Cielito Lindo — Restaurant in Vancouver

We visited this restaurant to celebrate a friend’s birthday, having made our reservation weeks in advance. While the food we were able to try was excellent, the service—and subsequent customer service—was extremely disappointing.

Although we arrived just seven minutes late, I received a call at 7:33 PM asking if we still wanted our table. When we were seated, we were placed in the very back near the bathrooms. It took at least 10 minutes before anyone came to take our order, and we had to flag someone down. When our appetizers arrived, there were no napkins, plates, or cutlery, requiring us to ask again.

A couple of us ordered mezcal margaritas. While the first round was fantastic, the second was unmistakably not mezcal. Instead, it tasted like a low-grade tequila with lime from a plastic bottle. We politely brought this to the attention of our server and the individual who identified herself as the restaurant manager. Both assured us it was mezcal—but it clearly was not. We weren’t looking for a free drink; we simply wanted to provide honest feedback. Similarly, someone at our table ordered a 9-ounce glass of wine but was served a significantly smaller pour. When we questioned this, the server insisted it was correct.

When the server later checked on our meal, we expressed that while the food was excellent, the overall experience had been disappointing. We had all looked forward to dining here based on its strong reputation, but the service did not meet expectations. Shortly after, the server and manager returned, insisting we didn’t have to pay for our meal. However, that was never our intention—we are business professionals who dine out frequently and have no issue paying for quality food and drinks. Our feedback was meant to address the service, but unfortunately, it was not well received. Instead, we were told we were being “hostile,” which was both unwarranted and unprofessional. At that point, we decided to leave.

Despite barely touching our food, we once again offered to pay. Ultimately, we left and went to Cuchillo down the block, where we were welcomed warmly and received outstanding service.

I sincerely hope the owners of this restaurant take the time to train their staff in proper hospitality and customer service. A great meal can only go so far when the experience surrounding it...

What started out as a promising visit since I didn't have a reservation and the hostess confirmed that there was a table available for me to come to turned into a series of unfortunate events. At no point did this guy or any of their coworkers mention something about a limited time for the visit.

The food 3/5

We ordered a plate of birria which has a large area of ​​opportunity, we have tried birria from places that do not sell themselves as “Mexican” and it is better than the one from this place. We also ordered a torta ahogada, nothing spectacular but better than the birria. Very good cantaritos and the bar tender was very friendly and had a welcoming attitude unlike his coworkers.

The service 0/5 Starts out good when we arrived and ordered, after that moment all the attitudes and customer service from the staff make you feel harassed, the waitresses ask every 3 minutes if you need anything else or have extremely passive aggressive responses, their attitude is that they want you to leave asap. I wonder if this is the same treatment they give to Canadians? The harassment will not end even if you are consuming, when we asked the waitress to give us a moment please, she decided not to come near our table again, leaving another girl in charge.

At one point during my visit, a woman approached our table with a very entitled attitude asked us if we had been told that we were only allowed to stay for 1 hour and 30 minutes. We told her that we were not aware of this and if they have mentioned we definitely would take this into consideration, however as I mentioned before, this was never communicated by anyone of the staff or its indicated on any menu or advertised in any material inside the place. We asked for the manager and this person with a lot of anger and a defiant attitude told us that she was and told us she was going to send or bill to the table. This person was mad at us due to her staff did not told us there was a limited time per visit…

Cielito Lindo urgently needs staff with better control of their emotions and who understand the basics of customer service.

As a Mexican, I felt that the treatment was terrible, they seemed angry to serve us and that they were...

One Star – Deeply Disappointed

I was genuinely excited to finally try Cielito Lindo, especially given all the hype and the beautiful, traditional-looking décor. Unfortunately, our experience turned out to be incredibly disappointing from start to finish.

We arrived as a party of two and were seated at an extremely narrow table, barely an inch away from the next group. It felt cramped and uncomfortable. The ambiance was immediately thrown off by loud reggaeton music blasting through the speakers—completely at odds with the traditional atmosphere. Something more appropriate, like Luis Miguel or mariachi, would’ve made a lot more sense.

Our server, who we later found out was the manager, took quite a while just to bring water. We ordered two Negra Modelos with salt and lime, specifying that we didn’t want a michelada—just salt and lime. After a long wait, the beers arrived with no salt or lime. Then, to our surprise, we were given pulparindo micheladas instead. We clarified again what we wanted, but the server insisted, “This is how we serve it here. No changes can be made,” and brought the exact same drinks back. We didn’t ask for anything fancy—just a simple, classic beer setup.

Things didn’t improve with the food. The portions were small, and midway through our meal, we ran out of tortillas. We ordered more, but it took 25 minutes to receive just four tortillas. When we asked why it was taking so long, the server-manager shrugged it off, saying, “That’s just how long it takes,” as if it was no big deal.

At that point, we were done. We asked for the check, paid, and left half our meal behind. The service was dismissive and rude, and the overall experience was far below what you’d expect from a place trying to represent Mexican culture and hospitality.

As a Mexican, I found this experience incredibly frustrating and disrespectful. We won’t be coming back.

What a horrible night. Reviews should have 0 stars.✨

There is other Mexican places around town with nicer food and...