Casa del Rey — Restaurant in Sioux Falls Township

On December 23rd, my wife and I decided to go to the Sunday Brunch at Casa Del Rey. The booth in which we were seated was right next to that of a couple that were speaking quite loudly. Of course, when one goes to a restaurant, one must expect loud conversations and noisy atmosphere. My wife and I dine out quite a bit and have no problems whatsoever with this. However, this couple was speaking so loudly that I couldn't hear my wife across our own table. Their conversation was earning them stern looks from others in our immediate area. After quite some time, my wife said something that I just couldn't make out, so I leaned aside and said, in the most polite way I could, "I'm sorry, sir. Could you please tone down a bit so I can hear what my wife said to me?" He stopped talking in mid sentence and apologized. We though no more of it.

About five minutes later, the couple got up, walked away, and we had assumed they had left. A few minutes later, they both came back, sat down, and were followed by our mutual waitress, who quickly scooped up their drinks and plates and moved them to another table some distance away. While walking away, we could hear her speaking to the loud couple with statements that included "I'm so sorry....I know, very rude...Don't worry, it's not your fault.".

We didn't see our waitress stop at our table for fifteen minutes after that, but noticed that she took great strides to avoid our table completely. A young man came to pick up our dirty plates, and I asked, "Where is our waitress?" He looked at me and said, "Who is it?" I asked him to go get her.

When she came to the table, she simply said "More Iced Tea, or is that going to be it for today?" This was my wife's last straw. This situation had already upset her, but now the waitress's uncaring comment and false blame sent her over the edge, and she began sobbing, urging out things like "I've never been treated like this in a restaurant before" and "you have no idea what happened here", all while the waitress continued to make excuses like "this is a restaurant...we have kids running through here that are noisy...you have to expect some noise, etc."

I walked my wife out to the car, then came back to pay and asked for the owner (knowing full well who that is). The man they sent out looked to be a cook. He said "You asked to see me?" Not letting him know that he wasn't the gentleman I asked for, I simple said "I wish to lodge a complaint." The is as far as the conversation went. He interrupted me, saying, "I think it's best if you just call it a day and don't come back."

I said no more, and walked out the door.

So.....I guess he's going to...

Friends and I used to like Casa del Rey quite a bit, so we went out the other night to try Casa under new ownership. We checked the hours before we left, and arrived at approximately 8:45 pm. A little late, but not too late for a quick dinner before going out. We didn't plan on staying and taking up anyone's time past closing. Upon arrival, the open sign was off, but 2 other small parties arrived at the same time and we followed them in to check things out. Inside, we were greeted by a very concerned waitress who wanted all parties to sit on the bar side because they had already started the closing process. We weren't turned away, but it was quite apparant we were making their night difficult. When one party nicely asked if it would be best to leave, we were told it was alright if we stayed, we just needed to sit on the bar side. Upon sitting, we were going to order margaritas, but were then told it would be difficult to make drinks due to the bar already being cleaned and prepped for closing. The waitress was nice, but during all interactions it just felt like we were imposing and not welcome. I understand and respect that employees would like to leave the restaurant as soon as possible after close, but the restaurant is advertised to be open until 10pm. If they were understaffed, I think all parties would have understood and went to a different restaurant if we had just been told upfront. Instead, we just felt unwelcome the whole time.

As far as the food goes, what we were served was the worst food I have ever had at that restaurant in my life. Granted Casa has never been outstanding, but it's been reliably good my entire life. This time, the salsa was.... odd. The refried beans were tasteless, and my ground beef enchilada had absolutely 0 spices on it. Literally just hamburger meat in a mediocre tortilla with some sauce on top.

The experience was very disappointing. I'd argue that vinyl tacos pre packaged, microwaved...

The restaurant was clean and warm. The staff was cheerful. Our server, Alexis, lit up when we told her it was our first time here. We asked for tips, and since she has worked here 10 years, she told us some of the most popular dishes and ones she liked. She then gave us time to look over the menu while she waited on other customers. When she came back, we gave our order. We asked questions about upcharges for queso and discussed me not eating aged cheeses due to health reasons. The enchiladas came out hot and they were delicious. The refried beans had cheddar cheese melted over them, but I pushed it to the side. Next time I will have to remember to have them exclude that. We ordered cheesecake for dessert, but they were out of filling. We opted for the fried ice cream with honey, and it was lovely with a whipped cream top and rosettes on the plate. There was a lot of honey, but it was a mild honey and very pleasant; I hated to see it go to waste. Also, Alexis made sure to tell us dessert would be about 10 minutes as there were food orders on the wheel, and they would come first; It didn't take that long. Overall, great experience, and we are considering the Sunday brunch after...