Casa Perez Mexican Restaurant — Restaurant in Prescott Valley

According to Google, Mexican cuisine is second only to Chinese in American popularity. Having grown up in Arizona, I can honestly say it is hard to find an exceptional Mexican restaurant. This is contrary to what one would expect. As a retired chef having travel around the world, I’ve eaten in some amazing restaurants. The flavors of Mexican cuisine are some of my favorites. Whether smokey flavors from the Sonoran desert, or the oceanic cuisine from Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo, to the seven moles of Oaxaca, I simply love Mexican food. Yet, it’s difficult to find much else beyond the plethora of mediocre Tex-Mex here in the southwest, which perplexes me. I would think competition would drive quality, as in New York City, where it’s hard to find a mediocre restaurant because of the fierce competition.

All that being said, I was delighted to find Casa Perez! My wife and I were on our way to Prescott Valley and hungry. A Google search yielded Cases Perez was only a few miles ahead in Dewey, Arizona, on Highway 69, and had a good rating, so we stopped. I am delighted we did!

We arrived at 11:15 am. The outside of the building is plain and unassuming. There were only a few people in the restaurant on this Saturday morning. The restaurant wasn’t very busy, so we were wondering, “How good is this place? It’s not very busy.” They immediately seated us, and they delivered chips and salsa to the table. The friendly server set water and menus on the table, asking if we wanted anything else to drink, to which we declined. The restaurant is exceptionally CLEAN, and wonderfully decorated with historic Mexican murals on the walls, tables, and chairs. Staff is wearing the uniform of the day. Mexican music is playing in the background, but is not so loud that is annoying, as is sometime the case is some restaurants. Here, the music is quite pleasant and adds to the environment. The restrooms are spotless as well. There is also a gift shop. So they obviously take pride in their Mexican heritage.

Now for the food. When I visit a Mexican restaurant for the first time, I often order a shredded beef taco, cheese enchilada, and chili relleno with refried bean and rice. This gives me a good idea of how well they know how to season their food. If they can’t get these simple things right, they won’t be able to get other more complicated dishes right either. The red sauce on the enchilada was rich and savory. They nailed it. The beef in the shredded beef taco was well-seasoned, and the shell was nice and crunchy, with a solid texture. The relleno batter was light and fluffy with a savory and rich green chili sauce. I would have preferred a bit more spicy heat, but it was still amazingly flavorful. The refried beans were perfect, as was the Spanish rice. My wife ordered the shrimp fajitas, which came to the table sizzling hot on a cast iron griddle on a wooden platter, with her rice and bean on a separate plate. She was surprised at the number of shrimp in the order. She raved at the flavor of the food and how the shrimp was not over-cooked (as it often can be).

While the prices are higher than most Mexican restaurants, the portions are also larger than most. Neither one of us finished our food. If we lived in the area, we would have taken the rest of our food with us, but being from out of town this was not a practical option.

Service was timely and very professional. Our server was extremely friendly. We will return, and I’m excited to try other menu items when we return. I am delighted to offer a rating...

Went to Casa Perez in the Dewey area first time for all 5 of us. Started off happy with the restaurant actually thinking of others that are handicap and are in wheelchairs. You will find in the prescott area there's not a lot of places that offer wheelchair access. We ordered our drinks, our food. Told the waiter we will like chips and salsa to go and we needed the bill divided up. When we got the bill he stated i did the math and divided it on the back for you. Told each one of us what our bill was. Well one person was charged $26 dollars for her food and drink. Which is typical for one. I got my bill it was $66 for 4 drinks two which were kid drinks and my main entree, one entree for the kids to share off the kids menu. Because we parents know two plates for kids 5 and under is to much food and most will be wasted. Then the last check was for $98 dollars which included two drinks, a main entree and two things of chips and a container of salsa to go. The chips and salsa alone were $50 dollars!! i'm sorry that's ridiculous! I've also noticed two other tables in the smaller area of the restaurant really question their changes as well as us. But they just paid and left ans mentioned they probably wouldn't return. If there was three of us in there questioning the bill that was given could you imagine how many others have not returned due to this issue of charges on the bill. I highly would look into your charges when you receive your bill from this restaurant. We spoke to the guy manager who was cashing us out with our checks. He was getting really rude and mad at us. Keep telling us to take pictures of the receipt and to post them on social media that he didn't care! We had other customers waiting to pay and seen the way this manager was treating us because we were questioning their prices. Definitely would not recommend this...

Nice family style atmosphere. Service was nice and fast but it was 2pm and only a few other patrons were there. It was a little pricey for the style of restaurant/taste of food compared to other Mexican food restaurants.

The chips were what you find in most places. The salsa was very good. Sometimes in a Mexican restaurant you get a thin, blended salsa, sometimes a chunky salsa. This was a perfect mix of both a blended salsa with some chunks thrown in so you got as perfectly filled chip with both. I had a blended strawberry margarita. I'm a light weight but this one seemed slightly weak even for me. That being said the taste was great.

Wife and I shared nachos, chile relleno, and a bean and cheese burrito with beef added. The nachos were good. Very simple. Beans, meat, cheese and chips. The beans were excellent. Wish there was a little more cheese. Then again I wish there was more of anything: jalapenos, olives, maybe some tomatoes. But for simple nachos, they were good.

Chile relleno is my wife's favorite... Maybe second favorite behind nachos. This one was covered in green sauce. She said it was excellent. I'll take her word for it. I thought it was very good for a Mexican dish without meat, but then again I'm more of a meat guy.

The burrito was enchilada style. Only took a few bites before getting a box but brought it back to hotel to eat later. I wouldn't have done that unless it was tasty enough to do so.

Will...