I had been battling a terrible cold since Thanksgiving but at some point I had to leave the house and mingle with humanity. Unfortunately, one of the side effects of having my cold was a persistent cough and lack of taste buds. That made for eating out not really the most fun thing to do but I still met up with Lav since we would be leaving for the holidays soon and I couldn't be sitting at home in my rob anymore.
Casa Neta is much more of a mezcal bar than a restaurant. In fact, the night we were there, someone had rented out the entire bar section for a holiday party but the rest of the restaurant was open and we got to watch people filter in and out of the party. They try to give off a whole day of the dead vibe, which I normally like here but it was trying a bit too hard. The menu is what you would expect from a place like this: mostly tacos, quesadilla, and chips and guacamole. We started with the chips and guacamole/salsa ($17), the queso fundido without chorizo ($14) and I got the fish tacos ($12) while Lav got the casa salad ($12).
The chips and guacamole and salsa was nothing really special - very typical starter. It was a bit shocking that they charge $5 for the salsa - it seems like that's the kind of thing that should be free at a Mexican restaurant. To me, it's like the starter bread you get a Italian places. The queso fundido was a mix of manchego, oaxaca and poblano - my issue with most queso is that if not eaten right away, it gets super gelatinous and gross. We were toggling between that and the guacamole and my margarita, so it was a bit hard to not let it cool off a bit. Maybe it was because I didn't have my taste buds going on full blast but I thought this dish could have used more seasoning and heat. Perhaps that is what the chorizo would have brought but the dish still shouldn't suffer too much without it. The fish tacos were the version I usually like: beer battered with aioli. It wasn't a terrible dish but again, it felt like it was missing something. Compared to the one I had in Sonoma, it definitely fell short. Lav's salad honestly looked like a giant plate of lettuce, although it had black beans, roasted corn, radish, onion, tomato, avocado, cilantro and a lime vinaigrette but none of those ingredients really bring out the best in a salad. We ended the night with the churros bowl ($8) which was sweet and tasty although probably a bit gimmick-y - we would have done just fine with regular churros.
I'm not sure if my sickness and lack of taste buds had much to do with my experience there (I'm sure it did). But the general feeling here was that it felt a bit like a meh Murray Hill hangout. It's totally fine in a pinch but I'm honestly not sure how long I see this place lasting in an area like this. Total bill: $53/pp with tax, tip and drink
Photo Credit: Yelp
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