Last time my wife and I ate at El Coyote was over 22 years ago. It was a "friend dinner" before we started dating. We decided to visit the restaurant again last night now that we have been married 22 years as a sentimental gesture towards our relationship. We arrived around 5pm, not busy at all. Only one other person at a table eating dinner and about 6-7 regulars at the bar. We ordered appetizers (crab stuffed mushrooms) as well as our meals. My wife ordered seafood enchiladas and I ordered the prime rib. Appetizer was good, no issues there. When our meals arrived, I couldn't help but notice a very pungent smell arriving with them. My wife and I both thought it was probably the seafood enchiladas, Mexican food with seafood mixing in would probably have a strong smell, right? Nope, it was the prime rib. So I tried a bite of the prime rib, still thinking the smell was from the Mexican seafood dish. The meat was obviously rancid. My wife and I both grabbed the plate and smelled it to agree that it was definitely bad. We told our server about the meat and she apologized asking what we would like to do. I asked to just get a comparable ribeye to replace it. Some time went by so my wife shared her meal with me and we told the server to just pack up the replacement steak to go. Our server finally came out with the replacement steak and said it was $20 more for the ribeye and they aren't going to charge us for the "up charge" for the inconvenience. She then said that the meat was definitely bad and that 3 other customers at the bar had ordered the prime rib and she had them change their order due to what I found. Told me "sorry you had to be the Guinea pig"
Now I wasn't looking to get the meal for free but at a restaurant that charges between $32-$130 for their steak dinners, I would expect to at least have the rotten meat they served be taken off the bill! As well as, possibly the manager, to come out to the table and handle this unusual situation. Especially since there were only a few customers eating at this early hour. Never saw the manager.
We didn't let this terrible meal ruin our evening because our night out was about reminiscing. We were just surprised at what unfolded.
By the way, I opened the "take home replacement steak" the morning after and that smell hit me again. The ribeye had the same smell. I don't think it was rancid like the prime rib but possibly could have been on the same flat top or the onion straws that WERE on the rancid meat were put in our to go box?? Either way, I threw the ribeye away as well. read more