Guaca & Mole — Restaurant in Dollard-des-Ormeaux

Was thinking about trying this restaurant for the first time; however, upon reading the reviews of many that commented negatively and considering the reply of the owner, we are staying away. True, others made positive comments but those replies really did it for me. ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS, the customer is right! Restaurant 101 basics. Sorry, but this owner needs to rethink his business plan.

Part 2:

So after reading the owner's reply, my wife and I along with another couple decided to give this restaurant a shot last night Saturday January 25, 2020. We had reservations at 7pm. They sat us at a table along the outside perimeter with the entrance door about 20 feet at my back. 5 minutes in, a friend entered the establishment and said hello. It was their first time also. Most of the time when people walked through, a slight chilly wave of air hit us. It took over 20 minutes for a waitress to finally come to our table to set water and a bowl of salsa and chips. We all asked for frozen margaritas. The salsa was bland with very little flavour but the chips were crisp. After waiting another 20 minutes, our margaritas arrived. At this point, the friend that had walked in much earlier bid us adieu. No server had even walked by at their table to serve water. Unbelievable! At that moment, I requested if they could bring some spicy salsa. I figured at least we could munch on those chips and dip the hot sauce into the bland salsa and taste something. We also ordered our food at that occasion. Three of us asked for the chicken fajitas and one requested the shrimp tacos. Before our food came which took another 30 minutes, they replenished our chips 2 more times. We were all extremely hungry and were eating whatever we could. The margaritas tasted very sugary and sweet. There was not even a hint of tequila and we all thought the same thing, that they cut back on the alcohol. All of us are margarita people and this was definitely one of the least enjoyable ones. The food finally arrived and two of the fajitas were warm but at least one of my friend's was steaming. When the waitress returned, she asked how all was so we offered our opinion on the margaritas. She returned over ten minutes later and replied that the bartender put 2oz of alcohol as advertised and if that's true I suppose 90% if that was cointreau dueing to its sweetness. We didn't order a second one although I usually do elsewhere. The fajitas were just so so and the fact that it wasn't hot definitely diminished the experience. Their condiments they serve with that plate, guacamole, cheese, salsa, and cream, come in wee thimbles but with 4 tortillas. There certainly was not enough condiments to supply the tortillas. They themselves were rather small and two were slightly hard along 25% of their cirmcumference and a bit moist at the center. The shrimp tacos, bland. It took another 20 minutes to receive our bill and to our surprise, their computer was down so they had to write them up by hand. Of course, there was an error due to the extremely complicated math of having to add the GST/QST and it was in their favour, but I just paid whatever because I wanted to get out asap and go over to our friend's house for some real margaritas. I actually tipped the waitress more than I should have because she tried even though the service was not great; however, I noticed that the other two servers were slow as molasses and she actually was running around trying to put out the fires. As a side note, a family of four were sitting at the table beside us and they had two small kids. They waited even longer than us for their food. Hopefully their food was better. On the ride home, we all expressed our displeasure and our resolve never to return. Even though this is a "Mexican" restaurant, the fajitas are a hundred times superior at Jack Astor's across the street, and their service is vastly superlative. So after we decided to give it a go, our conclusion is to steer away from this establishment and save yourself an evening of displeasure. Sorry but I call...

This is not berate the restaurant but rather to help it. First off, the portions were small and some plates, like the tuna, had 4 tiny pieces that were half a cracker. We ordered chicken fajitas, and all we got was 4 of the tiniest tortillas, and that’s fine as the restaurant may have wanted to upcharge us for additional tortillas, however, I know my tortillas and those were the cheapest ones you could buy and tasted like you’re eating plastic. Not a wise choice for a Mexican specialty restaurant.

Drinks: we ordered various flavours but I could only speak for the mango margarita I ordered. That wasn’t real mango and it barely tasted like mango. It has no alcohol either. Very, very watered down. It actually put us all in a downer. My sister in-law had one with a jalapeño in it, she took two sips and left it there. For the price that they were charging, I think it’s an injustice to skimp on both, the quality of juice advertised and the alcohol. It felt like a very overpriced concentrated juice drink. Again, when going to any restaurant, especially a specialized Mexican restaurant, the drinks play a major factor in a client’s dining experience.

Kids meals:for starters, I thought $15 for a kids meal (cheese quesadillas, salad that was enough to add as a top in for a burger, and a bit of ice cream) was a bit too much, but I gave the restaurant the benefit of the doubt. I couldn't believe what we paid for. For a buck or two more, we’d have an adult meal. It’s really not about the money, but rather, the disappointment of seeing the plate. Same could have been said for that ‘two-bite’ kid’s burrito plate . Just a rip off.

Salad: how do you screw up a salad?? It tasted like plain lettuce even though you could see oil on it. It had no taste. That again, is a sign that poor quality ingredients were used. We began to laugh at almost everything we ate. I will say that some of the group enjoyed a steak enchilada that they ordere As well as the burger.

We were a group of 16 people and sadly we were not happy for the B-day meal we went for. We had a good time because of the company , the occasion that we were there for, and the ambiance was nice too.

None of us will ever go back until things change. The staff was nice, the service was acceptable. I did appreciate the host giving the kids crayons to draw in the kids menu paper.

I do hope that the owners realize that if you’re going to cut corners in portions, don’t cut in the quality or don’t charge as much. You can’t charge for little portions with below average quality in food. Not one person in the group (all ages and backgrounds too) was thrilled with their meal or experience.

Personally, I knew I was going to a Mexican resto in the West Island, and therefore, I was looking forward to a fantastic meal. I was not impressed at all. When I could make Mexican food 10x better at home, or prefer Mexican food in the city’s slimier parts of town, or even at restaurants that aren’t specialized in Mexican cuisine but serve a few plates, then that’s not a good sign.

I’m sorry for the harsh review but I grew up in a family with various restaurant businesses over our lives and this was unacceptable and plain insulting. I hope this serves as a wake up call to the owners that you will not prosper or survive by having clients eat at your establishment only once. I also feel like customers should know in advance what to expect.

Overall review: 3 thumbs down. The worst Mexican restaurant I’ve ever gone. My wife actually said today that it was the worst resto she’s ever gone, and that includes some of the greasiest dives we’ve encountered on vacation. ...

Let me start off by saying that the food was great! Way better then I expected for a Mexican restaurant. On another note I had the worst service I have ever had and I have been to a lot of places. Let me start off my saying that our waiter was the one who greeted us at the door. He asked if we were 4 we said yes then my friend asked him if we could sit on the couch section and from that point on all we got was a rude and grumpy waiter. He seemed annoyed that we had asked him where to sit. Then the next thing that happened was when my other friend asked him if anything came with the Tacos he just shook his head without even talking. My friend and I were both having a quesadilla and it didn't come with any side so we both asked for some sour cream. The side of sour cream was so big and expensive (3$) like what am I suppose to do with a cup of sour cream. I feel like he could have mentioned that it was a big enough bowl to share if we wanted it just to dip our quesadilla in. How rude! And he never came back to the table during our meal to check on us. Okay next thing was that he was training someone and the trainee was the one who cleared the table. My friend had half a quesadilla left over and had asked for it to go and by mistake the trainee had thrown it out (fine things like this happened, rookie mistake). But then!!! the waiter comes over to my friend and says her food got thrown out by mistake "is that okay?" Like what was she suppose to say to that! No it's not make me another one? I feel like on his part the right thing to do would of offered to either make her a new one or offer her a dessert or something? Am I wrong? Then obviously were all offended by the terrible service we had we obviously didn't tip the maximum but we stilled tipped. We didn't get no thank you, no have a good evening. It's really ashamed because the food was great and I would have definitely of liked to gone back but after that were all just...