Reviews La Nueva Casita Cafe

My first time in Las Cruces, I was looking for some good local place to eat. I found this place and decided to stop. There was plenty of parking. As soon as i walked in i felt good about this cafe. The dining room was really nice. The best part, besides the food, was our waitress. She was the best and friendliest server I've had in a long time. Thank you!

Menus at Mexican restaurants seem less cluttered here in the Southwest, but definitely not lacking in flavor. I had Tacos Estrellas. The cook's own recipe of seasoned pork and beef, soft corn tortillas with fixin's - cheese, guacamole, sour cream and pico de gallo. Three of those bad boys. I had my choice of refried or whole beans. I went with refried and I got a suggested squash and corn dish rather than rice. Headed through Las Cruces? Stop by.

I had to get my Rio Grande chili fix! I was not disappointed! Green chili enchiladas smothered in a creamy white sauce with liberal diced onions on top. Yum, yum! Service was friendly and prompt. You cannot do better, especially for the price. Best in Las Cruces.

Favorite place ever, by far. Been going since I was a kid. Never disappointed with the service and food. They are the nicest people in the world. �

Food was excellent!!! I had beef tacos, and my other half had green enchiladas. Service was very good as well. Good comfortable atmosphere.

Fantastic place! Authentic Mexican fare, great personable staff. Wonderful food!

I took my daughter for an early birthday lunch. You could smell the chile outside. We had the Fajita Tacos and theY were wonderful. The staff was friendly and service came with a smile. The chips and salsa, horchata and tres leche cake made it worth the visit! We will be back. 😋

While visiting Las Cruces had lunch at La Nueva Casita Cafe on New Year’s Day and it was a great start to the New Year. Food was delicious and the staff was great.

My wife ordered a Chimi and they presentation was awesome. (See photo). If I’m ever in the area again, I’ll definitely return.

CASUAL, UNPRETENTIOUS PLACE TO DINE WITH VERY GOOD NEW MEX CUISINE

For the total dining experience La Nueva Casita is ranked number six (6) out of over sixty Mexican restaurants in the Las Cruces area.  Located in the Old Mesquite District just east of the downtown area the restaurant is bright and clean inside with heavy wood furniture and sort of a rustic look to it. Nothing fancy, it is just fine for casual dining. La Nueva Casita Cafe is well regarded for its friendly and helpful staff. The service is always efficient and pleasant. I find this a relaxing and pleasant place for a meal.

The menu is essentially New Mex cuisine: rolled enchiladas, smothered burritos, chile rellenos, tacos and flautas. They do offer menudo on weekends. They also offer horchata. The menu is not as extensive or creative as some but they offer most of the basics. The prices are some of the best around; the food is always well worth the money.

Unlike some places La Nueva Casita is always willing to work with you making adjustments to the way your meal is prepared. The customer always comes first in this restaurant. 

The chips arrive in a little metal bucket and they are firm and very good. The salsa is quite good with a little heat. It has won awards in the past. 

The smothered chile con carne burritos, both green and red, are among the best, the fideo cup you can get if you don't want refried beans is a good option, the calabacitas (yellow squash, zucchini, corn, and onion) is delicious. The guacamole is good but not outstanding. Their omelettes are good but I do not care for the hash browns. Their TACOS ESTRELLAS come in three soft tortillas filled with a deliciously seasoned combination of shredded pork and beef. The meat has a nice char on it. The chile rellenos are quite good and the chimichangas filled with chile meat are good as well. 

What you can expect if you go: A casual, comfortable, rustic kind of dining area with very friendly and efficient service, and great prices. The food is high quality New Mexico cuisine across the board. The heat level can be high. The food at La Nueva Casita is often better than places rated higher because of atmosphere and ambiance. 

MEXICAN FOOD RATING = FOURTH BEST IN TOWN....ONE OF THE BEST.

Restaurant rating = FOUR-AND-A-HALF STARS......meaning good to excellent.

Nice staff, pretty good food. We ate here for lunch the other day and enjoyed it. I had huevos rancheros and my girlfriend had chili rellenos. The red chili sauce that we got was delicious but the green tasted watery. Pretty good food, very friendly staff, nice atmosphere.

Looking for a hole in the wall? Here it is....literally. There was a bullet hole in window. But, don't let that stop you. The food was actually tasty. They may need to use less garlic in their salsa. The staff was so friendly. I ordered the combination plate and it came out to be great.

GREAT food and fantastic service!
Tacos Estrellas are awesome (shredded beef and pork - slightly charred). Salsa and calavacitas are both perfect.

Wonderful!. A friend and I came here for lunch a couple weeks ago when I was in town. He raved about the chile relleno omelete and I obliged. When we came in we were a bit confused about whether or not to seat ourselves or if we were supposed to wait for a hostess, which was a bit frustrating. Once we were finally settled though, it was smooth sailing. My friend ordered the chile relleno omelete and I opted for a green chile chicken enchilada plate. The food was reasonably priced and came out relatively quickly, which is good for those in a hurry to get back to work. The portions were large and the food was delicious.

My one complaint was that the service was spotty, and it seemed that they were a bit understaffed for a lunch shift. I know it's possible for two servers to take the entire restaurant comfortably, but the servers were not strong/fast enough to handle it. Otherwise though, the food was delicious and we were beyond pleased. This is a great little place and I recommend it for sure.

This place is GREAT! The only Mexican food I like is my parents cooking. I am from Mexico and dislike 99% of Mexican restaurants in general, tolerate them at best. Nueva Casita is truly authentic, and takes me back to my grandmas house in Mexico. I will definitely be eating here again and again. Highly recommended.

CASUAL, FRIENDLY, RELAXING PLACE TO DINE WITH GOOD FOOD. 
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LA NUEVA CASITA IS RANKED NUMBER SIX (6) OUT OF ALMOST SIXTY MEXICAN FOOD RESTAURANTS IN THE AREA ON THE 2017 MR. SENSITIVE LIST OF THE BEST MEXICAN RESTAURANTS WHEN CONSIDERING THE TOTAL DINING EXPERIENCE. 

OCTOBER 2017 UPDATE.......while dining at La Nueva Casita I discovered that the wonderful and charming YOLANDA SALAZAR is back. Yolanda is one of those beautiful people in the world that on rare occasions cross your path. It is so nice that she has returned to the family business. It was great seeing her again and I look forward to speaking with her in the future....always a delightful experience. 

Relleno Plate and Green Chile Burrito Banado excellent as usual. Lots of green chile in there; not always the case in other restaurants.  

BOTTOM LINE: WILL I RETURN TO DINE?  OF COURSE. I'M A REGULAR.

Updated....August 2017: Had their taco salad. It was a lot different than the taco salads you get around the country in that it was mostly greens with a little unflavored ground beef and a smidgen of cheese. It did have a spot of sour cream and guacamole. They asked me if I wanted ranch or italian dressing???? Say what? This is not exactly a Mexican meal. If you want a lot of greens I would suggest that you order a regular type salad. The tostada shell was pretty good....light and crispy. But the meat was somewhat sad....flavorless. I had to pour my salsa that came with the chips over it to make it palatable. I would never order a taco salad again in La Nueva Casita. Rate it a "C" at best.  But.....this is not typical of the food served here. 

Updated April 2017......Mr. Sensitive stopped in and ordered the CHICKEN FAJITA TACOS. The service was friendly as usual, the atmosphere just fine, and the food was prepared within ten to twelve minutes. The chips and salsa were good as always. The rice was the usual for around here. The refried beans were just so-so.....no whole beans in there and just average in flavor. The chicken tacos had a lot of flavor and no overdose of cumin as with the fajitas in some restaurants. The chicken was tender and delicious.....although the pieces were on the small side. The grilled onions were sweet and very flavorful. Slices of green pepper were there too. The three tacos were served on flour tortillas. A little sour cream and some guacamole were on the side of the plate along with a little chopped lettuce and tomato.  Some sprigs of cilantro were there as well. The guac was ok....but nothing special. Overall, these were good tacos. Rate them between a B+ and A-. The meal overall rates a B+....meaning very good. A nice dish for $9.00! 

Updated to FEBRUARY 2017...........

Mr. Sensitive stopped in for breakfast in February 2017. Had the "VEGGIE OMELETTE."  The omelette  was upper echelon....(A-), the hashbrowns not bad (B) and surprisingly the wheat toast was good....must have been the butter they used???  Overall, a nice breakfast at a really good price. Service as always was very good. 
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***LA NUEVA CASITA IS RANKED NUMBER SIX (6) OUT OF OVER SIXTY MEXICAN RESTAURANTS IN LAS CRUCES ON THE 2016 MR. SENSITIVE LIST OF THE BEST MEXICAN FOOD RESTAURANTS.

September 2016.......must have hit it just right as the green chile crop was picked. The rellenos with green chile sauce were absolutely delicious.....rate them an "A-"......and the green chile meat banado was great. High on the heat and wonderful flavor. Rate it an "A-."  Borracho beans were very good also as was the salsa (rate it an A-). Salsa ws pretty high up on the heat scale. Great meal.  

January 2016....Mr. Sensitive stopped in and ordered two chile meat burritos.....banado style or smothered....one red and one green. The green chile burrito was filled with delicious beef cubes and plenty of pieces of green chile. This was a very good classic New Mex burrito. Rate it an A-. Excellent. The red chile con carne burrito was equally as good. Tender cubes of pork and no fillers. Excellent. Rate it also an A-. Well done La Nueva Casita. 

The service was pleasant and efficient as usual. B+.  The food, despite the fact that they were pretty busy, was out of the kitchen in good time. The chips and salsa were very good as always. 

June 2014....stopped in for lunch. The chips and salsa were excellent as usual. The salsa was thicker than it usually is in this restaurant but it was delicious. Just the right amount of heat. Rate it an A-. The fideos were very good. Rate them a B to B+. The calabacitas (squash, zucchini, corn, onion) were exceptional. Really terrific flavor. Rate this dish an "A." The tacos estrellas were excellent as usual. Rate them an A-. The guacamole on the side of the taco plate was good but not exceptional. Rate it a B. The green chile con carne burrito was very good....big chunks of beef and lots of green chile pieces. Rate it a B+.
In December 2013 I dropped in for breakfast and ordered their green chile omelette and a breakfast burrito. The omelette came with hash browns and wheat toast. The omelette was prepared well, but I was not crazy about the green sauce over it. Overall, this was a "B" omelette....pretty good but not outstanding. The hash browns were right out of a bag and were not cooked sufficiently....nothing brown about them and the taste was off. Rate them a C-....probably the first sub-par food I have had in this restaurant. The wheat toast was just ok. The burrito came with scrambled egg, potato chunks, and chorizo. It was fairly good but the potato was not seasoned sufficiently and the flavor of the chorizo was just ok.....not great. Rate the breakfast burrito this day a B. I also felt that their salsa this day was a little weak on flavor....not as good as on previous occasions. They need to regain their conscientiousness back there in the kitchen. Maybe I just caught them on an off day???

Now to the main body of the review:

La Nueva Casita in the Mesquite Historic District is a little unpretentious place serving very good sandwiches (Burgers, Chicken, etc) and upper level New Mexico cuisine. 
This little restaurant is casual but still quite a nice place to dine. It is just right for a VERY RELAXING DINING EXPERIENCE. But, IF YOU ARE LOOKING FOR SOMETHING REALLY "SPIFFY" YOU WON'T FIND IT HERE. BUT, IF YOU WANT TO ENJOY A RELAXED NEW MEXICAN ATMOSPHERE THIS IS YOUR PLACE.  Rate this restaurant a B on the ambiance scale. So, if you are into fancy dining and great ambiance you may want to go somewhere else. Want friendly service, great prices, and good New Mex food.....check it out.

The menu is a little narrow, but what they cook they do a good job of. THE PRICES ARE VERY REASONABLE....SOME OF THE BEST IN TOWN FOR THIS QUALITY OF FOOD. The salsa served here is one of the best around. ***It was the winner at the 2010 Salsa Fest. *** Mr. Sensitive would rank this salsa in the top five (5) in the area. Good stuff!

I have also found that the La Nueva Casita is usually more than willing to alter the preparation of dishes to accommodate your taste. And, in some cases, they will prepare dishes that are not on the menu. For example: You might try asking them if they will prepare their "Chicken Mesilla." They sometimes offer this dish as a daily special, but often have the chicken breasts on hand. This dish is comprised of a deliciously seasoned breast covered by flavorful green chile sauce and melted cheese. It is usually served with charro beans and rice. Good stuff! The old adage, "the customer always comes first" is more than a slogan here. than refried beans should you desire. 

The chips are very good and the salsa, of course, one of the best around with a higher than the usual heat content.

THE TACOS ESTRELLAS I HIGHLY RECOMMEND. I BELIEVE THAT WHEN THEY ARE ON TOP OF THEIR GAME THIS IS ONE OF THE THREE OR FOUR BEST TACO PLATES IN TOWN.

The TACOS ESTRELLAS come on three soft tortillas which are filled with a deliciously seasoned combination of pork and beef. The meat has a nice little char on it which makes it slightly crispy. Delicious. They are served with little sides of guacamole and sour cream should you want to include them. Rate this meal an A-. (On one occasion, however, I had them served to me a little dry and over cooked.)

The combination plates are very good and the burritos banados are huge and super good. The burritos contain no fillers....they are all meat.

THE RED AND GREEN CHILE CON CARNE BATHED BURRITOS (NEW MEX CLASSICS!) ARE SOME OF THE BETTER BURRITOS IN LAS CRUCES...MUCHO FLAVOR AND GOOD HEAT!. Rate them an A-.

The chile rellenos are VERY GOOD. They are.grilled and not fried as another reviewer mentioned. I do prefer them with green chile sauce over them. Rate these rellenos AN "A" when they are on top of their game.
The burgers and fries I have found are not great....sort of run-of-the-mill. I would encourage you to go Mexican.

Also, if you are into that traditional staple menudo, they serve it on weekends and caldo de res daily. THE MENUDO AT LA NUEVA CASITA IS ESPECIALLY GOOD! And, as a change up you might want to try their "green chile posole." Good flavor and loaded with hominy and pork.
La Nueva Casita also has a nice assortment of salads for those not into the spicier New Mexican dishes.

Rate the food served at La Nueva Casita mostly in the B to B+ range with some in the A or A- range. Generally good stuff. But over the years I have noticed a consistency problem. Maybe that is because I dine there so often. While this may not be your first destination for a special occasion, I can recommend La Nueva Casita for a nice, casual little lunch or dinner of New Mex/Mexican food.

Rate this café overall FOUR-AND-A-QUARTER STARS.....meaning very good.  Ambiance....."B" service......solid B......maybe higher.....always efficient and pleasant; Food.....B+ across the board...SOMETIMES REACHING THE RAREFIED AIR OF THE "A" REALM. .

BOTTOM LINE: WILL I RETURN TO DINE HERE? YES, AND I DO OFTEN.

Fantastic Chili Relleno. This place has the best Chili Relleno in Southern New Mexico. Instead of frying the Relleno, they grill it. Fantastic food and very friendly staff!!!