La Casita De Martin — Restaurant in Grove

I do not understand how this has so high of reviews. This place was the better of the mexican restaraunts in Grove, however the service is garbage. We have been here twice and will likely never return. First time we were late and chalked the experience up to the kitchen being almost closed and most staff wanting to go home, we were wrong. Second time we arrived it was a Friday evening and as expected had to wait. This typically isn't an issue except it took 15 minutes for a hostess to greet us and take our names down on a list. She had next to no personality which was apparently a running theme for the staff here. Once seated our waitress didn't greet us either, asked us "What'chu wanna drink?" and didn't inquire about any appetizers we wanted. We didn't even find out her name until we received the receipt. As she was about to walk off without saying another word past the intial rude drink inquiry, I spoke up and placed an order for their appetizer skillet queso. Again, no response and simply jotted it down and walked away. This is where we begin to wait. 20 minutes later our "queso" comes out in an cast iron skillet. This queso, if you can call it that, is literally a couple cups of jack cheese with some chilli, sausage (chorizo? unlikely), pico and a few jalapenos. This was by no means anything representing queso in a traditional sense. It was literally melted cheese that hardened once the pan cooled. It was more along the lines of a weak DIY quesadilla than anything else. Also we had to ask for more tortillas as the original dish comes with 3 for this hot mess. We later found out we were charged an additional $1.50 for those 3 additional tortillas. To make this worse, we did not receive plates with this appetizer and all ended up having to share silverware to try and scoop this stuff from the skillet. We did ask for plates about 4 times, even from different servers walking by saying "I'll tell your waitress" and not, "oh let me grab those for you real fast". Now came the time to order our dinner. Keep in mind we have been seated for over 30 minutes at this point. Again, no personality and almost doesn't take the my order since being the dad and husband (only man) at the table, I let the girls all order first. I had to catch her as she walked away to give her my order, again no response just slapped it down and walked off. She did however walk back over 5 minutes later to ask my daughter if she wanted corn or flour tortillas, surprisingly. Another 20 minutes rolls by and half of our order arrives along with those appetizer plates we had asked for but no longer needed. The waitress did say sorry for being backed up and taking so long, this was the most she talked to us the entire visit. Apparently if you arrive and there is a party of 10+ people there, everyone else is at their mercy until they leave. As the waitress brought the final 2 plates (my wife's and daughter's friend's) 5 or so minutes later, she spilled pico all over my wife and down in to her lap. There was NO APOLOGY for this issue, only an "OH MY". My daughter swears the waitress smiled as she turned away, however I cannot confirm nor deny that. She was beyond rude after this point, literally visiting us 1 more time to drop off the check as she was likely aware she wouldn't receive any gratuity. As a final save of face she attempted to give us a to-go dessert but we didn't feel like waiting another 20+ minutes for her to bring it out. We would have instead preferred something being removed from our bill as we expressed discontent for the "queso", the $1.50 charge for 3 tortillas, and maybe the fact our waitress spilled food all over my wife. At the very least we would have expected a visit from management but that didn't happen either. Total time of this lovely experience was over 2 hours from arrival to walking out the door and we aren't ones to linger when done. If you happen to read this and still decide to go, I wish you luck on...

Update 3/8/23 to previous review!!

We will NOT be back to LA Casita , we have frequented this establishment for years and tonight was a TOTAL disappointment. We graciously waited 30 minutes to be seated due to lack of staff understandable everyone is having those issues. After being seated and ordering our drinks and meal which btw I order almost everytime we visit here "fajitas", I did not specify the for one person never have had to and was NOT asked... Totally expecting the portion I'm used to, NOT the case for 19.99 I received 3 shrimp 5 small slices of chicken and 5 small slices of beef 👀. A small half spoonful of guacamole which is not the usual either. I have NEVER left here without a go box due to the size of meal, tonight I ate it all!!! I'm not a big eater but I like leftover fajitas reason for big portion order. The young waitress did ask how everything was and I told her not so good she did not ask why nor did she imply she was concerned as to why I was not satisfied with my meal , to me that tells something. 1) she is used to complaints 2) she was aware that I was being charged for what I did not get. I seen her as young, inexperienced and not willing to engage that's all good but why not tell the mgr that such and such table isn't happy??? Once again because she already knew that answer " they didn't care" . I did leave her the reasonable tip usually we leave a great tip!! This saddened me terribly, as a restaurant that has been here for years, this will stop a lot of repeat business unless you are one of the "well known" unfortunately I seen that also while we dined, the table of 6 across from us obvious regulars and somebody, one ordered fajitas and it was a very large portion 🤔 now understand I'm aware that there are two sizes one being a single the other for two remember I said I wasn't ask because I expected to get the larger portion for 19.99 I knew was going to be charged 😡 not a half of a half portion for that same price and for it not to be acknowledged that is UNEXCUSABLE. Nevermind that the meat was dry and overcooked. It doesn't matter if you are short staffed, lack of experience WHEN you are a server and you know that your customer isn't happy because she said so YOU tell someone or at least YOU should. That's your paycheck basically that you've just told they don't matter.

So all in all we have said we will not return, you can't treat people you don't recognize as if they are nobody and treat the well known as if they are gold that WILL NOT go over well. What they don't know is THIS , we are somebody's and this will spread like wild fire thru out this town. It's unfortunate but..... When you don't care these are the results.... Please think twice before giving your money to where it's not appreciated.

If you are looking for great service wonderful attitudes and good Mexican food this...

3rd Edit: 08/08/2019 Things have slowly improved. Like I have mentioned before, the food has always been consistent and 100% great. The service is what has been lacking. It seems however they finally got some good service back and the shifts are running a lot smoother than they had been in the past. It feels good to come here to relax for a nice meal and not have to worry about getting poor service. Bumping back up a star, vast improvements have been made, getting new menus and plates really were a great idea.

Second Edit: 9.3.17 It has been over a year since my last edit, I have eaten here probably 10 times since the last edit, Things with the staff seem to have gone unresolved. My latest lunch: When we arrived no one greeted us as usual. Went for lunch a few days ago, Our waitress came to the table the 1st time to take our order without a pad, said she would be right back, took 10 minutes. Then brought our waters, without straws, said she would be right back with them. Never returned until food was delivered. There was 4 of us in a very empty restaurant, had to get our own straws, and refills on chips and waters. If it wasn't for the food staying consistent, I feel this place would have closed down quite a while ago.

Review Edit: Dropping from 5 to 3 Stars for now, the past several months, the wait staff has been far below expectations. Some trips we have to get our own water and chips. I have been in several times in the past months, and nothing has changed, I have witnessed a couple sat down, without drinks or anyone speaking to them for 15 minutes, before they finally got up and walked out. This was always my first choice when going out to eat, but has started to become a last resort. I am hoping things start to shape up and get better. I will be taking a break for now until I hear things are improving.

Previous review: Best authentic Mexican food for miles. I love to eat, this is my go to place when I am hungry. Great lunch deals, food is 200% always consistent. Honest friendly wait staff, wonderful...