Canby Asparagus Farm Casa de Tamales — Restaurant in Milwaukie

The review you hate to write......but a necessary one!

This restaurant is the unique one that should be a cornerstone of Milwaukie that people come over the bridge to eat at it. It should be the talk of the town and word of mouth should spread like wildfire. I mean how many places do tamales and do them freshly prepared, with many choices, and with a lot of love put in.

My Mom and I tried this restaurant out for dinner, and it seemed from the moment we sat down things just got weird. The manager(owner?) seemed very nice at first and explained about their tamales and menu in general. He knew his food well and I was glad to be so well informed. Then things took an odd turn. He randomly started asking personal questions, i.e.(what do I do for a living, where do I live, etc.). Ok, get to know your customers I guess. No problem. Then he asked if Mom and I were a couple. I've had this question before since my Mom looks a lot younger than her age, but it's just weird at a restaurant. I explained it was my Mother and he looked shocked and in disbelief. We are just your average middle class family. Not like I have one of those parents all decked out trying to look younger.

Then out came the food, which I thought would be better. I opted for the veggie burrito and it was a greasy hot mess of veggies. No protein of any sort. The house made tortilla was good but just turned into a grease napkin from the veggies. I was expecting so much more.

Next came the follow up questions. "You sure you're not together, this cannot be your mother". Are you kidding me, really? Why keep asking. We were finishing eating, and my Mom noticed the staff all in the kitchen staring at us and laughing. I turned around and he came over and said "they don't believe it either". I couldn't believe this craziness. Just so bizarre and no way to treat a customer, especially on their first visit. It was like walking into a reality show.

Is it so strange that a son and his Mom would have dinner together? While this wasn't the worst dining experience I've had, it was certainly the most uncomfortable. I will never be back and that's frustrating because this place could be a special one.

Chaos ensues at this place. I just cannot fathom how it keeps going. Such potential for a great place for great food and they don't see what's wrong. 3 times I've walked by and have seen a table in the alley behind it with an employee cutting up food!!!! Food prep outside in the alley? ...

For starters, when my friend and I who were first time customers entered, we first off noticed that the tables were sticky. We were told this was due to health regulations indicating they use bleach water. Okay...but isn't there a product to cut the grease? Then when she ordered her first choice was told they didn't feature it that day. She then went on to the next and AGAIN was told it wasn't available. Her order ultimately consisted of limp, grease-soaked deep fried aspargus (their main draw). She also wanted a cup of tortilla soup. It wasn't good, either, and it was in THE smallest cup imaginable. I ordered a carne asada burrito. When it finally appeared, it wasn't rolled up like other burritos I've had, instead a SMALLER than usual flour tortilla that was either baked or toasted and brittle (?) lined the bottom of a dish that was then filled with the most unusual assortment of non burrito items....i.e. far too few "bits" of the carne asada; cauliflower; broccoli; red and yellow peppers (not sauted, but raw along with raw red onions) was presented with a HUGE dollop of salsa that upon taking the first bite, was so incredibly spicey hot I literally choked! I told the waitress I was sorry, but couldn't possibly eat that. She complied and took it back and another such dish was delivered DEVOID of ANY sauce and/or flavor what-so-ever. Both my friend and I had previously ordered flan. I had to ask for it's delivery as it wasn't brought to us, as yet, even though the receipt had been presented, and is the traditional cue to pay the bill. I tried to be kind by phrasing it "...we're ready for our flan, now..." but the waitress looked annoyed that I apparently had the audacity to ask for what was already on the receipt. I doubt I need to end with "We'll never go back", but clearly, this is...

We were here over Mother’s Day weekend. We sat outside and ordered a round of waters and a couple lime aids. We did not recieved the beverages till about 45 min after we ordered them, even after we reminded them kindly TWICE that we were waiting. When we did get the limeaids, they were very watered down. At one point, the server (an older gentleman probably in his 50’s or 60’s) brought over a pitcher of water with no glasses. He said he would be back with the waters and I started to say “you know if you just wanted to bring some empty glasses we can pour them ourselves” but before I got the sentence out, the server rudely and sternly said “MA’AM I TOLD YOU IM GETTING YOUR DRINKS NOW”. This really upset me seeing as we had been overly patient with the poor service we had recieved. The table next to us asked if they could pay their tab, and he again rudely said to the. ”I’m not ready for you yet!” The server did not go back to them to collect payment for another half hour at least. When we finally got our food (a little over an hour after we ordered) the portions were small and the food was cold. These are a FEW examples of how poorly this place is managed. The restaurant was extremely filthy. It’s a mystery that this place is still in business. The gentleman that was serving us seemed overwhelmed (the place wasn’t even busy) and seemed as if he could not handle the job. This is coming from someone who has worked as a server in many different restaurants over the...