Chino Latino

2916 Hennepin Ave S
Minneapolis, MN 55408
612-824-7878
http://www.chinolatino.com/

Category: Pan-Asian/Latin

Rating (Scale 1-10, with 10 being the highest):
Food: 5
Service: 7
Ambience: 9

Recommendation: Good. We go to Chino for the scene and the cocktails, not necessarily for the food.

Chino Latino is the place to take Minneapolis or Midwest naysayers…it has a chic cosmopolitan vibe to it. The interiors are dark and rustic with warm lighting. This is a good place for an afterwork drink, or bringing out of town friends. Note that the restaurant does get very loud of weekend nights (more like a bar) and is best suited for people watching with a group of friends than a quite date. If you’ve never been here before, watch out, there is no name on the outside..just a gold/copper shimmering sign. Chino Latino serves street food from the “Hot Zone” – the tropical belt that extends from the Caribbean to the Americas to Polynesia, on to South East Asia, India, Africa. Their entrees are made for sharing as they serve a group of 3-4 people. Chino has a nice tropical and fruity selection of cocktails and martinis.

While we wouldn’t necessarily recommend coming here for the food, here are a few dishes we’ve tried and liked. For appetizers, fried food is the theme! We’ve tried the Popocatepe (fries erupting with black beans, queso fresco, guacamole, sour cream, chile de arbol and pico de gallo)..nothing out of the ordinary but goes down well with drinks from the bar, Empanadas (Brazilian style stuffed with ground beef), and the Tempura Shrimp Lollipops (served with soy mustard, Thai BBQ, and plum sweet and sour dipping sauces). For entrees, we really like the Jerked Chicken (which is slow roasted and served with pineapple relish, rice, black beans, and fried plantains). If you're in the mood for dessert and like chocolate, you can't go wrong with the Chocolate Volcano Cup (molten dark chocolate cake erupting with kahlua whipped cream).

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