La Casita Pupuseria & Comedor — Restaurant in Laurel

I recently visited La Casita with my son on March 23, 2025, and I am deeply concerned about the food safety and allergen management practices at this establishment. What should have been a pleasant experience turned into a dangerous situation due to the negligence of the staff. Upon ordering a drink (Horchata), I specifically asked the employee, who later identified herself as the manager (V), whether the drink contained peanuts. She assured me, without hesitation, that it did not. Based on her response, my son took a small sip of the drink. Not long after, he began showing signs of an allergic reaction, including stomach pain, and nausea. Thankfully, the reaction wasn’t severe ( and we had his meds on hand), but this could have been a life-threatening situation given my son’s known peanut allergy. When I asked to see the drink mix packaging, I discovered peanuts were listed as an active ingredient. I went back to V, who confirmed the drink did, indeed, contain peanuts. However, she downplayed the seriousness of the situation, claiming my son would be “fine” despite being repeatedly reminded of the life-threatening nature of peanut allergies. Even more troubling, when I asked her to confirm the specific drink mix, she showed me two different packets, both of which contained peanuts. What I find most concerning is the lack of urgency and responsibility shown by the manager and the restaurant. When I requested the owner’s contact information to discuss the situation, she casually mentioned he “probably won’t call today but will call sometime tomorrow.” This response demonstrates a complete disregard for the severity of the issue. Additionally, the menus at the restaurant are misleading. The storefront menu makes no mention of peanuts in the drink, and the online menu only lists ingredients like rice/cinnamon/morro/milk —nothing about peanuts. It’s evident that there is a serious lack of proper allergen labeling and transparency. This incident highlights major deficiencies in staff training and food safety practices. It’s vital that restaurants take food allergies seriously and ensure that their employees are properly trained to handle such inquiries. Clearly, La Casita failed in this regard, and it could have resulted in much worse consequences. I am extremely disappointed in how this situation was handled. My son’s health was jeopardized due to misinformation and a complete lack of understanding about the gravity of his allergy. I urge anyone with food allergies to reconsider dining at this establishment unless significant improvements are made to their food safety protocols and allergen training. I hope this review serves as a wake-up call for La Casita to address these issues immediately for the safety of future customers. By the way, as of the posting date and time, I have not been contacted by the owners. Despite leaving my information and sending them a private message last night. My son's wellbeing/clients wellbeing is clearly not important. I personally take food allergies...

I was excited about this place having gone to the Silver Spring location and Gaithersburg location in the past. Ordered two Nicaraguan Fritangas for around $15 each with an extra portion of fried cheese. The portions were extremely minute, I get it everything’s expensive but this was overpriced compared to anything in the area. Almost $38 for a small meal was not worth it. With that amount you can go anywhere else have a meal and leave satisfied and full.

👨‍🍳- Food taste was great, the plantains were sweet, the friend cheese was soft and not over fried, the gallo pinto was fluffy with flavor and the meat was not chewy and cooked well.

💰- The value was not there. $15 per plate for extremely small portions. A small slice of fried cheese, 2 pieces of sweet plantain, less than a cup of rice and a thin piece of meat.

🦮- Service took a bit over 30 min. I was told 20 min and it took longer than that. For the portion size this didn’t make any sense. It shouldn’t have taken so long.

🎭 - Atmosphere- everything is brand new and looks clean, when I walked in all the tables were clean and well spaced out with tons of seating.

🍱- Can’t speak on consistency other than both meals being the...

Went on Sunday for two "Panes con Pollo" and "Enchiladas con Pollo". The panes did not have the traditional escabeche that is placed in the sandwich. The chicken was very dry and lacked some of the seasoning that is in the Silver Spring/Long branch location. The enchiladas which are on tostadas came with grilled chicken not stewed chicken like I had requested. This location is beautiful but the high prices and the lack of care in the dishes do not match up. The wait time for food is long. Prices are not equivalent to food taste/value. The location had lots of tables that were dirty and not available to sit. Very disappointed with Chef Iris...