wish directions in Korea were a little easier to explain.)

Answer 3

If you are looking for a fancy Mexican restaurant in town without the budget contraint, I bet nobody would disagree that casa loca is by far the best. They have a couple of locations in Seoul. One in Yeouido near the korea stock exchange (KRX) and the other in fashion district called Chungdam-dong or Apgujeong.



They are much more upscale dinner with real authentic flavor compared to the other Mexican places . They have variety of authentic menus that I haven't even had in the U.S. with all time favorite menus like taco and burritos in different meat types. And of course, free chips with different types of salsas for your starter. Most of my forks go there because they simply are very comfortable restarants to enjoy a night or lunch. Clean open kitchens are also comforting when you don't really know what they are doing in the back!



I believe most of foreign customers come there are business people (they look so to me), English teachers, but less foreign students mostly because you have to spend about W15,000 each meal. But like it says up there, food portions are very generous, so it's absolutely worth the money. To me, it seems even less expensive than other smaller ones.



Also I was surprised to see a Mexican chef making in-house tortillas, salsas and guacamole. yummy..... If you are looking for a place to date, family get-together, business luncheon or dinner, this place got to be the one in Seoul. One time they had huge party for Mexican embassy staffs with mariachi band. It was wild!! I hope they still have band!



If you scroll down the following link, you'll see great many articles and tv features of them along with some articles written in English. http://www.casaloca.co.kr/04-news.php



Chungdam-dong one has the valet service, in case you'd be driving. But if you are really looking for a small portion like single taco or very quick meal with limited menu choice, you should try the ones in Itaewon area.



Hope my answers your curiosity. Good luck.

Answer 4

http://www.casaloca.co.kr/



2 locations - Apgujeong & Yeouido