Review - Casa Real (Oxford and Flint, MI)

A new restaurant, Casa Real (billed as having "Authentic Mexican Cuisine"), opened in Flint not too long ago. It is in a prominent location, and the parking lot looked pretty crowded, so I decided to drop in for dinner.

When I walked in it looked like a cliche. The walls were painted in this wannabe adobe finish, and all kinds of other gaudy decorations filled the room. Usually a good restaurant will smell heavenly when you walk in, but not Casa Real. It had a very faint smell of tortillas, but not the usual appetite inducing, mouthwatering aromas. There was a wait for a table, but there were seats at the bar so I decided to have my dinner there.

The menu is extensive, with just about any Mexican dish you could want. Since I wanted to try a variety of things I ordered the "Casa Real Specialty (serves 2)" which consisted of 1 Ground Beef Tostada, one ground beef hard taco, one ground beef enchilada, one pork tamale (which I exchanged for another taco), one chicken burrito, one chile relleno, with rice and beans. While I waited for my food, I snacked on the complementary chips and salsa. The salsa is very good, but the chips taste like they came out of a bag. When the food arrived it was hot and looked incredible, but didn't smell like anything. I took a bite of a taco and the texture of the tortilla was very much like a shell from Old El Paso, but at least Old El Paso has flavor. Out of everything I ordered NOTHING tasted like much. The chile relleno had a flavor; it was nasty! It was nothing more than a mouthful of mush with a chili pepper in the middle. The outer layer of the pepper had some sort of crust on it, but it wasn't thick enough, or fried long enough or something. The rice was nothing more than white rice with some tomato paste to turn it a faint pink, not the rich orange-red that Spanish rice should have. It too was flavorless.

Desperately searching for flavor I ordered the Pastel de Tres Leches (Three Milk Cake). This was served ice cold, and hard as a brick. The cake itself had the texture of a dense cornbread, but the milks did soften it a little, very little. I wouldn't have minded this so much if the cake had been warmed just a little. It felt like they took it straight out of the refrigerator, plopped it on a plate, threw some chocolate sauce and whipped cream on it and sent it out.

Overall this was a disappointing experience. I don't think I'll be returning to Casa Real, nor would I recommend it.

Review - Chili's (Nationwide)

Friday I went to a late yoga class with a girl friend, and after I was STARVING (since I hadn't eaten since the disastrous McRib lunch that afternoon and it was now almost 10pm). Since it was late and so many places close their kitchens at 10, we decided to go to Chili's.

I like Chili's for the most part. My only real complaint is the service. I usually end up with the worst servers at Chili's, but this time it wasn't so bad. She did ask to take our order, then wandered off to take care of another table, but that was really the worst thing she did.

As usual I ordered the Chicken Crispers! YUM! I love these things! Maybe it's a blessing that Chili's usually has terrible servers. They act as a deterrent to keep me from eating these things all the time and weighing 500 lbs! I have no idea what they put in the batter that makes them light and fluffy while maintaining crisp chewiness (maybe it's faerie dust, because it's something supernaturally good) but if I ever figure it out, I'm in trouble! I have tried on many occasions to duplicate this batter, but it always ends in disaster. The crispers came with corn and fries, and I always substitute barbecue sauce for the honey mustard. The corn and the fries were good too, but the chicken is the star! My friend ordered her favorite Chicken Tortilla soup, and some chips and queso. She loves the Chicken Tortilla Soup, so there was little talking from her side of the table when that arrived. We shared the queso, and it was ok. Just ok.

I also ordered a coffee with Kahlua and Bailey's. Most places either put too much alcohol (is there such a thing? lol) or too little. Chili's got it right, and they don't even serve coffee drinks on a regular basis. We had to ask for water specifically, which annoyed me. We are having hot food and hot coffee, if I burn my mouth on the extremely hot chicken, what am I suppose to do? Stick my tongue on the window? Grrr!

Overall the food was great, the service was mediocre, and the prices were reasonable. Chili's has such a diverse menu, there's something for everyone, even the pickiest eaters!