My wife and I, along with another couple, visited El Matate and had one of the worst restaurant experiences we've had in a long time.
To start, the place was absurdly overcrowded and disorganized. We waited nearly 40 minutes for a table. Once seated, service didn't improve--I couldn't even get a refill on my drink the entire meal.
One person in our group wanted to try the "soft serve margarita." It was fine at best, but awkward to drink and more gimmick than good. The food itself was mediocre and absolutely not worth the price, but under normal circumstances I could have chalked that up to them being busy and moved on.
What happened after the meal is where things became completely unacceptable.
We dined there on April 3rd. They didn't charge my card until April 22nd. Our friends' card was charged on April 21st. Then BOTH of our cards were charged AGAIN on April 29th and 30th.
That is not a small mistake--that is a serious issue.
And after looking into it, we discovered this has apparently happened to multiple people. So this doesn't look like an isolated incident; it looks like a pattern.
Between the terrible service, mediocre food, outrageous wait time, and the fact that they effectively double-charged customers weeks after the meal, I will never return to this restaurant. Neither will our friends.
What should have been a standard dinner ended up costing both couples around $120 each for an experience that wasn't worth half of that.
Avoid this place entirely. I would not recommend El Matate to anyone read more