La Casa Restaurant and Bar — Restaurant in Sonoma

Came with the family (8 of us) to the Napa Valley to enjoy the scenery, wine tasting, and celebrate the matriarch's birthday. Ended up in Sonoma for dinner and we selected La Casa.

The Good: The inside is pretty cozy with some Mexican decore and we were seated pretty quickly. Average price of entries around $20 which seems reasonable for the location area

Average: The food. We ordered chips, salsa, and guacamole for appetizers, as you don't get any complimentary items. The chips were ok, but did not taste like they were made in house. The salsa was average although it did have a nice kick at the end. The guacamole also didn't stand out. Too plain as far as flavor. We ordered Chicken fajitas, Chile Verde (carnitas), Chile Relleno, Sope, Chicken enchilada and 2 chicken tortilla soups. The portions were decent. The fajitas were ok, just not a lot of flavor. Chile rellenos were a tiny bit undercooked and that will make all the difference if you know anything about that dish. Sope, Enchilada and tortilla soups were ok, just nothing that would make me want to come back... The beans and rice did have a good flavor to them, but you didn't get as big as portion as expected and we had to order and extra side.

The BAD: The service and The Chile Verde plate. My plate included 6-8 pieces of just fat, no meat. The amount of salsa verde on it was also rather minimal. Although you can expect a small amount of of fat on the carnitas, getting entire pieces of pure fat is not acceptable. I do not enjoy biting into unchewable fat multiple times and this ruined the dish. I brought it up to our waitress and her quote was "I'll let the cook know"??????? She didn't offer to replace the portion (about 1/4 of the "meat"). she didn't offer any type of resolution. She completely ignored the fact I had just shown her a plate that was unacceptable. There was more "meat" than Chile verde sauce. That should tell you how little there was. They add a 18% gratuity to parties of 6 or more. I did not brought it up to the manager because honestly, I shouldn't have to. I was there with family and I didn't want them to leave with a negative experience. I'm sorry, I didn't not want to include pics of the Chile verde plate with those nasty fat chunks.

Summary: Although this place had great ratings, It did NOT meet our expectations. Would we go back? I can't think of a single reason why. Not the food, not the service, not the price.... 3 stars was generous because I try to be as fair as possible. 2.5 would have been ideal. If you do decide to go to La Casa, go with low expectations. That way you won't be disappointed. Our total bill was close to $200 for the 8 of us. 4 of us shared 2 plates and the other 4 had their own entrees. We had 4...

FYI: This place is full of homophobes.

I decided to come to Sonoma for a pleasant time out and I absolutely had one. A lovely day riding bikes and hanging out with friends. This was until we went to La Casa (121 E Spain St, Sonoma CA) Everything seemed fine until the end of our meal when we were told by the manager, Passan, that we were not allowed to be "like that" at their restaurant. I asked what "like that" meant... to which he suggested that we, as two women, were not allowed to be affectionate towards one another in their restaurant. I wanted to make sure that I was clear about what he was saying so I specifically asked if it was something that would've been okay with if we were a straight couple, to which he responded that it would. He wasn't shy about his homophobia. At all. I'm talking about putting my arm around my girlfriend and giving her a kiss on the lips. Not making out, not anything else. Another employee, Dionicio, took it upon himself to get involved in the situation and further tell me about how there were children in the restaurant and that our behavior was not okay. Just to be clear, this shouldn't be okay ANYWHERE, but we are an hour away from San Francisco... big gay San Francisco. Like, seriously? I urge anyone who stands for equal rights for all human beings to boycott this restaurant and their antiquated, close...

La Casa has been a long time favorite of Sonomans since the 1960s.

Tex-Mex style cuisine with a festive interior, bar and lounge, dining room and large patio.

I can't count how many special celebrations - birthdays, showers, rehearsal dinners, parties and more - I've attended and witnessed at La Casa.

My favorite margarita is the Coatrack, a type of skinny margarita. They also have great blended margaritas. I also enjoy their Mexican Mules and they make the best Micheladas on the Plaza.

My favorite dishes at La Casa are the chicken fajitas and the burrito bowls. I have a burrito bowl (usually chicken and black beans) at least once a week.

Also, complimentary chips and salsa. The chips are pretty basic (I add a bit of salt), but, they are fresh made daily. Their salsa is great and I also get an order of their secret habanero salsa that is AWESOME and HELLA spicy.

They also have a wonderful happy hour with tacos, poppers, and all kinds of morsels on it. Drinks, too.

Vegans and vegetarians can find lots of option here. My vegetarian friends love the avocado and mushroom "relleno."

Reservations highly advised on the weekends...