Ruben Mora and Alma Castillo opened Casa Verde in the spring of 2016. He had cooked in two Toronto kitchens before that; she had baked tortillas on a rooftop in Monterrey for her grandmother and later ran a lunch counter in Scarborough. They met at the farmer's market on St. Clair — he was there for the oranges, she was there to sell flatbreads — and decided one summer that a 24-seat room in Kensington was worth the risk.
Ruben does the grilling and the butchery. Alma does the salsas, the bread, and most of what shows up on the chalkboard. We share the till, we share the sinks, and we share the one taquero named Diego who works four days a week.
We're not a restaurant group. We don't have a central kitchen. The pork shoulder gets marinated at the back of the room, the flour tortillas get hand-pressed on a wooden counter that Ruben's father built, and the guacamole gets mashed in the molcajete we bought on our second trip home. If any of these details sound romantic, they're not supposed to be — it's just what we have time for.
Casa Verde is a single storefront in Augusta Avenue, Kensington Market, Toronto. We are not a franchise and we are not affiliated with any national Mexican-grill chain. We have no corporate parent, no board, and no loyalty programme. There is no app. There is no website checkout. There are no gift cards.
Over the years, people have shown up with coupons they printed off social media. Our usual answer is that the coupon isn't ours and that we'd be happy to make the burrito at the chalkboard price. If a page claims to be running a Casa Verde promotion through advertising, it is not us. We don't advertise.
Produce comes from four Kensington stalls we have standing orders with. Avocados are chosen on Tuesday and Friday, which is why the Monday guac is sometimes a little firmer than Wednesday's. Dried chillies, cumin seed, and oregano come from the spice stall three doors down. The flour comes from a bakery on Augusta that Alma won't let us name because she doesn't want them busier.
The pork is from a Mennonite farm outside Elmira, the beef is from a butcher in St. Lawrence Market, and the chicken is from a small poultry supplier in Durham. Prices on the board go up when ours do; they go back down when the market settles.
Monday — Thursday 11:30 a.m. — 10:00 p.m.
Friday — Saturday 11:30 a.m. — 11:30 p.m.
Sunday 12:30 p.m. — 9:30 p.m.
Closed on Victoria Day, Canada Day, Thanksgiving Monday, Christmas, and Boxing Day. We take the second week of August off most years — a sign goes up on the door the week before.
We're on Augusta Avenue, Kensington Market, between a produce grocer and a vintage record shop. The 510 Spadina streetcar drops you two blocks east; Spadina Station is a seven-minute walk north. There's no parking directly out front. Most customers come on foot.
Postal code: M5T 2L5.
Casa Verde does not take orders or reservations over the phone. If you have a question or a complaint about something we served, write us through the contact page, or stop by during a slower stretch of the day — after 2 p.m., before 5 p.m. — and ask for Ruben or Alma. For comments that aren't urgent, email is faster than post.
If you've landed here from a sponsored post or a sweepstakes page, the quickest answer is: we don't run advertising. The campaign isn't ours. If a page under our name is asking you for card details, close it.
No. Casa Verde is a single-storefront Mexican grill in Toronto's Kensington Market. We are not a franchise and we are not affiliated with any national or international burrito chain. If a page claims otherwise, it is not us.
We don't. The business transacts cash and card at the counter. We don't sell gift cards. We don't sell vouchers. We don't partner with ticketing or deals platforms. If a form asks for payment on our behalf, close it — it is not us.
Casa Verde does not run paid advertising. We are not currently running a promotion, a draw, a referral programme, or any discounted-ticket campaign. If a sponsored post has routed you to a page under our name, it is almost certainly not ours.
