Friday Food Feature with Berks County Eats: Castaneda’s

By Zach Brown, Berks County Eats

There are times when I go back through my old blog posts and marvel at just how much things have changed since I started this blog 11 years ago. Yes, there have been industry-wide changes, but I’m talking about changes at individual restaurants.

Castaneda’s Mexican Restaurant in Robesonia is a great example.

The first Castaneda’s opened in August 2017, and our first blog came a few months later. Castaneda’s has grown exponentially since. They opened a second location in Denver, Lancaster County, in January 2019 before moving that location to a larger space two years later.

The restaurant operates a fleet of food trucks, including the newly introduced La Botanera Mexican snack truck that debuted in 2025.

And the original Robesonia location? That also outgrew its original space. In mid-2021, the restaurant moved to the opposite end of Robesonia to the corner of Penn Avenue and North Linden Street.

(Another Mexican restaurant, Paraiso Rosel, now occupies the original location at 141 W. Penn Ave.)

Parking is available on the street and in a private lot across Linden Street, a not-so-busy road that’s safe to cross (as long as you look both ways).

Inside, the restaurant spreads out, with floor-to-ceiling windows on two walls to let in the last of the evening sun. Above our booth, a collection of 20 fanciful hats hangs on the wall as if waiting to be claimed by a mariachi performer.

The menu at Castaneda’s offers few surprises. It’s a collection of Mexican staples like burritos, enchiladas, and fajitas. But Castaneda’s does all of them really well.

One of the best items on the menu is the carnitas dinner. The slow-roasted pork was melt-in-your-mouth good, perfectly seasoned and cooked to perfection.

The dinner comes with rice, beans, pico de gallo, and tortillas. I got two corn tortillas with mine and built a couple of amazing tacos with everything on the plate. Then, I finished off the refried beans and took a little bit of the pork and rice home to have tacos the next day.

Julie ordered the enchiladas rojas (red sauce) with shredded chicken. It also came served with rice and beans. She enjoyed it — the sauce was good and not too spicy — but I think she was a little jealous after she tasted the carnitas.

Jakob loved his kids’ taco. He ordered it with beef topped with lettuce and cheese, his standard order. The taco was gone in no time — so was the rice — but he’s not yet a fan of refried beans, so he didn’t finish his plate.

(He probably ate half a basket of tortilla chips on his own, as well.)

And even though we knew he probably wouldn’t eat it, we still ordered Lukas a kids’ meal. We played it safe with chicken nuggets with rice (Lukas actually really loves rice). The nuggets are nothing special, but anything we can get a two-year-old to eat is good in our book.

We had my mom along for the trip. If you didn’t know, she is Lori of Lori’s Candy Station, another Robesonia institution. She joined us after closing up for the evening and really liked her quesadilla.

For the five of us, our total came to around $70, which was very reasonable for the portions and quality.

I’m glad to see that Castaneda’s is continuing to grow, but I’m also glad that the growth included Robesonia.

And I can’t wait to see what they do next.

BCE Rating
Food: Very Good
Ambiance: Good
Service: Excellent
Price: $$

Castaneda’s Mexican Restaurant
225 E. Penn Ave.
Robesonia, PA 19551

This story was contributed courtesy of Berks County Eats, a local resource for food and dining information. Berks County Eats is dedicated to promoting the dining scene in Reading and Berks County, PA, offering restaurant reviews, news, and events, and a comprehensive Berks County restaurant directory. You can read more at berkscountyeats.com.

The post Friday Food Feature with Berks County Eats: Castaneda’s appeared first on BCTV.

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