Coopersburg: Casa Toro (August 2016)



My spouse and I dined at Casa Toro for dinner on a Saturday evening in early August 2016. Casa Toro is open daily for lunch and dinner. The restaurant does not accept reservations; however, if you have a party of six or more people, you can request call-ahead seating.

Casa Toro is located off Route 309 in Coopersburg in the Fairmont Village Shopping Center, a strip mall with Weis Market as its anchor store. The restaurant is located in the center of the L-shaped shopping mall. The overhead signs are a bit misleading, simply stating “Mexican Grill” but not “Casa Toro”. To further complicate matters, a sign reading “Carlos’s Pizza” merges with the “Mexican Grill” sign. The owners of Casa Toro also operate the Mojito Cuba Caribe restaurant in New Hope.

The Casa Toro restaurant space features two distinct dining areas, each with its own dedicated bar. The original space (which opened in 2006) features a traditional Mexican-restaurant feel, with bright colors and both booth and table seating. The newer dining space, which opened in December of 2014 in the adjacent space formerly occupied by CVS Pharmacy, is called the Mojito Bay Lounge. It features a muted soothing pale color palette whose walls contain framed inserts of gray stacked stone, flickering candles, and stenciled leaves. In both rooms, the bar is located towards the front of the space. The newer room contains a few high-top tables adjacent to the bamboo-wrapped bar, some comfortable lounge-style seating (with white leather furniture), carved wooden screens to separate the front and rear sections, and booths and tables. The tables on the left side of the room share one wooden banquette wall, whereas booths are located on the right side. The backs of the booths are constructed of dark slatted wood that add an air of hip modernity to the dining room. A private event space that can accommodate 40+ patrons is located at the rear of the newer room.

Casa Toro serves Mexican cuisine as well as some Cuban dishes. The restaurant offers some less frequently seen dishes such as tamales, mole (savory bitter chocolate sauce), maduros rellenos (stuffed plantains), jamon croquetas, ropa vieja (shredded meat), and paella. The staff serves complimentary tortilla chips and pico de gallo salsa while you peruse the menu. As appetizers, we shared the deep-fried avocado (a whole avocado stuffed with your choice of either ground beef or vegetables as well as cheese) and the tamales (cornmeal and shredded chicken steamed inside corn husks, which came three to an order presented with a side dish of black beans), then the Toro combo as an entrée (which included chicken flautas, cheese enchiladas, and a chicken burrito along with Mexican rice.) For dessert, we shared the traditional flan (custard topped with whipped cream and drizzled with caramel sauce) at the suggestion of our server, who said that she eats it every time that she works there. It was delicious and heartier than we usually see, both in quantity and in texture. Casa Toro offers a full bar, including beer, wine, and mixed drinks.

If you are looking for homemade Mexican or Cuban food, try Casa Toro.













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