I went to the Sunday brunch and it was really wonderful. My friends from Mexico City said that they felt like they were back in Mexico. I'm not a huge fan of mariachi bands but they were so good. The selection and quality of food was outstanding. I also met the the owner, Vicente, and he was very attentive and nice. I would recommend this to all my friends.
Review Source:A friend and I went at 1pm. We were seated at a table with four empty tables around us. There was not many people at that time. We ordered drinks and our food. Our drinks came immediately. Ten minutes later, the tables around us began to fill up, our food still had not arrived. 35 minutes later, the four tables around us had been filled and their food had been delivered to their tables. My friend and I still had no food nor had anyone come to tell us the status of our food. We stopped a waiter and said 45 minutes had gone by and still no food. We were told that, "your food is coming out in a moment; we had to make it fresh". Um, hello, was everyone else's food from a box? I don't think so. We told the waiter we had to go back to work and this was unaccpetable. We get the bill and the waiter says, "Oh we removed one entree from your bill". You should have removed both. He gave us our food and we left. Only to arrive back to work with COLD FOOD. Nothing was even warm. NEVER, NEVER, NEVER again. I do not recommend this place. Bad service, wait staff was unattentive, and the manager did not even come out to apologize. Very unprofessional.
Review Source:A lot of mixed reviews for a great little spot. Of course I live within a few blocks so I know what and when to order. As far as the westside goes, this is a great spot. Is it like a mom and pop hole in the wall? No, but you can also have a few margaritas and have great food with some good friends.
Review Source:Had lunch here for the first time today with my boyfriend. And all I can say is meh... you can get tastier (and cheaper) mexican food from a some food trucks throughout the city.
Service: The people are enthusiastic and nice. It's just too bad that their service is not very good. It took forever to get their attention to ask for the check and boxes to pack our food. It also took forever for them to give us water and take our orders. Also, strangely, you can't take a look at the regular menu and the happy hour menu while sitting at your table. You have to choose one at the beginning and stick with it. This can be a bit inconvenient if you're a first timer.
Food: Okay food. I've definitely had better seasoned and more tender meats at other places. Nothing special to rave about, sadly. Good sized portions so you won't be left hungry. The salad is a bit funky- the dressing is some sort of fruity sugar water?
Overall, I wouldn't come back. I know I can get a better quality and tastier food elsewhere so why spend the extra $?
A great place for Mexican food. Use to be Cafe Azul until new ownership. Have been to the Frida's over in Beverly Hills and this place is no comparison. Great staff, great food, great environment. One of my favorite Mexican places to come to. I would recommend coming during happy hour- they have great drinks.
Review Source:I've had Frida a couple times, but have only had experience with take-out, so my review will be mostly based on the food.
Frida, or Casa Azul Cantina (the interchangeable names can be a bit confusing) is a solid Mexican restaurant in Westwood. Â Although prices are a bit high, the food quality is great, and I have not been disappointed.
Some of the meals I've tried:
Fajitas Mixtas (chicken and beef): Â This entree was awesome. Â It was a perfect balance of meat, rice, and guacamole -- and was enough for me to share it with another person.
Tacos de Ribeye: Â These tacos, although small in size, were delicious. Â I can't say I liked these more than the Fajitas Mixtas, but they still got the job done, and the steak was tender and very flavorful.
Ceviche de Cangrejo: Â I don't eat ceviche too often, but I decided to splurge a bit and take on the Ceviche de Cangrejo. Â It was a light, delicious side dish, and went very nicely with the Tacos de Ribeye I previously mentioned.
From my experience picking up the meals, the restaurant was very nicely decorated and clean. Â Service was very prompt, and I was always treated with a high degree of respect.
In the mood for Mexican? Â Try Frida. Â You won't be sorry.
WORST SERVICE EVER.
I have been here three times. I never really believe in judging a place from just one experience so I gave it another chance.
The first time I went there, the food was okay but they were slow.
The second time I went there, they made my friends and I feel completely unwanted. We would still be finishing our food and eating chips and they kept taking everything away when we weren't done with our meal. Once we paid and tipped them, they immediately took the check with the tip even though we hadn't left yet.
The third time I went was THE WORST. Here are the things that made me give them a one start rating:
1) My boyfriend is allergic to onions and garlic and we first asked the hostess before we sat down if there was anything he could have. She just says, "Oh...I don't know" and stares at us. She doesn't even offer to ask anyone. But we still sat down and gave it a try.
2) We then asked our waitress if there was anything that he could have without onions and garlic. She responds with, "Oh, I actually don't know..." Again, she doesn't even offer to ask the chef so we had to ask her to ask.
3) We sat there FOREVER waiting for her to even take our order. We were starving so we filled up on their chips (which were super greasy). When we ran out of chips, it took forever for our waitress to come over. When she finally did, we asked her for more chips. NO CHIPS. Then we ask the bus man if he could track down our server to get more chips. We wait another 20 mins. NO CHIPS. Our waitress comes by about 20 mins after that, and I ask her again. Then she finally brings them about 15 mins later. I kid you not, we waited almost an hour for FREAKING CHIPS.
4) At this point, we have been waiting about two hours for our meal. TWO HOURS. Our waitress really never came by to check on us. We were out of salsa and I asked her for more salsa. NO SALSA. She came back 15 mins later and told us that our food would be out soon. I asked her yet again for more salsa. NO SALSA.
5) Our food came about 2 and 1/2 hours later. Not only did it take so long for our food to come out, but they couldn't even bring us our food at the same time so that we could actually eat with each other. 3 of our friends got their food. Then it took another 7-9 mins for my boyfriend to get his food. Then another 5 mins passed by after that, and I still hadn't gotten my food. We waited another few minutes until my boyfriend actually had to GET UP AND WALK TO THE KITCHEN BECAUSE OUR WAITRESS WAS NOT DOING HER JOB AND CHECKING UP ON US. He literally went to the manager in the kitchen and told him that we had been waiting 20 mins for my plate to come. Then my food finally came out.
6) When we finally had the chance to eat our food, it was not the best. The meat on the tacos was dry and way too salty. The cheese in the quesadilla was dripping in oil and the meat was really fatty.
7) Our waitress never came to check on us or apologize. When we finished our food, I wanted to box my food up to save for later because I had already filled up on chips. OUR WAITRESS NEVER CAME TO CHECK ON US. My boyfriend literally had to pick my plate of food and WALK TO THE KITCHEN HOLDING IT. Even when he walked to the kitchen, none of the waiters thought to ask why he was holding a plate of food. One waiter ran across the restaurant and then we finally got a box.
The manager said he was sorry and said that he would gives us free dessert, but obviously we didn't want it especially since we would probably have to wait another hour for the kitchen to prepare it. My boyfriend told the manager not to worry, that we wouldn't come back. The manager just shrugged and said, "okay" and walked away. He did not even seem the slightest bit sorry.
Obviously the staff and manager doesn't give a crap about how their customers feel. If they keep this kind of service up, this place won't be there for very long.
I've found my new favorite margarita on the West side! And its in WESTWOOD, of all places?!
This review if for their DRINKS / HAPPY HOUR only.
Seriously an underrated happy hour place / bar in Westwood. I came here with a large group of graduate students and they happily accommodated us all.
But lets get straight to the best part. The margaritas have everything I look for: 1) strong, 2) not too sweet, 3) tasty fruit variations that aren't too artificial tasting. To top it all off -- $6 every day all day. Drink a couple of these and you will for sure feel it. I'm sold!
My favorites included the mango and the strawberry margarita. The cadillac margarita is only $1 or $2 more and it is hella strong.
The atmosphere is interesting; you can tell they try to make it more upscale than your average Mexican restaurant. Think dark, colorful fluorescent lighting...kind of like a combination between a restaurant and lounge. I don't see why people don't come here more often; by 10pm on a Friday the place was completely cleared.
They do have a nice patio area, that is quieter than inside. The string lighting adds a nice romantic ambiance, so be sure to ask to sit outside, if you're looking for that kind of thing ;);)
I can't speak to the food, but from what I saw they had a KILLER guacamole. The kind they make in front of you, and which that hungry Asian girl (read: me) sitting next to you proceeds to eye rape the entire time.
I think someone mis-translated "happy hour" in Spanish... Frida boasts "happy hour in the bar all day, every day!" And what does that mean in English? It means crappy food at "happy hour" prices (most expensive happy hour I've ever seen!). I actually like the chips and salsa here, as well as the margaritas. But I've never ordered anything off their "happy hour" menu that seems worth it. I love Mexican food in general, so I'm not sure why I decided to stray from the ethnic fare... Definitely AVOID the chicken strips. I'm sure even microwavable store-bought ones are better. Which is probably what these are...
You've gone down hill, Frida. Ay yay yay :/
Mediocre Mexican food in a pleasant enough setting (though too loud at lunch, the decibel level not commensurate with the white tablecloths).
But my real complaint is with the extraordinary lack of customer-service friendly policies.  I"m avoiding both grains and gluten, and when I asked if my prefeerred dish (which came with rice, beans and tortillas) could instead be served with mixed greens or grilled vegetables, they said, point-blank, "No."  Not  "Yes, no problem."  Not "Yes, but we'll have to charge you $3 extra." Not "I'm afraid we can't do mixed vegetables because we have only a limited quantity, but some mixed greens is no problem."  Not even "I'm so sorry, I know it sounds crazy, but we can't do that because. . ."  Just "No, we can't do that."  Mind you, other dishes DID come with either grilled vegetables or mixed greens, so it's not as if they didn't have that stuff available.  And in case you're wondering, I was ordering a $19 dish from their regular menu, not some bargain lunch special.
Now let's be clear. Â This is not an upscale, chef-driven restaurant where the chef's culinary conception of the dish might plausibly justify a no-substitution policy. Â It's a mediocre Mexican place with pleasant enough, if over-salty and under-seasoned food. Â They can't put a few greens on my plate in place of the rice, beans and tortillas? Â
So I switched my order to one of the handful of options on the menu that did specifically come with greens. Â The chicken was fine, if somewhat bland. Â Alas, the greens which were the source of so much trouble were massively overdressed and soggy. Â So after all that, I left the salad pretty much untouched.
Don't think I'll be returning anytime soon. Â There are so many better options, even in Westwood!
I came here a few times and don't think I'll be back. There are just so many other places for Mexican food on the Westside...
Pros:
Nice colors, visually appealing space
tasty salsa
interesting bar menu
A+ guacamole
Cons:
Food not tasty
Mole not complex or spicy- just chocolate sauce
HIGHLY OVERPRICED
Diablo margarita seems like a great idea, but for $10 I'd prefer to taste some tequila too.
I'm not sure why they changed their name to Frida, or why they have tweaked the menu, since they had a pretty good thing going as it was, but it's still a nice restaurant with good food and strong drinks. Â The-restaurant-formerly-known-as-Casa-Azul has a pretty great happy hour, too. Â My personal favorite is the "Tacos de Rib Eye" entree. Â And their made-to-order guacamole is a must. Â AND, this is the only restaurant in Westwood that I have been able to find that serves true *refried* beans (read: 'made with real lard'), which is an instant plus in my book.
Frida's wait staff is the best in Westwood, and I have only ever had one meal here where the service wasn't absolutely perfect. Â It's nice to have a place like this in a college town that doesn't treat you like a broke college kid -- even if that's exactly what you are!
Pretty good! Frida is fancier, date, work-lunch type of restaurant at the outskirts of Westwood. They seem to have lots of deals, like a brunch buffet, happy hours, all you can drink type of goodies. I came during lunchtime, and split the Ahi Tuna salad and some chicken/salad entree. The chicken seemed a lil tough to cut at first, but then it turned out to be tender and flavorful. The Ahi Tuna salad was ahmahzing. I just wish there was more tuna... But it came with four or five giant chunks of tuna and sesame seed covered avocado, which was a unique touch. The service was attentive, and the salsa that came with the tortilla chips was really good. It is a bit on the pricey side.. probably not a go-to restaurant for a college student.
Review Source:Came here for their Tuesday all day $2 Tacos. Â You must sit in the bar area, not the restaurant area to get this deal (which imo, I think is a little odd). Â Got the taco tasting dish and their carne asada tacos are the best out of the five selections. Â Plus they also give you the complimentary fresh tortilla chips and sauces for the table, and it's pretty good.
Review Source:I came in here twice hoping that the second time would be better.
After telling the bar tender it was my girl friends birthday, I thought he would be more attentive. We waited over 20 minutes at the bar for the bar tender to come greet us. I would understand if the bar was packed but there was only one other patron at the bar. After we ordered our drinks, it took us another 20 minutes to get them because the bartender had to come back and ask us what we ordered.. Two margaritas! is that hard? Our food took even longer to arrive. Â It took over an hour to get our tacos! I was embarrassed that I brought my friend here. Overall the experience was unpleasant and we wont be back. The food was ok but overpriced.
Finally stopped in for lunch yesterday, and had a very good meal with good service. Their approach to cooking is more modern, and not the usual bad/family Mexican food (huge plates of bland enchiladas drowning in cheese that kids and grandmas like). My friend likened it to Border Grill, which has always been a favorite. Maybe not on that level, but I had two pretty good chicken tacos.
I knew I liked them immediately because of the chips and salsa. They served both a fresh tomatillo salsa and a roasted tomatillo salsa instead of standard red, and chips were nicely salted and crisp. Why does that so important? Because if you're like me (and I know you are), you go to Mexican places starving, and snarf at least two bowls of chips before your food ever comes. So the chips and salsa had better be good, because that ends up being the lion's share of your meal!
In addition, I've hear that the margaritas are excellent and there's a good happy hour, so I'll have to go back after work sometime.
So, we came in for their happy hour. Â Let me just say that if you are looking for authentic Mexican food this is the place come in Westwood. Â Their food is not the tacos with cheese and lettuce type of tex mex!
Crazy Monday and their Cadillac Margarita is the way to go!  If you want to try a good taste of what their style has to offer this is what to order ($10 for 5 tacos on HH).  I would not recommend the Chicken tacos.  I did not care for them they had a weird marinade that made the chicken taste almost sweet.  The Steak was also similar but better than the chicken.  The Carnitas and Pastor are the way to go.  The bartender Israel was amazing! Very friendly and accommodating  Gloria (the manager) sat us and came by to make sure we were enjoying everything.  A major plus in my book!
My only and I mean ONLY thing I would say is their non happy hour price point is a little high considering how close they are to the college. Â The only reason I say that is because I don't know and/or think people in the area would truly appreciate their authenticity!
Overall a great experience and would recommend to anyone looking for really good authentic Mexican food!
I surely thought I left a review on this place...hmmm. Anyways, I went here for my b-day back in September for lunch with co-workers. I ordered the chile verde. It was really good....except for the fact that the stem was covered in sauce and cheese and my dumbass bit right into it on the 1st bite. LOL! Go figure! The meal was REALLY good though. My co-workers liked their's too.
This place is definitely an upscale Mexican restaurant! It's very nice on the inside and the service is really great! A rare find these days I tell ya. So I was feeling Birthdaylicious (yes, I just made that a word. Refer to synonym: Bootylicious) so I went for dessert. They had absolutely NO chocolate in any of their desserts! Are you mad??? Who does that? As the queen of ALL Chocolholics EVERYWHERE, I threw a grown up FIT at the waiter. I think he though this was cute and had some funny chuckle there...mmmmhmmm. I opted ...disappointedly for the Tres Leches Cake (3 milk cake for u non-spanish speaking ppl...tsk-tsk. You took French instead in high school didn't u? LOL).
So you see those 5 stars up there right? Good GOD that was the best Tres Leches cake I've had in my whole lil' LIFE! I tell u....that made up for EVERYTHING that ANYONE has EVER DONE bad to me in LIFE! Yes! It was that damn good. You have to get that cake. You cannot sit there, eat dinner, say 'Oh I'm stuffed' and be a punk and NOT get that damn cake. It's to die for. And if you don't eat it...I'll eat it ...and kill you. :)
I'm just kidding. :D
Great place for HAPPY HOUR!
Finally got to check out this place after seeing it from Palomino, but I got to say, I was very satisfied with the Happy Hour here.
First I'll start with Drinks:
CADILLAC MARGARITA: Â this is your basic margarita with a splash of Grand Marnier. Â The margaritas here are pretty big and definitely tasty! Â I couldn't really taste the difference with the Grand Marnier in it. Â They also have other flavors as well as the Classic
SANGRIA - This Sangria is definitely one of the better ones I've had. Â It totally tasted like Grape juice with other fruit, but the wine was definitely there. Â They mix their wine with apples, raspberries, and blueberries, and It was so good, i ordered 2. Â definitely get the sangria!
Now for the Food:
As expected, they had endless free Chips with salsa (which is always welcome for happy hour and a margarita!)
I ordered the Tacos with al Pastor, which was delicious. Â The meat was definitely marinated well, and a must get.
the Nachos aren't bad, but be prepared for a HUGE portion. Â This is totally worthwhile to get for a group since one order can feed 4-5 people for sure.
When I first came here, I was thinking, they better be pretty good to survive next to Panini Cafe. Dude, their carnitas are freaking awesome. Chock-full of flavor and super tender. I always have to order the carnitas tacos (been here 5 times already). Â Their chicken isn't quite as tender so I have learned to stick with their pork.
Their portions are also beyond generous! I have to almost starve myself beforehand if I plan to finish the whole plate. I thoroughly appreciate the effort the staff puts into making sure everyone's order is as customized as they can be. Onions? Cilantro? Corn? Okay? They always check this over after you tell the server your order.
Beware, during lunch hour it gets insanely packed. Makes sense given their delicious food and their crazy ridiculous lunch special prices...under $10 for all that meat?! WHAT?
Their complimentary tortilla chips and salsa are also super fresh and delicious. Staff is wonderful and the food comes out quicker than you imagine. The restaurant is so cute and well-decorated with a modern twist, you could definitely bring a date here. On Saturdays they have mariachi night starting at 9 pm...and they are dead serious about it too. Their mariachi is made up of some amazing musicians and they can play some pretty modern songs -- they covered Adele when I was there! I believe they have 12 members (I tried to count) and they will wander the restaurant as they play. Watch out, they can be quite loud with their instruments, so if you don't want to be bothered, I'd camp out at a corner table if you're there on a Saturday evening.
Among the places to dine in Westwood, this is definitely one of the better ones =)
Great food, plentiful portions but a price point that will prevent me from coming here every week for lunch even though it's right around the corner.
Perhaps I've been eating at too many taco trucks, but I confess my jaw hit the table when I saw fajitas at the starting price of $22.95.
I ordered the taco combo plate, which was one of the more reasonable items. Was expecting to see tiny little Mexican street tacos come out, so didn't hold back on snacking on the pre-meal chips.
Imagine my surprise when a plateful of juicy meat-stuffed tacos was placed before me.
YUM! Too much food to finish (especially after all those chips). Was just as good for dinner that night.
So all in all, 4 star food, but 3 stars for setting an LA price point, which will keep me from coming back too often.
#westwood lunch
My wife and I had been meaning to try this place since it opened, finally got around to it tonight. Â We both love Mexican food, and the selection in this part of town is not great, so we were pretty excited to try it out. Â There are some things the place does right, a couple of misses, but the biggest problem is that it can't figure out what it wants to be.
My entree, the Molcajete de la casa, was cooked well, the sauce was delicious and actually had some heat (unlike the salsas that came with the chips). Â It does need some work - it comes out in the molcajete which makes for quite the presentation, but it's actually very difficult to eat. Â For example, there are some really good charred chilis that come with it that appear to be cut into strips, only when you try to grab one you eventually find that they're all connected at one end, the end that's buried in the sauce, and it's not particularly easy to get a knife in there. Â Despite the difficulty in actually eating it though, I can't recommend it enough, it was truly delicious.
My wife had the tacos al pastor, which were good, but not great. Â The bits of pineapple were dried out enough that I originally thought it was dried pineapple. Â The tacos desperately needed the moisture of fresh pineapple - as it was, they were a bit on the dry side. Â Good, but not great.
We had the house margaritas, which were good, not amazing. Â I do agree with some other reviewers that the ice to drink ratio might be a bit much, however.
So the food was overall good, sometimes great. Â It was also a bit on the pricey side, ~$25 for the Molcajete. Â Given the decor and food prices, you'd expect it to be a sort of "nice" restaurant. Â Then you see the other side of it - it's loud, has a ton of TVs, and lots of ads for various specials nights and cheap drinks. Â Â And when I say it's loud, it's *loud*. Â I remarked to our waitress that I was having a very hard time hearing her over the music, and she gave me a look like I was nuts. Â I didn't realize that she knew that the live band was going to start soon, and that I didn't know what loud was at that point.
The live band, to their credit, sounded great. Â Excellent musicians. Â In a small space that already has a hard time with sound levels. Â Holy christ were those trumpets loud. Â I had to move around the table just to try to keep any semblance of conversation going with my wife. Â All of the other tables in the restaurant seemed to be enjoying the music, so I realize it's a personal preference, but given the fact that only about 1/4 of the tables were full on a Saturday night, I think the absence of others means there might be folks out there that agree with me.
This place needs to decide what it is. Â Is it a party place with drink specials, loud music, and a party atmosphere for UCLA students? Â If so, the food prices need to drop. Â Is it a gourmet Mexican restaurant with some really fantastic dishes? Â Then it needs to be a restaurant, not a club.
It got loud enough that if we hadn't already ordered, we would have left without getting food. Â Now that we've had the food, we would absolutely go back if it wasn't so loud that we couldn't talk to each other. Â However, it's just not a nice place to eat at, so unless things change, I don't think we'll be going back. Â Here's hoping the next Mexican restaurant in Westwood suits us better.
I've been here a few times and it just keeps getting worse.
Decor: nice, staff: helpful, food: really flavorless, price: are you kidding me?
Went there last week and got a burrito. Â it was 12 dollars. Â That's right. Â One steak burrito = 12 dollars... but it gets better. Â While the service is good and the chips and salsa is tasty, 12 dollar steak, bean and rice burrito.
The beans tasted like they came out of a can.
The rice, dry and tasteless
The steak smelled and tasted like it was spoiled and I had to send it back.
So they replaced it with a chicken burrito and the chicken was  bland and tasteless.
Like I said above, the salsa was pretty good, so someone there knows something about making hispanic food, but the burritos and tacos I have had there taste unseasoned.
If you're in the mood for hispanic food, look elsewhere as Azul leaves a lot to be desired.
Oh Casa Azul. Let's build this compliment sandwich:
First, I do love your decor. The bright teal color and open-ness is quite inviting.
Second, I was extremely disappointed when my friends and I stopped by for margarita mondays and one of our margarita's had soap in it. It literally did have soap. Unfortunately, our grievance was met with an annoyed bartender and harsh words being exchanged. That was awkward.
Third, I did love every other time that I had been there for the most part. Takes a while to get a drink and our check, but the margarita's (minus the special dishwashing ingredient) are really delish!
LoveD this place until the soap incident. Too bad because I sent a group of 30 people there just a week before. Might go back if there is a happy hour at some point, but will not do so willingly any time soon.
Eh. Â I feel kinda bad about giving this place only 3 stars, I really wanted to like it but the salsas and food were not very good.
Salsas:
The red one is too sweet and doesn't have enough chile and tomatillos in it. It's almost as if you're eating a little bit of chile w/mostly sugar.
The green one: is better than the red one, but not by much (Maybe that's cause the place is in westwood and they're catering to mostly non-mexican people)
Beef Tacos:
The meat tastes nasty, like maybe its old, or something. It's also on the tough side.
Beans - they tasted canned.
spanish rice - it was alright.
Chicken burrito:
pretty lame. Â Not a lot of flavor. Â Beans, rice, a little bit of chicken and lettuce.
Chicken Nachos:
These were my favorite, they were actually pretty tasty.
Service:
Was great, I went on a saturday night and it wasn't very busy.
Mariachi: they had mariachi that night and they were pretty awesome.
Not bad. Â We did not know where to eat the night after my work conference ended so we walked around Westwood aimlessly until we ended up in front of Casa Azul. We decided to have dinner here and I'm glad we did. Â
The service was great. Â The vibe was fun and inviting. Â Â Though we had the little one with us, it was such a fun atmosphere. Â
Food was also very good and we will definitely return when we're in the area. Â We didn't get to try their desserts because we were too full from dinner but will definitely try them next time we're in town.
Happy hour drinks are cheap, strong, and delicious. Their margaritas have an almost-slushy consistency making it very thick and almost like a meal!
Their service was great as well as their dark and romantic ambiance. The space is a little smaller and the seating is not as comfortable but the great service and scenery makes up for it.
Their food was okay, but their desserts-- ice cream and churros, anyone?-- was ravishing!! Great local bar for college students to stop by. A lot classier than their counter part (is that even a fair comparison) Acapulco (which utilized platic cups and had sticky floors!)
Pretty decent happy hour in the heart of Westwood Village. Large TVs line the walls making it a fun place to catch the game while enjoying some tacos and margaritas. Margaritas are $6 during happy hour (not the cheapest) and food is around $5. I had the tacquitos which was way too small of a portion for the price (come on it is happy hour!). Â
If you come here during the school year you will surely being accompanied by UCLA students satisfying their taco cravings!
Yeah... Casa Azul is okay. Just okay.
Living and working in Westwood - and being a lover of Mexican food - I was super excited for this place. Finally had the chance to come here yesterday and am utterly disappointed.
Sure, you can tell that it's trying to be more upscale than your typical place... But that doesn't mean you need to take the authenticity out of the food.
The low down:
- Chips were good. Tasted fresh; good flavor.
- The salsa and.... Guacamole-like salsa thing. The red salsa itself was on the spicy side, a bit too much so for my liking. Gives anything you put it on a nice zip, but I've had better.
- The chicken and steak burrito was... Ok. There was some sort of funky flavoring going on - sort of like a chargrilled something or other? It seemed out of place in a burrito. Good portion size though - finished nearly all of it and was stuffed.
- Iced tea was over brewed.
Service was great; very alert and very prompt. Speedy attentive on things like refills.
The music was LOUD.. And I swear it kept growing louder during the meal. At the beginning of lunch. I would hear the two others at my table. At the end - it was pleasant nodding and smiling.
I came here yesterday for a coworker's birthday. It was pretty good!
I got the Casa Azul Combination with a chicken tamal (is it 'gringo' to spell this with an 'e'? Have I been wrong all along? bah), chicken enchilada, and carnitas taco. Usually combinations like this at Mexican restaurants leave me hungry, but I could barely finish this. Everything was good, though. I remember the chicken being especially tender.
Our appetizers and entrees all came out pretty quickly, and the servers were attentive  throughout our meal.
I really liked the decor in here...yes, very blue, but it's certainly different. I loved the little cactus centerpieces with blue rocks.
It's not often that I crave Mexican food, but I legitimately liked this place. Hope it can stand the test of time in Westwood.
Been here a couple times after work for happy hour. The tacos are great. Same owners as Frida in Beverly Hills and in the Brentwood Country Mart and while the food here is not quite as good as those places, its a very close second.
What makes this place earn 4 stars is their happy hour and daily specials. Cadillac margaritas for 5 bucks on Mondays and tacos for $2.50 on taco tuesdays. Have specials every weekday but I like Mondays and Tuesdays the best. $5 cadillac margaritas within walking distance of the office? Count me in.
AMAZING!! That's how I would describe my experience at Casa Azul!
Went there during lunch, from the hostess to the bartender excellent service, food came out super fast!
I'm fully mexican, & their "Aguachile" & "habanero sauce" are the business!!
Thanks to the manager, Paulina for topping it up w/ an excellent customer service!
Overall, excellent experience!!!
Westwood village's new addition, Casa Azul Cantina, does not disappoint!
The vibe is very trendy with dark blue lighting and loud music (almost too loud?). Not quite the party scene of Pink Taco, but a similar vibe with the bar in a central location. The space isn't huge but large enough that you're not crammed in with the table next to you.
There is a full bar menu, with the specialties obviously being margaritas. Not much of a tequila fan, I opted for Sangria which was flavorful and delicious
.
Menu is large! Lots of fabulous options to pick from. We started with the table side guacamole. Presentation was nice, but nothing over the top. We then split shrimp tacos and a passion mango salad. I wasn't a big fan of the fruit in the salad, it tasted canned and not fresh.However, the shrimp tacos were flavorful and light and I would definitely order them again.
When dessert was brought by, we were floored. HUGE portions- too huge to order after our meal. One of these days i'll save room for that tres leches cake.
Welcome to the village, Casa Azul! Looking forward to many happy returns.
Thanks to the "Hot New Businesses" featured on the Yelp homepage I happened to catch Casa Azul. Â For being open less than 1 week, they are serving some mighty fine food and are definitely a nice addition to the area. Â Chips are served warm and the salsas are served chilled, rather than everything at room temperature. Â And, the salsas are so good that our party of 3 devoured the entire basket of chips before the food arrived! Â I thought the green salsa was better, but both are quite good.
My main dish was a combination plate of 1 carnitas taco, one green chicken tamale, and one green chicken enchilada. Â Everything was excellent. Â I even ate almost all of my beans, and I don't even like beans that much! Â I thought the rice was kind of average, but it's a minor complaint because everything just tasted so dang good.
The restaurant is a beautiful space, and the manager said that they don't have happy hour right now, but they will soon. Â I am FOR SURE coming back! Â Thanks for the heads up, fellow Yelpers! Â My lunch friends trust your taste in new businesses!
I live just down the street from Casa Azul and have been eyeing this classy joint since they started construction. Westwood has had a serious lack of Mexican food (let alone fresh, delicious Mexican) but celebrations are in order now that Casa Azul has opened it's doors!
I went to Casa Azul for the first time last Friday with my fiance and could not have had a better experience. Despite changing our reservation multiple times we were welcomed with open arms by the hostess (and the manager) and seated promptly on the toasty outdoor patio.
The restaurant is really cool with blue lighting and a warm, yet upscale atmosphere (a lot like Mucho in Manhattan Beach). The service was impeccable and the food...well, the food speaks for itself. It's authentic, fresh, and SO tasty! Also very reasonably priced for just the perfect amount of food. Chips are served hot with just the right amount of salt and the salsa is great (though my fiance wished they had a more authentic tomato salsa).
Of course, this review wouldn't be complete without talking about the margaritas! SO DELICIOUS! The patio was quite toasty so I opted for the frozen mango margarita - frosty cold, not too sweet but perfectly fresh with an incredibly balancing lime/chili/salt-rimmed glass. YUM. Maybe even a little too delicious - I've already decided this is going to be my new go-to in Westwood. (I even claimed a chair at the bar where my fiance will probably find me frequently when he's studying for the BAR).
Lastly - they offer a ton of low-carb options: tacos and burritos wrapped in lettuce?! Now I don't have to take a sabbatical from Casa Azul as the wedding gets closer. Awesome. Thanks Casa Azul for opening your doors! I will definitely be returning as a regular.
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