Mexico Lindo Tacos & Grill — Restaurant in Sherwood Park

Have visited this place on two occasions- one in a weekday and yesterday a Friday oct 23; first of all the food here is amazing, cannot get more authentic Mexican food - I am going to be revisiting the place with a few friends next week. SO I WOULD SAY GO HERE. With all said the service of this place is not at par with any chain restaurants- I know I am comparing now, but I should not. I don’t believe there is a manager on duty at this place and the owners have let the servers run the place by themselves (or it looks like this) which I think is overwhelming to some of them. Yesterday was a clear example of bad service; we were at our table were greeted by our server and were given a few minutes to catch up on the drinks menu. Our drink order was taken and within a few minutes we were ready to enjoy the weekend, this was where things started going downhill. We placed the appy order and the main course together and in the 15 – 20 minutes between this we had to flag down our server for our drink refill there was no follow up from her end, and once she did manage part of the refills we were bought out main courses- they skipped all our appetizers. We asked the server to cancel the appetizers, while still waiting for an alcoholic slushy beverage which was still waiting on the bar (which we could see was made 5-7 minutes back); flagged down another server and let her know that it was our drink . We had no follow up on the food but when she passed to help another table asked her for all the sauces-this was the only thing brought out fast. Dinner done, desert brought (had to wait here too) our conversation around the table went to what do we tip her. Having my son who is a server too, suggested I do a 15% as the kitchen staff should not be penalized for her bad service- I agreed. But what made me write this review was I was brought a bill with 15% gratuity added already. I feel that a gratuity is earned and I should have the right to select that 15% or 18% or NO button. I paid the bill as I didn’t want to ruin our evening but the trip back home was a little annoying for me as I had to know if this was a standard of this restaurant for a Friday. I called the restaurant to be told this practice was for 6 and more at a table; and the person who picked the phone let me know it was not right for the server to do so and she would educate our server. We were 4 at the table and had made a reservation so they knew that...

The food was great, the staff provides exceptional service. I will be fair and give what is due to the efforts/investment of this business. Special mention to my server Diana, a valuable asset to this business. Now that’s established;

My first experience was made uncomfortable by a large table of obnoxious customers near where I sat. My observation recorded how unruly and unpleasant they were to Diana. They were outrageously loud during conversation, frequent loud outburst of laughter overpowering the entire audience, amounting to behaviour that any other establishment would intervene.

However, not for a minute did I notice anyone from management approached these customers to have brought some order or ease in the interest of other patrons at the restaurant. Their actions prompted some anger that I had to box and take away my meal.

It was also painful yet concerning to be made aware that the folks were friends of the owner. A revelation confirming the inappropriate behaviour of these folks.

Dear Entrepreneur

Your friends were not solely patrons of your business and their exhibition did not do well for other customers and your business. The numbers at the table surely reflected and suggest that they are unable to secure the viability and sustainability of your restaurant. Friends should help build, not destroy. They should have you in full consideration ensuring and helping you thrive. They should ALWAYS have you back positively. Therefore, I urge you to set boundaries for friends with such arrogance, or make sure they fall within the confines, standards and expectations of any other customer.

Their behaviour brought about major discomfort to other patrons leaving a bitter impression. Pay close attention to tables near them as your place is under surveillance. See it for yourself. Some persons may NEVER tell you and invest in bad word of mouth about your business, all because of your friends and you REFUSING to call on them to tone it down. Take NOTE!!! First time potential customers could have been lost due to your LOYAL friends and their lack...

We went here on the recommendation that the food was wonderful. And I won't disagree with that, we quite enjoyed the food. The service however? It was bad enough that the good food won't have us coming back here.

My husband and I had a reservation for 7 pm. We got there a couple minutes early, and were seated at 655 pm. Our server didn't come to our table until around 710 pm. Luckily, the menu could be scanned from the table, so we were ready to order our drinks and meal all in one shot, which we did. We ordered a beer, and water to drink, the guac and chips for an appetizer, and the quesadilla and steak for entrees.

Our server brought my husband's beer in the bottle, with no offer of a glass fairly quickly. That in itself isn't the end of the world, but she didn't bring my water. And then she didn't come near the table for us to even wave her down for another 10 minutes to ask where my water was

When the guac and chips came out, I had to unfold my napkin to use as a makeshift plate since we weren't provided any plates. She never came around to offer plates or even ask how our food was.

My entree came out in a timely manner, but it was brought out around 5 minutes before my husband's steak was. The food tasted great, no complaints there, but I finished my food well before he did as a result. My husband ordered another beer, but she brought the wrong one. He just drank it save the trouble of getting the correct one.

When we finished our meals, I had leftovers. We again waited for around 10-15 minutes for her to come back close enough to the table so I could ask for a box. By this point, it was 8 pm.

She brought the box, and then disappeared again. We wanted to pay our bill and leave, but she didn't come back. We finally put our coats on at 830 pm in hopes that she would see us, and bring us our bill. That did the trick, and we were finally able to pay our bill and leave.

So long story short, food was great, service was awful. And it was awful enough to the point we won't...