La Casita — Restaurant in Brunswick Heads

A big Meh to this place. We had a large group ( 2 tables of 7) so we chose the banquet. There were some highlights, but overall very dull.

The starter was corn chips and salsa. The salsa could be readily copied by simply blitzing a tomoto and putting it into a bowl. Freshness and simplicity have a place, but this was far too simple and tasteless.

The second appetiser was a small bowl of fermented vegetables to share. They may well be good for your digestion, and also unusual, but unfortunately they tasted very ordinary. Most of them went back to the kitchen.

The third course was a mound of corn on a plate. Perhaps it had a little salsa stirred through it, but apart from a dollop of sour cream on the top it was really just corn. We weren’t sure if it was a side dish to go with another meal, but eventually the waitress told us no, it was a course in itself. So we each shovelled down a few mouthfuls of corn - as a side it might have been ok but very odd to serve as a course by itself.

Then came a trio of tacos - small palm- sized soft tacos. The first was fish - a nice sliver of white fish with coriander and I think some salad. Simple but nice. The second taco was by far the best dish of the night - delicious slow cooked lamb. If you do go to this restaurant then I’d suggest you go for this.

However the next one was a disaster. I could best describe it as ham, pea and bean stew - a sloppy mix that we spooned onto the tacos ourself. Dull, far too wet, and simply not nice on a taco.

Finally we received a slice of lemon cake. It was quite nice, but we only got three standard slices for the whole table to share, so it didn’t stretch very far.

The whole meal did not contain any chilli! At a Mexican! I know that we don’t need to stick with cliches in cooking, but nor did we get any dishes with chicken, beef, avocado or red beans. No char-grilling, nothing with any discernible exotic spices. And I repeat: Nothing had chilli!

If you’d got this fare for $20 at a shopping centre food court you’d probably be reasonably satisfied with your lunch. But to be served this menu at an established restaurant for dinner was disappointing.

We each had one cocktail and a beer or wine. My beer was $12 per 330 ml can, so none of it was cheap. The total bill for the food and 2 drinks came to $630 - exactly $90 each.

In comparison, the previous night the 7 of us bought gourmet burgers, a couple of beers each, and sat by the river. Total bill: about $100. This was $630. I realise they have rent and staff to pay, but I know where I’ll be...

La Casita is so good. Our experience in Brunswick this evening was perfect from the moment we arrived. Service was breezy and friendly, the courtyard was cool with nicely spaced seating and the menu had the perfect amount of options to get us excited.

The meal started with the oyster ceviche, a nice variation on the usual fish/prawn/scallop numbers we're more accustomed to; it was nicely acidic with a touch of bittersweet, the creaminess of the oysters worked really well in bringing all the flavours together, I'd have liked an element that brought a bit of crunch to the dish but it was delicious. A Tommy's Margarita was our opener from the bar, stiff and maybe a bit bitter but so good paired with our next snack. Our next starter, their "jalapeño popper", was a flavour bomb! Locally produced, perfectly ripe, spicy jalapeños stuffed with the juiciest sausagey mincemeat and soft white cheese... the peppers were roasted, served sweating out their hot tasty juices that were greedily slurped up off the plate!

On to the tacos. The tortillas at La Casita are perfect. Slightly warmed, fresh corn tortillas that leave your fingers perfumed with the sweetness of the bashed and blitzed corn. Perfect thickness, a trusty vessel for the delicious fillings loaded up on them. We chose fish, lamb & pork. The fish, grilled snapper, was cooked evenly so the fish was tender but firm and joined on the tortilla by an avocado salsa and a light sour cream. We dripped the house salsa verde all over these and the result was epic. The next taco was a sexy succulent hunk of lamb cooked under hot coals, dripping with flavour served with a small bowl of it's juices in the side. This was my favourite. So much taste... The Astrid Mexican Lager from Yulli's is a great foil for any dish on the menu too.

I felt like writing a respectfully detailed account of our night at La Casita as further thanks to Astrid (whom we'd never met before) and her team for making our night. We really enjoyed everything about the meal; relaxed vibes, delicious food, importance of ingredient, good drinks, genuine hospitality... I look forward to returning for more...

Update! My partner and I came here for three nights in a row and it was divine!! Night one - dine in via reservation Night two - takeaway Night three - dine in via reservation

Service = impeccable Friendly and welcoming staff = impeccable Atmosphere = impeccable Food = impeccable, particularly the barbacca de cordero (my partner wanted to order as many more tacos he could to have eaten a whole lamb) and pastel de tres leches (without a doubt to die for, wedding cake worthy and we will be ordering more for dessert tonight)!

Night one: For drinks, we ordered the Spangled Drongo Pale Ale (which saves 1sqm of rainforest to protect Australian Wildlife) and corncob lemonade. For food, we ordered antonitos - guacamole con totopos, vegetarian esquites, jalapeños rellenos (as mentioned it’s roulette as to whether you end up with a really hot jalapeño and we were pleasantly surprised with a very hot one), tacos - papas en recado, coliflor, taquitos de pollo, barbacca de cordero and dulce - pastel de tres leches.

Night two: Takeaway - dulce - pastel de tres leches.

Night three: Just as we had previously experienced, our experience was amazing!! For drinks, we ordered spangled drongo pale ale, tepache toreador and charred pineapple. For food, we ordered Antonio’s - guacamole con totopos, guarnicion - frijoles, tacos - papas en recado, barbacoa de cordero, taquitos de pollo, carnitas and dulce - pastel de tres leches!!

All of which we were very happy with including the staff and atmosphere! We’d highly recommend coming here whether it’s to dine in or takeaway and we will be more than happy to keep coming back! There were some outstanding dishes but also just amazing food and...