TEMPE, AZ (AZFamily) — For over four decades, Casa Reynoso has served traditional Mexican fare in the Valley, but a single social media video recently transformed the multi-generational establishment into an overnight viral sensation.
The restaurant’s culinary lineage stretches back to 1938 in the mining community of Globe-Miami, Arizona, when owner Joanne Reynoso’s great-aunt opened the El Rey Cafe following work during the Great Depression.
By 1946, Reynoso’s grandmother, Nana Salustia, launched her own location in downtown Globe. Over the decades, the family has operated roughly 20 restaurants, food trucks and ventures across the state, with about 12 still running today.
“Our inheritance is really the recipes for this food, and that’s what carries us to this day,” Reynoso said.
Cooking for Senators in the Capitol
The family’s culinary footprint reached as far as Washington, D.C., where they once catered inside the Capitol kitchen for Arizona Sens. John McCain and Dennis DeConcini.
“I was young at the time and didn’t fully grasp the magnitude of it until I talk about it now,” Reynoso recalled. “We even had to teach the Senators how to peel the husk off a tamale instead of trying to eat it whole.”
The restaurant’s signature Globe-Miami style incorporates distinct copper accents honoring the mining roots of its founders, who started with a $100 revolving credit line at a local grocery store. Casa Reynoso sources its green chiles directly from Hatch, New Mexico, typically keeping a walk-in freezer stocked with enough chiles to last an entire year.
This year, however, that supply ran dry by June.
The Mother’s Day video that changed everything
The sudden surge in demand came courtesy of local sports content creator Nathan Kropp, known online as Mr. AZ Sports.
Kropp visited Casa Reynoso on Mother’s Day with a friend to film a quick review. He anticipated a modest reception of roughly 100,000 views on Instagram. Instead, the video exploded from 96,000 views to more than 2 million within 24 hours.
“When I woke up, it had jumped from 96,000 to 2 million views,” Kropp said. “I remember thinking, what did I just do? But this is awesome.”
Reynoso and her staff had no idea Kropp was even filming during a busy holiday rush until the video took off the following day.
Beating the brutal summer slump
Summer in the Phoenix metro area is notoriously difficult for independent dining spots, as extreme triple-digit heat often keeps patrons indoors. But the viral momentum kept lines wrapped around Casa Reynoso all season long.
“July is usually our slowest month, but this year was completely crazy,” Reynoso said.
For Kropp and Reynoso, the phenomenon highlights how social media platforms have effectively replaced traditional word-of-mouth recommendations, offering independent and historic restaurants a modern lifeline.
“My dad always told us, ‘This is our livelihood. Take care of it,’” Reynoso said. “Both of my parents were born in Mexico. My dad had a dream, he fulfilled that dream, and every day we are working to keep it alive.”
Casa Reynoso is open Tuesday through Sunday.
See a spelling or grammatical error in our story? Please click here to report it.
Do you have a photo or video of a breaking news story? Send it to us here with a brief description.
Copyright 2026 KTVK/KPHO. All rights reserved.
Dining and Cooking