I am absolutely disgusted by my experience with Piocos Chicken, and I am filing a complaint with…read morethe Health Department and requesting that this restaurant be inspected.
I ordered food from Piocos Chicken for my daughter's FIRST birthday party--a milestone we only get to celebrate once. The food was served buffet-style as the main meal for our family and friends.
Shortly after people began eating, guests started approaching me individually telling me something was wrong with the food. The food tasted old, the rice was badly burned, and we became concerned enough that we stopped serving the food altogether.
One of my friends ate the chicken and shortly afterward began feeling unwell. She actually left the party early because she didn't feel well after eating it. Other guests also reported feeling sick after eating the food.
Because this was supposed to be the main meal and our guests were expecting to eat, we ultimately ended my daughter's first birthday celebration early. It was humiliating and heartbreaking. You only get one first birthday, and instead of enjoying that moment with my daughter, I was apologizing to guests and worrying about the food I had served them.
I intentionally did not call the restaurant during the party because I didn't want to add any more stress to my daughter's birthday. I called the following day, Sunday, and spoke with the manager, Jonathan.
Jonathan told me he would look into what happened and call me back.
He never called me back.
I followed up, but days went by without any resolution. It wasn't until five days after the party that I finally spoke with the owner, Miguel Fontanez.
That is when I was suddenly asked for "proof" and repeatedly told that I was supposedly the only person who had complained.
Five days later, what exactly did they expect me to produce?
My proof at that point was the people who were actually there and ate the food. My guests were willing to call the restaurant themselves and provide firsthand accounts of exactly what they ate and what they experienced so the restaurant could properly investigate.
And I want to make one thing extremely clear: I NEVER ONCE ASKED FOR A REFUND.
I wasn't looking for free food. I wasn't trying to get my money back. I contacted the restaurant because multiple guests independently told me something was wrong with the food, we had to stop serving it, and people reported feeling sick afterward. I believed the responsible thing to do was notify the restaurant so they could investigate what happened.
Instead, I was treated as though I were lying or trying to scam them.
Miguel Fontanez told me that I should have brought the food back. Again, this conversation happened FIVE DAYS after the party. I had reported the problem the very next day to his manager and was told Jonathan would investigate and call me back. Nobody told me at that time that I needed to preserve or return the food.
Had Jonathan called me back as promised and told me they needed the remaining food, that would have been an entirely different situation. Instead, their lack of follow-up became my problem five days later.
When I tried to explain this, rather than showing concern, listening to the guests who were willing to corroborate what happened, or simply speaking to me professionally, Miguel Fontanez yelled at me and cursed at me.
That was the final straw.
Restaurants make mistakes. But when a customer contacts you to report a potentially serious problem--especially when guests are reporting feeling sick--the appropriate response should be to listen, document the complaint, investigate it, and communicate with the customer. It should not be to ignore a promised callback for days and then treat the customer like a liar because she cannot produce food nobody told her to save.
Because of what occurred, I am filing a complaint with the Health Department and requesting an inspection. I am not claiming that Piocos Chicken has health-code violations; that is for the appropriate authorities to investigate and determine. But based on what my guests and I personally experienced, I believe reporting it is absolutely warranted.
What should have been a beautiful memory of my daughter's first birthday ended early because we no longer felt comfortable serving the food we purchased for our guests.
Then I spent the following five days trying to get the restaurant to take what happened seriously, only to ultimately be yelled at and cursed at by the owner.
I will never eat at Piocos Chicken again, and I would never trust them with another birthday, celebration, or important event. The food ruined the meal. The way management and ownership handled what should have been a serious customer complaint made the entire experience unforgivable.
