Restaurant: Casa Orinda Location: 20 Bryant Way Orinda, CA Phone: (925) 254-2981 Price Range: $9.25-$26.25

Number of visits: 1
Last visit before review: December 26, 2002

Randy had: Salad du jour (with green apple, walnuts, bleu cheese), rack of lamb special (with choice of potato and vegetables), iced tea

Jeff had: Chicken barley soup, famous fried chicken (with buttermilk biscuit, mashed potatoes and gravy, vegetables), iced tea

Rating 9 (of 12) Good

Jeff says: The chicken barley soup was good. It had an intense chicken flavor and large chunks of chicken in it. The fried chicken was more than I could eat. There were four pieces; two dark, two light. It had a crispy batter. The mashed potatoes were very buttery, which I like, so I didn't use the gravy on them; rather I dipped the chicken in the gravy. The buttermilk biscuit was flaky and moist (it must have had tons of shortening!). The veggies were zucchini and they were al dente and flavorful. The iced tea was a bit bitter but some sugar made it drinkable. A basket contained two kinds of bread, both of the sourdough/french bread variety but one was cut from a normal shaped long loaf and the other was half a round. The bread was good but would have been better if served warm instead of refrigerator cold.

Randy says: The salad was competent. The rack of lamb had a subtle mint flavor from the marinade which I was suspicious about when it was described, but it turned out to be not bad. It wasn't sweet, but there was sweet mint sauce on the side for those who like it. The lamb meat was not too mild and not too muttony — a little stronger than some might prefer but I didn't find it objectionable.

Jeff says: I thought the bleu cheese on Randy's salad was very strong tasting. I would have preferred a milder gorgonzola.

Randy says: Jeff's buttermilk biscuit was very buttery and flaky. His mashed potatoes were excessively buttery. His chicken was done well but wasn't particularly interesting. I didn't care for the iced tea. It was tannic, but I'm not sure that was its only problem. The restaurant also loses points for having Calistoga as its only mineral water.

Mosey on in to Casa Orinda with its wild west decor including branded tables and place mats and old guns in cases hanging on the walls, but expect to have your horse valet parked in the lot as street parking is impossible due to the movie theater around the corner. The menu offers a wide variety of foods from the famous fried chicken to prime rib to seafood. Menu items are generally reasonable but the specials get pricey and their prices are not mentioned with their descriptions.