Motel Mexicana — Restaurant in Newcastle upon Tyne

Awful Experience at Motel Mexicana

We arrived at 6pm with a pre-booked table for 3, only to be told by a confused member of staff that the system had us down for 2. Despite the booking being for three we were squeezed onto a table for two with an extra chair.

We ordered two margaritas and a glass of white wine at around 6:05. The food order was taken not long after. The waitress later returned to say there was no white wine available, so we changed to rosé, which arrived within 5 minutes.

By 6:45 our food turned up - cold, bland, and not fully like described on the menu - but still no margaritas. On top of this, the table was so small we couldn’t even fit the dishes we’d ordered. We each had the three tacos with a side of chips, but had to quickly lift the tacos off the serving plate and hand it back to the waitress just so the bowl of chips would fit (hence the poor image quality). The food itself was hugely disappointing: the “Baja fish taco” was literally just a fish finger, the corn tortillas were stale and crumbled apart when picked up, and the cheese dip was nothing more than melted plastic cheese. The only thing even remotely enjoyable were the plain, shop-bought nachos served on the side.

During the long wait I politely asked multiple staff members about the drinks. Meanwhile, the men behind the bar were laughing and joking with each other while tickets piled up in front of them. The table next to us received several rounds of drinks in the time we waited for just one, but they too were unhappy with their food and had to call over what appeared to be the owner. He showed no interest in their concerns or ours.

Around 7pm, nearly an hour after ordering our drinks, a waitress appeared with a glass of white wine - despite not ordering it and us being told earlier there was none - and only then did our margaritas finally arrive.

When the neighbouring table asked for the manager, she came over to us too and said she’d amended the bill since she’d heard we hadn’t had a great experience. We attempted to share our experience but she didn’t want to listen. Our bill was cleared and there was nothing to pay, which was generous, but it doesn’t erase how poor the evening was.

The issues were never properly addressed, nobody wanted to listen, and the entire service felt chaotic and disorganised. Sadly, despite the gesture of removing the bill, we will not be returning. Cold, flavourless food that bore no resemblance to the menu, a table too small to hold our order, and incredibly slow, confused service made this one of the worst dining...

Food was good though the tortillas aren't authentic. The tacos we had, the fillings were ok however and overall things were well cooked. The atmosphere was just a bit dull and something felt off about the premises. My issues however were more with the service. Not all on the server but about the whole process.

The server was at times polite and friendly but I'll list my issues. 1 - We were pointed to our table and not walked to our table. Minor I know, but it's basic hospitality. 2 - We weren't given menus until someone came up to take our order about 10 minutes after sitting down. No menu's brought to the table as they should have been when we were seated. 3 - The food took ages to arrive though we're told this is due to kitchen issues. Tacos are street food and should really be very quick to make. 4 - They did bring shots for free to make up for this however I think this is something that they should have asked us about, especially as I didn't order an alcoholic drink so there should have been questions raised about why I would want an alcoholic drink. This should have been offered, not assumed. 5 - When part of my order wasn't possible due to kitchen issues I wasn't asked what I'd like as a replacement side and what they gave me by default was different to what I would have chosen of the remaining options. Again, all that would have been required is asking me what I would want instead 6 - At the start of the meal I ordered the Churro's to come after the main meal, as part of their £20 offer for the full meal. This was completely forgotten about. I was actually annoyed at the end when I was asked if I wanted any dessert as they already had the answer to that question, and I chose not to have them out of principle due to the amount of issues and errors and that they forgot about that part of my order! 7 - When the bill came (15% discount due to the above issues as described, without asking which I will credit them for), I noted that my partners £15 meal (3 x Tacos and a side) was priced at £17. The special menu ordered off makes no mention at all that the Birria Taco's are £1 more each. So if you order purely off that menu you will not notice that on the main menu, it does mention that. It's just sloppy work from whoever made the special menu. Given we already were getting a discount I couldn't be bothered to cause a stink so we just paid and left.

I will...

Paid £50 pp for their ‘premium’ bottomless brunch, including nachos, 4 tacos, churros and unlimited drinks for 2 hours. We arrived 5 minutes before our table was booked and we were told the table isn’t ready so wait at the bar and we’d be taken up when they were ready. After waiting at the bar for 20 minutes, paying for a drink while waiting still no sign. I finally mentioned it to the waitress and she took us straight up, obviously forgetting about the two of us. When we got to the table there was a waitress already walking around the tables giving frozen margaritas and offered us one. Shortly after another waitress came over, took our taco order and I asked if we could order more drinks. Those drinks eventually came with the food. Over the next hour and a half, I made three separate drink orders with two different waitresses and none of them turned up. The table next to us actually gave us two of their drinks because they felt so bad for us. After an hour and a half the waitress comes over with one cocktail, a cocktail clearly meant for another table but I took it anyway. For the first time in my life I made a complaint to the waitress as in the hour and a half I’ve been there I’ve had three “bottomless” drinks, one on arrival, one I ordered and now some random persons she brought me by mistake. She apologised, asked what drinks I ordered and then 20 minutes later (ten minutes before our booking ended) brought the drink over. Overall I paid £50 for 4 small tacos and 4 drinks over the course of 2 hours, plus the £10 extra for a drink at the bar while I waited 20 minutes for my table.

Don’t get me wrong, the food was lovely (the tacos, we didn’t receive the nachos and churros we paid for) and the atmosphere was great. Charging £50 for a bottomless brunch is already steep comparing it to other bars that do it a lot better. They could at least have something to show for it. Was over the moon to finally try this place and never been so disappointed. First ever complaint and bad review I’ve ever done but it’s...