La Casita Loca — Restaurant in Jacksonville

LOS CASITA LOCA “the little crazy house”

Dining fare at Camp Lejeune, the home of expeditionary warfare” is not limited. However, it is mostly the home of various popular fast-food franchises and the “chow” halls. There was a time when having breakfast at the Camp Lejeune Chow Hall was an experience to secretly anticipate. However, those halcyon days are now in the dust bins of history. Since the Pandemic, plastic utensils, Styrofoam plates, and a staff that looks at the prepared food with a mix of disdain and sorrow has curbed my joy. The breakfast burrito at the Chow Hall used to be a delight, an intoxicating mixture of hashbrown, chorizo, egg, cheese, black beans and love. Now it is all lies and prepacked blandness. I inquired about how long the tater tots had been sitting out. The worker replied, “Ten minutes”. They could not even look me in the eye. LIE! LIES! And more LIES! I took my homely lukewarm burrito to my table sobbing and in silence I ate. Drinking my black coffee from a Styrofoam cup. No more I cried to the gods in heaven NO MORE!!! LOS CASITA LOCA, a pale yellow drive through with outdoor seating……It sits in the middle of a largely abandoned parking lot. It’s asphalt riven with cracks and fissures, which speaks to the decay and inertia that has gripped this entire strip mall. The phallic box rises to great each day with pangs of weariness that are felt upon your approach. What good can come of this? you scream at an uncaring universe. The building looks like it is close to spontaneous combustion or simply suicidal collapse in the grueling heat of a coastal summer. Los Casitas Locas is open from 0800 to 1400, Monday through Friday and during those times. The drive through is akin to when the buzzards circle a dying carcass on a lonely backwoods’ road. The madness of this is nonstop. The workers inside are bone tired. Like Sisyphus of old they push their burritos up the hill only when finally reaching the peak they slide back down burrito hill. DOOMED FOR ALL ETERNITY TO MAKE AND REMAKE TASTY Highlander & California Burritos for a vast hungry horde of unknown persons. I always do the walk-up. I place my order. Looking at the poor woman she stares back with hollow vacant eye holes. A world weariness is upon here that no amount of rest can replenish. I place my order and tip 20%. I sit and patiently wait……..and wait. I wait a little longer. Other people are waiting as well. Everyone is patient, but there is always one who is not. They pace and sigh aloud. It’s amusing me. Their entreaties to the staff fall upon deaf and incredulous ears. Can you not see that it is just the two of us? Can you not see with your good eyes the circle of unending traffic that speaks to our popularity and tastiness of our burrito fare? Sit down and wait you poor fool. I usually order either the Highlander or the California Burrito with Steak. The Highlander is stuffed with egg, bacon, sausage, cheese, sour cream, and cheese. The California Burrito has steak and cheese and lots of other good things that I can’t quite remember this morning. But rest assured you will not be disappointed. Los Casita Loca is a real gem in this world of cookie cutter nonsense, it manages to rise above and deliver excellent food for the money. I...

If you're looking for delicious, fresh, and authentic Mexican style food, why in the heck would you look for it on Camp Lejeune? No less at a freakin shack whose slogan is, "Nacho Mamma's Tacos".

Yeah, I get it, a lot of times there is those little mom and pop restaurants that serve crazy scrumptious food, but this place ain't one of them. Also, this place ain't Taco Bell or Chipotle, so don't expect anything of the same quality or variety. Their entire menu is about as long as just Taco Bell's value menu.

But for real though, the food is microwaved with the utmost skill and thrown together as quickly as they can defrost the frozen meat, which has only been frozen for a minimum of one week. They have a decent selection of overpriced Jarritos, which is nice. And who doesn't like waiting in line for 26 minutes during their 30 minute lunch break for a lackluster excuse for a burrito you gotta scarf down in like negative 5 minutes on your drive back to work?

Not to mention you're trying to squirt some hot sauce on to your burrito before you toss it down your gullet while you're going around the round about at 37 mph while some dirt bag in their super lifted Ford F-250 is tailgating you, all of a sudden Staff Sergeant calls you wanting to know why you haven't done your counselings yet, then you accidentally end the call mid him speaking at you because your boy texts you to make sure you got a burrito for him since he's been doing PMCS on the vehicles all morning and now has to work through chow, so you gotta turn around and go back, but your hand slips off the wheel because it's still clutching the hot sauce packet and the other is holding your precious California burrito you took three bites out of, next thing you know the hot sauce is splattered all over your dashboard, the burrito is on the floor, your Mango Jarritos has spilled on to your lap, and your car is heading straight for General John A. Lejeune's statue.

Anywho, I'm a fan of the underdogs, that's why I gave this place five stars. I'd gobble down a burrito from them any day of the week. Support local...

The place is relatively good and the prices are what will keep you coming back. The limited sitting area is always a problem and results in many people eating in their car or clogging the drive thru.

Most of the food especially breakfast is fantastic, but the fried apple pie is disgusting and I'm sure sits under a lamp all day when it could be cooked to order.

My biggest concern is just how messy and unclean it looks from the outside. There is just empty boxes and other junk stacked up and there is not a health inspection grade anywhere to be seen. It kind of scares me for the general health safety of the place.

I don't know why they don't open or at least ASK TO OPEN people's Jarrittos. They have a bottle opener, but...