Mi Casa Mexican Restaurant

My family went to Mi Casa last night with very high hopes that the CT Shoreline might, once again, have a decent real Mexican Restaurant and, generally, we were not disappointed.

Mi Casa is in their soft opening period; they opened 6/9 and we were there on 6/26 so not everything was perfect but I am more than willing to give them the benefit of the doubt because some items (Huaraches, Chuletas Frita) were great and because a very nice women, who seems to be the manager, asked how everything was and genuinely seemed to care to hear our responses both positive and negative.

The shoreline is starved for good Mexican restaurants (there's tons of really BAD places though - like Coocoo's Nest, Ortega's, Su Casa) which has always been a bit of a mystery to me because Mexican food is generally very popular. Sure, Jalapeno Heaven makes good food (but quite Tex-Mex) but other than that you're going to New Haven (Oaxaca, GlP) or Hartford (Sarape!!!!) for the good stuff.

I'm am loathe to give specifics because they're so new and I really want to see them thrive but here are low lows/highs:

Highs:
-Tortilla Chips were FRESHLY home made.
-They had grapefruit soda! :)
-Huaraches with Carnitas were delicious
-Chuletas Fritas were delicious
-Tacos - Beef & Chicken were delicious. Not texmex but not totally traditional either: -double soft corn LOADED with meat and a bit of pico and guac.

Lows:
-Rice was overcooked/dead
-Beans were meh...but they did have a nice dusting of cotija
-Enchilada Verde had basically no verde so there was no acidity to balance the pile of cheese on the enchiladas
-Salsa was weird - I mean to ask what it was..it wasn't red, it wasn't green...my best guess is they used tomato water. Thin with bits of onion and cilantro. Not bad but not good either...that said, clearly home made at least.

Service was a bit mixed but always friendly and well meaning. Time from order to food on table was very good  - surprisingly good for such a new place.

We will totally be back. If they can improve on some key items I'd be happy to give them a 5.