LATHA

Latha is the Swahili word for flavor, and the aptly named restaurant 's menu of African flavors combined with hints of Brazil, the Caribbean, and Southern definitely serves on the name. We went on a Friday evening and walked right up. I love the small houses-turned-into restaurants downtown, and this was so cute. The porch lights and the misters and the laidback feel were so welcoming. We started with the whipped goat cheese app. It was a delicious combination of savory and sweet flavors from the black garlic honey, sumac, and radish. It was served with chapati, an Indian flatbread, but I also ordered some coconut bread to dip in it as well. Mmmm.For entrees, we both had amazing selections. My husband had a taste of home (South Africa) with the Oxtail. Both his stomach and heart were happy. I chose the Dayboat Moqueca with grouper. I was pleasantly surprised at how good this was! The grouper was cooked perfectly and laid on a bed of rice grits and coconut chutney. That sweet coconut flavor with the texture of the rice grits and the flaky fish was heavenly. I can't remember the drinks we chose (Caipirinha was in there at some point) but they were well crafted and we had the second round chosen by our bartender after asking our flavors and entrees to match. We finished the meal with the Southern pound cake topped with whipped cream and date jam. Dessert and drinks were good, but the entrees were the hit of the night. The vibes and aesthetic of @lathaphx were so chill and fun. I had fun, along with the other women seated nearby and in the other rooms and at the bar, yelling out "call him" as the singer on the porch performed Erykah Badu's Tyrone. It was a cool date night full of Latha.

There was a lovely live band playing outside that created such a beautiful atmosphere! It's a wonderful greeting! But sitting at our table, the music was just a little bit too loud. It got hard to hear my friends at our table as well as the waitress. Attached to the restaurant are a bar and a gift shop with all kinds of goods imported from Ghana. On sale they have a variety of items like chocolate, jewelry, clothing, and skin care. They let us look around there while we waited for our table to get ready.My friends and I started with the whipped goat cheese appetizer. I thought it was such a unique and flavorful dish. The honey mixed with the subtle taste of the cheese was unbeatable! I would highly recommend.For my main course, I ordered the Dayboat Moqueca. They were out of the fish of the day I guess, so it was made with shrimp instead. Overall, the dish was ok. It was way too small for its $38 price tag. And I'm not sure what "rice grits" are, which is what's in the menu description, but it was essentially halfway between coconut rice and risotto. That part was good, and the sauce was very flavorful, but the single broccolini in the dish tasted unseasoned, and the shrimp was slightly overdone. Overall, I commend the fusion of different flavors and the ambience, but I think my main dish was just a little bit lacking in a couple areas!

Came here with a friend, I had a co-worker tell me about this place and wanted to try it. Its right down in Heritage Park so convenient to downtown PHX. When entering the you can get a sense of the roots if the restaurant the smell of spices was inviting. The place is decorated to reflect its African roots. The food, so lets dive in. We started off with the Black Eye Pea hummus. It was good, the pickled veggies was excellent, the inly issue was the one piece of bread (chapati) which isn't enough for the amount of hummus you get, we got another Chapati ($6). For the entree i got the Mushroom Criollo this was outstanding. It had a slight spicy note to it which was not over powering. I would get this again, but i want to try some of the other items too. My friend has the Fishboat and Grits (fish was salmon) she loved it and the piece of salmon was huge. We had the Latha Lemonade and it was very refreshing. They were out of many items on the brunch menu when we were there and we arrived at 1130 (when they opened). I can see this being a place i will be coming back to. If you want to try African food give this place a try.

We went here during the Arizona Restaurant Week. The parking can be challenge since it could be the same day that downtown Phoenix has an event (so please plan ahead). There is a parking structure near by, unfortunately, we could not get in because the parking ticket would not release from the machine (maybe the parking lot was already full?). Luckily there is a valet parking for the restaurants in the heritage square. The flip side is that we pay for valet parking. I think the restaurant will give you a compliment parking validation if you park at the parking structure.We came right when they are just opened. The dining room is spacious with beautiful decorations. The food are super-delicious and huge portion. The watermelon salad is so refreshing. The whipped goat cheese is addictive. Goat cheese is not my favorite but the chef here made it so delicious. The black garlic honey on top of whipped goat cheese make this dish complete. Hypha Mushroom Criollo is a huge bowl of variety of vegetable stew. This is my first time having Yolele Fonio grains. These grains help complement the broth in criollo. Last but not least, the Southern pound cake is to die for. I love watermelon sauce and coconut sauce on every bite of this cake.On the other side of the restaurant is a market. They have many products, dry food, clothes, skin cares, baskets, and bags. The baskets are so cute and I had to stop myself from getting too many things.

Our second Arizona Dining experience. Decided to try something new and different.We loved the historical house, decoration and decided to sit outside. We loved the entertainer outside, Coco Wason, we had better we listened to her for a hour between our first and second course. We must have asked between 30' and 40' after our 1st course came when our main was coming and the response was it is made from scratch, sorry I know this isn't McDonalds most restaurants like this you do make from scratch, LOL. How was the food it was tasty but for the three course it was 55 was reasonable, can't imagine paying the going standard menu for similar portions. Two hours for a three course was a bit long and the crowds were light and help never seemed to have any urgency. The final disappointment was they expected us to use our forks from first and second course for desert and than we had to ask for a spoon. For the one of the deserts. You decide should they have brought us a smaller spoon ? The highlight was Coco, she was great at least!

I have had this restaurant saved in my ' want to visit' list since they opened last year. My husband made a reservation for my birthday and I was very excited to finally try this place out.If you are a first time visitor, they will give you a tour and tell you their story. You also get to meet the owner, the general manager, the bartenders and your wait staff, which makes it very personable. Ypu are not rushed at all during your dining experience. they have a ton of creative cocktails and they are very, very focused on flavors.My husband ordered the chicken tangine and I had the Corvina fish special. Our waiter also highly recommended the whipped goat cheese appetizer, we've seen many people enjoy this on Yelp as well so we decided to partake. It was absolutely fantastic.The flavors come together so amazingly in these dishes that you won't be disappointed. We have not been to Africa, but I can tell you that we are excited to have the on our bucket list at some pointAs it was my birthday, they brought me a gorgeous bracelet with my African name 'Yaa'. LOVE THIS!!!! There is a shop inside as well if you're interested in unique products. Take the time to support this new business and new owner, you won't be sorry!!

The food was great. Definitely a twist on traditional dishes with some unique flavors and spices. The service was exceptional. The owner checked in on us several times throughout the evening and our waitress was extremely knowledgeable about the menu and made several great recommendations. Very cute chic atmosphere. They had live music tonight. Can't wait to go back and try out their brunch menu! Oh and don't pass up those appetizers. Watermelon salad 10/10... and they had a cute little shop in the store. Tons great items in there a definitely worth taking a gander through.

My family and I were in Phoenix for my niece's graduation and we decided to come here to celebrate her accomplishments. The food, service and atmosphere were amazing Loved, loved, loved this restaurant and retail store inside of it. Definitely recommend!

LATHA has been on my to-do food list for a while, so we decided to make a night of it when family were in town. We made reservations about a month in advance, and were promptly seated. First, the pros: 1. the GM (Will) and our server were great. They were warm, kind, and attentive. 2. The atmosphere was great. We lucked as the weather was beautiful and we were seated at a long table on the front porch. And the music throughout our service was fun. 3. The cocktails. We ordered several, each very unique and fun. Everyone loved their drinks. Now, about the food. I was really excited to try the food. I'd read about the intention behind the menu, I love the idea of a menu that celebrates the African diaspora, and I have eaten lots of food that has roots in African food ways (including parts of the US, South America, the Caribbean, and North Africa). So, I was intrigued to experience their culinary journey. But I was admittedly a little disappointed. All of our entrees were fine, but none of them WOW'd me. Not only that but the portions were small, and the food was EXPENSIVE. Our bill was just shy of $500. At the end of the day, I'm glad I tried it. But I don't know that my experience lived up to the hype. I think you're mostly paying for the rent on their prime location than you are for the food.

I went to Latha for the first time. The ambiance is beautiful. I love how African heritage is showcased throughout the restaurant and the live music was great. The music was slightly loud, so it was difficult to hear the waitress/hostess when they were describing items from the menu. However, the staff were quite friendly.As for the food, I found it very flavorful. As a starter my friends and I had the whipped goat cheese and bread. As a Kenyan I thought it was misleading to call the bread Chapati. The bread was more of a pita bread than Chapati. But it went well with the goat cheese. For the main course I ordered the Dayboat Moqueca with shrimp (they ran out of the fish of the day and it's not pictured here). The flavor was great but the portion size was not worth the cost at all! Which was disappointing to me. My drink, Mrembo martini, was delicious and strong. I would order it again. Overall I would give it another shot just to try other dishes.