Mad Mex Zetland — Restaurant in Sydney

Food is fresh, the dinning in area, not so much.

We visited for the first time last week. The concept of Mad Mex is loosely based on the US fast food chain Chipotle, so if you have experienced this, you will appreciate what is on offer. Basically there are two stations, where they will make you a burrito with all the ingredients that you want in it, somewhat similar to Subway if you haven't experienced Chipotle.

While Mad Mex is trying to emulate Chipotle, it does not seem as efficient or as tasty. We visited towards closing time mid-week. As I understand it, you still have to sign in due to COVID when dining in. No one was checking this, even though we had made the effort. The food was made efficiently and the service was great, they even offered us a complimentary drink.

When we received our food and looked for a place to eat, all the tables were dirty, with left over scraps of food on the tabletops and the seats. OK, it is a fast food place, but to have all the tables dirty was a little disconcerting. Also, I am not sure whether it was because it was the end of the day, but, both the rubbish bins were exposed and open, out of their storage place, open to attracting flies.

I took some serviettes and hand sanitiser and used it to clean the booth in which we sat. As we ate and enjoyed our burrito, we noticed one of the workers closing off one part of the dining area. He started putting chairs that were just on the dirty floor, not even cleaned, and without cleaning the chairs at all, he put them on the table tops where people would eat their food the following day, completely unaware of the potential dirt and bacteria on the tabletop. This is clearly in violation of health regulations.

I am not sure if this was a once off or this is regular practice, but it also gave us a clue as to potentially why the place looked so sketchy.

While the food was OK, and we didn't get sick, it makes me wonder. Are these practices a regular part of what goes on here? Is it a general lack of care, a lack of hygiene, a lack of good process? I don't believe so. I wonder whether this experience is a reflection of a much greater ill in our society. This is where we have people who are perhaps working in jobs that are meaningless to them, that perhaps pay them less than what they feel they are worth and thus, they do not feel compelled or excited to immerse themselves wholly in the experience of their situation? Can you blame them? I...

I have mixed feelings about this site I have Mad Mex at Parramatta about once a week for lunch and about twice a week for dinner at Zetland and the two seem worlds apart. I suspect different franchise owners. Generally my experience at Mad Mex in Zetland have been mediocre. The service can vary from easy come easy go, to attentive by the manager. I had been many times and there was never a mention on sign about the loyalty program. I noticed a sign about it at my lunch site. Some team members, work with little enthusiasm whatsoever, and there’s no need to try and speak Spanish or talk about Cinco de Mayo, a yearly celebration held on May 5th they knew nothing about it, even though there’s a promotion on the day. The team are all from Nepalese background which is no issue but maybe should make an effort to get the Mexican festival feel.?

I am not into large portions so the minimal amount of meat served in the naked burrito or the tacos which is so scarce, suits me, but it would barely feed a grown adult. The Sour cream is water down and makes everything so dripping wet, makes for messy eating experiences. The tight portion controls and inconsistency could result in an unsatisfactory experience for others. Fortunately, I’m used to this having managed many restaurants, so I just take pot luck that it will be...

Today Friday 2nd December 2022 around 12:45 pm a sir in his 40s or 50s with dark skin who was working at this time provided the worst service ever to my four mum friends and myself including. He was very impolite, unprofessional and no empathy at all. When he finished to attend the first mum in the line, instead of saying “next waiting please” he started to yell “hurry up hurry up hurry up! Go go go go what do you want!?” This was totally unprofessional and aggressive against the client. Also and I think the worst experience that happened today was that my friend who asked for the 3 dish tacos, and ordered one to put the ingredients outside the taco, so she would be able to feed her son without any spice sauce. The serviced was denied and asked to order it as a side asking for extra money. Then, this man started to yell “you make me waste my time!” to my friend and her baby who was already unsettled and crying. After she was trying to explain to this sir that she just wanted one of the 3 tacos in another plate to give it to her son. Once again the guys said NO and told her YOU ARE WASTING MY TIME!!😡 what are TERRIBLE customer service!!! Not...