I would give this place 3.5 stars, but rounded up because I like this place. My girlfriend and I ate here on a Thursday and liked the experience. I had the chicken casona and split a pitcher of sangria. I cant remember what my gf had, but she loved it. My chicken casona tasted great and the sauce had good flavor. I was surprised that it wasn't made with fresh baked chicken. Instead itt was some sort of grilled cutlet but it tasted better than I expected.
Drinks were good and we both liked the atmosphere. There was a live salsa band playing and the restaurant was clean with udpated decor. I give the owner credit for trying to create an upscale environment. This place is located on the boarder of Weathersfield on the south end of Harford. There's not that  many "nice" places to eat around this area and I like the vibe this place is trying to create.
My only complaint is the dessert. We had the tres leches, which is normally a favorite of ours but it was not fresh and seemed a bit dry and/or boarder line stale. I wouldnt get it again.
Overall, this place is going in the right direction and I hope they continue to make good food while they iron out all the wrinkles.
Casona is the place to go for both great food and dancing. If Latin dancing is your thing, you can go on either Thursday, Â Friday or Saturday nights and get your fill of Salsa, Merengue, Bachata and more. On Friday evenings they open up the dinning room floor for more freestyle dancing. The dance floor is one of the best in Hartford. Parking is a little tight so it's best to arrive early.
On Wednesday nights there is  West Coast swing and at least once a month on Sundays you will find a nice mix of Hustle, West Coast Swing, Salsa and more. Occasionally there are live bands but most of the music is provide by DJ's. All of the DJ's are top notch and DJ Louie East is perhaps one of  the best Latin DJ's in Connecticut.
On Friday nights there is often a live Latin jam session with local musicians and singers as well as opportunity for live Karaoke. Except for rare occasions, there is a beginner dance class before each night of dancing
The staff is friendly and courteous. The food is fabulous and the owners are fantastic people. Â Plan on a leisurely dinner time when dining at Casona as the food is prepared fresh and therefore takes a little longer.
I did not go for dinner, rather I wen to the Salsa dancing and it was a very happening place. Â The facility is split into with an adjoining bar. Â One side is where the Salsa dancing was and the other was freestyle dancing. Â The DJ on the freestyling side was the best I have ever heard doing a great job of mixing some oldies in with latin music.
Review Source:Best place ever!! Can't even begin to tell you how great the food was here. I had the monfongo. It was delicious. Not many complaints other than I wish that there was more shrimp in the dish. But other than that, it was well done and had a powerful and strong and rich flavor. I truly recommend this place for visitors to the Greater Hartford Area. I know I will be certainly going back.
Review Source:Casona used to be La Casona, an establishment operated in the same location. In 2009, the owner, Fabio Caro, sold La Casona and moved to Miami. The restaurant's new owner unfortunately let cuisine fall by the wayside as he poured resources into promoting the place as a nightclub. As a result, La Casona shut down - but not for good! Fabio returned to Connecticut, and brought with him his experiences in Miami at restaurants that focused on ethnic tapas. He renovated La Casona and turned it into simply Casona, a gorgeous space that serves up truly unique, authentic dishes for both lunch and dinner.
I arrived to find the dance floor (Casona still moonlights as a popular nightclub) occupied by a salsa teacher and his students! That's right, Casona offers salsa lessons on both Wednesday nights (6, 7:15, and 8pm) and Saturday mornings (9:30pm). Don't be shy, all levels are invited, and prices are extremely reasonable at just $10/class on Wednesdays and FREE on Saturday (what a fun, affordable date idea!). If salsa isn't your thing, Tuesdays at 6:30pm there is ridiculously cheap $5 Zumba!
We were seated in the dining room next to two huge booths, which Fabio informed us are filled on weekends with young customers utilizing Casona's bottle service. The table was set beautifully and our waitress immediately brought over glasses and a bottle of water to keep at the table. I love that - I go through water like mad at restaurants, and it's great when I can just serve it myself.
To drink, we selected an Argentinian Merlot. It was WONDERFUL and paired beautifully with all of our food. We started with toasty, crunchy bread with Casona's signature "sexy sauce". The taste of this sauce was certainly a sexy thing indeed.
Our next course, Piononos, was my friend's favorite (she went back and ordered it for lunch this week in fact) and, after much deliberation, I've decided it was my favorite as well: sweet plantains stuffed with ground beef and Latin spices, topped with sexy sauce. First of all, I loved the presentation of each of the tapas. Secondly, WOW. The sweet plantains were a fantastic contract to the spiced ground beef, and the sexy sauce made them even more amazing. What a unique, well-prepared dish!
Next up was a dish the seafood-lover in me was extremely excited to try, the ceviche, made with tilapia! Or as Fabio calls it...Peruvian sushi. Each section of the tray had a different sauce: yellow pepper sauce, rocoto, and virgin sauce. All were wonderful and had a bit of a spicy kick that got to me a bit by the time we'd finished this dish, but it wasn't so much spiciness that it made eating the ceviche unpleasant in any way. The dish was garnished with Peruvian corn - how cool is that? It was so yummy and wasn't even salted, buttered, or anything! The huge kernels packed a flavorful punch. The middle compartment of the tray was garnished with a sweet potato, which tasted so good in that spicy sauce. More yummy contrast!
Out of anything I tried at Casona, I'd say the beef and chicken empanadas tasted most similar to other dishes I've tried before, but that doesn't mean they weren't stand-outs. The crunchy outer shell was fried to perfection and not greasy at all. The chicken was shredded, which I prefer so much more to chunks, and that perfectly-spiced ground beef was back again. Fabio called the salsa a pico de gallo, which was a bit odd to me since every other pico I've seen is more chunky and has the least liquid of any salsa variety, whereas this salsa was mostly liquid. I definitely prefer  a chunkier salsa, but since the empanadas shape is definitely more conducive to soaking than scooping, the liquid salsa was a good choice.
The last dish was the Tostones Rellenos, or fried green plantains stuffed with chicken and shrimp (chicken for Rachel, shrimp for me) and garnished with homemade plantain chips. The plantain chips were the best I've ever tasted (Casona should bag them and sell them!) and the rellenos were again not greasy and absolute perfection. We were too full to finish this plate, and that did not make us happy, but we were going to explode with any more food!
We are definitely going to be back to Casona (in fact, my friend's already been back), and it's so exciting to hear that they are having success so far in their revitalization.
Went for the taste of Hartford, the place was packed. Service was a little slow, food was pretty good, not great. I had the paella which was dry and not very flavorful. (I shouldnt have expected very much since I have never had good Paella outside of a real Spain-Spanish restaurant) My husband had the Churrasca Argentina - Rib Eye steak with Chimichurri. He thought it was great. Flan for dessert was something a two-year old could have made. Probably a pre-mix Jello Flan doused in Herseys Chocolate Syrup. As we were finishing up our meal the staff was packing up the tables, the DJ's were setting up and they were getting ready to turn the place into a Salsa Disco which I think is the true calling of La Casona.
Review Source:Took the kids here to celebrate their fantastic school year. Straight A's all around and for honors and Advanced Placement classes to boot.
My dish which were the pork chops were edible in fact nothing was left on the plate but disappointing. Appears they just dusted some old per-cooked  chops with plenty of adobo and some lemon or lime juice.
My only recommendation is find yourself another restaurant if you are looking for good hispanic food.
By the way, the service was good , the setting is comfortable and were seated in a sun room like seating area. Those parts were good. Shame the food was not up to the same level as the service and atmosphere.
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