Been here a few times, food's good, service is decent and I'd say it's pretty good value for your dollar. I can't speak to authenticity or anything, but everything tastes good. The homemade sauces are certainly tops! (Chipotle and the peanuty one are my favs!)
I agree with some other posters, this isn't an awesome place to go if it's just before closing...but then again, most places aren't!
All in all, decent food, but there are no bells or whistles. The servers are decent, all very nice. The food is quick to get to the table and the place is clean and inviting. For about $2 a taco, it's worth it.

Three times now to see if I can figure out what everyone loves. Not the prices for sure! It is incredibly overpriced, regardless of the large salsa bar. They explain that the food is not seasoned as you are supposed to do it yourself with the salsa bar. I'd rather have seasoned well cooked food with a bottle of Mexican hot sauce than bland, tough meat and then be expected to flavor it myself.

I will admit the beer was the coldest beer I have ever had in a restaurant. That is a perk. The little paper plate with twelve chips on it that you once again are expected to go up to the salsa bar is weird. Where are you even supposed to put the salsa until you have eaten half the chips?

I've tried to like this place but the food at the other two places just seconds away is much better. Someone mentioned seeing Mexicans eating in Dona Cata and assumed it must be good. In the other two restaurants all there are are Latin Americans eating there. And the food is cooked the way is should be with pork lard and seasoning and yumminess.

after long time, my friends and i back to dona cata, because we hear about breakfast and we went there, they made it a little renovations we found they place very clean ,vibrant and the waitress with a nice mexican dresses (all of them) and we felt in mexico instantantly....!!! the menu has a traditional starts like huevos rancheros, and combinations, like enfrijoladas, enchiladas enmoladas with beans , cream tortillas and chesse plus croissant, cofee or juice... i ordered huevos divorciados with two salsas green and red over three corn tortillas and was very very taste!!!!!!!! i noticed they change the menus between morning- dinner that means you have an option to back again and again........ like us busy moms with a free morning day...........

recently arrived to vancouver, and was a surprised tome found dona cata because the food is exactly the same as mexico any difference, the most important to me is that the dishes, the salsas and the mexican service is great, like the pozole is very good, t=my favorite tacos are carnitas and lamb with the horchata is a good combination a little bite sweet but ok, if you are not mexican and wanna find mexican this is the real place dont expect, texmex like chunky salsas, fish taco, or fajitas because you will be disapointent, but expect classic, typical, clean, and good food...!!!! i dont miss my mom now....yeah..!!!!!

I really didn't know what I wanted for dinner so after some agonizing decision making the gf and I decided to stay close by and headed here. I've been pretty disappointed by the availability of authentic sytle Mexican food in town and how terrible the "tex-mex for locals" variety have been so I made sure I came in here with no expections. Totally unfounded.

It wasn't busy so we were seated immediately after being greeted (which turned out to be one of the owners). We were immediately served complimentary tortilla chips in a small, plain disposable paper plate while we decided what to get. Too hard to choose since everything looked fantastic. Finally, the girlfriend chose the Mole entree while I ordered the Sarape. A brief wait and we were already eating. Our warm tortillas that came with our meals were served in a wicker basket, a nice touch. My Sarape was a mix of cheese, green peppers, onions and longaniza sausage, among other ingredients. Absolutely delicious. Great blend of flavours and with a tiny hint of spiciness. My gf's entree was also good, with the mole sauce hinting us with its chocolate undertones. The tortilla chips looked homemade since many pieces appeared oil soaked; they probably make them in batches. Portions are deceiving, and fill you up a lot faster than you think.

Service wasn't a sore point but it's not delivered like our western influcenced counterparts. The staff are very friendly (I noticed them explaining some of the menu choices to a few tables) but they didn't follow up with our meal until they cleared our plates - didn't bother me, though just so you know. Other than that tiny oversight, the service would parallel a typical restaurant with good service.

The restaurant is dressed up similarly like their food, with homemade touches all around, including the wall with all the framed media clippings of the restaurant, the colourful art paper cutouts hanging across the ceiling, a Mama Cata dedication on the long wall and a salsa/condiment bar on the mirroring wall. I will also state that the restaurant was amazingly clean, especially the floor tiles.

Clearly, the food they serve here is priority, made and presented in a simple manner. Think comfort food. Everything else from the service to the decor are executed without the forced tawdry seen elsewhere.

The food isn't by any means elegant, just good, no frills, tasty homestyle Mexican grub. Will return. Highly recommended.

Went there one tired, Saturday evening. The place cheered me up as it was lively, colorful, and fun. It had a nice family atmosphere-feel to it. I ordered take out. They gave me some really tasty and fresh and warm Tacos and you get to choose from many different kinds of salsas and different levels of spiciness too...the pork taco was the best. I'll be back for that.

It's a good sign when many clientele are Mexican (or south American, sorry i can't be sure), and many Mexican friends rave about this place. So I thought i'd try it: it's definitely run by a family, and the food is home-style mexican food.

At first it might seem a bit pricier than your "American-Mexican" food, but the portions are very filling, and you'll discover that there subtleties to Mexican cooking. All these years of eating instant-tacos I think have destroyed our taste buds for real Mexican cooking.

The service was friendly, but above all the food was authentic, i'd definitely recommend the steak that goes in a pita, for 11$ I think it was, it was a delicious meal.

Last year I visited Tijuana, Mexico and tried some real tacos along the way to Ensenada City. So one day my uncle told me there was a very good taqueria in Vancouver, and that is how we went for tacos at Doña Cata.
The tacos are very affordable. The tacos “al pastor” are my favourites. However, when it comes to the sauces, Doña Cata fell short. How come they don’t have mashed avocado. At least they should have it as an option even if they charge 50cents for a couple of slices. Next time, I will bring my own.

The service is very prompt, but seating is not as good. Just a few tables in the restaurant.
Overall Doña Cata gives you a lot of bang for your money with 5 tacos is more than enough to make you satisfied.

Thanks to Dinehere, we have discovered where the authentic Mexican food has been hiding -- in East Vancouver! This place has tacos, alambras (sort of like a mixed meat, vegetable, cheese stir fry with tortillas to scoop it up), tortas, even pozole and cactus. Everythign is authentic -- sometimes a bit too authentic, as I found a gross chunk of fatty pork skin in my carnitas taco. Service is somewhat inefficient but friendly, you do have to ask for stuff more than once sometimes. Not exactly a five star setup, you get a handful of tortilla chips on a small styrofoam plate when you arrive, there are no little cups to fill with salsas, the bathroom is clean but strangely arranged, etc. For me, it's exactly the kind of cheap authentic Mexican I have been hankering for, and I will be going back for more soon I hope.

Went here expecting to be dazzled with the 10 different salsas based on Grandma's recipes. There were 10 empty bowls that stayed empty for the whole hour we were eating. Only when we were finished dinner did ANY salsa come out.
We were the only gringos there and it seemed that the other patrons not only got better service (were offered beer while we weren't asked what we'd like to drink) BUT they got salsa!
The food was decent, the meat in the tacos a bit gristled.
The food only rated a 6 on my gastronomic scale of goodness.
Better go to the El Caracolita a couple of blocks north. Still cafeteria like atmosphere but the Chile Relleno was a 10.