La Casa Del Patron — Restaurant in Havelock

Havelock certainly has no shortage of Mexican restaurants, to choose from. What we desperately need is a good Steak House or an All you can Eat Buffet...(We are the town that has the large Marine Base, right?) we crave more, so new place is opening up, what is it? Mexican Everytime because that's where the business is, for now. Other places offer little with high prices, but you can go to a Mexican cuisine restaurant get more for you money, & this is why they are the backbone of the town. The others hang on because after awhile you get tired of the same thing.

But here we are, at Patron's as everyone in town calls it, definitely a festive and 5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ on atmosphere, you feel like you are at a Birthday Party, & Cinco de Mayo event rolled into one room that is more than decorated. To say it's looks busy is an understatement when it comes decorations, the best place to play "I Spy" with the kids hands down! It has atmosphere!

Food has always been good, I enjoy the a la carte menu, I recommend the Shrimp Quesadilla, if you enjoy shrimp this is a great choice you get 1 filled with shrimp for 5 bucks & some change, 2 for $10 as of this writing (12-12-23) I've ordered this several times & the shrimp has been cooked perfectly, I also tried a chicken enchilada, that was very good see pictures. On the weekends if you like Pozole, absolutely recommend it, they start it Thursday and run it Fri/Sat/Sun very authentic!

Agents X & Y got rice & cheese enchilada, & a taco salad that had a kind of hint of spice might want to be careful with little ones that order this kid favorite. I didn't find it was anything too spicy, but Agent X didn't eat the shell because of this hint of spice. Mrs. Dadtype2 had the fajitas Texanos and it came sizzling hot as it should. A neat trick that doesn't seem to get old but with a Food Critic, I'm getting used to it, as it doesn't have the "Ooo" or "Ahh" effect on me as it once did.

Service is where we have an interesting 4 ⭐⭐⭐⭐ as most times it's good, very good but I recently had Two incidents that cost them that 5th Star & very nearly that 4th. We had a large party after church 10 of us, but 4 showed up to get the tables. Well, they wouldn't seat us until all of us were there. Meanwhile big parties were coming in & granted they were all there, but we had people in the group that had jobs or meetings to get to and we needed the tables ready so they could get there sit, order, eat & leave; not wait which is exactly what we had to do, they didn't seat us even when we had 7 of our 10! Yeah, it was better to have us hog up the entrance waiting as our empty tables sat.

The second incident was when I with a cane, & Lunch Buddy X with a walker, were asked to follow the hostess, and I asked why can't we sit here a table for 4 that's no more than 5 feet away? Because the manager wants 3 or 4 at a table for 4, not 2. I said okay but we are handicapped & I'm sure he wouldn't mind, but you are going to have us walk all the way through the restaurant to a small table? I asked to speak to a manager & his answer was he is too busy to come out and talk!? We were forced to walk through the restaurant. We painfully sit and the hostess says nevermind, you can sit back there..

I have, with cane, gone back & been seated at a closer table, and we have had bigger groups that were able to be seated without all of us there. They have made change, & and that's why they have 4 stars.

I would like to see better, & in January of 2024, I'll do an update review for that 5th Star or maybe less, we'll see. For now, I'd say it's a good bang for your buck, & of the 3 we have, It's the most festive inside. Service should be good but be prepared for something negative/odd that might pop up. Because it's 1 of 2 best in town, it can get pretty busy, and loud. Drinks from the bar have been very good not weak or watered down.

Always...

So, here's my perspective. I was on travel... again and I came in to La Casa Del Patron and was promptly greeted by the guest server. I told her that I was heading to the bar to have a beer and some tacos. She gladly acknowledged me. Once at the bar, I flagged the bartender to order a drink. She promptly gave me a menu and a beer. Beers or not expensive here. $5.50 for a 25 oz beer.. not bad. There are other sizes and many many other drinks to be had but that was the best value I thought of. One thing that stood out was as I was drinking my beer, several times the bartender would come up and asked me if am I ready to order. I told her several times, not yet. Great attention but It just felt to me that they just wanted me to order food and be gone before drinking a couple drinks and then ordering. Well I told the bartender that I am going to stay for two beers and I am going to order she left me alone at that point. So I ordered my Dos Equis and I finally decided to order my meal. I got three tacos: one carne asada, 1 carnitas and one Mahi taco. Here are my reviews of these tacos: All of my tacos came out on top of one steamed corn tortilla with the usual cilantro+onions. BTW nobody has fresh corn tortillas around here and when ordering tacos here they are all steamed. Would've preferred that the tortillas be be grilled as All of my tacos ended up having a blowout due to being only on one steamed corn tortilla. All places I've been to previously have always given 2 corn tortillas for your taco. This place does not unless you ask for it . The carnitas tacos are on par with some of the best places I've ever eaten at. Simple but awesome. I've had the smoked version and the regular version and I prefer the regular version for tacos. Other people have their own opinions. And then time ran out on me. The bartender came up and told me that we had to leave. So back in my room I decided to tryout the Mahi tacos. I was expecting grilled mahi but what I actually got was fried mahi. This is no problem for me because Baja Mahi tacos are usually fried. Only problem with these tacos was that yes they were fried but they were also chopped up which took away from their actual crunchiness. Not what i thought i was paying for. Would be been much better if they actually grill the fish. The Carne Asada taco was Very good. You could tell that the meat was marinated and cooked to perfection. Flavor wise it does stand well but it still doesnt measure up to real Baja style carne asada like in San diego or LA as that is a recipe and technique that seems to evade the east coast. Hmmmm. Well, that's my review...

I love my local Mexican restaurant. Between an older and newer location I’ve been eating there for a couple decades. They have great Chile Colorado, carne asada tacos and chips and salsa. One thing they sadly do not have is Pozole Rojo. It’s one of my favorite meals and I’m always on the look out for it, but in my experience it’s sadly a rare thing to find on menus- it’s often passed over for Menudo. Recently when I saw it was on the menu in a newer Jacksonville restaurant I quickly went to try it and was met with disappointment: they used beef instead of pork, skimped on the hominy and I couldn’t taste the red chiles at all; I doubt they had cooked it long at all as you should. When I was informed that La Casa del Patrón had Pozole Rojo on the menu I was hesitant. The location is a 45 minute drive and the my last bad Pozole experience was still fresh in my memory. Aren’t I glad I went on Friday! The Pozole Rojo at La Casa del Patrón is rich and delicious, leaving no doubt that they let the chiles simmer for a while to create the broth. Hominy and the fall apart pork chunks in the soup are abundant, adding their own flavor and textures but more importantly taking on the flavor of the chiles. The portion they give you is massive! I made the mistake of ordering some tacos to go with it, used to the portion of soup being half of what I was given, and knew my mistake as soon as they set down my bowl! It is a meal in itself make no mistake. The service here was also great. Our waiter was affable and attentive. I also like that they brought out both salsa and bean dip to go with the tortilla chips instead of just the salsa- the bean dip was choice. A definite recommendation from me. I will definitely be back...