Casa Brava-Bloomington

Had dinner at Casa Brava (3482 W. Third Street; 812-339-1453) last evening. Casa Brava is my favorite 'Authentic Mexican Cuisine' in town but the dining experience is always hit or miss. The food is almost always good, my personal favorite is the Taco's Carne Asada which is a simple meal consisting of three tortillas filled with marinated, sliced steak and is served with a side of beans with cheese, and the Pico de Gallo. As I was dining with the family on this occasion, there were two adults and two children. Meal choices for the evening in addition to my choice were the children's Cheese Quesadilla meal which included Mexican rice, and beens for the kids and a dinner combination #17 for my better half which was comprised of One burrito, one enchilada, Mexican rice and beans.
Now the reason the dining experience is hit or miss depends mainly on the diners. For two adults, who are not in a hurry to be anywhere else the experience is fine. For a family with small children or someone looking for a good meal in a hurry it is a different story. Don't get me wrong, the servers, managers, and hostesses are more than pleasant to deal with. We have never had a less than friendly service from anyone on our visits to the Bloomington location. The problem is with the speed of service. When you have two small children ready to eat dinner, don't stop by Casa Brava expecting happy kids. Our experience was started off with a short wait to be seated. That was, IMO shorter than most west-side restaurants for the dinner rush. Once seated we had a couple minutes wait before our drink orders were taken. At least for the kids, the chips and salsa came quickly as the bus-boys or hostesses bring that out rather than our server. Our drinks were taken and others around us were seated. We waited approximately 15 minutes after our drinks arrived before our waiter came back to take our order. During that time our server delivered drinks and took orders from the customers who were seated later, around us. Not pleasant with 2 hungry kids sitting at the table nibbling on chips. Once the order was taken, the food didn't take very long to prepare which was good because by that time the table was getting pretty rowdy.
The quality, temperature, and flavor of the food was all great as usual. That is the reason to continue coming back with the kids, the flavor is always great. The kids took quick care of the rice, beans and quesadilla, and the adults thoroughly enjoyed their meals too. The dinning room was kept clean and tidy, which unfortunately was part of the speed of service problem as our server kept helping the bus-boy's clean and straighten tables around us rather than take our order. The bathrooms which have a tendency to be less than spotless were in pretty good shape on this visit too. Then came time to wrap it up, which brought us back to the speed of service. Our waiter removed some of the cleaned plates from the table asked if there was any deserts to be ordered and when we stated that we had finished, he left to presumably get our check. We waited another 10 minutes of him walking back and forth past us without bringing the bill. Finally one of us had to take the kids and go outside leaving one behind to show we were ready for the bill. Another 5 or 6 minutes past before the server had a 'DOH' moment (which I could clearly see on his face) and he came running with the bill. He apologized sincerely for the wait, and thanked us for coming in. As I said, always very polite and pleasant-just slow. Then needed to wait a few more minutes at the front desk for a cashier to walk by before I could pay and join the family sitting patiently outside on the bench.
All in all, the experience was ok, just need to make a mental note not to come when the kids are starving for a quick dinner. Two adults and two hungry kids ate for $36 before the gratuity.

Overall Rating: 2 (note: would have been a 3 had the service been a bit faster)
Rating Scale: 1=Poor, 2=Fair, 3=Ok, 4=Good, 5=Excellent