Casa Gabriela — Restaurant in La Mesa

I stopped in Casa Gabriela during happy hour and sat at the bar. I ordered the TJ Dogs at $8.95, the Caesar Salad at $8.95, and the Queso Fundido at $10.95.

All the items arrived at the same time. I started on the salad first. It was good and came with "toasted chile de arbol croutons, roasted tomatoes, basil, shaved cotija enchilado, spiced pepitas" (Casa Gabriela, 2024). I enjoyed the shaved cotija enchilado and spiced pepitas. They were very tasty. The salad definitely needed more of the chile de arbol croutons, however, and although tasty, the dressing for a Caesar was on the thicker side. A few crispy garnished on top of the salad would have been nice, too.

The TJ Dogs were tasty, too. The hot dogs were of good quality, and the bacon was terrific. I enjoyed the cilantro aioli. I did not like that they were so small. I was expecting two regular sized hot dogs. They should change the title on the menu to "Two Mini TJ Dogs" for better accuracy.

The Queso Fundido sounded great on the menu, but its execution was sub-par. For example, traditional fundido comes with gooey and stretchy cheese or that wonderful melted goodness. This cheese was over baked hard and on the dry side. There was a little bit of cheese that did not get overcooked inside, but most of it was done for the count. I felt the Oaxaca & Asadero cheese deserved more respect. Honestly, they dish was more a casserole if anything.

I did like the roasted poblanos inside the fundido, but they should have been swimming in the melted cheese, not set inside the container as a separate component. Also, the pinto beans were the whole beans but refried beans. With a few tweaks here and this queso fundido, it could have been a winner, but that over cooked cheese made it lose that traditional feeling.

Service at the bar was hit and missed. The bar that kept making the beverages was not much of a conversationalist, even though I was sitting right in front of him. I tried to ask him a few questions about the libations he was working on and/or make comments on how well he was doing, but he would not respond. Finally, towards the end of my visit, I raised my voice as he stood right in front of me and said, "Hey bar, keep, you are doing a great job!" To which he finally responded, "Oh, thank you." The other gent who took my order and asked how my food was was on it. In the end, I was not up set, just intrigued.

Casa Gabriela is a beautiful restaurant, inside...

Obviously this will be an unpopular opinion. So hold on to your hats!

Casa de Gabriella, the new fancy restaurant to reside in La Mesa Village and take over Beau Beau.

Ehhhh, I feel zero need to ever go back. Zero impressed. And believe me, I really wanted to love it. Even if it's pricey as hell.... I'm always down for a new happy hour spot within walking distance of my home.

But you guys......where is the flavor?

Recommended by the host and two waitresses was to get the sampler appetizer called the Tabla de Antojitos. This had chicken tinga empanadas, sweet potato caramelized onion & chipotle taquitos, mini queso fundido and bacon wrapped jalapeños.

Not one thing I would order again, there was no flavor, no spice, no love.

We also ordered the ceviche...which was very good. Though it being served with fried plantains and something else (maybe yam) instead of chips was bizarre. I also did not like the sweet flavor of plantain with ceviche. Lol, but maybe that's just me? But with the chips they put on the table (which btw the way the salsa served with those were great) was awesome.

Michalada. Maybe I'm being picky, but a michelada is beer with tomato juice primarily...so having the topping to your beer be sweet Mexican candy as well as not being able to drink it without gulpfuls of tamarindo candy, was weird. Out of a straw, it was awesome. But not the candy dipped straw they give you 🙄.

Lastly dessert. Arroz Con Leche De Coco which is a coconut-orange infused rice pudding, date puree, topped with candied almonds.

Yea first dessert I have had in a lonnnnng time that only maybe 1/3 was eaten. Kinda just tasted like coconut flavored cold oatmeal (and I have had rice pudding before and love it).

Waitress was sweet and wanted to hear why we weren't eating half of almost everything served to us (hey she asked). She knocked off the dessert and one michelada from our bill. That was sweet. We tipped well.

Oh and heads up 5% surcharge is now added there (4% now 5).

Anyways that's...

Went to Casa Gabriela for the 1st time early February. First thing I noticed was how cold it was in the restaurant. It was strange that even indoors it would be so frigid. We ended up sitting on the patio under a heat lamp, which was appreciated. We were greeted promptly and then we ordered pretty quickly. The server made a couple of recommendations based upon our questions. My husband had the Enchiladas Chicken Mole and I had the Carne Asada tacos. I thought my serving was on the small side. The meat was a little chewy but flavorful. He said his dish was mediocre but filling. I ordered the Skinny Margarita which I found to be tasty, not too sweet just right. I do have to say that it took quite awhile to get our food. Our son commented on this by asking me several times when our food would arrive. The restaurant seemed to be well staffed so I am not sure what the delay was. Made me wonder if the server forgot to put in our order or something. Overall the service was good and the food was OK. Would I come back? Probably not. There are so many other options (better ones) in my opinion. I'd rather support the independent restaurants who really need it. Also, I can't stand how Cohn Restaurants demonstrate their greed by passing on an additional service (5% and taxable) fee to customer's bills. They don't pass this revenue to their staff, it goes directly in their pockets. They CLAIM it's to recover the high costs to pay their staff, maybe then adjust your business plan? Sounds like B.S. since they own almost 30 restaurants in San Diego, they can't be hurting that much! Or is it a political statement? Save your political statements for your own time. When I am enjoying dining out, I don't want to be subjected to how challenging it is to run 30 restaurants and how paying your staff hurts your...