WE ARE ABOUT GREAT FOOD...
From humble beginnings, Gaby & Emma Gabaldon started serving their delicious recipes, with a tiny kitchen in the back of this original home in 1951. Emma’s unique and flavorful dishes wowed and amazed guests from all over. Casa Mañana soon became the destination restaurant of the Gila Valley. As time progressed Casa Mañana continued to grow in popularity. The Gabaldon’s moved their home next door to allow Casa Mañana to grow. Converting the house into an open dining room and adding a bigger kitchen.
About Casa Mañana
Our Address
502 S 1st Ave, Safford, AZ 85546, USAStories are still told by our vintage guests that remember making tortillas & tamales in the shed between the restaurant & house. After owning and operating Casa Mañana for more than 25 years the Gabaldon’s retired and sold their business to a new family. Passing down their nostalgic recipes and ensuring they were followed by the new owners to maintain the Casa Mañana heritage. These 67 year old hand written recipes, found on an old notebook paper, are still in use today.
Casa Mañana in Safford, Arizona currently holds a 4.4-star rating on Google Reviews, so my experience may not reflect that of every guest. My wife and I were in Safford for just one day and, while searching for dinner options, several locals highly recommended Casa Mañana for Mexican cuisine. The exterior of the restaurant creates a welcoming first impression, and once inside, it's hard to miss the plaques highlighting recognition from a 2019 Arizona publication and another featured in Celebrity Chef. The staff was friendly, and the restaurant gives the impression of being deeply rooted in family tradition and community history. The menu offers an extensive selection—perhaps too extensive for me. I was looking for a simple red or green chile plate served with rice and beans, which I consider a staple at many Mexican restaurants. Since that wasn't an option, it was suggested that I order the Green Chile Meat Burrito Plate "deconstructed." Concerned that this might complicate the order and potentially add extra charges, I decided to order the dish as it was intended and deconstruct it myself. I also ordered a premium margarita to accompany my meal. The food arrived quickly on this Wednesday evening, which seemed appropriate given the moderate number of diners. After cutting into the burrito, however, I was disappointed. As I searched through the filling, there was very little green chile or sauce to be found. The burrito consisted mostly of a thick, dry mixture of meat and possibly beans. It was lukewarm and lacked the green chile flavor I had anticipated. Instead, the dominant flavor reminded me of corned beef—though I cannot say with certainty what protein was used; that was simply my impression. After three bites, I could not continue. I then turned to the rice and beans, along with the complimentary chips provided at the table. Unfortunately, the rice was also lukewarm, mushy and clumped together, and lacked flavor. The beans were acceptable, but overall, the side dishes did little to redeem the meal. As someone who appreciates a good margarita, I found the premium margarita to be decent, although a bit sweeter than I prefer. I recognize that a single dining experience does not define a restaurant, and Casa Mañana has clearly done many things right to remain in business since 1951. Unfortunately, based on this visit, it is unlikely that I would return—especially since I do not frequently travel through the area. That said, this was simply my experience, and yours may vary.
We arrived at a decent time for lunch, although the place was not packed. We were quickly seated. Someone brought us chips and water and salsa. We waited 15 minutes for our waiter who explained he didn’t know we were sitting there and that someone else had to tell him. We already knew what we wanted because we had been waiting so long so we ordered. I ordered a taco and a green corn tamale, I believe a #8. My husband ordered Two taco plate with rice and beans. A Baja fish taco and a chicken taco. Our server brought us Our drinks and then we didn’t see him again. I had to ask after 50 minutes where our food was. When my husband‘s plate arrived, his fish taco was disgusting. It looked like a shoestring that had been breaded. It was no bigger than that. My green corn tamale was a tamale on top of canned green chilies. I ordered a shredded beef taco that I didn’t finish because it was so hard. We had driven from Tucson early to enjoy a meal at Casa. Unfortunately, we will never be back. I grew up eating Casa mañana since I was a little girl. When I told my family, I was taking my husband to Casa Mañana. They were all very jealous. Their excuse was they had a big party. To me, that’s not an excuse for poor food. Extremely sad.
Service is usually pretty good here but was lacking this time from the busser and the waitress. The busser spilled salsa as she put it down and acknowledged she did but never even cleaned it up!we waited over 10 minutes to even see our waitress. The waitress barely checked on us and never apologized for the long wait. Unusually long wait time for our food on a Monday afternoon at 4 off time when it wasn't busy. My son got two tacos and wasnt allowed to add a third unless he bought another plate to make it 4 tacos!. The price for just a 2 taco meal is pretty high too. Just pretty disappointed overall.
Everything was perfect! Thank you for making our lunch stop quick, easy, and especially delicious! We had delightful tacos and the best waitresses. Hopefully we'll be back soon to try out the unique menu!
Went expecting your usual Arizona Mexican, got whiplash from the very loud "tiki island" theme. Menu was equally strange, incorporating the theme into classic Mexican dishes. Food was mostly decent, though the birria consommé tasted like liquified chilli, and the shrimp tacos were a bit excessively sweet. Prices are reasonable for what one would expect today. Service was great, fast and polite, though I was warned about the spice level of the quesa birria tacos as if a great cataclysm awaited me if I couldn't handle it. It was spicy enough to notice that there was some spice to it. Overall a very strange experience, and not remotely what I expected. But it wasn't bad, I suppose. Yeah.