El Chapos Taqueria — Restaurant in Newcastle-Maitland

My daughter and I went to try this restaurant on Sunday evening after a movie. Arrived around 7pm but website and google confirmed they were open until 9pm. There were only two tables of two in the restaurant at the time we arrived. We took a seat and noticed the table was tacky, like it hadn’t been wiped over in some time. We ordered two soft drinks ($4ea) and Lil Chappo(kids) chicken nachos ($11) and a chicken quesadilla ($17). As we’d been to the movies and had popcorn we held off on pre ordering dessert. The nachos arrived at the table shortly after the soft drinks but the quesadilla took another 20 minutes to come out. When it did it was bland and burnt. There were more black beans in it than anything else. Very little chicken. Both meals also arrived in these laughably unprofessional plastic wicker baskets lined with paper serviettes. For a sit down restaurant. It was almost impossible to cut the food without cutting through the paper and having it stick to the food. Where were the plates. I pulled what looked like two hairs from the nachos. The chicken that was in the quesadilla looked grey and off colour and I have been feeling unwell since eating it. The waitstaff, of which there were five, seemed very concerned with their own rather loud conversations (something about biting someone’s foot and making them cry) and singing (off key at that) to be of any real service. The chef and I’m assuming supervisor spend more time out of the kitchen than in it. Despite supposedly being open till 9pm the closed sign on the door was turned around at 7:55pm and the ‘chef’ was heard very loudly stating to the other staff that once they got rid of these two, meaning my daughter and I as the other two couples had left, that they’d close up. A waitress then came to clear our table saying ‘y’all done here’ when my daughter still had half of her meal left. Obviously we wouldn’t be ordering desserts tonight. I went to pay the cheque because I had had enough of this sort of unprofessionalism and was told it would be $44.40. What?? 2 x $4s, an $11 and a $17, that’s $36 right?!? When I pointed this out I got more attitude. ‘I can’t take notice of everything on the menu’ says the cashier. Really? You took my order. So after going back to get the chef and them agreeing to charge me the correct price, they charge me $36.40. Huh? What’s the 40 cents. A service charge. For what?!? It’s only 40 cents but no where is it mentioned on the menu. So glad we didn’t spend more money in this deplorable establishment. Given the number of 1 star reviews I shouldn’t be surprised. I only wish I had read them before entering. Please read these reviews because they are spot on. Save yourself the trouble of this unprofessional service and tasteless bland food that has no right calling itself Mexican. There are many better options around. The one star is because google will not allow to give zero. And before you sprout off about how hard hospitality is doing post covid and staff shortages, supplier issues and so on etc, I’m in hospitality and know of plenty of businesses doing it just as tough and doing a far better job! Pick up your game! The character limit won’t allow me to respond to the owner’s response fully. So I’ll say this - I have been a chef for over 20 years. I don’t leave reviews because I know how damaging they can be. I’ve also been a musician since early high school, over 30 years, 3 of which spent to gain a Bachelor of Music. I know bad singing when I hear it and it was bad. Customers don’t come to hear waitstaff sing or tell bad stories to one another at the top of their voices across the restaurant. Plastic plates belong in the quick service arena not sit down restaurants. The food WAS bland and nothing like the way good Mexican should be. You essentially implied I lied about every point when there are other google reviews on here mentioning every one of them. Blame, denial and dismissal is not the way to get respect from other industry professionals. I’ll say it again - PICK UP...

Most dysfunctional restaurant experience I can remember having.

For a booked table of 7, waited 30-40 mins before leaving the table to go to the bar to order drinks, despite several staff members on the floor ( no one coming and offering/serving despite constant attempts at eye contact). Food came out for 2 people after 45 mins, rest of the orders forgotten/lost. 2 more people’s food came out 30+ minutes later after raising. Staff did not know what we ordered, what we’d had, despite initially taking the orders on paper. Finally, the last people’s food came out 30-40 mins later, plus some duplicate orders. Were a bit patronising as in ‘your food is coming’, when the first people’s were finished. Did not own it and say ‘we effed up ‘ and rectify, instead was more like ‘hey you can keep the extra chicken burrito we accidentally gave you’. Food was half cold (had been to wrong tables first). Chips not really cooked. Younger people at the bar not picking up signals earlier that we were ready to order and getting a bit frustrated - though one was very apologetic at the end. After raising some of these issues, promised us some free churros as it was my grandmas birthday. They never came.

In other words a complete fail.

Edit: I forgot that we had to ask for the glasses, after water and sangria came out.

Please make the required improvements to the business, as this was not acceptable professional service.

Edit 2: cannot believe owner’s response. Still not owning issues & experience and victim blaming. We are were a family of 7 there for an 80th birthday. We were not rude. Inside - my grandma said something like ‘I’m sorry! This is not ok.’ and when the owner said ‘your food is coming’ I said ‘they have already finished their meals!’ (in other words trying to convey the above). At the end outside we politely stepped the owner through the issues. The ‘offer’ of a discount was ‘oh we would have offered you a discount’ - we had already paid and left. There is one response to a situation like this - ‘we are extremely sorry this happened - let us work with you to fix this’. We are regular and reasonable people. This is the first one star restaurant review I have ever left, and I would not do that lightly considering it is in the public domain.

Please instead consider what you can do to change.

For e.g., I recommend framing it with the staff there as a training opportunity instead of suggesting that we...

Hi, my colleagues and I booked in for dinner and we all wanted to make an extremely respectful constructive assistance towards your newly opened restaurant. I initially sent this message in a private message on messenger. Since you took no notice. Here is an honest review. Our initial impression: The restaurant is bright, clean, fresh and airy. It’s lovely! The tables are just as lovely. The vibe. Loved it. The staff, extremely polite and friendly. Now onto the not so good bits (however again with respect and positivity): the staff uniforms were a bit too casual. The presentation of food was less that desirable. In fact our thoughts were “oh, is this food safe to eat?” That was the first thoughts that popped into our minds and we politely but awkwardly looked at each other and giggled a little about the plastic baskets and the terrible presentation. No idea why the food wasn’t the glory rather the aluminium foil was the only thing we could see when our food came out. I ordered the pork taco. It was appalling. I am devastated to say it. Without a single word to my friends, a very stringy dry piece of pork was caught down my throat. I had to dislodge it with a glass of water. Table water as we sat down without having to ask would have been best. I didn’t make a fuss at all as we all understood you guys have just opened. The Taco was super plain and boring. Really tasteless. I was sort of expecting beautiful colours and salad. Perhaps a Mexican platter of taco ingredients to make us feel as though we are eating the colours of Mexico. Everything was bland and we couldn’t taste or feel the passion. I would be more than happy to discuss further if it assists in any way. We wish you the best and hope with constructive feedback you can be wonderfully successful. Currently I don’t wish to come back and I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone else until I see or hear a change about the food presentation and taste. We want the colours the beautiful presentation and...