Carnecería Samber: NO BUENO!
My favorite taco truck was nowhere in sight today Tuesday @ 4:30 & I needed another source for my, um... (ahem) fix.
I'd passed Carnecería Samber driving through that lot several times.
So I went inside.
Error grandé, Jenny!
There are round tables in front of the counter to enforce SD. It's meh... whatever.I'm glad they (think they) r being safe & sanitary & I guess the further away customers r from food I'm gonna eat, the better.
I went directly to the takeout, but this place is huge & has everything! The butcher counter looked beautiful & HUGE & the butcher was nice but omg - the back door to outside is right next to the counter & I had to bat the flies away by the hundreds.That should have been my indication to say goodnight and get the Eff out. But I was hankerin' for some tacos carnitas so I pushed forward.
The whole place is like a cafeteria type deal. You get what you need from where you need it - groceries, spices, sodas by the billions, produce, meat, takeout, then pay @ register on your way out.
I social distanced at the counter for like 5 minutes waiting to figure out how this worked. There were 3 properly attired (red polo shirts) cooks in the kitchen area! Yay! But also NOT yay because 2 of them were sitting at a table IN THE KITCHEN (its within guidelines to sit & eat meal in commercial kitchens?) & having a grand old time while one lone cook was handling the flattop & trying to get orders out by herself.
The next thing I noticed was a box of Krispy Kreme doughnuts on the counter. I may never eat them again after sitting & watching all the flies having fun on top of that box.
Mysteriously there was a packed to-go bag of food that sat on that counter the entire time I was there.
Huh?? No one seemed to care that it had not been claimed.
In my Literature studies this little phenomena is what's known as FORESHADOWING.
Finally the girl (she was younger maybe 18-ish?) who'd been working the cash register spotted me & came over to take my order. We had to yell back & forth over the tables since she had a mask on (which is a good thing!) & I am HoH.
I ordered three tacos carnitas to go.
"We only have carnitas on the weekends."
Wait... WHAT???
Okay well I do need to try other stuff once in a while & I love pastor so I ordered only two instead of three of the tacos el pastor & a large cup of just ice. "We don't have any ice, sorry." Hmm okay that's suss...
The cashier girl put the ticket in the kitchen & went back to the register.The lone lady running orders kept working her butt off while her two comrades kept eating & laughing & looking around at the customers waiting in line - one of them even stood up just to mess with us, apparently, because all she did was get more tortillas for her lunch.
I waited.
And waited.
I sat at a table in the eating area and looked around. This place def gets the blue ribbon award for organization! The shelves of dry goods have EVERYTHING! Then there was a little cubby area behind the cashier with just Mexican sweets.
I was hungry.
Really hungry.
I'd saved room (and money) for this meal by not eating all day.
I noticed nearby one of the big pop machines had dirty wet towels under it that extended to the floor in front. Which made me look at the floor which was kinda gross.
FINALLY the two lunchers finished their almuerzo, stood up & began preparing to HELP.
One of these women put her mask on as she approached the shelf where filthy purses (THEIR PURSES WERE RIGHT THERE!) & to-go packaging is stored, & snapped on some blue gloves. Okay she was basically compliant & after all I'm living in my car so I can't be a hypocrite but for food service workers NOW they need to wash their hands before putting their gloves on.
Also, if you're a woman, just think about all the places purses land. Floors, bathrooms, seats in your car, the FLOOR of your car, etc. & her bag was touching a lot of the to-go supplies while being in plain sight & she was busy enjoying her nosh while ignoring customers that literally anyone could've grabbed it & taken off &no one would be the wiser.
The second woman did; masked up first, washed her hands, put on gloves & started to work.That's when I noticed the HUGE stack of tickets & knew mine was at the bottom. Between how long this was taking (approaching 40 minutes), the cleanliness of certain parts of the store, the goddamned flies EVERYWHERE, the two cooks who gave no fucks - they weren't gonna cut their lunch short for no stinking customers! - I bailed.
Suddenly I was thrilled that they had that "pay as you leave" deal because if I'd paid for them I would've had to wait for them.
So Carnecería Samber - lo siento.
Fix these issues and I'll be back.
p.s. this review made a great deal more sense before I was forced to remove half of it due to a "text limit" which never existed before. read more