Café Corazon’s Homegrown Vegan Tacos Top All Others in Town [REVIEW]

Café Corazon Riverwest

3129 N Bremen St.

Milwaukee, WI 53212

(414) 810-3941

Monday – Friday 
11:00 am – 10:00 pm
Saturday
10:00 am – 10:00 pm
Sunday
10:00 am – 9:00 pm

Service: ★★★★☆

Setting:★★★★★

Food:★★★★★

Value:★★★★☆

Overall:★★★★☆

Cuisine Type: MEXICAN

Price per Entrée: $9.00-$16.00

Attire: CASUAL

Reservations: NOT NECESSARY

Payment: CREDIT CARDS ACCEPTED

            Milwaukee’s Riverwest is home to a few of the city’s most prized home-grown hotspots. From the in-house roasted espresso beans at Colectivo Coffee to the garden grown salsa that is served at Café Corazon, this Milwaukee neighborhood is a lively center for fantastic cuisine and creative atmospheres. With the meals ranging from $9-$16, this mid-priced cuisine is worth every penny as it’s made with local ingredients and of high quality authenticity. The vibrant ambiance accompanied with the fresh and authentic food reserved this Latin American eatery four out of five stars, and making it a perfect place for a date night or gathering with friends. 

            Café Corazon is one of the city’s most popular Mexican restaurants. With two locations found on both ends of the city and one soon to come to a smaller city north of Milwaukee, the restaurant is definitely growing from their small and unique home in Riverwest. The home location is a colorful and cozy site that emits aspects of hipster counter-culture the moment you walk into its doors. With various religious objects heavily associated with the catholic religion juxtaposed with imagery of anatomical hearts and skeletons, as well as margaritas served out of mason jars and vegan discount nights, this place fosters a unique vibe prefect for fostering the creative and diverse culture that resides in the Riverwest neighborhood. After being in business for ten years, the owners George and Wendy Mireles make sure Café Corazon continues to bring locally derived Latin cuisine to Milwaukee, as well as provide a fun and vivid space that accentuates various aspects of Latin American culture in a decently affordable and relatively clean manner. Making this location an easy choice for me and my date to satisfy our taco cravings.

The only drawbacks: The hostess was slightly unfriendly with not speaking much of a word to us except for “just two?” to confirm our party size. The tightly enclosed space of the building had made it awkward for my date and I to make our way through the restaurant when walking to our seats, the table was still damp after being cleaned prior to us sitting at it. The chips and salsa cost an extra $3 and where messily given to us with the salsa overflowing, which was not entirely a bad thing as their chips and salsa is well worth the price.

The not too spicy and refreshing mix of crushed vegetables makes this salsa impossible to stop eating and is paired with a smaller cup of their extremely hot salsa verde to add an extra kick, making the messy presentation easily ignored. With all of that being said the server that we had the pleasure of experience made up for a lot of the downfalls as he was extremely attentive and friendly, and had even recognized my date and I from previous occasions of dining there. 

Our server was efficient in getting us our drinks of waters and Thai basil margaritas, as well as our orders relatively fast after being seated. He was also quick in replenishing the crispy seasoned chips and ice-cold waters that my date and I were quickly throwing down. After quickly scarfing up about two baskets of chips, and chasing it down with plenty of water and about half of a jar of Thai basil margarita, our food arrived very shortly.

As we went on a Thursday and the deal for that night was a one-dollar discount off of vegan dishes, my date and I opted for two versions of Café Corazon’s vegan tacos. The vegetable vegan tacos ($11) that I had ordered and the soy chorizo tacos ($11) my date had ordered arrived promptly in about 15 minutes. The vegetable version that I had ordered for myself was a harmonious blend of freshly grown, straight from Café Corazon’s garden vegetable medley of carrots, broccoli, yellow squash, and red peppers that were sautéed in a vegan butter and served on three corn tortillas and topped with cilantro, radish, accompanied with fresh black beans and a mixed green salad that was flavored with avocado, red cabbage, tomato, and their house-made lime cumin vinaigrette. My date had chosen the soy chorizo version that, instead of sautéed vegetables, contained a realistic and flavorful ground chorizo substitute. 

The meals were light in terms of not being very greasy and were evidently made with fresh produce but were very filling as neither of us had room to finish. We had also come to the conclusion that the soy chorizo version was more savory and dense than the vegetable version of the vegan tacos and we collectively agreed that the vegan tacos here are far more superior than Bel-Air on Downer’s vegan tacos, as they have far more options and the ingredients are fresher and without the immense amount of grease that Bel-Air’s tacos tend to have. The atmosphere was also much more comfortable and unique than other Mexican restaurants in the area as the absence of television, dimmed lighting, alternative music, and intriguing décor made the experience unordinary. Overall Café Corazon in Riverwest is a great and decently-priced option for anyone looking to get their taco Tuesday fix, and may serve the best vegan tacos in the city.