Casa de Bandini...Now in Carlsbad

You've probably been to Casa de Bandini if you've ever been to Old Town. It's the Mexican restaurant with the huge margaritas and large dinner portions. Well, North County can now enjoy this eatery, if you're willing to wait.

In the Forum in Carlsbad, Casa de Bandini opened a few months ago, on the site of the old restaurant, the Yellow Coyote. I recently went there for lunch with my group called "The Chicks." We used to go to lunch to celebrate each of our birthdays, but since this group can never get together because of travel, grandchildren and such, we now celebrate only a few times a year. We celebrated Fran, Susan and Kathy's birthday with a wonderful lunch.

The new restaurant is beautiful, very Mexican inside, with a nice bar, and lots of big tables for big parties. Outside is where we ate, and I would highly recommend it. It is decorated with beautiful plants everywhere, little lights above that are on at night, great heaters so you're never cold, and a lovely fountain. The best part about the patio area is that the noise level is tolerable. Inside it is extremely noisy. One drawback is that they don't take reservations, and we waited on a Thursday afternoon, so I can only imagine how you would wait at night.

I had a delicious chicken tortilla soup, loaded with chicken, taco strips, avocado and sour cream. It was excellent. Fran had the chile rellenos, which were perfectly cooked and served with rice and beans. Everyone else had salads, and they all looked exquisite. They are huge and definitely can be split. Other dishes that looked good were all served on gigantic oval plates, and the plates were completely filled. The tacos, enchilladas, burritos and fajitas all looked great. The servings are so large you may want to split them. They have several ladies making homemade tortillas, which are served piping hot in a little basket. Of course the margaritas and other specialty drinks are a big draw, and happy hour is jam packed.

We had a wonderful lunch together, sharing stories about recent travels, grandchildren and golf. I had to let everyone know that I shot my best round of golf ever at Lomas Santa Fe Executive course, a 67. I was quite proud of that. All in all, a nice edition to the neighborhood, great for large parties, and kids of all ages.