Bistro Mexicana 129 — Restaurant in Gatineau

I've eaten here twice now and both times I've been very disappointed in the food.

The first time my partner and I went to Bistro Mexicana we ordered an expensive fajita meal for two. This is a common plate served at places like Lone Star, so we were very disappointed when they simply served us a portion for one person and charged us extra.

We told our server that we were disappointed by the portion size but they assured us we had been served correctly so we ate and left hungry, expecting not to go back.

More recently a family member had a birthday dinner here. My partner and I ordered chicken quesedillias and we were served some kind of sketchy half-fast soft-shelled tacos with a few strips of shredded chicken and a bit of cheese.

Typically a quesedilla is cheese and other ingredients in a folded tortilla shell that's been fried on the flat-top or in a pan so that the shell is a bit crunchy. It was clear that none of the quesedillias at our table had really been cooked although I guess the meagre amount of chicken they served was hot enough to melt the tiny amount of cheese they put inside.

My father ordered the same dish and complained about being unable to find the chicken in his meal the whole time he was eating.

I also found the presentation of the meal to be lack-lustre. Our quesedillias were served with a side of black beans and rice, both of which were bland and uninteresting. I felt like I was eating in some kind of cafeteria, rather than a restaurant.

The drinks were acceptable. My mother enjoyed the giant daqueri she ordered. I had the signature Caesar(which includes calamari) and found it adequate.

Our orders were taken quickly. There were a few minor mishaps. My meal was missing sour cream and guacamole but the servers were quick to resolve the situation once we pointed out the mistake. We were a large table and it was a busy night so minor mistakes like that are understandable. There were no other issues with the service.

All in all, I think this place needs to work on bringing up their food quality. I like Mexican food and this is the only such place in Aylmer that I'm aware of, but its no fun to eat out if you're disappointed in what...

Do yourself a favour and go check this place out! The food is amazing and the wait staff were friendly and helpful. We sat on the patio, and they have a really nice one. I didn't go inside but it does look small so if it's raining out, you may be waiting in line for a bit.

We ordered chips and salsa, of which there were 3. They were very tasty and various heat levels. We also had the burrito bowl which was full of flavour and vegetables, even some you wouldn't consider in a burrito like broccoli and cauliflower but it really goes well together actually. My friend had the mole chicken. It was a large chicken breast in their incredibly yummy Mole sauce (I'm ordering this next time!). I cannot express how yummy this sauce is. My friends Dad had a chicken quesadilla. There wasn't anything that stood from it but he did say it was delicious and lastly my friends Aunt had the chicken chimichanga, again nothing special sticks out about it but again she said it was very good. His aunt did mention that she's not normally a fan of black beans but she did like theirs. We also ordered the churros and deep fried ice cream for dessert. The churros were very good and you really can't say anything bad about deep fried ice cream!

Our waiter was so much fun! He provided amazing service and joked around with us in a professional and lively way. At the end of the meal he even pulled a prank on us! He told us that a woman said she knew us and that we would take care of her bill... We were so confused and told him we didn't know anyone and weren't planning on paying for anyone else. Then he started laughing and said he was just kidding BUT... IT GETS BETTER! He tells us that actually a woman we did not know, had already taken care of our bill for us! It had to be over a $100 tab!!! It took a few times for him to convince us that he wasn't joking that time.

Yes we did have an extraordinary experience but even without our meal being paid for by a kind stranger, I would be saying the exact same things... The food...

Let me preface this by saying I never write reviews, it’s just not my nature. I have only ever written one review before and that wasn’t about a restaurant. I woke up still feeling upset and decided to write this.

My mother in law was in town for the first time and we decided to take her out for a belated Mother’s Day dinner. We arrived at 5:40 and were seated on the patio. We ordered an appetizer and three entree’s.

The appetizer shows up 40 minutes later and we were given 12 chips for the 7 layer dip. We had more than half the dip left and we were going to ask for the rest to go when the waitress swooped in and took the plate away without asking if we were done so basically we paid full price for half an appetizer.

While we waited the hour and twenty minutes for our entrees to come out the waitress didn’t offer us drinks, and didn’t explain the wait time so we sat there being completely ignored. Around the 1 hour mark she came by while on her way to another table and said “it’s on the grill now, sorry.”

There were two tables near us that were seated well after us that had their meals before we did. The food finally came and the one entree was fine. The two taco salads with grilled sirloin were so tough it was difficult and painful to chew.

We were also subject to the waitress treating the table right behind us beautifully because one of them was friends with the bartender (they were given free drinks) meanwhile we hadn’t had anything to drink for over an hour while waiting for food. They also ordered chips and dip and were given a mountain of chips.

This isn’t the first time we have been out since things have started opening up so we completely understand that places are understaffed and overwhelmed but being completely ignored while you see people around you get treated better is inexcusable. We did treat the waitress respectfully and were never rude or mean, we might have gotten a bit quiet but that was the extent of it. We even still tipped although in complete honesty it was not...