If I were asked to describe this restaurant, the first two words that come to mind is sneaky and fraudulent. And the food & drinks don't even make up for it. Matter of fact, the food & drinks are so bad it gets you even more tight about getting scammed.
I referred 2 of my friends from the BX to a hair salon across the street. We all went together to get our hair done and decided to grab a quick drink afterwards since we haven't seen each other since "The Plague". El Patron was right there so we thought why not? When we walked in, the bar area was closed, and the front was blocked off with a table. I saw about 2 or 3 tables occupied so I knew they were open. About 5 minutes or so, a female server came and told us very abrasively we needed to fill out our contact info, the sheet was empty, I wonder why the other customers didn't have to fill it out...but whatever. My friends who are Mexican, spoke to the same server in Spanish and they said she didn't like that. She kept responding with annoyance and then turned to me and kind of translated what they were saying. I was like girl I got a 98% on my Spanish Regents in high school I'm good. But my friends thought she was acting funny.
We only wanted drinks but I felt bad occupying a table so we ordered some apps as well. We ordered nachos, calamari, and empanadas. The cocktails were $17 each! I was expecting some really well mixed craft cocktail but what I received was a bland Slurpee. Like deadass, it just tasted like crushed ice with a .00000001 teaspoon of juice. My friend said her Sangria was ok and her sister doesn't drink so she got an iced tea. The empanadas were dry and a choking hazard. The calamari was not fresh and my friends said tasted very "fishy". My nachos were bland and I needed some Tapatio or Cholula but the server never came back. In fact, after she took our order I never saw her again.
We waited for over 30 minutes to get our check. We finally were able to flag down a bus boy and he came over with the check. I gave him my card and then he returned with just the credit card receipt. The itemized receipt was gone. Even tho the service was non-existent I still tipped 20% b/c that's the bare minimum I tip. So in total, I paid $100.67.
Later that evening, I found my copy of the CC receipt and then something clicked and it just wasn't right. I added up all the food and drinks in my head that we ordered and no way did that accumulate to $86 before tip. It came out to $65 the MOST. I went on Yelp to see if anyone posted a picture of their menu so I could see the prices and that's when I found several reviews with people saying they got scammed and double tipped unknowingly!
The next day, Sunday, I called them as soon as they opened. I asked to speak to the manager and the man who answered the phone said the manager was in the office upstairs and to call back in 15 min. I called back in 15 min and a woman answered (she sounded like the server I had) and I asked to speak to the manager again. She asked what was the reason and I explained I think I was overcharged, and if they add gratuity onto the bill w/o telling the customer. She then got flustered and said the manager was not in and he would be in on Tuesday.
When I spoke to the mgr on Tuesday, this man had the AUDACITY to give me a little lecture. He said I should always look over the receipt carefully and that people always want to leave "extra tip". I don't mind tipping extra on my own accord if the service was good, but I don't like being swindled. Then this unethical and greedy man said, ok, he will refund me the tip they automatically added. So basically this deceitful man thought he was doing me a favor but in reality they still win bc my tip amount was calculated based on the total amount which already included the tip they added on. He didn't even seem surprised, like he receives calls about this often.
This restaurant is very underhanded and sus. And I'm definitely not the only person who fell for their double tipping scam. I mean to remove the itemized receipt and just present a CC receipt with an empty tip line is definitely planned and done on purpose. This is definitely not an isolated incident. That's why the service is terrible, they know they will be getting double tipped regardless with their little scam. read more