Extremely Disappointing Experience. I Wish I Had Hired Someone Else…read more
Unfortunately, I was extremely disappointed with my experience with Ranchos Onsite Tacos. I booked them for a work event to serve approximately 30-35 people from 1:00-3:00 PM, and the service we received was nowhere near what I expected based on their reviews and what we paid for.
By around 1:30 PM, only 30 minutes into a two-hour service, the food was already running out. It wasn't just the meat; even the salsas were basically gone. This was incredibly embarrassing because this was a staff event and employees were supposed to be coming throughout the entire 1:00-3:00 PM window. By the time some of our staff members came to eat, almost everything was gone and chicken was essentially the only meat option left.
I had also specifically requested soyrizo with potatoes, but when they arrived, I was told their distributor didn't have it. I was disappointed, but I let it go because I understand that sometimes things happen that are outside of someone's control.
Throughout the event, I actually called the company multiple times trying to resolve the issues as they were happening. I spoke with Humberto, who was apologetic and initially tried to recover the situation. When I explained that we were already running out of meat, he told me he would have someone from their kitchen bring additional meat to our event. I appreciated that and thought, Okay, they're going to make this right.
I had employees waiting to eat, so based on what I had just been told, I went around reassuring people, "Don't worry, they're bringing more meat." I was relieved thinking that at least the situation was going to be fixed.
Then, literally about five minutes later, I was told that actually, all of their people had already left for other events and there was nobody available to bring us anything.
So now I had to go back to the same employees I had just reassured and tell them, "Actually, never mind. They're not coming." I cannot explain how embarrassing and frustrating that was. This was a work event that I had organized, so I was the one standing there having to explain why there wasn't enough food and why the additional food I had just told everyone was coming was suddenly no longer coming.
That basically sums up the entire experience: disappointment after disappointment. Every time I started thinking, Okay, maybe it's not that bad, at least they're trying to fix it, something else happened that made the situation worse.
What added to my frustration was the overall professionalism of the person sent to work our event. While preparing and serving, I noticed him on his phone multiple times. His appearance was also extremely casual and not at all what I expected from a professional catering company, especially based on the presentation shown in other customer reviews. It honestly felt like very little effort was put into staffing our event.
Then, at approximately 2:17 PM, he approached me and said there was still some chicken left and asked if I wanted him to pack it into to-go containers so he could leave. I was genuinely confused because our agreed-upon service time, which was also stated on the invoice, was 1:00-3:00 PM.
If he wanted to start packing up around 2:45 PM so he could leave at 3:00 PM, I honestly wouldn't have made a big deal about it. But asking to leave more than 40 minutes early, after already running out of most of the food, was incredibly frustrating.
Had there been plenty of food, professional service, and everything else had gone smoothly, I probably wouldn't have been so bothered by one issue. But unfortunately, it was one thing after another: the requested soyrizo wasn't available, there wasn't enough meat for the number of people we booked for, the salsas ran out, the person working the event was on his phone, the overall presentation was unprofessional, the company told me additional meat was coming and then five minutes later said it wasn't, and finally, he attempted to leave early.
I booked a professional taco catering company because I wanted my staff to enjoy a nice end-of-summer event. Instead, I was left embarrassed and apologizing to employees who came during the scheduled serving time and barely had anything to choose from.
I genuinely do not like leaving bad reviews. I understand that things happen, which is why I gave them multiple opportunities during the event to correct the situation. Unfortunately, every time I thought the situation was going to get better, there was another disappointment.
I'm writing this because I don't want someone else to book them for an important event and go through what I went through. There are plenty of taco catering companies out there, and based on my experience, I would recommend looking elsewhere.
I truly wish I had hired a different company in the first place.
