Casa Estrella

This was our first time here since it changed to Mexican food. And we were sure not impressed.
If you like authentic Mexican food this is NOT the place for you! First of all the chips they brought out were a combination of flour & corn tortillas. Not a fan of fried flour tortillas, they were greasy & cold. The salsa to dip it in basically taste like chopped tomatoes & cilantro. We ordered a very basic dinner, Enchilada & taco. The cheese Enchilada was a rolled up tortilla with very little cheese in it or on it. The sauce taste like watered down tomato soup. My husband had a shredded beef taco. In the middle of it was a «hunk» of pot roast, not even shredded! So needless to say we ate ½ or less of our bland dinners. Salsa couldn’t help because it had no taste either. The 2 drinks were only $ 1.00 less than the 2 dinners & we only drank ½ of our margaritas. The premixed Margaritas from Costco taste better than these. Needless to say we will not be going back… Ever! There are too many good Mexican places around.

Love this place! Had an amazing brunch today. Perfect Bloody Mary with a crisp slice of bacon and olives. Amazing food! Do not miss the carnitas. Service is excellent.

Used to be better, it seems like they key on the bar. The margaritas are not very good and the food is average.
I think the smaller location is better, and back when mom ran it off the hwy 76, it was the best.

Recently moved to Fallbrook and love this place. We’ve lived here for six weeks now and have been there about four times already to eat and/​or have a drink. Great atmosphere on Sunday afternoons with Mariachi. Friendly and efficient staff from the hostess to the bartender and wait staff. Will definitely be regulars. Love the Carnitas — but they could give you more tortillas — only two?

Review is based on 2 visits.
First visit hostess and wait staff were friendly but I had a fried fish burrito and it was fried pretty poorly and there was very little fish sauce which would have helped the burrito out considering it was over stuffed with cabbage. The cocktail I ordered La Mula Mexican Mule was just ok… I expected it to live up to a Moscow mule but it’s pretty flat and I love tequila.
Second visit the grilled Chicken wings were more than grilled they were burnt tasting. I ordered a steak Chimichanga and it was fried very poorly and the steak was not very tasty… I informed the waitress and she apologized and said she would let the manager know… Manager never came to our table but waitress got dish removed from the bill. The ceviche my wife ordered was served without avocado but the week before it had avocado.
I would be very hesitant to eat here again unless they step up food quality for the prices for Basic dishes.
These things are unfortunate my wife and I liked the Ceviche.

So I hit the location off N. Mission just East of Main Avenue since it is closer to my home. I have seen for some time people going in and stumbling out so I thought I might try it. Began with a side salad, standard but with bitter lettuce: sub-​par produce distributor to sell bolted lettuce to the Casa Estrella. A good chef will taste the lettuce before delivery purchase. Ordered the Carnitas with a guy’s name on the menu, don’t recall the guy’s name on the menu (doesn’t matter, no need to remember for the future). Dry as cardboard, ran out of average tasting salsa to wash it down, no service to order more. Chips for the salsa: over fried and stale. The beer I selected on tap was dry as a bone, no-​go there (they are doing well selling all the Lost Abbey Ale apparently). Shux… I left feeling as if I may have eaten dog food labeled as carnitas. Beans and rice were OK and the highlight of the meal, how sad. Left quite a bit on the plate before departure. Large Waitress in a black leotard who should have worn a loose dress could not wait to share her cat and squirrel shit photos on her iphone. I was eating. Inappropriate for anyone at a restaurant, much less for a Staff member. Appearance of the inside is like a bar which serves snacks, not meals. Will not repeat the experience.

I’ve been eating Señora Estrella’s fabulous specialties for years. Estrella’s never fails in superior taste and quality. They have remained true to their roots of their food is simply delicious!!! This is the best family owned restaurants around!

Just went again recently and was happy once again. I went 20 minutes after they opened and they already had people lined at the door

Great tap list, but second time I’ve been here when they brought me the wrong beer. Makes me wonder about the other people this happens to that don’t notice and end up paying craft prices for a crappy beer. Food is outstanding, and the waitress was quick to correct the beer error for me, (but didn’t apologize once.). I’ll keep coming back, but it’s a good thing I know beer.

A great local go-​to. It’s always busy but you can usually get seated pretty quickly… and their chips are amazing!

Made reservations and was seated immediately upon arriving. The food was great, service was good but the bar drinks left something to be desired. Specifically the Piña colada. It was as if no alcohol was in it, and was pretty flavorless. Margarita on the rocks was great though.

Well if you know me, you know I love fish tacos. Just moved back to fallbrook and came here to check the new spot with some friends. Pretty good! The calamari was a little chewy tho. The fish tacos were great so was the chips and salsa with guac.

Lovely view and nice décor, real healthy plants seem hard to find in restaurants these days.
My mom had not been to the other Estrella’s location before so I wanted to treat her to some tacos. We ordered the asada street tacos and chicken nachos. The service was friendly and nice but lacked experience (took my silverware away before I was able to put my food in the to go container and took a long time to check in with us after we received our food to find out what else we needed.)
The chips were delicious and warm, salsa much too runny to get onto a chip without spilling on the table. Street tacos «asada» were dry and needed salt and seasoning, didn’t come with enough lime or toppings, and nachos were okay.
We probably won’t be returning. One of the local evening taco trucks in town has much tastier tacos at a much less expensive price.

Awesome Salmon Salad!!! The food was great. Portions were big. Definitely you get your money’s worth., what a find. I will be back with friends!!!

I went here last night for GNO & to see Jimmy & Enrique play! They are fantastic by the way!
* made reservations a couple days prior with ease of the owner of the restaurant
* for a rainy day it was a full house and busy… but I heard that this was a tame night. I can see why it’s a happening place to go.
* There is a stage space for the bands/​entertainment. That’s nice & better than entertainment being shoved in a corner as I’ve seen at other places.
* The food and drinks were very good. We had the tortilla soup and Chamoy mango margaritas. Yummmo! Our server was nice and checked on us in an appropriate & timely manor.
* There is a dance floor in the bar area right by the stage. Super fun & great to see those who utilized the opportunity to dance!
Overall we all had a great night out & I’d like to go here again!

This is a tough review for me because I was going to this place when it was a good little «hole-​in-​the-​wall» place down on Hwy 76.
Now they’re in the bigger place up on Mission and although the food is still good, the service has dropped off.
Maybe they have the service thing figured out when its a smaller place and the larger location now has them trying to work the kinks out.
Each time we’ve gone we’ve had the same issue. Waiting too long to get in a drink order. Then too long to get in our dinner order. Then way too long between table visits by the server to keep the glasses full. Maybe we should try ordering 2 or 3 drinks each at a time to make sure we’re not stuck waiting for the server to come back around.
To be fair, the 2 or 3 times we went, we were seated at a table in the bar area.
We’ll try sitting in the dining area next time and see if its better.

I just love their Mexican food!
I love getting their chicken enchiladas with green sauce with rice and bean, that combination plate is only 7.95!
The best part is their amazing salsa and chips! which is free when you eat there!
SO warning this place is super packed during dinner time and the parking lot gets very full!
I also love their margaritas!

Ate here for the first time last week. We were seated after a few short minutes in the dining room. This was nice because the bar area was packed. Our server Siarra was pleasant, prompt and accurate. She checked on us when needed and got us what we wanted.
The food was not hot when it came out, just warm. It tasted good and the portions were huge.
This place used to be a Cask and Cleaver Steakhouse, so it has a western/​saloon feel to it.
We look forward to returning in the future.

I went on a Wednesday night I believe with my boyfriend and they sat us right away, we didn’t wait anything at all !
Good was great and the service was prefect, the only down grade was that they didn’t have the original Mexican drinks like horchata or Jamaica !

Mariachi Sunday come in for live mariachis between 5 PM and 8 PM on Sunday although the place was busy there was room at the bar for us to wait 20 minutes for a table then we had a fabulous dinner with delicious food that came out on time and was accompanied by a very nice waitress. I don’t usually go out on a Sunday although now knowing that the Mariachis are here it will be hard to resist. the restaurant has been open a month now and it does not seem to have slowed down much on the weekends this place is busy and can get very busy.