Mexican Taco — Restaurant in Melbourne

weired that im writing a review from a restaurant that in 3 attempts i was not able to try their food...Yesterday was our third attempt to eat at Mexican Taco as we live across the road in Rosanna but somehow seems impossible and for sure i will not try again.First time was when they first open and the waiter was so nervous and left us waiting for so long everytime we ask for something that we just decide to leave...the place was just not ready to open but we decide to give a second chance as we know how sometimes openings can be stressfull and things easily go wrong (I have 20 years of Hospitallity under my belt).After 3 or 4 month we tried again,but after 20 minutes on the table without anyone aproach the table we just left...they were so busy with take away orders that simply didnt bother to check on us (we had the feelling that they were deliberate ignoring us).Yesterday Friday 11/09/2020 we decide to give another chance and when we enter we could see that they were very busy with Uber eats as there was around 4 or 5 uber eats delivery drivers waiting to get their orders...after 5 minutes a waiter called Alex aproach me and ask me how could he help me wich i reply that i just wanted to order food...and for my surprise he told me straigh foward that they could not take my order because would not be ready before the curfew come into place at 8pm...i look at the watch and ask him how that would be possible as it was 7:10pm and the curfew was 50m away...his ansewers was that they were very busy and he had 50 orders in front of me for uber eats!!!I left the restaurant and just 3 minutes later as im entering my place across the road called the restaurant and the same waiter Alex ansewer the fhone,i asked if i could order food and if they would deliver and for my surprise he said that yes,that they wre busy but defenetly they would deliver thru menulog but we would defenetly have our food before 8pm!!!I then told him who i was, and that i was just in the restaurant 5 minutes before and that he refused to take my order,and question him how it is possible for them to refuse to take orders from walk in custmers 50 minutes prior to the curfew takes place but if we order thru menu log or uber eats then we can order,wich he was trying to gave me all sorts of excuses while he was stuttering on the fhone.I understand that uber eats is the only way restaurants can stay afloat with this pandemic...but treat customers like this and refuse to take orders from custmores is wrong...the pandemic will pass and surely i will not give them a...

Two stars is for the food which is really good and thats where it stops.....completely!!!! If you're thinking of eating in.......dont. We gave this restaurant a second go after coming once before and being extremely unhappy with the service and wait time of the food but thought we would give it another go. Again, tonight was exactly the same. I feel really sorry for the two staff that were working when we arrived as they were alone and one was on their second shift. We ordered our drinks, which arrived 25 minutes later and then in the interim had ordered our mains. Over an hour later the two tables who had arrived well after us had received their meals and eaten. One of the young staff members (who took our order) came up to us and asked if we were ready to order which I told her we had already ordered over an hour ago. She came back to the table and said our meals order had been lost and it was being done now. We received our entree 10 minutes later......20 minutes after that our mains arrived. Its really really annoying that the service and wait time is so bad because the food is great. There were only 2 staff on until a third arrived at 7pm. I'm not sure who the manager is in this restaurant but they need to take a look and help out. They are so under the pump with uber orders it was out of this world. All the uber drivers stand around at the front inside the restaurant waiting for the food. I had a clear view of the kitchen from my seat and during the 2 hours we were there (with two young children) I easily watched 30+ uber orders go out. I think they need to put some more focus and engery into helping their young staff and remembering that they have a full restaurant full of patrons. Really disappointing because we love the food but we definitely won't be visiting again. And to top it off the toilets are disgusting and don't look like they've ever been clean and there is zero ambience in the restaurant with not even any music on....which we noticed...

I'm going to be honest. The reason being, the restaurant wasn't honest with me. I arrived to pick up my takeaway order at the time they'd said (15 minutes from placing). As I asked about my order, there was a little flurry of confusion and then the young lad shows the kitchen staff a ticket and there's a sentence or two inaudible to me. A moment later, they young woman (front of house) uses her initiative to say "sorry its not ready yet, just take a seat, it'll be just a few minutes". Pretty much, 15 minutes later, they hand me my enchiladas.

It's only a 2 or 3 minute drive home, but as I'm taking out the containers, one feels distinctly cool underneath in the centre.

All in all, a pretty disappointing experience.

We all know stuff-ups happen. The right thing to do is to own up to mistakes. Fully and openly. Don't pretend, or cover-up. And maybe offer a little something, or just pop in an unexpected surprise free of charge to make up for the error and inconvenience. That's one way to encourage a customer to come back.

And being honest about how long it will take means you won't try to rush it and fail to warm it through properly.

After having spent 46 years of my life in customer service, I hope the management can respect that my thoughts are worth...