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Casa Valencia (Closed) (Mexican cuisine)  $$

 7.5
JaT Rating

14101 Winchester Blvd, Los Gatos, 95030  (Directions)


408.871.0565


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Homestyle mexican restaurant and cantina.


Reviewer: Jason
Total Reviews: 1040
Reviewed: 5/5/2006
Rating: 7.5
My photo gallery 		After coming off a 2 week vacation from mexican food and Cinco de Mayo being celebrated today, I had high expectations from Casa Valencia in Los Gatos. One of my coworkers Sean D. had expressed nothing but kind words of Casa Valencia so jatbar had to make a visit. Fridays and festive days normally spell long waits for most restaurants but jatbar came prepared and arrived waaaaaayyy early....almost too early. We were one of the 1st people there.

The hostess quickly sat us down at one of the booths and within minutes, chips and salsa was brought out followed by menus. With festive decorations, large murals, I just wanted to shout out VIVA MEXICO and 1 Pacifico please.

I had trouble deciding on the carnitas or carne asada plate and asked for a recommendation from the waiter. I told him I like my carnitas crunchy so he suggested to get the carne asada. The plate comes with 2 generous portions of meat, 2 tortillas, beans, rice, lettuce, and guacamole for $11.25.

carne asada - lightly marinated and cooked over a flat grill. Not too heavy on the seasonings, a bit on the oily side, and topped off with grilled onions. Meat had some gristle here and there but just take your knife and cut the chewy sucker out. 2 thin cut steaks were a good size which had me taking 1 of the pieces home. Overall, I thought the meat was pretty good. The meat could have been marinated longer to ease off on the chewing exercises. For flat grill cooking, I think they could have gone with more seasonings.

tortillas - I need to stop ordering flour tortillas especially when eating it with carne asada. todays flour tortillas were boring and had no fatty pancake syndrome. just ok, nothing special.

beans - cheese, runny, semi-melting effect, just the way I like them

rice - some fluff to it and heavy on the oil. pretty good.

chips and salsa - chips weren't warmed but much better than most chips you get at taqueria joints. Salsa was very good with a good mix of tomato based sauce and light on the heat.

It was a good lunch today considering I'm a picky bastard when it comes to my mexican food. The carne asada plate was large and only had room for half the plate in my stomach. At $11.25, it's fairly reasonable but my complaint is geared towards the $4.50 beer. Holy guacamole, that is expensive, 2 beers for $9, wtf. Even with the high beer prices, I'd come back if I was in the area. Sean tells me the time to visit is dinnertime when the mariachi rolls around. He says the restaurant comes alive making it a fun time to enjoy Cadillac Margaritas and mexican cooking.
 


Reviewer: Terry
Total Reviews: 739
Reviewed: 5/5/2006
Rating: 7.5
My photo gallery 		Today is Cinco de Mayo, so had to hit up a mexican place for lunch. A quick scan of the wishlist found Casa Valencia. We arrive early to beat any rush and are one of the first people in the place.

As soon as we sit down, chips and salsa are brought out. Chips are a little stale and tough, but the salsa is a winner. Not too spicy, but very flavorful, and not just chunky tomatoes. Good stuff.

I look over the menu and prices seem to be in the 9-11 dollar range for the dishes. I choose my benchmark two item combination plate - 2 cheese enchiladas. It was accompanied by rice and beans.

Everything was much better than the items I had the other day at Cabritos. Still, the refried beans tasted a little runny, the rice was just OK. The sauce however was tasty. The cheese enchiladas were well made but a little tough. They probably could have been heated a little more. They were still quite tasty however. I had no problems polishing them off.

I would definitely return here and get the same dish I had. Compared to powerhouses like La Casita in Fremont however, they fall a little short. Service was attentive on this busy day (the place filled up quickly after we arrived) and very friendly.

Bottle of Pacifico.... $4.50. Ouch.
 
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