This place fell off so bad. I don't know what happened…read more
My partner and I have been coming to El Rey since they opened, about twice a month since early 2023. We used to love the homemade tortillas, the quality meat, and the tasty salsa bar.
A few months ago we noticed things start to change. Smaller portions, days were the meat was a miss. Just not good. One night it took forever for a single taco to come out and it was COLD to the touch. Sadly I had to send it back because it was inedible. Cold food is gross and just gives "it's been sitting there forever". I asked for the same thing and she brought out a hot taco. When we got the bill I noticed she charged me for BOTH tacos, including the uneaten cold one I sent back. I didn't bring it up because everyone makes mistakes.
Today was the last straw. Today was counter service so we ordered at the counter with one of the waitresses who's always there. We ordered one regular quesadilla con arrechera, 4 taco traditional with al pastor, 1 chips con molcajete salsa and 2 beers. A standard meal between us.
The first thing I noticed immediately is that salsa bar looked...different. Is a nice way of putting it. The onions and cilantro looked like it was there for a couple days (wilted and brown). The radishes were no longer fresh sliced radishes but instead picked radish. There were zero pickled jalapeño. And the salsas looked completely different than normal, just different colors all together. I got one 1 "spicy" (red) salsa and 1 "mild" (green) salsa like I always do. When we tasted them it was clear they changed them completely. The red salsa wasn't spicy at all, it just tasted bitter and processed like it was from a can. Same with the green salsa. It was the same with the salsa molcajete. Suddenly they served it warm and put onions on top, and I think this was to hide that this salsa was no longer home made.
It's clear they changed suppliers to cut corners. Everything was bland. Nothing was spicy and barely seasoned. It's so disappointing. This place used to be good, our favorite, but now it's just a bland restaurant (not cheap either!). But that's not the reason I'm writing this horrible review.
The reason I'm writing is because after receiving our chips con salsa molcajete, and tacos, time kept ticking by with no quesadilla. Like I said before, we come to El Rey A LOT. Usually the quesadilla comes out first, and if it doesn't it's quick to follow. Not today.
We waited and waited and waited. And finally we were done with our bland tacos and bland chips and beer (oh another thing, they no longer have draft Modelo, another penny pinching sign). It's not like the waitress ever came by to check so we had no opportunity to let her know we were missing something. We had things to do and were done with our meal, we decided we didn't need the quesadilla after all. So we went to the register to tell the waitress that we never got it and just wanted a refund for it. No need to make it.
She then proceeded to argue with the cooks back and forth about the quesadilla and said they would make it right now. We said no it's ok, we're done, we'll just take a refund. She told us no! She straight up said no. We explained again, no we don't want the quesadilla, we have to go, it's fine we will just take a refund. Again, she told us NO. Then I said, NO WE WANT A REDUND. Then she responded with, she can't give us a refund and said she'd give us a margarita instead. WHAT???? Why would we want a margarita when we need to leave? She continued saying no she can't give us a refund. I was upset at this point because it's not a lot to ask for a refund for a paid service that was not rendered. She kept saying no to the refund and finally when we said it's fine, we'll do a charge back with the credit card (which is REALLY bad for business) suddenly she opened her register and threw dollars at us. The fu? Oh suddenly a refund is ok when a charge back is mentioned? She snickered, rolled her eyes, and shooed us out.
A good thing is gone. The food sucks, the owners are cheap, and the service is horrible. It feels terrible to be a loyal customer only for it to end like this. Don't go here. El Rey is terrible now.