La Casita Azteca

I want to start with backstory:
–I’m in on the joke about « Unilocalers“in the latest South Park episode
–I only signed up to review this one restaurant bc other people should be warned
–I’ve been a server for ten years which doesn’t make me perfect but gives me an ounce of insight
We were immediately brought chips and salsa to start which I later found out was six dollars. We ordered drinks that came out nearly ten minutes later. We ordered Guac that was the consistency of yogurt, the portion size of something you’d feed a small cat, and the price of a meal ($ 8).it sucked. Then we waited for our soup that we asked for first when it finally came out with the two cold meals that resembled nothing like what we ordered. To make it funnier the server walked away and never brought me a spoon. All in all I saw that dude three times since sitting down.
When the meals were cold we got up to leave and pay for what we had consumed which was something I don’t mind doing but as a courtesy or a saving grace the management should have offered up something, apologized rather than asking for an explanation of why it went wrong and head nodding, or possibly even tried to reassure us in some way. Instead the manager or owner didn’t give a flying f***. She asked me to out the server while he was standing there while I chalked it up to wanting to be satisfied and standing a better chance at home. Very sad experience. Mind you I love all the other restaurants in the area that boast Latin cuisine and love to try new places. I’m from Florida; authenticity wasn’t even the main issue.

I wish I could say that I love this place… but I don’t. The food is bland and seems microwaved as there were some cold spots, and some blazing hot spots in my strange-​tasting tamales. I grew up in an area with an abundance of little family-​owned Mexican restaurants that served delicious, authentic food. I really wanted this to be one of the places that would remind me of home, but unfortunately it did not fit the bill. I did enjoy the live music and the beer, but I don’t think I’ll dine here again.

Gross! The sangria tasted like grape juice, the steak was hard like shoe leather and the pork taco tasted like fish! I wanted to love this place, but it just isn’t good at all!

Good authentic food, but waited over 30 minutes for our food with only one other party in the restaurant, and when it came, my plate was cold.

Outstanding tofu chorizo quesadilla. Want to come again. Authentic food we LOVED IT!!!

We’ve been here several times and have had great food each time. It’s a nice atmosphere — relaxing — lots of parking available. I really enjoy the non tex mex menu — its really been a good experience. We will be returning many times — hoping maybe they can get some New City there — it would be awesome with the food.

Food was phenomenal. The service was terrible, never checked on us, seemed annoyed by our presence, we asked for separate checks she basically said she didn’t want to be bothered with it and made us all right down what we had after we ate? Then she took the list and disappeared for like 20 mins. We almost walked out.

LOVE the food here! The most authentically Mexican
food I have tried in the valley. Fresh as fresh can be
and very generous portions.

Really keep trying to like this place but can’t. The food is largely authentic, which I appreciate. The service is horrible. Long waits and staff that doesn’t even know the menu. The food ranges from decent/​good to cold crap. Bummer really. Cute inside and clean. Nice outside area too.

Probably the worst Mexican place in western mass. I don’t set an extremely high standard but when you put the word «authentic» in front of the kind of food you serve, I’m gonna expect it. I’d suggest veracruzana, mi tierra, or el comalito. They’re all located less than 15 minutes away in amherst, noho, and south hadley. If you don’t mind the drive, it’ll be worth it. I really wanted to like this place but the food tasted days old, the service was slow and lagging attention, and the prices were too high for the quality.

Amazing food. The waitress was really nice to my kids. The service was very slow. However it was a beautiful Friday night and they did get crowded. so I will try again on a less busy night.

What a wonderful experience! From the appetizer to dessert, the food was amazing. The guacamole and chips were a delightful beginning; it was prepared «chunky style» which provided some additional interest. The Chile En Nogada entrée was a delicious array of savory and sweet tastes and a variety of textures. The Platanas Fritas for dessert were perfectly fried and topped with a rich goat milk caramel sauce. The outdoor seating gave the meal a very pleasant ambiance. The service was properly attentive.
I highly recommend this establishment and will return soon to further explore the menu!

While staying with a friend in town we had a few days to visit the local eats places and these were my experiences…
I don’t know how this place gets some of the stellar reviews it gets … that was not our experience.
First we could hear the microwave door being open/​closed in the back. the quality fo the food, heat temp. etc. showed it had been nuked. thumbs down on that.
the re-​fried beans were so salty they were not edible. The enchiladas we got were a «hot mess» and other than being hot as in spicy were not happening for either of us.
I found it annoying to pay for chips/​salsa that wasn’t very fresh.
The waiter went MIA and we sat waiting and looking for service.
The atmosphere is lovely perhaps it’s a great margarita pit stop but for us the food was thumbs down!

This is without doubt the most authentic Oaxacan food I’ve had in New England. There was a better place in Los Angeles, but that was years ago. Certain reviewers seem to think they know what Mexican food is all about, but I suspect they’ve never been south of the Rio Grande. TexMex is not Mex. Not only that, Oaxaca is different from most of the Mexican food I have experienced, yes in Mexico (I’ve spent some time trying to learn Spanish there via intensive home-​stays. With mixed results. My brain seems to have stopped learning when I graduated college.)
I won’t go into the outdoor patio, which must be incredible when it’s warm, because we were there in frigid early March. i won’t go into the service issues, because people have beaten that dead horse already, and it’s clear these same beaters have never been to Latin America — where service is traditionally and proudly on the friendly mañana model. Do you really need to bring your psychotic American phone-​watching-​how-​long-​have-​we-​been-​sitting here ideology everywhere you go? Relax, people. If you’re in a hurry, go to Taco Bell. In Mexico, if you are out to dinner it is assumed you will be there for a couple of hours at least, because it’s an event.
First, the mole was wonderful. Brought back memories of sitting in plastic chairs in someone’s back yard that they called a restaurant near Playa Zipolite. Someone’s la nana had been cooking it for 24 hours, and La Casa Azteca’s mole comes close. Second, the Tinga Polbana. Just sit there and inhale the aromas for a few minutes.
Finally, the prices. Most everything is $ 11 or less. I love this place. Remember to RELAX, EXPLORE, AND NOT BE IN A HURRY FOR ONCE IN YOUR BUSY LIFE!

Big points for being authentic food. I love the Tinga Poblana, a spicy shredded pork dish. The hot salsa they make Is very good as well. Unfortunately some dishes are just so-​so. I found the Mole cloying; the tacos and burritos haven’t impressed me. The front patio however is big and inviting and great on a warm day. If you head there on Cinco de Mayo or Dia de Los Muertos they will have music and dancers outside and it’s a real treat. It’s a cheery vibe inside and out.
They lose points for consistently bad service. Not that they’re rude or surly or uncaring, they just seem untrained and incapable of the multitasking good wait staff need to have. It feels like many restaurants that are run by cooks without the front of house counterpart to host properly and train the waiters. If they nailed this I’d add a star, even with the food issues mentioned above. It’s just frustrating how long it takes for each step and then they don’t pace your courses at all. It would be nice to see a liquor license but the usual Mexican beers are here, even a Michelada offering. Their sangria is way too sweet for my tastes.
In case you’re wondering, I’ll take this food over Mi Tierra, but neither even approach Sarape’s in Enfield. The places in Northampton aren’t worth mentioning at all. All that said, it’s nice to have La Casita Azteca right on the strip in Easthampton.

This was our first time after hearing good things about this restaurant. We arrived fairly early on a Friday evening. There were only around 4 tables with customers and one waitstaff.
The waiter was rather unwelcoming and unfriendly, but somewhat did his job for the most part. The food was really delicious (which is why I gave three stars and not two.).
Our waiter began forgetting about us completely after food arrived. We ended up having to wave him down for the bill; and even after that, had to go to the counter to ask to pay.
It’s too bad that poor service left a bad taste in our mouths, when the food was so good.

The review an here are COMPLETELY misleading! This restaurant makes me miss living in the area.
REAL authentic Mexican food. Everything is absolutely delicious and the owner is very friendly and professional.
My fiancé and I went there for an easy dinner but ended up having a very romantic experience when we realized there was live Spanish guitar playing in the background.
Overall awesome experience every time and I still crave it enough to take the trip to Easthampton to go here!

One star only because they have outside sitting otherwise what a disgrace!
How hard is it to make a fair taco? If you can not warm the tortillas correctly there is not much hope left. In both our orders of fish (bland) and al-​pastor (their own invention that only resembles the real thing because of the pineapple) the tortillas were microwaved or steamed so that they couldn’t even hold the filling.
The service was poor and slow too and, totally over priced. The town needs a Mexican restaurant otherwise just go to Northampton for nothing extraordinary but at least fair, the tortillas are heated in a comal.

I’ve been to this place a number of times before but admittedly it has been at least a year since I’ve been back and tonight was that time.
The dish I had was the Mexican steak and my partner had the chicken mole’ platter. Both dishes for this area were fairly pricey at $ 13 each. Oh and the menu was kind of vague where it described the main course of each meal but did not say what came with it in this case rice and beans. Our order arrived within 10 minutes. The food seemed fresh enough, but didn’t seem to be exactly piping hot. And the portion sizes especially on the rice and beans were barely a standard size portion. The refried beans were rather thin. However the salsa on the steak wasn’t half bad.
The chicken mole and my partner had was so flat I almost thought that it was pork instead of chicken.
It’s a pity this little place kind of cozy looking well decorated seems to try very hard but never quite gets there. I’ve never seen the same staff here twice so perhaps that is part of the issue.
I sure miss Mi Tiera. :-(

Went here on a nice warm summer Saturday night. We were told they don’t take reservations so we got there an hour early because we wanted to secure a large table in their grassy outdoor dining area.
Imagine our surprise when the place was practically dead by 7. It was a bit busier in the 5 – 7 dinner hours, but then again, that whole weekend was weird with how little people we saw out so I don’t know if this is a typical Saturday night or if it was just a blip on the radar.
The food was quite good. The prices reasonable. The sangria comes out in pretty colors in a glass but I don’t think there is any alcohol in them. One of the gals in our group was tiny, said she had two of these here at a previous dinner and she didn’t even get buzzed so you might want to stick to wine or beer here for best bang for your hard-​earned buck.
The service was odd. I didn’t know if the guy we had was trying to be funny, or he was just a jerk. He made a few snide comments, I made a few back, but you know what, I’ll just deduct a star for unprofessional attitude. I like humor, but there’s a fine line that probably shouldn’t be crossed when you’re working.