Casa d'Paco — Restaurant in Newark

Me & my friends were going up 95 and one of my friends grew up in Newark said this place is legit.

1st good sign was seeing how many people there were. Place looked packed, always a good sign, but we were seated relatively quickly and easily. Table was clean, had placemats, even had cutlery already. (I hate when I go to dinner and they give ya 3 cutlery sets when you showed up with 4 people - like yeah we lost a guy on the way to the table rip rip).

The 2nd good sign: EVERYONE there seemed to be having a great time. I love the positive energy.

We ordered a bunch of small plates, I believe they’re called “tapas” because the food is so good that when you’ve eaten the plate clean, your fork tapas some more on the ceramic dish to get the last bits.

One of my friends was hungry so he ordered an entree dish. Got a huge piece of chicken and shrimp with sides, all for under 25 bucks. Cannot beat that, besides the fact that it looked like it came out of a magazine.

We all shared a HUMUNGOUS thing of paella, it was legitimately insane, and I shall describe in due course: a. The thing comes out in a huge skillet thing, it was so much we all ate seconds and thirds and there was still a lot left.

b. The paella was STUFFED with SO. MUCH. Seafood. I hate getting ripped off by places that skimp and give you a gold fish bowl of seafood in a ton of rice — this place’s paella is like an Aquarium amount, in a house with 10 bathrooms, you can fish all day.

The drinks were good, I only had a sip of sangria to try because I’m a light weight. I believe the sangria was passion fruit man go - also my nickname in college.

Lastly, the dessert was a must, I had the cake and omg I definitely am going to try to recreate that recipe. We all tossed in about $30 bucks, with my friend who got an entree a little more. Insane value for the cost, I’ve spent twice that much tipping the Fromagér at The Modern in NYC. And that Belgian only gave me 3 pieces of cheese. I love wine and cheese though, what can I say it’s a baller time for me and I know I deserve it. All in all, the bill was less than 150, again, a quarter of a meal at The Modern, with authentic exquisite spanish cuisine.

The service was great, our server knew the menu ingredients off the top of his head (I know, I know... I’m assuming his gender, but he had a beard so I think we’re cool). So we left a generous tip snd I took some paella home. Ugh just this paella wow. Definitely will be back here again, oof it’s good I don’t live in newark or I’d be here everyday, living...

Yes, as others had stated before and I guess unfortunately I had to experience it to believe it. There's definitely a problem here! I called before just to double-check if my party of 3 needed a reservation since it was Saturday and we're in the middle of a pandemic, I was told by a girl who answered my call that there's no need because we were ONLY 3 people. After being stuck at home for so many months I was looking forward to my dinner on 10/10/20 with two of my friends. Little did I know our experience was going to be this bad. we asked the host if we need it to write a name down to keep on the track of the time we arrived at the restaurant. We see people coming in waiting just like us. No problem! BUT, 1 HOUR has passed and after seeing a group of 3 and 4 being seated before US that's when we start to ask the Hostess "what's going on?" she answered "They had reservations" we were speechless. Right away she handles us the menu so we can order our food outside in the waiting area because she said "at this point, there are no tables for you guys." WOW! we immediately started to look for other restaurants but we waited sooo long that it was pointless to go somewhere else so home was our next stop. finally, we got our table and the food was good, Alex the server was all right. he was focused on his big table rather than us. I can go on and on but the worst part of all is that I picked Casa D' Paco because of my previous visit there. It was never a 5-star experience but it was the first thing on my mind after being locked at home for 7 months.

P.S. I know the owner will make a comment on this but please feel free to check your cameras and do yourself a favor and give your employees a little more training before each time you open your restaurant. HANDS DOWN to your valet parking...

Subpar food experience this time around. I will say, my first time at this restaurant I was blown away. Exceeded my expectations. I heard great feedback from friends, came here with my husband and friends and we had a delightful experience on a busy weekend. Knowledgeable staff, exceptional service, great food and drinks (that day). I couldn’t wait to experience this again so I came back. Unexpectedly disappointed this time around. Immediately I notice the significant reduction in food options on the menu. The first time we were overwhelmed with all the choices and ordered just about one of everything and even ordered some more of the same appetizers. This time: Obviously started off with Sangria (was enjoyable) and some appetizers. After experiencing the appetizers we did not want to move forward with ordering a meal. The crab cakes were cold in the middle and tasted so different from the first time. The croquettes were alright. The brisket was extremely salty and overpowering. At that point we just wanted the check. $100 later and hungry but atleast the sangria hit. I don’t mind spending any kind of money on an experience as long as it lives up to the hype. Keeping in mind, the first time we spent a pretty penny, but it was worth it because of the experience and it’s why we came back. I’m not sure what happened especially since there was only one family seated when we came in. I don’t feel they were compromised in the kitchen enough to disappoint two guests. I hope this feedback is taken into consideration. I would love to come back and experience what I did the first time. I would have given a 1 star for this review but because the first time was outstanding and the service was great, I felt it wouldn’t be fair. Hope to return at some point with a...