La Carnita - Leslieville/Riverside (Queen St E) — Restaurant in Toronto

By far the worst experience that I've ever had at La Carnita.

Having dined at multiple locations in the past, including this one, I was very excited to sit on the patio this evening to celebrate mine and my friend's birthdays (which were not even acknowledged by our server despite mentioning that in the reservation and in person).

It took the server over 10 minutes to greet us and bring menus. Upon ordering our drinks, 2/3 could not be made. According to our server, the bartender was new and not able to make a very simple cocktail that was not on the menu, despite having all of the liquor behind the bar. We opted for draught beer instead. One came out promptly but the other two took another 10 minutes to be brought to our table.

Ordering our food was also quite hectic. Multiple chip dips on the menu were "sold out" - including guac and corn salsa, but somehow there was still enough to be included on the tacos. We settled for chips and salsa fresca, which were extremely underwhelming. The chips were stale and unsalted. They did not seem to be house made as they had been in the past. The salsa fresca was also a terrible 70/30 ratio of red onion to tomato, and lacked any sort of seasoning. I'm shocked to have paid $13.50 for something so bland and disappointing.

The chips and dip were just the tip of the iceberg - The rest of our food order was a complete disaster. It was forgotten and two tables who were seated after us ended up being served first, which was even admitted by our server. Once the food finally arrived 50 minutes after we ordered, my vegan tacos were served on the same plate as my friend's carne asada tacos. The mushroom tostadas were confirmed by our server to have been veganized, but came to our table with non-vegan crema on them. Even after our server insisted they were vegan, we had to push them to double check with the kitchen, and in fact they were not vegan. Our server finally apologized, said the kitchen would make us new ones, and that we would not be charged for the tostadas.

When paying our bill, we were still charged for the tostadas. I flagged this with the server, after they previously said we would NOT be charged, and they gave us a confusing explanation that they initially meant that we would not be charged for the non-vegan tostadas... but still had to pay for the redo. Considering all the mistakes and the delay with our order, the least they could have done was comped the food that they had messed up. I work in the hospitality industry and this would have been common practice at any other restaurant.

Although the food was tasty, the poor service, mistakes and delays really spoiled our experience. I'm thoroughly disappointed because every other experience that I have had at La Carnita has...

If I could give this place 0 stars, I would. We came here on a whim for a quick dinner. We've been to other locations before and had high expectations and knew what to expect. I've never had such a horrible experience in both service AND food. Apparently it was taken over by new management and the first day that new management operated was today. Okay, that is fine. But, the waitresses and owners weren't familiar with their menu. We asked how many corn came with one order and they didnt know and had to go and ask the chef in the kitchen. Their menu had daily specials and we asked about that. Again, they didn't know and had to go ask the kitchen. They came back to say that the Thursday special wasn't available today. So why did they give us the Daily Specials Menu? It took us well over 15 minutes to get our order in because the staff had to go back and forth to the kitchen when we had questions about their menu. We were told that the staff team were new, but the kitchen was the old team.

We ordered 3 cod, 3 shrimp, 1 rockfish, 1 steak, and 1 chicken tacos, nachos to share, and corn. We were served chips and dip instead of nachos. We waved the waitress down to confirm what was brought out to us. You can OBVIOUSLY tell it's chips and avocado dip but once again, she went to the kitchen to ask the chef. The chef or assistant came out, glanced at the plate and knew it was wrong and went back in.

Our tacos started coming out. Presentation looked decent but the taste was bad. The cod was cold and tasteless which I thought was weird since it's supposed to be fried in HOT oil. The shrimp tacos had 3 tiny shrimps that were stale and 99% crumbs. And of course the shrimp, which was "fried" was also COLD. I couldn't finish it at all.

The corn came out and it was BURNT. We didn't take a picture but it was pretty much unappetizingand unedible. It surprised me that the kitchen AND staffs, boththought it was passable to serve even when it was covered in black soot. We wanted to just leave it but we're paying $12 for overpriced and small corn so we told them and they made us new ones. The corns were smaller than average but tasted decent compared to the tacos.

Overall, the only thing that was even okay to eat here were the nachos and chips and dip that was complimentary. You really can't go wrong with thst since it's basically store bought chips...

The quality control here was beyond poor and I don't think management has ever tried their own food and would suggest that they should before opening their doors and...

Made a reservation here to take my parents and siblings out on Mother’s Day. We were 15 mins late so I late, so I gave them a heads ahead of time. I came in late and rushed, and was not greeted at all. I waited ten minutes so I walked in, there I noticed they prioritize Uber eats over anything. I forgot my glasses so that’s why I walked up, to make sure I was in the right location, in this empty restaurant … as I did a man ran past me with an Uber eats order where I asked him where to go and there he scolded me, I was told “YOU GET SEATED WHEN YOU ARE SEATED AND WAITING AT THE RIGHT SPOT”!!

Again, not sure what was happening, I went back to the front and an out of breath women came up to assist the people who just walked in behind me ten minutes later, again I mentioned we had been waiting first and wasn’t sure where to go to meet a host, and I was spoken down to again! Not an apology or anything. Never in my life had I been so rudely treated, not at a restaurant or even in my life! They made me want to cry for not being able to see far or for waiting 10 minutes in an empty restaurant. But there, they did it with zero remorse. It was Mother’s Day and I had faith La Carintia would live up to its reputation. But again…

I have NEVER been bullied as a patron, but here. They made sure to seat us after the people that came after us first. Further than made us wait 20 minutes to order, then 20 more minutes for water, followed by 45 minutes for drinks. I asked for a knife to cut the street corn appetizer, note that came before our water, I asked twice and was rudely ignored. I attached a photo of my mother ripping the corn apart because she was very upset and tired of waiting/being ignored, again no knife ever came. There were six tables in the restaurant. That’s correct six. We were IGNORED. After one hour and I as able to address my concerns to the server, she did nothing to make it right; after the bullying, 45 minute wait for drinks, 10 minute apart for mains, being ignored all night… but they did finally checked up on us twice when we took our last bites in those five minutes. BRAVO for your horrible service. Absolute worse service in the city. Working as a server and a bartender for ten years in the downtown core of the city of Toronto I urge you to ONLY order food from here as that’s all they care about.

I want to edit that I am happy to change me review if anyone makes it right. This is a warning to patrons in Toronto....