1 /5 Jessica Addington: We visited this local Mexican restaurant yesterday, and unfortunately, the experience was disappointing from start to finish.
We were seated right away, which seemed promising since it wasn’t that busy. There was one large table and a few small families around. After ordering our drinks and cheese dip, we placed our food order and then sat there for a very long time. My 9-year-old finished her full glass of water and waited for a refill that never came. My husband eventually gave her his drink because no one checked on us.
After what felt like forever, we had to flag down our waiter to ask what was going on. That’s when we were told they only had one cook and were busy with a large table. That’s understandable but why not inform customers when seating them? Instead, we were left waiting with no updates, no refills, and hungry kids just eating chips.
When my husband asked if anything could be done to compensate for the long wait, the manager (or maybe owner) came over and was honestly rude. He made it sound like it was our fault for expecting better service just because they’re a “local business” and not a franchise. Being local doesn’t excuse bad service or poor communication. After speaking with him, the waiter came back and said, “maybe 10 more minutes, but not sure.” At that point, heck no — we were done.
The only offer was a military discount - which we would have received anyway but wouldn’t have asked for. A simple gesture like taking off the cheese dip or offering 15% off wouldve gone a long way, but instead, we were met with attitude because they are a “local business.”
We decided to just pay for the drinks and cheese dip (and yes, they still added the to-go chips). Hopefully the $20 we spent on the little we had helped them out somehow, because we won’t be back. They came across as money hungry and dismissive instead of caring about their customers.
We always try to support local restaurants, but this one lost our business. It’s not the customers’ fault you’re short-staffed or unprepared. We’ll gladly support another local Mexican restaurant that actually values its guests.