Description: The Restaurant Casa Inn is in the Hotel Tulijá, just past the main entrance. It has soaring ceilings, dark wood paneling and stonewalls, and a beautiful little wooden bar in one corner. There is seating for about 60 people.
We had checked into the hotel late in the evening. We were hungry and tired so we decided to try this place. We seated ourselves while the hostess and waiter played footsies. He eventually came over with the menu and took our drink orders. After a lengthy wait our drinks were delivered, and were wrong. We tried again. The hostess left and the service improved greatly. The right drinks were delivered.
We were so hungry we couldn’t decide what to order. There was just too much to choose from. There were some appetizers, six kinds of soup, four chicken dishes, ten beef entrees, and a slew of "lighter fare" ranging from burgers and sandwiches to enchiladas and tacos. We narrowed it down and then asked for suggestions from the waiter. He was very helpful.
I started with the mixed vegetable salad. It was very fresh lettuce, tomato, cucumber, bell pepper and shredded carrots topped by funky gray colored canned peas. Once I picked off the offensive pellets, it was quite tasty.
For my main dish, I ordered the Tampiqueña. It was a thin steak, very tender, served with rice, refried beans, chicken taquitos, avocado and tomato salad, and fried bananas. This was all topped by sautéed onions, bell peppers, and putrid little canned peas. This too was good once I plucked the nasty little things off.
Libby ordered the carne asada, which though it looked just like my meat, was, unfortunately very tough, very very tough. It was served with beans and salad.
For dessert, Libby ordered the fried bananas. They came with cream and honey. Of course, they were good. How bad can that combination be?
The prices aren’t bad. Chicken dishes cost 49 pesos; beef dishes run around 60 pesos; hamburgers, sandwiches and Mexican antojitos cost about 40 pesos. The service had improved during our meal and in the end, we were quite pleased with our waiter. Some of the food was good and some was not. I would not recommend coming here from somewhere else but if you’re stuck in the hotel its definitely better than going hungry. Be sure to ask for no peas; "Sin chicharos por favor".
The Casa Inn Restaurant is open for all three meals. It accepts Visa, MasterCard and American Express. To get here from downtown go to the highway and head toward Villahermosa for just one or two blocks. The hotel is in the right.
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