I tried to like it, but they have plenty of work to do to get better ratings. I went to a La Granja years ago outside of the Miami area and loved it. I did read all the poor reviews, but decided to give it a try. You walk into the main entrance, and are greeted with a giant menu board that even changes pictures. Totally a fast food vibe, and there are 3 tables inside. So I can see some yelpers being confused as to why they'd order and be charged to take their food to a table a few feet away.
The entrance is set up to place your order there. So my husband started to order, but was told you have to sit at a table to order." When parking, we saw a cute outdoor area, so knew we'd be sitting out back there. But that was weird. Why have that big menu board set up and a counter to order at that's useless? #2 inside on the board I saw a steak option with grilled onions, no soda, but don't remember the price, but recall it was $1 extra for the grilled onions. Outside, on the menu that was brought to the table, I didn't see that option anymore, but saw a half pound steak so asked for that plus grilled onions, assuming it would cost me another dollar. The waitress pointed out a different steak on the menu and said "this is it here", so I just said OK. Later, my husband pointed out that what the waitress steered me to was not half but only a quarter pound, was $2 more than the steak that would've been twice the size, came with a soda that I rarely drink, and on the menu it didn't even mention coming with grilled onions. So I assumed I was overlooking the item that I'd seen on the sign inside, which was the only reason I went with her suggestion.
The menu is quite extensive, and my husband ordered a "Super Bowl" but to be honest I wasn't paying any attention to his order. The waitress had a lot of customers so seemed a bit frazzled. She brought the wrong beer, but corrected that, and we had to point out we had no utensils, but no biggie. My order came with a ton of food. However, the grilled onions also came with tomatoes, which I don't eat. I picked them out, but don't really understand why I got them as I'd just asked for grilled onions. Also, they weren't sautéed all the way, thus had that much stronger onion taste that I could do without. My husband raved about his bowl and how much food it was.
Our check came with a 20% tip included but then had that big space where you are supposed to enter a tip.
#4) then my husband noticed he was charged for the regular bowl and not the Super Bowl. Also confusing is that the Super Bowl was not the larger size, so I guess it must mean a super or special price, as it did cost less than the regular bowl. Our waitress explained it was a special not offered on the weekend. He said OK, but that she should have pointed that out when he ordered it, but told her OK, and then he told me he'd speak later to the manager. I thought it was no big deal, but he pointed out that it wasn't right to order something, and then just get presented a bill for something different.
#5) when he went to speak to the manager, another customer was complaining about the very same thing, after ordering 2 supers and getting charged for 2 regulars. Apparently in a very tiny font size that neither she nor my husband could notice, let alone read, it says special offered 11 to 4. So if you order this item at the wrong time of day, they don't point it out and just automatically charge you the higher price. Not cool. Then the other customer started complaining when she noticed an automatic tip on her take out order. They seemed to do a lot of take out orders, and I have to wonder again how many people don't notice the automatic tip plus how many might also add a tip on top without realizing it. My food was better than average but nothing noteworthy, the outside area was cute and the service OK, but when I reflect on the whole process, it seems kind of geared to rip you off, I remembered all the negative reviews, the other angry customer, and the whole sending you off to a table to order. Oh, and I forgot this....when my husband talked to the manager, he was accusatory and said my husband ate the whole bowl without complaining. Being our first time there and not having received the check yet, how would he possibly know they brought the wrong bowl before eating it? And the waitress then tried to point out to my husband that she had explained about the bowls to the table beside ours. Well, she didn't tell him, the other table spoke Spanish (we are gringo), we weren't listening to people at other tables, and...they even ordered AFTER we did. My husband says we'll never go back. All in all, I've got to say I should've trusted the yelpers, even those yelpers who only post negative reviews. The experience wasn't great and wasn't worth the short drive there. read more