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.
WOW REALLY? I HAD TOTALLY THE OPPOSITE EXPERIENCE AT THE OXFORD LOCATION.THE FOOD WAS AMAZING, THE MARGARITAS AND DAIQUIRIS WERE AWESOME AND THE SALSA DANCING WAS FABULOUS. COME CHECK IT OUT IF YOU ARE EVER IN THIS AREA.
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