Ristorante Casanova — Restaurant in El Paso

What started off as a rocky start to our night was made extra special by the staff at Casanova. I bought tickets to attend the Downtown Tasting Tour: Bites of Fright on October 23, or at least I thought I had. When we got to the first restaurant to check in, they could not find our name on the list. I'm not sure what happened but my registration had not been completed. We were meeting my sister and brother in law and my kids. We ordered a small appetizer at the first restaurant and decided we would just follow the group to each restaurant and order a small appetizer and drink at each location. But when we got to the 2nd location we were informed the restaurant was closed to the public, they were only accommodating the tour ticket holders. They allowed us to sit at the table, but they did not serve us, which we completely understood. We quickly realized this was the case for most of the restaurants on the tour. When we got to Casanova we found they did have half the restaurant open for the public. We decided we'd order some cocktails and leave our family and the tour group. When our waitress, Aida, asked if we wanted to order more than cocktails, we explained the mishap with the tour and that we were just still trying to spend time with our family and that we were just going to head home.

Soon after our drinks arrived the manager came out with plates of the same sample they were giving to the Bites of Fright taste tour patrons. They insisted we sample too. Then the manager informed us they also put in an order for us for a large pepperoni pizza. We insisted that was not necessary, but they insisted we enjoy our night too! The sample for the bites tour was a delicious lobster stuffed ravioli, the creamy pesto sauce was AMAZING! We licked the plates clean. When we said how delicious it was, the manager went and got the Chef to visit our table. My daughter is in the Culinary program at Riverside and plans to pursue her degree in Nutritional Science, but can be quite a finicky eater. The Chef took the time to talk to her about seasoning things to perfection, that's what culinary is, making food savory and enjoyable. We were just blown away by the amazing generosity and welcoming we got from the entire staff!! We are already planning an evening of dinner and drinks with our friends...

I hate posting negative reviews but I feel like I need to share my experience at this restaurant. My husband took me here for Mother’s Day yesterday because I had been wanting to try it out for a while now. When we got seated the table was dirty with crumbs all over it. Our waitress was a sweet girl but she knew nothing about the menu which was a very short and simple menu. We started with a bowl of their seasonal soup which was very very good. However we never received silverware or napkins which was frustrating. I ordered the pollo parmigiana which was supposed to come with spinach ravioli. My husband ordered the shrimp nd pasta dish. When my meal came out it was served with spaghetti noodles. The waitress told me they had ran out of the spinach ravioli which would have been nice to know before they served my plate given I probably would’ve ordered something else if I knew that was the case. My chicken was also cold and dry like it has been sitting for a while in the kitchen. The waitress apologized about not mentioning to me that they were out of the ravioli. She then offered to substitute it for something else and when I asked what else they have she said she didn’t know lol. What really pushed things over the edge was my husbands dish. It was topped with three large shrimp for the protein with a very small amount of pasta under it. The pasta was yummy but the shrimp were completely undercooked. Basically raw. He couldn’t even pull the meat out of the outer shell because of how raw and tough it was. A gentleman came to our table who I assume was the manager (but he didn’t introduce himself). I explained to him how let down we were with everything that was wrong and he did apologize but did not really offer any resolutions. We ended up returning our plates and left after having only eaten the soup we started with. It was very disappointing. I feel like this restaurant definitely has potential but o think they do need someone in leadership who is a bit older and more mature. The entire staff was very young and knew almost nothing about the menu and options which was strange to me. Sad to say we will not...

A group of friends and I went for the New Year’s Eve dinner which was $65. We all ordered the green chile soup and 2/5 of the bowls were cold. I asked if they could reheat them in the microwave for like 30 seconds but our server said he would bring us new ones. They came back luke warm. We accidentally received the caprese “salad” and it was two skewers with two mozzarella balls, 2 sun dried tomatoes, 3 olives and 2 pieces of spinach with pesto. It was just an extremely small appetizer. My friend also ordered the mushroom risotto and I can’t really comment on this because I don’t think I like risotto after tasting these. He did say it was over done in some spots and cooked in others.

All of my friends got the spare ribs and each was cooked differently from medium well to extremely well done. The risotto tasted kind of earthy and was not good. I ordered the sea bass and it was absolutely delicious. Crispy on one side, perfectly cooked and seasoned well. The veggies on my plate were tasty and fresh too, besides the artichoke which was not cleaned properly. The desert was a simple chocolate mouse, nothing too crazy. I do not understand why they garnished with micro greens but, no big deal lol.

Now, when our checks came, we were separate. Two on one check, and then the three of us on our own checks. The server charged my check to the couples card, and when I asked for a manager from another server he came back and said he was the supervisor for the night. I just let him know about the checks which he fixed immediately and also about how the food was just not worth what we paid and I just wanted to give feedback. He was super nice and offered us a bottle of champagne which was awesome.

Overall, the service was good outside of the card slip up, we really appreciated the champagne, however, the food was not good. So personally I would not dine here again. We all said we wished we would have went to a different restaurant for our nice New...