Las Casuelas Sylvan — Restaurant in Modesto

I have patronized Las Casuelas Mexican Restaurant on Sylvan Avenue for the last several months. I have been buying food-to-go there one to two times per month. On June 13th, I stopped by & ordered “Enchiladas Mexicanas” to-go. At home, I started eating the food and found a large piece of USED CHEWED meat cartilage in my enchiladas that came off the plate of another (dine-in) customer. I took it out and was grossed out by the taste. I took a screenshot of the piece, discarded the food, and returned to the restaurant. Once there, the place was full of customers and I spoke with the manager. I showed him the screenshot of the meat & he took a picture of it. The manager quickly offered to either refund my money or offer me a new plate. I opted for the new plate and asked him to watch over whomever would fix my plate, which he agreed to do. He also offered me a drink as I wait for the food, which I agreed. I told him that whomever prepared the first dish must be dealt with. He assured me that he would get to the bottom of the matter. I really liked the food at Las Casuelas and wanted to find out if the employee was still working there so I’d be better able to decide if to continue visiting the restaurant so on June 27th I paid a follow up visit to Las Casuelas. This time, there were hardly any other customers there. I spoke with the same manager and asked him what he found. He said he spoke with the kitchen employees and that no one put anything in my food despite the screenshot of the meat/cartilage. I told him I did NOT expect workers to admit to wrongdoing. He stated that none of the preparers chewed meat and put it inside my plate. I told him “I never said that the preparer chewed food and put it in my plate. I said that the piece came off the plate of another customer that dined in.” I told him that this posed a public health risk and that there is no telling what (illness, disease) that was in the meat. However, he continued to deny any wrongdoing on any employee’s part. The last question I asked him was if they have any cameras in their kitchen to which he answered “yes.” Then manager asked me if I were going to place an order. I responded by saying, “Not today, I’m having something else.” So, he said, “Sorry, I got to go.” I said, “Ok, thank you” and left. I am NOT looking for any financial or material benefit in writing this review-public announcement and I make it clear that I did NOT make a follow-up visit last for the purpose of requesting and/or receiving any financial (ex: refund, etc.) or material (ex: free food) benefit. I did NOT request anything other than wanting the employee to no longer work at Las Casuelas, especially since the manager answered “yes” to my question of whether they had cameras in the kitchen. Since there are cameras in the kitchen there is no way that went on could not be recorded and seen. The manager’s complete denial of everything that I said happened with my food to my face was both disrespectful and insulting because in doing so, HE CALLED ME A LIAR! It was disrespectful because he conveyed that I concocted the negative experience. It was insulting because he indirectly implied that I put the meat-cartilage in my food myself and lied on his employee(s) so I could obtain some type of benefit. It was also an insult to me as a regular customer who has NOT had any problems at Las Casuelas before. He implied that I could not be trusted to be truthful in my report of a negative experience I encountered with their food for the first time! He made it very clear that he did not deal with the employee that fixed my plate and that the person is STILL working there, which answered my question on whether to continue...

This is my honest review about my recent visit, just dissapointed and won’t be a returning customer. My family and I loved this place, nice and clean inside, food used to be great, decent service all other times we came, but this time it was completely the opposite of that. We went around 3:30 pm, only a few people were there which is what we prefer rather than it being too crowded. We always request a certain table if it’s available, which it was, and the hostess this time had a slight attitude about it. We were seated, getting ready to order. She brought out one set of chips and dips, when they usually automatically bring 2 for the size of my family. When I asked if we can get an extra chips and salsa she had an attitude. Waiter came and took our order, very nice gentleman. Food came out, first bite of the fajitas and they had a weird taste to them. Took another bite and just knew something was off, they usually come out sizzling but this time no sizzle like they’d been sitting for a while, which was different than usual. They tasted soapy and the chicken tasted like it was spoiled. The appetizer plate had frozen jalapeño poppers, this I know because I have the same ones at home. The carne asada burrito tasted HORRIBLE, one bite and it smelled SO BAD the meat smelled and tasted ROTTEN. The only decent thing on the table were the chicken strips to be honest. Rice that was part of the side for the fajitas tasted old, dry and reheated. They basically served us old and expired food that tasted like they either re-heated up or just refused to throw it away when it had been expired and rather cooked and served it. The service was horrible at this point, our waiter or the hostess were nowhere to be found. It took forever to get refills on our drinks and had to ask for a round of water which also took forever. Tortillas never came out until towards the end. Bottom line they seemed short staffed and definitely had different cooks even though they said they were the same cooks. Not to mention, the fajitas had shredded carrots in them, so they were more like bad tasting stir fried carrots with tiny pieces of onion(there was no bell peppers), and tiny pieces of spoiled chicken with pepper sprinkled on them. I’m very disappointed. The waiter was very nice and I let him know that my complaint was from an honest place and coming from a loyal customer who chose to dine here with family, nothing else. After $130 later (and a tip of course), and just an apology, I sadly opt out of returning here ever again. If the food and service ever improves, I might give it another go but for now...

A very rough start to what could be a great Mexican restaurant and bar.

The place looks nice, clean, modern. The Adobo shrimp tacos I ordered were ok. And when the staff finally kicked it into gear it was decent at best.

My experience: Don't pick the patio if you can help it, seemed like staff easily forgot us. Took about 30 minutes after we were seated before anyone even asked us for drinks/waters. The patio was cold even with the 2 heaters on. Although I would have preferred inside, the music was way too loud, felt like I walked into a club with mediocre Mexican food.

The service took way too long before even asking us for waters, even after ordering cocktails it was another 20 minutes before we saw them and they somehow accidentally served us the same drinks twice. The first set were way off balance, one too sour, the other too sweet. When the second round randomly came, we asked to keep them and they tasted very well balanced.

Once we expressed our frustration with the waitress, they tried to get better organized but this resulted in all of our food from apps to mains being served all at once, and there was barely room on the table for those plates.

A few notes on the food, although my tacos were ok, my girlfriend's tortilla soup was served cold and tasted like condensed soup. I also think it's laughable to charge for chips and 3 small squares of 1)refried beans 2) cabbage coleslaw (?) and 3) red salsa that tasted like clamato.

However when I got my taco order, it came with 3 types of salsa that were all much better than what is served with chips. As for the guacamole, my two issues are that I don't need someone to come to my table just to mix guac, waste of time made even more so by the long wait and clearly overcrowded and understaffed restaurant. Secondly, I don't think the molcajete they use to make the guac is properly seasoned. It looked like a brand new molcajete which means you're getting grit and bacteria from the molcajete in your guac over time.

It was obvious that the front of house just let way too many people in and the staff couldn't handle it all. Two other groups also left due to the inconsistent service during our time there. I "might" come back if things improve. But just about other taqueria in town will have better tasting food, and if you want a sit down place I'd go for Javi's or even La Parilla.

There's a lot of potential here, especially with the mezcal selection. But the poor service made me second guess ordering any more of...