My wife and I and a friend planned to go to dinner. Mexican. From North Street, the place looked like a 'hole-in-the-wall.' Really nice inside. The booths, lined up along the right wall looked too isolating because of the tall backs. For me, I like a more open feeling. I like to see other diners. But, no big deal. I walked around. Towards the back there is an open dining area and a bar. Overall, the place looks great.
Sunday night, around 6pm, not too busy. Winter time. No place to hang our coats. Another no big deal. There is a lot of wasted space at the front of the restaurant. Could be a place for a coat rack?
Jumping ahead, our waitress and the staff seem very pleasant. However, they have an air of "I don't know what I'm doing."
Menus came. Waitress immediately asked if we were ready to order. "No." I did ask for explanations of several dishes, even though I been eating and cooking Mexican food for 55 years. I wanted to know what came with what. Our waitress answered all my questions. We ordered and then, ......... Nothing happened, which is pretty funny because about 15 minutes later, the waitress walked up to our booth and asked (crazy question, out of the blue, that I have never been asked before in a restaurant) "What happened?"
I'm laughing, and say, "That's the most appropriate question. What happened? Nothing."
No water, no chips and salsa, no drinks that we ordered (tea and soda), no spoons, forks, or knives, which aren't necessary yet as there is no food, so, no big deal.
Drinks came, one at a time. Then my wife's salad came. Aaah. Now, no spoons, forks or knives. Plus, no dressing. That stuff took two more trips to arrive. Waitress delivered the salad and walked away. Didn't even notice there was no flatware. I had to hunt her down to ask for that and the dressing.
Oh yeah, when the drinks came, our waitress asked if I was going to order anything. I already did, but I guess she wasn't listening when she asked me and I answered, "the Chicken Fajitas." I made a joke out of how funny it would have been if the other meals came and I would be waiting for my nothing to come.
Oh yeah. The ceiling fans were on. It's winter and not a warm night. So, forget about hanging our coats. We needed them. Maybe the help needed the fans on, however, that would be annoying if the comfort of the workers is more important than the diners. Maybe there was some other reason. But, it was breezy.
When I go out, although I want the food to be good and the service to be, at least, bearable, I don't want either one to be a negative distraction. We had a lot to talk about, so a wait for the food was not annoying until, ..... the wait became too long. At one point, I got up from the table to see if other diners had food, and one of the staff asked what I was looking for. "The food," I said. It came soon after that.
While we were waiting, lots of orders were going out the front door. Door Dash, Grub Hub, Pick Up, whatever. So here you have a very nice looking restaurant and maybe you're giving your call-in orders priority? Why have a dining area?
The food: The guacamole and chips (an appetizer) took forever to come. My friend's Clam Chowder (it's a soup in a pot, that takes a ladle and a bowl to get out of the kitchen) didn't get there until the entrees.
My wife's whole fried fish? Tasteless and greasy.
My friend's poblano enchiladas? An unrecognizable plate. The enchiladas buried under a bunch of lettuce and whatever. The soup? I had a taste. Watery and tasteless. I'm thinking, out of a can and watered down? I guess that is their signature "spice," "Tasteless." My chicken fajitas? Passable. Onions and peppers and the pieces of chicken were too large to put in the small tortillas. The flavor was just too mild. Nothing that some salsa couldn't cure. But the salsa that came with the chips? No flavor and watery. Plus, there was none left. I guess I should feel lucky about that. The refried beans tasted spoiled, as in spit out the small bite I took. The Spanish rice? Yup. Bland. And Cold.
What was funny was I had the hot plate with the fajitas, the plastic lidded tortilla warmer, and the plate with the rice, beans, sour cream, guacamole and no place or plate to put the stuff together. The thing is, there was no room on the table for the plates for three people. Four people and there would be even more no room. As it was I was stacking plates.
Finally, we weren't even asked if we wanted dessert. Just asked if we wanted the check. Too close to closing time, maybe? 75 bucks.
The place looks nice. They have music some nights. Their menu seems to have a lot of nice sounding stuff on it. I didn't feel that the service was bad, more like inexperienced or incompetent. They kitchen might be overworked. I'm not gonna give myself another chance to have a mediocre meal. Yeah. Not even on Tuesday Dollar Taco Night.
Signed, Not Angry, Not Even Annoyed, Just Disappointed read more