Casa Tua Canggu — Restaurant in Bali

Was really excited to visit this place after reading the reviews. The whole dinner experience were like roller coaster - We were welcomed and seated at the outdoor area - can be pretty dark for dinner. We were served for starters - grilled prawn which i find the seasoning could be improved and to our surprise, the prawn was partially raw (i alr ate one and found it a bit weird but couldn’t picked up it was raw because of the dim environment). We quickly informed the waitress and she nicely apologised and brought both plates (we ordered 2 servings) back in.

While waiting, the dragonflies went rampant and were flying around our tables and into our drinks. We quickly asked to be seated inside.

Here’s the “angry story”- After 10min or so, 1 plate of replacement grilled prawn were served by another waiter. (Each plate has 3 pieces). We thought the kitchen missed the order and we informed the lady waitress who was serving us earlier. Since only 1 plate was served, we asked her to cancel 1 order. She claimed that we already ate 3 pieces of prawn so they brought only 1 plate. At this point, i find it quite ridiculous because the prawn were raw and she counted it towards food ate? I explained that it was raw and we had to send it back for replacement. She started counting my husband ate 2 pieces and i ate 1 piece so it should be counted as a plate. She started questioning how many pieces we ate. We ate 1 partially raw prawn each. Our mood was quite dampened then already… wish the dinner can just end.

At this point, another waitress, Ita, was assigned to serve us. She was great throughout. We were served steamed bamboo prawn n tanghoon. I enjoyed the taste of tanghoon and egg. Was quite comforting! Our mains were beef rendang (was average and could do with more sauce) and steamed fish in bamboo - this was great!!! Love the sour and spicy tangy flavour of the sauce. Highly...

If I could give this place 100 stars, I would do it 100 times over. I’m very picky when it comes to food and this is one of the best places I have ever had the privilege of eating at in my entire life. Yes…in my 43 years of walking on this planet, Casa Tua is one of the best places I have ever eaten at. It was so good, I literally came here every day. Yes I tried other places, but this place ranked #1 for me. The food is outstanding. The service is exceptional. The place itself is warm, welcoming, and has this incredible vibe to it. It has this living room/library/study kind of decor that truly makes this place feel like home. From the moment you walk in, you are greeted with the traditional Balinese smile that’s worth millions. Aside from the food, the entire staff is what makes this place so special. From the cooks and dishwashers in the back, to the servers and hostess, this is an amazing group of human beings that work here.

I also have to give a special acknowledgement to the manager. Every day that I was here I watched how he works, and how involved he was with everyone on the floor including the guests. He IS the model example of what a good manager should be. I have nearly 20 years experience in management and in the hospitality industry in NYC, and he is the definition of an outstanding manager. Exceptional is the word that comes to mind. Please consider giving him a raise - he very well has earned it and deserves it.

I will miss this place when I head back to NYC, but will always have Casa Tua and it’s staff locked in my heart and memory forever. NYC restaurants could learn several things from the people that work here by the way.

Thank you for making my time in Bali memorable. My heart, soul, and stomach...

Hmm not my fav Indo restaurant I’ve been to. Food were dry and minimal sharing options. We thought the ayam satay was going to be for sharing but it came with rice like a main, so we literally ended up ordering 4 mains for 2 of us.

Even so, the food was underwhelming and dry. Tuna pepes was not bad flavour wise but dry, chicken satay was also ok flavour, the sauce was nice but even with the sauce its dry n tough, nasi goreng was pretty plain and could mostly taste the frozen mixed veg, fish satay that came with the fried rice was also dry and not super flavourful and the singular prawn in the fried rice tasted not fresh, was abit slimey. The laksa was alright, closer to the Penang assam laksa from Malaysia, but chicken in it was tough too. The cocktail was good (I ordered it bc most of the cocktails all had grapefruit and some other ingredients which I did not like). Overall the food was not great.

One thing to note is that my partner almost bit into a METAL WIRE in her food 😭😭 hair we can excuse cuz everyone has hair it might get in the food whatever but a metal wire?? 😭😭 plus, the restaurant was VERY DARK, if we hadn’t put our phone up as a lamp she probably would not have seen it and ended up hurting herself.

Also, the restaurant was very very warm with hardly any fans, my partner had to go out to buy me a hair tie because I couldn’t take the heat. We were both dripping in sweat that almost got in our food… lol

The service was good and the bunnies were the star of the show. But maybe just pop by for a drink and say hi to bunnies because we really didn’t love the food all that much. Wasn’t a very pleasant birthday dinner for me...