Casa Romero — Restaurant in Boston

Every time I’m in Boston, I make sure to get a meal at Casa Romero. I’ve probably been there 20 times at this point. I have always advocated for it in the past, but after my experience tonight, it’s apparent that they’ve made some negative changes.

I ordered to-go tonight for the first time. I wanted to place my order over the phone because I had some questions about the menu. My first try, I was connected with an AI robot which completely wasted my time. Second try, I got someone who was very nice and answered all my questions about the menu, but told me that unfortunately I couldn’t order over the phone, so I had to use the app ToastTab. Of course, that means that I have to give them my email, name, and phone number. I can understand the incentives for Casa Romero to have a contract like that, but it creates a terrible user experience. I had to type in my credit card three times because of bad UX on the app, not to mention the negative UX of using an app in the first place. I have older family members who wouldn’t be able to navigate the app, and therefore they cannot order from this restaurant. That is not a decision that sits well with me.

What’s worse is that you are not allowed to make any modifications to the menu items. The nice woman on the phone said that about a month ago they implemented this rule, so whatever the menu says is what you get. I used to love getting enchiladas with one mole and one verde, but that’s no longer an option. She even specified that this wouldn't even work if I were eating in. There was also no option to choose between flour or corn for a tortilla, so everyone had to get flour.

I’m not going to take this TOO much into consideration, because it tends to happen with to-go orders, but we also ended up missing a decent amount of items. The fajitas were missing pico de gallo (which was clearly specified in the menu) and we were missing the chips from our chips / salsa / guac order. The woman on the phone was kind enough to refund this portion of the order when I called back.

My enchiladas were as great as I remember, but my family had mixed reviews. I heard that the fajita sauce was too thick; they said it seemed like there was a thickening agent in it (maybe flour). On a more positive note, someone said that they gave plenty of shrimp with the fajitas and that it tasted quite good. Unfortunately, someone else said “My food was not great. Very disappointed with Cafe Romero. Always had great meals from there.”

Up to now, I’ve always been pleased with Casa Romero, so I’ll take that into account. However, with these new changes and the aforementioned issues, I find it really difficult to justify spending so much money for this experience. Perhaps ordering-in...

I dined here with a group of 6 and we had an overall poor experience - in part, that was due to a private event at 8:30PM vs. our 7PM reservation. They contacted us multiple times throughout the day to make sure we'd show up, then persisted about punctuality as we arrived on time only to explain in the moment that there was a 8:30 reservation, and rushed us to get drinks, order, and get the check. If they're going to have a private event and then treat customers like an inconvenience for dining 1.5 hours prior to the event, then don't take reservations at that time?? We were out the door exactly 60 minutes after being seated.

Other examples of a negative experience: Our server basically ordered us 2 chips & guac ($15 each) without even letting us settle or look at the menu. The only way to have stopped him/slowed down was to be rude to him. One person ordered a chicken quesadilla and received a steak quesadilla, but given the experience, didn't care enough to request sending it back. Near the end of the meal the server said to her "how'd you like the steak? I know you ordered chicken and I saw it was steak when it was dropped off, but I thought you'd like the steak more"...... what Most of our food arrived room temp, including fajitas that one would expect to be sizzling The server gave us our check and told us gratuity was included for parties of 5 or more, which isn't all that uncommon. But it was icing on the cake to not even be able to control what we tip for the service/experience we received. For atmosphere: it was very loud and tough to hear conversation across the table. The restaurant was very crowded and tables were close together with our chairs being bumped multiple times by servers trying to walk between tables. You're also in a basement so it all felt a bit claustrophobic.

The food/drinks were very overpriced as well. The margaritas were fine and any cocktail was $20. The plates were overpriced for small portions & average-to-good quality (3 tacos with a small side of rice and beans for $22-$26?!) Most other plates were $30

Soooo overall, our experience was impacted by the private event so we're in the minority, but there are also plenty of other places to go for dinner...

I was staying at the Charlesmark Hotel for a business trip and decided to look up Mexican restaurants in the area, and had two, really close by and decided to go to Casa Romero. Unfortunately my experience wasn't satisfying and inexcusable. To begin, we walked by the restaurant because it states on the internet it's located on Gloucester and does not specify "Alley". So, we were finally able to find the entrance of the restaurant and decided to try out the cuisine. The Hostess was a sweet heart. After we were sat a couple of minutes later our server came to our table and asked if we wanted something to drink and went on to get the beverages, dropped them off. Although afterwards not once did he come back to ask how the drinks were. Our waiter came back to give us our appetizer and ask if we were ready to order. In which we were, I order Enchiladas Mole Poblano and my peer the Enchiladas Verdes, the mole poblano was too sweet and I felt like eating dessert instead of a good cooked meal, my peer whom was Mexican tried my dish and stated they over did it with the chocolate. But once again my waiter was no where to be found. By then I was done with the margarita I ordered which was more a sour mix drink than a true margarita, and my peers drink was finished during the appetizer and was never asked if he would like another. Awful experience! So, we were done eating for over 5 to 10 minutes I asked the Hostess if I could speak to the Manager, and for our surprise the bad Server was actually the Assistant Manager. I have worked in the Food/Beverage/Hospitality industry over 15 years and never in my life I was so badly serviced and felt the disorganization of a company. When you work in a restaurant, you are a team. You work together to make sure everyone is satisfied as much as possible, but at Casa Romero, I felt mistreated, and my experience was astonishingly devastating and I definitely do not recommend this place. And the restaurant was not busy, had 3 four tops, 1 six top and maybe 4 two tops available in the back room. Not acceptable for a place that is not even slammed. I love Mexican cuisine, and have worked in many Mexican restaurants, to go in one and have this horrific...