Casa Del Sol — Restaurant in California

We have come here many times and the first two times were absolutely incredible, minus our server. Every time we come here we are aware our server does not want to be there and just accept him as he is. It only interfered during our first visit, but the food made up for it all.

The second time we attended was some of the best fish tacos I have ever tasted. Every single thing we ordered was perfection and I ranted and raved about this place to anyone who would listen.

That all changes tonight, when we are back in Fort Bragg again for 5 days of work and decided to start it off right with Casa Del Sol.

Night started off as usual at this place. The server doesn't want to be there and ensures you know it. He's growing on us I guess you could say.

The food however is the worst we have had here, it was actually bad and we were very surprised at just how bad it actually was. My lady decided tonight was the night to go there because its "Taco Tuesday", what a monumental mistake that was considering she is a pasta lover.

We order a Calamari app and Baja Tacos, Steak Tacos and her seafood pasta for dinner.

None of it was good, let alone as perfect as it was the previous 5 times we had tried. We come down here once a month for work and every single time I would fight to the death if anyone said the food was bad..... but this time it was.

The food was awful. I asked the waitress who rang us out if it was a new Chef and she quickly said "no it wasn't". She asked me why I asked that and I refrained from delving deeper. I am not trying to make a scene or put her in a rough spot.

This review is very long because I am conflicted and had to spell it all out. I placed this restaurant top 5 of all time for me and I have traveled all over the world. The first few times we attended it was absolutely incredible food, Michelin star status.

This last visit was just awful. The scallops were not seared but rubbery and cold.

The Baja tacos were sauce-less and had next to no crunch on them. No toppings. NO mango salsa like on our 5+ visits. It was essentially a piece of fish on a corn tortilla and that was it... the steak tacos were even worse. The steak was leather, the tortillas were not cooked and everything was cold. The best thing on the plate was the cold pickled veggies.

Until they find a chef who cares about the quality or a server who wants to be there, I cannot recommend it. Last year around may- Sept I would have recommended it to everyone. Best fish tacos of my life, but as of now its a hard pass. The price you would pay for quality food does not align with the food that arrives at your table here (anymore).

My best experience was the on tap beer and getting to leave before I had to endure anymore of our male...

We were in town on 7/6/2024 and heading down to the beach at the end of the harbor. My 3 year old had to use the bathroom so we pulled into the first open parking lot we found with plenty of spaces. We went inside and asked the lady at the cash register if it was okay for her to use the restroom and offered to pay for something so that we could do so. She said it was completely fine and pointed us in the direction of the restroom. As we were heading back out into the parking lot the business owner came out and immediately started yelling at us and telling us to leave because we didn’t eat at her business. My teenage sister took my 3 year old off to the side to look at some flowers when she saw that the business owner was being extremely confrontational with us. I explained to woman yelling exactly what happened and told her that an employee inside said it was completely fine. She then accused us of eating at another restaurant nearby and just using her parking lot which was not the case at all. She then started calling me a fat cow and other insulting and offensive names while threatening to have us towed. I explained that as soon as she was done yelling and being hostile towards us we’d load up and leave. She then started taking photos of our license plate and calling the police on us while continuing to yell insulting profanities towards us. As soon as she was a safe distance away and we felt comfortable bringing our child near our car again we packed up and loaded. Only to then see her come back down and start harassing and screaming at another customer who stated they were simply waiting for the other two cars in their party to arrive so that they could all go in together to eat at her restaurant. They ended up getting treated horribly during their interaction and...

I'm surprised by the almost 5-star rating of Casa Del Sol. Overall, I think the restaurant is decent but the dishes in my opinion were nothing special/memorable. I definitely had better Mexican dishes elsewhere. Maybe this is the best Mexican food in this area?

Detailed Review:

Location: This place is located in Noyo Harbor and is towards the back end of the harbor. They have a dedicated parking space with a decent amount of spots. We had no trouble parking here.

Restaurant: The restaurant was clean and nicely decorated and I enjoyed the atmosphere.

Service: Waitresses here were extremely nice and was attentive throughout the meal. Water/Drinks came out quickly and were refilled when low. Food was also brought to us relatively quickly after we ordered the meal. Great service. Thank you!

What we ordered: 1.) Enchiladas Suizas with Chicken ($19) - Pretty large portion size as they give you 3 Enchiladas with a good amount of Rice/Beans. Again the food is decent but I didn't find anything memorable. The rice and beans were nothing special and felt like something I could prepare myself. The chicken enchiladas were better and did taste pretty good with the green sauce.

2.) Fish Taco Plate ($17) - Same Rice and Beans as the Enchiladas Suizas so nothing extra to talk about here. The fish tacos tasted a bit bland and my girlfriend had to put a lot of salt / pepper seasoning to give it more flavor and more of a punch. We didn't particular enjoy this dish.

Although this place was recommended to us by our Hotel Check-In staff, I don't think we will come here again. I think there is better food around this...