Casa Lupe Restaurant
- Price Range: $$
- Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
- Parking: Street, Private Lot
- Attire: Casual
- Good for Groups: Yes
- Good for Kids: Yes
- Takes Reservations: Yes
- Delivers: No
- Take-out: Yes
- Waiter Service: Yes
- Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
- Outdoor Seating: No
- Good for: Dinner
- Alcohol: Full Bar
48 Reviews for Casa Lupe Restaurant
Service here is the best. Honestly, we went on Friday night, the place was packed, but our basket of chips was always refilled, they took our order quickly, and checked-up on us frequently. So, major props to the folks that work here for providing consistent, great service!
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1 Previous Review: Show all »
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10/05/2007
We've been to the other location in Sunnyvale, and decided to check out this location since it was… Read more »
This place is consistent and good, but the meals I have eaten here are pretty much the same taste from other restaurants I have eaten. The service was great and fast. Prices are fair to what other restaurants charge. Parking lot is fairly small, so it can fill up quickly when parties are using the bigger dining room. Definitely better than Chevy's.
I rate Mexican restaurants by their salsa. It's sceamin! The food is great, and i love the fact that its a family ran place. The younger brother always remembers us...even if we haven't been in in a while, I like that! They are light skinned Mexicans, so don't be surprised when they all start speaking Spanish. My wife and i always enjoy our meals here. i highly recommend this place, for large parties or just a great date for the two of ya! Just look at the parking lot next time you drive by, it's packed, that tells you something.
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I've come here for lunch several times now, and I can safely say they serve up some of the best salsa around (and the chips and salsa are complimentary)!
So when I headed over there a few days ago, I gobbled the stuff up since it was an especially good batch...spicy, tomato-y, onion-y goodness!
....Then, once I got back to work...I realized something...
I had just eaten the equivalent of SEVERAL tomatoes.
*insert several non-productive minutes here, worrying that I would soon get violently sick*
...It's now 2 days later, and I'm fine. So 4 stars for the best [untainted] fresh salsa in the land!
_____________
They also have AMAZING enchiladas, burritos, and taquitos....just FYI.
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Having eaten at El Charro for many years, I was a little skeptical to see if Casa Lupe could hold up the reputation of being a decent mexican restaurant. Granted, El Charro had those two for one coupons all the time so it sometimes influenced your opinion of the meal when it costs a little less. Casa Lupe has upped things a little and gone above El Charro by far. Any and all of their enchiladas are incredible but I tend to favor their seafood ones. Chips and salsa are fresh, crunchy and one of the salsas is mighty spicy. The place is busy all the time so a lot of other people must feel the same!
Casa Lupe is my favorite local Mexican restaurant. Every time I go, I order the chicken chimichangas because it's the best I've ever had. I've also ordered the desserts, which is pretty delicious.
And I can't forget to mention that they have great spicy salsa and fast service.
I came here on a whim while driving around to find some place to eat. I'm extremely picky about Mexican food as most of the time I cant stand it. But this place was amazing. The food was great and the service was just as good. Id highly recommend this place to anyone looking for a more authentic feel.
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I don't usually eat Mexican food but if I had to choose a place, this would be the spot. The portions are humongous! The chips and salsa are very tasty (salsa's too spicy for me but you can ask for a mild one). Don't order the sangria there. It tasted like it came ouf of a box or was pre-made.
Casa Lupe has delicious food. My family went there the other day for a graduation party. I tried the carne asada plate, while also being able to taste a little of my other families plates. The fajitas were really good, sizzling hot right to you, i tried both the beef and shrimp fajitas. If you like enchiladas, try the crab! Only thing is everyone got their orders, except my cousin who got it right about when everyone else was finished with their meal.
Great family-run place. Really accommodating. Regulars start feeling like part of the family after a few visits! :o)
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I can't see myself going back to this place. The food here taste like a frozen TV dinner. There's nothing special about the food here. If your looking for authentic then don't come here. This is more like a local version of El Torito's.
Your Mexican Restaurant standards should be much higher than this. I know, I've tasted it.
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I love, love, love the mole here!!! Chilie Renos are good too.
The family that runs the business is really nice and friendly.
The restaurant is big ,clean and lively with a nice tequlia selection at the bar.
The salsa is fresh and spicy...just the way I like it!!
Everything tastes home made. Big plates of food. Does not taste like a t.v. dinner or a El Toritos's...the last guy is wrong.
The only reason for the 4 stars...parking can be a hassle.
This dinner was AMAZING! The staff is quite friendly, wheather or not they're your server/server assistant. Even the patrons or so happy and jolly. A+ for atmosphere!
The portions are large and the drink cups are just as big! I don't know about you, but I hate asking for a re-fill every five minutes. I ordered the three item combination with the Chile Relleno, Quesadilla and the Chicken Enchilada.
The Chile Relleno was PERFECT. The batter, cheese and chile all worked together and not one ingedient outshined the other. The Quesadilla...WOW. Sure, it's just totilla and cheese...but the CHEESE was INCREDIBLE! Thick, cheesy and tons of flavor...in a QUESADILLA. The Chicken Enchilada was definately something to remember as well. VERY meaty and only thick pieces of all white meat was used. Unlike other places, they only had sauce on top of the enchilada so you weren't tasting a bunch of sauce and soggy corn tortilla. GREAT balance.
The price for the three plate was about 11 bucks. The only thing that turned me off was the price of a soda, which was a little more than 2 bucks...but that's not enough for me to mark a star off. If you like spicy salsa, they definately have some GREAT salsa!
I didn't try dessert, but I'm positive this will not be my last time at this place.
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If I could do half-stars I would and would give them 3-1/2. They are not quite 4 but deserve better than 3.
We've always liked the food and found the owner and his sister attentive and friendly. We introduced friends to them one night and, unfortunately, after 9pm may not have been the best time to introduce newbies - freshness was just a bit lacking. However, hubby and I like the place and often go for lunch and have never been disappointed.
Son's highschool baseball team had their end of the 2007 season banquet there (buffet style) and it was outstanding for the price! Lots of good food for those growing athletes and the buffet was consistently re-stocked during dinner, allowing for seconds (and thirds and fourths!).
Daughter's travel softball team banquet there was a little bit of a different story. While the food was great (although slightly higher priced than son's banquet), they did not refill the buffet, so a few of our parents (including our coaching staff) had to settle for the remains. A miss that night in my book. If I were to book another banquet with them, I would certainly clarify upfront with Al (owner) our expectations of meeting everyone's needs based upon our buffet choices and previous experience.
Despite the softball banquet, we still go back because we really like the food. I am hooked on the enchilada sauce (although the touch of cinnamon is apparently off-putting to some, but authentic to others, including me). I always ask for a side-bowl of enchilada sauce.
Their chile rellenos meet my approval: They use a passilla/poblano pepper rather than the aneheims that so many try to pass off in their rellenos. (I judge Mexican restuarants on whether or not they use the passilla/poblano - if not, no second visit.)
Yes, Casa Lupe is a local watering hole, but that doesn't put us off. What does is when we go for lunch and some other party is at our favorite table! (Not telling you which one it is:)
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I wish the sign outside reflected the behavior of the patrons, ie
"Casa Lupe Restaurant and Bar Full of Drunk People From Campbell", or
"Casa Lupe Restaurant and Bar Where Friends From Work Meet and Drink Together Awkwardly".
Portions were large and the food was pretty good. I had the build-your-own dinner with a cheese enchilada and a taco, which came with rice and beans. The enchilada sauce, for some reason, smelled like Japanese brown curry. The cranberry margarita I had was pretty tasty (I ordered it because I'd never seen a cranberry margarita, but I can't say it tasted much different than my friend's sangria). It wasn't too strong either.
Overall, I'd give the four stars, but minus one for the fact that fifteen party people poured in around ten to seven. They started talking and howling so loud that I couldn't hear the people at my table. Maybe next time we should do shots too ?
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A very enjoyable dinner. Delicious food served on a big huge round plate. Great salsa, good service, family atmosphere. Dessert was absolutely awesome!
I will be back!
Luckily it is within walking distance because parking at this popular place is a bit tough (just park on the residential side streets).
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Great local mexican joint! Get a combo plate. Great hang over cures like menuto, and guva maragitas.
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oh god. some friends brought me here claiming it was the best mexican food EVER.
ummmmm notsomuch.
and the chavelas are served in like 4 oz glasses. who does that?
the nachos were really good for an appetizer. the chips and salsa left so much to be desired. i can't even remember the food. it's that forgettable.
service is decent prices are ayt.
i will most likely never return ((it's far.))
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I already wrote a review of the Sunnyvale Casa Lupe, but we head to the Campbell one just as often. Two brothers own them, and they have a little friendly competition on who gets who. If we head to one of them and then the other a week later, we hear the ribbing for sure.
This is THE place us when we want some real Mexican cooking. Like my Grandma makes. It's not fresh, trendy Cali Mex....it's your typical down-home Mexican fare served with a smile.
Beans, rice, and enchiladas/tamales/tacos/tostadas/burritos/etc that taste divine and are served nice and warm and with great service.
LOVE their guava margaritas, seriously, try one...or three. Also, their nachos have kind of a different take, they all come laid out baked flat with cheese and beans already on them rather than piled all haphazardely on the plate so that you fight to get some beans & cheese...nope not these. Already placed there for you. What service!
I am a huge fan of their albondigas soup, chicken tamales, packed crab enchiladas, my husband loves their carnitas (13 oz of meat!) and dark mole...and I typically get their chicken soft tacos. Load some pinto beans onto them, a bit of cheese and rice and some lettuce, salsa, sour cream...yum!!!
Sometimes this place gets packed (on Fri nights), but for the most part you can walk in and get a table. Service is fast and friendly..and if you go there enough they will remember you AND what your favorite things are, so fun! (Except when you walk in and they go 'guava margarita??' like you can't wait to sit down to start getting your drink on!!!)
On wkds when this place does get packed, the parking is practically nil so we park down the side residential street and walk up. Bonus is that they don't use lard in their beans, they use EVOO so while it's not fresh healthy Cali Mex...it isn't as bad as it COULD be...!!!
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Based on all the good yelp reviews I was excited to try Casa Lupe, but wasn't very impressed. The restaurant is nice inside and the service was good too.
Enchiladas are my favorite, and I didn't find Casa Lupe's to be anything but average. Since I'd ordered a combo meal, I even tried two different sauces and didn't really love either. My friend ordered the nachos with carne asada and also felt they were just ok.
Perhaps I'm spoiled, but the food here just didn't live up to my expectations. I felt like the prices were a tad higher than most Mexican restaurants too.
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Wow Wow wow! This place was GREAT! It's lively, the folks are SUPER friendly, the salsa is excellent (2 kinds!!), the entree plates are the size of a bus steering wheel (HUGE), The cost is resonable, $30 for dinner for 2 with dessert,)and the food was YUMMO traditional Mexican fare....probably my new favorite Mexican place!!
I have been wanting to try this place since my BF moved into the neighborhood, just a little over a year ago, and because of the parking situation (lot is small and always full, park on side street), we never actually made it. Now I am so glad we have!!
And I'm even more excited to hear that they don't use LARD in the beans (vegetarian), so that's another plus.
It's gonna be tough, but if you can, save room for dessert, the "Bunuelos" are off the charts!
Definitely going back to this joint!!
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This Casa Lupe is better than Mtn. View.... the flavors are what they're supposed to be, the drinks ;), the atmosphere is lively and fresh. Read these reviews..... what they said... lol
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A friend recommended this place and I love it there! YUMMY!! It's like traditional Mexican food with big servings. The staff is super nice and service is always good and quick no matter how busy they are. I love their Guava margaritas!! You must have one! Some of my favorites dished are the soft tacos and California Enchiladas. They also have life music on Friday and Saturday and will come by your table and sing to you:-)
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I had high hopes for Casa Lupe. I'd read the reviews, looked at the pictures, and hoped it would be like Garibaldi in Orlando. I was so wrong.. My husband ordered the two chicken burrito meal, and was immediately dissapointed because they use dark meat for the burritos. The dark meat wasn't even pulled apart, just chopped into large unappetizing chunks.
The meal I ordered was good, but it would have been better if the restaurant hadn't been so drafty, and we could have known about the no white meat burritos. He would have ordered something else.
Overall, I wasn't impressed, and wouldn't recommend anyone in San Jose making the trip to eat here. Strike one - first night in San Jose
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This is probably my favorite local Mexican restaurant. I have tried a few things, but now I always get the chicken fajitas. They are by far the best fajitas I've ever had. Size isn't everything, but the pile of onions and peppers you get is massive, and you get way more (tastier) chicken than you would get any other restaurant. I usually have enough chicken and veggies to bring home for lunch.
I'm not a huge fan of mariachis but, most Friday and Saturday nights they have the live music there. When they don't, the noise level at the restaurant is perfect to have a good conversation.
The service is usually a little slow. Don't go there if you're expecting to be in and out in 30 minutes. But if you know you can take dinner at a relaxed pace, it's fine; you get yummy chips and salsas to tide you over.
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Maybe by now I am just spoiled by the Mexican food in San Francisco's Mission district, where anywhere you go is pretty much guaranteed to have great food. But any way you look at it, I would simply call the food here "average."
First of all, I was completely underwhelmed by the selections on the menu. You could get enchiladas about 10 different ways, and then there were the usual standbys - burritos, chimichanga, stuff like that. For a taqueria I would expect that, but this was a regular restaurant where you're waited on, so I could have used more of a selection. Also, there was no beer on tap and they didn't have Dos Equis lager, only the amber. Why do places do this? The lager is so much better, and the amber is bitter. I went with a Pacifico, though, which was tasty.
Anyway, I went ahead and got the three enchiladas - cheese, chicken, and beef. I liked them in that order. I enjoyed my dinner, but it definitely could have been better. The enchiladas were generally pretty good (not spectacular, though), but I've had better refried beans (at Chevy's, even). The standout of the entire night was probably the guacamole appetizer we got. It had a really strong avocado flavor. A.T.'s shrimp quesadilla was pretty bland and I thought the shrimp were not that great.
I will say that the service was pretty fast and friendly. Although it was strange having a perky white woman as a waitress. I expect that at Chevy's, but at a non-chain I would think they would have Mexican people all around (not that this place was entirely devoid of them).
It definitely did seem like a neighborhoody and family-friendly place, though, which was nice. Overall I think I would have given it three stars if you only considered the food and service, but it was the menu that pushes it down to two for me.
This restaurant has the look and feel of a real Mexican restaurant, and not just a corporate impression of what a Mexican restaurant should be like. I understand that this is a family owned restaurant, and perhaps in this very same location, since 1980, because it is located in a slightly older building that probably has not been renovated for a while.
I had the #18 fiesta Tostada with chicken ($10.95). Grilled chicken would cost $1 more. They give you lots of guacamole (which I enjoy with the chips) and sour cream on the taco salad. I wish that there's more lettuce, but maybe that's how a real tostada supposed to taste like. As is true for many Mexican restaurants, portion size is big. I like that the servers knew to anticipate my needs so I never have to ask for anything.
Bottom Line: What I liked best about this restaurant is the service. Everybody was friendly, cheery and helpful.
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Great little restaurant. Wait staff is always really friendly and service is pretty fast. I've eaten here maybe 6 times in the past and never had a bad experience. Prices are pretty reasonable and the salsa rock!
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Went there for lunch with colleagues.
Some forks and glasses were not clean.
Service was just ok.
Food was just not good: menudo had no flavor, maxicali chicken was just very salty chicken (could not feel the herbs), beef fajitas was below average. Only the shrimp fajitas left a good memory
Service: Excellente
Food: Bueno
Drinks: Interesante -
My friend and I ordered the Mango and Guava Margarita. It came in a large glass. Omigosh! It felt endless. We kept drinking and drinking and the drink only went down a millimeter. Heheeh!
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One of my favorite Mexican restaurants that I have found in the south bay after moving here 5 years ago. The staff if very friendly and attentive. My favorite item is the chicken verde enchiladas. YUM!
I visited the Casa Lupe in Campbell last night. I was part of a party of about 20 people. The service was not good. The waitress seemed to be mad that she had to wait on us. She never came back after the drinks were ordered not until we asked for her to take our order. Once there she again, seemed like she just didn't care if we ordered or not. I usually don't make any type of waves but this was really making our party less of a party. Also, when we went to the bar, I caught her talking about the people in our party. I think this is very disrespectful and not professional.
The food was very good but the service was not. One last thing, Casa Lupe charged us 18% because we had a party of over 6 or 8 (can't remember) but they didn't tell us and we gave them a tip on top of that. I wish that they had told us they were adding the 18%. In all the waitress received a tip that was almost 30% for being a bad waitress.
If I go back I will ask to be seated in a section where this waitress is not serving.
Good Family Food. Must have a magarita and burrito. Its a great neighborhood resturant with emphasis on the food not noise or decor. I would bring families and go here for a first date.
This is my family's favorite mexican restaurant. The food is delicious and they make some good drinks. Friday and Saturday they usually have live music, they come to your table and sing. The staff is very friendly and very welcoming.
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Presumably it's the margaritas and meat that make this place so enjoyable for you all -- the vegan boyfriend and I were not so keen. Well, he enjoyed his verde sauce-smothered, no-dairy veggie burrito just fine, but my cheese enchiladas con mole were disappointing. Not only did I experience stomach distress for a day after eating it, the mole sauce was sweet. Sweet! Mole should be spicy and not remind you that you are eating, you know, chocolate.
Also, I have my doubts that we were okay on the vegetarian front here, anyway. But if you don't ask you won't know, and sometimes you just want to eat some damn dinner.
Casa Lupe has BEST MEXICAN FOOD and the BEST SERVICE! I have been going here for over 6 years now and I have never ordered anything that I did not like. Try the guacamole -- it is homemade and truely awesome! You will always be greeted with a smile and if you have a special request - no problem - they will accomodate you! My favorites are the beef enchiladas, the chile verde the shrimp enchiladas and the chimicanga. The margaritas are TO DIE FOR and they have a full bar. They have a big party room too. Try this place out!!!
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One of my favorites. I usually go there with girlfriends, and we get the same waiter every time. He knows what we order by now, so we get that small-town feeling there. Great margaritas. I always order the tostada, which has kinda gone down hill recently. However, I would recommend this place just because its cute, friendly, they give you chips, and the menu is large.
They are NOT OPEN on SUNDAYS.
I would say, nice date place, because you get restaurant service, and the price is inexpensive.
NO outdoor patio.
A cozy little Mexican restaurant. They have a really cool live band playing friday nights and the food is pretty good. I've had better, but I would definately come back again. The service here is fantastic.
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Food is good. Service is AWESOME and very attentive. I visited on a Friday night and the singers were a nice addition to the ambiance. I ordered the chili verde plate. It was slightly above average-I wish the food was a tiny bit more spicy. I am picky about my rice--and I liked their's.
I'll be back soon.
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I ate here about a week ago and wasn't impressed by anything, everything was meh. It wasn't bad but nothing was great: service, food, menu, and facilities.
Mediocre all around but not a bad place to eat if you'r e just passing by; definitely not worth a "trip to Lupe's" though.
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