Casuelas Cafe — Restaurant in Palm Desert

Visiting from out of town, looked for a restaurant with good reviews for a Carne Asada burrito. Arrived at the restaurant and were seated right away. Definitely café style not restaurant style, tables and small hardback chairs. The decor was in need of a deep cleaning, walls, floors, etc., but overall appropriate motif. Most of the servers, bus boys, etc, were kind and gracious. Our server was lackluster. With servers in our family, we are familiar with good service. We requested a recommendation on the peach margaritas, but as the server had not tried them, he stated “all the fruit margaritas were well loved and offered to replace, if we did not like it. Food was delivered directly, and server showed up one minute after to ask how our ($25.95 ea) burritos were when we had not even had time to try them. We then did not see him again until we were completely done eating, and we sat waiting for the ticket. When he did come, we shared our dislike of the peach margarita, as it still sat there full, and we assumed he would replace or credit now that the entire time had elapsed. To this the server explained he could not credit or give us another type due to the length of time being too long since it was delivered. I’m not certain how we could’ve told him that the margaritas were not good if he never showed back up to our table. The biggest concern was his lack of empathy to even request of his manager, an exception. Usually, one’s server will go to bat for the customer. It made us question if he just didn’t care or if he was so concerned about his manager reprimanding him in some way. Either way, they lost a future customer as well as achieved a public review that could have been simply rectified in-house. FYI, as we were leaving, we asked for a side small of guacamole, and about fell over at the $9.95 charge. While I appreciate an avocado costs $2, that was ridiculous. So one has to consider, is the food & lack luster service...

I used to be regular at this place nothing crazy about their food but I love their ambiance. Usually on weekends they have great live music and food is okay. Usually I had no issue with this place but this time when I went I was not happy with service nor food. We ordered chicken shrimp fajitas which was average nothing compared to the price point . What I was more disappointed is for 3 combo meal I ordered tacos and 2 burritos. I asked server if he can make it shrimp burrito he said of course . Then he goes brings the food after which he tells me there’s additional $4 for shrimp I said that’s fine. Then I went to eat burrito it was nothing but tortilla with shrimp on it no rice no beans nothing. It was literally plain shrimp.Then if I asked if that’s what burrito should have. Later he added shrimp charge is $6 on top of about $18 worth of one burrito with nothing but shrimp in it. I have posted picture as proof. Then when the bill came in they added $12 on top of what I already paid. I informed my partner about it cause at this point I am not liking none of my food and I am disappointed. My partner then called the server and asked about the extra charge then he apologized. Usually we don’t even check our bills so make sure to double check any extra $$ added without you knowing. There was no music that day. I was about to get some drinks but I was so disappointed I said never mind. Finally we ate flan as dessert which was my favorite of all , I am not that much fan of flan but it tasted better than everything else that was...

The service was upstanding, the staff is friendly and kind. The chips and guacamole are the best 👌. I was thinking it is a Mexican restaurant but it isn't. Is a wanna be Mexican. Its a Taco Bell with a style. I asked for a plate with a 🌮 taco (almost everything has ground meat), a chile relleno, and an enchilada. Accompanied with rice and beans. It was totally covered with canned red salsa Las Palmitas. That salsa is used is restaurants, when they don't want to use regular salsa made with onion, tomatoes, chile pasilla and guajillo. Pluss a lot of American cheese like Taco Bell. My family encouraged me to eat, when l tried to cut the huge chile relleno it was a skinny chile California (instead of a chile para rellenar!!!) Totally covered with a lot of eggs and flour. I started eating when l felt something on my mouth... lt was white flour powder ¡!!!!! O my God!!! Virgencita de Guadalupe... it was too much, my son insisted l ate more and tried 😢 and l did it but...sorry l can't... When the noisy and nice waitress asked me about the dish, l couldn't lie...he offered me a dessert or something else. But l said no. I was in Palm Springs Mexican restaurant, and they had real Mexican food. I had better expectations about Las Cazuelas. In the end, they didn't charge us the good looking plate, with non Mexican food. It is food for non Mexican people. My family enjoyed their plates but admitted it wasn't a real...