Long review but I think it's important to say what needs to be said:…read more
THE SHORT VERSION;
First time visiting this place since reviews were generally good and it's truly something special to see a restaurant specializing in Yucatecan food only. The food was different than your standard Mexican offering and overall very good, good seasoning and portions. Pricing was not out of what would be expected for quality Mexican food.
The service, unfortunately, was half baked, which is really sad for me to see as a staunch supporter of local, immigrant owned businesses and being a child of immigrants myself and knowing how much hard work is involved in maintaining a business alive.
THE LONGER VERSION;
It was apparent that the waitress that served us during our visit could not only benefit from more training in offering (and caring to offer) a better customer service experience / better table side communication but also needs to make the connection about how her actions affect the livelihood of a business that others have undoubtedly worked very hard for. But, I guess this assumes she wants to genuinely work there.
To begin with, my party was greeted by a poorly delivered and off putting joke about making sure she served us lots of alcohol; delivered in a way that in Spanish is known as "ser llevado" or overly familiar. Odd to make jokes like that when you just met someone visiting your business for the first time, but we passed it off as just a poor attempt to connect. Fine, we moved on.
The music was extremely loud. When we asked if it could be lowered somewhat, she lowered the volume from an 11 to a 2, which then made the ask not only awkward but almost passive aggressive. (I only say this because once we left, we heard the volume quickly go back to 11, as if they were just waiting for us to leave to crank the volume back up again).
The waitress did explain the dishes well, letting us know what the unique ones were. However, in the middle of our conversation a guy walked through the door and it was obvious that there's a connection between them because she then got more impatient explaining things to us as said guy moved to sit at a table towards the back of the restaurant. We completed our order, she served us and then kind of disappeared to wait on the other table, we thought.
When she did happen to pass by our table again, I politely asked for additional plates and silverware, when she had a chance, to which she replied that I could pick them up myself from near the register area. Her response seemed out place since we were dining in and we were under the impression that she was our waitress, so I asked her again for silverware, not plastic utensils. Again, she told me that I could pick up plastic utensils myself from the register, pointing, "see they're right there" and walked away to the kitchen. We were still processing the exchange, a bit in disbelief, when she then appeared with requested silverware and additional plates but visibly annoyed and in some kind of hurry. It was really hard to focus on enjoying our meal after that.
The waitress then made her way to the back table to sit next to, one could now only presume was her boyfriend, and we never saw her again. She never checked on us, asked if we needed anything, etc. Her priority was staying seated and chatting it up with that guy.
Who did come to check on us was the owner, who seems to have cooked the meals and walked out of the kitchen to speak with us. He asked if we had enjoyed the food, if it was our first time there, talked about how he sourced his ingredients, shared some of the restaurant's history. Then he walked away to continue working.
Unfortunately, we were forced to engage again with the waitress (who remained seated at the back table) and had to ask her across the restaurant where we should pay. Before she answered from her chair (didn't even get up to speak with us and was getting ready to yell back at us from her seat) the owner appeared at the register and told us we could pay with him.
Unfortunately, the whole service experience did negatively color our desire to return to this place again. Giving more like 3.5 stars because the food was good but not enough to overlook the unpleasant service.
