La Oliva - Casa Vieja, "restaurante rural"

[SoCal]

Location: it may be a "restaurante rural", but it is sort of in the suburbs of La Oliva – on the west side of the principle road between Villaverde and La Oliva.

Atmosphere: for a restaurant not on the coast, this fine dining place is definitely romantic – a high wooden ceiling with all facades in either dark wood or lava rock. Nice wooden chairs with cushions and wooden tables add to the romantic experience. My table inside allowed me to overlook the well-tended cactus and palm garden. Very nice.   If I have one complaint, the tables seem very high and a shorter person might feel she or he is eating at the children's table. The restaurant is part of a boutique hotel, somewhere Lady SoCal would definitely appreciate.

Food: The dishes ranged from memorable and difficult to reproduce at home to completely unacceptable. (Hopefully the unacceptable was a one-off.) The three dishes I had were:  a fish-based salad with tomato and basil, a mushroom and truffle ravioli served with a Parmesan and white wine reduction sauce, and lamb chops main.  The fish salad was very tasty and quite plentiful. I took home half of it as a meal that evening. It was something one can reproduce, but with better tomatoes. However, the fresh basil made it special.  The best dish, the ravioli (handmade, I assume), was memorable – extremely rich and satisfying. There may have been at most 6 pieces, but with the very heavy Parmesan and wine sauce, it was extremely filling. If there is any complaint, it was a bit too salty for my taste, but others may disagree. However, the only reason I ordered it was because my first main, the lamb chops, were dreadful and truly unacceptable. In fact, I would hesitate to call them lamb chops, they were more like the debris one discards from the lamb when preparing the true chops.  It was primarily large pieces of fat and gristle stuck to the bone. There was almost no meat. In addition, it was so overcooked, it was completely grey. Good chops should be served medium rare and have a light lamb flavor, not a near mutton taste. The vegetable medley served with it was nice and peppery, but the meal also included "French fries", i.e., chips. Sorry, but one can get chips anywhere, such items are not exactly fine dining.  The house red wine was quite good and did not overwhelm either the lamb (how could it?) nor the ravioli.

Service: For most of my meal at lunchtime, I was the only one in the restaurant. I do not take this as a sign of poor quality, but rather because it was Friday afternoon in late May. My server, a tall, slender, blond-haired Caucasian women from Italy, was very pleasant, attentive and fun to talk to. I also give her credit. She also did not charge me for the main that I did eat, the ravioli, which was essentially the right thing to do. However, in my mind, what she should have done is not charge me for the terrible lamb and allow me to pay for the 2nd, and true main. Regardless, the thought was generous.

Overall: I would still recommend Casa Vieja, especially for a romantic meal with that special someone. Roberto, the chef, was the principle chef at Azzurro before Ricardo took over approximately 2-3 years ago. I remember his food being very good and at Casa Vieja, the ravioli was special. However given the chops, I would be shocked if any of the beef dishes are worth trying even though my server recommended the filet.

Buon appetito.