El Nopal Mexican Restaurant — Restaurant in Acworth

Declining Service Quality

UPDATE: 20FEB25

Waiter advised that any salsa chips over the first one, would incur fees of $4. We have 5 people in our family and charging $4 for more chips and salsa is ridiculous. I can see they wont be around ling.

Recently I took my mother out for a lunch to the Acworth El Nopal on Hwy 41 and a male waiter, one who has served us before without issues, was not friendly at all. I attempted to chat with him and asked how his day was going, and he refused to answer and gave me a look as if I was his worst enemy. Everybody has a bad day, right? When he never came back to refill drinks or provide additional services, like asking how things were, I call over a young white 'kid' in a nice collard El Nopal logo'ed shirt and he said he was a manager. I told him of our previous experiences with our waiter and then detailed the issues for that visit. The manager, Jonathan I think was his name, listened and said he would speak with the waiter. I requested that he address the situation in a manner that said, "these customers know how good you have been and a simple apology for poor service this time would be greatly received by them". After the manager spoke with him, he just brought our check, and left, not even a thank you, hope to see you again. Needless to say, he earned no tip that day, the only way to get the point to sink in from my viewpoint. We have been back several times since and not had him as a waiter so all-in-all, things went well.

Today, Sunday, 12Jun22, I had the day with my son set aside and we went back to El Nopal. Alina was our waitress and she took our orders, brought us extra salsa and our drinks. From that point forward, for our 45 minute meal, she NEVER showed up again until the end when she brought our bill. Even at the end, with our 5 empty salsa containers, empty chip basket, drained drink glasses and 1/2 empty plates, she never asked if we needed anything else. I requested a to-container and she brought that and started clearing our table; she should have waited till we were gone since she didn't care to service us even in a minimal fashion during our visit. Seems to me to be a spreading issue with service declining to a point they are about to lose our 3-5 visits a month, bit that is fine by me. We are 20% tippers, we understand the wait job is not an easy one, but treat us like these 2 staffers and you get a tip equitable to your efforts for my services. Alina received a 0% tip and a love note from me kindly explaing that her non-existent service level was not what we have experienced as a norm at El Nopal in Acworth, GA, and we hoped she would improve before we returned so we could reward her efforts at a 20% level.

Management was not visible during our exit today or I would have spoken to them directly about Alina's poor service, I would like to think I am a familiar face to him, as I have provided face-to-face POSITIVE feedback for other employees to him in the past.

I am hoping Alina can take my criticism and improve her services to an acceptable level before we return and are assigned to her station.

The food is always good here, that is the main draw, but if service keeps declining, there are 4 other Mexican eaterys within 5 miles of each other, I am happy to drive to feel...

Ok food, half-star service. I eat this place every few months or so as a cheap, American style Mexican restaurant. It's nothing special. However this time, I chose to order a pick-up order. I called and was greeted and told to wait as there was someone he was helping in person. I said ok, and that was the last contact I had with this person. I continued to wait. I figured, he would have realized after a few minutes, all of which I would have been understanding with. I'm not perfect and I certainly don't hold myself to that high of standards. I proceeded to wait for 18 minutes when I then got my shoes on and went into the restaurant to place my order. It was clear after 18 minutes of constant pocket noises that the guy had forgotten about me. I've worked in food industry before and I get it, things get hectic, you get distracted. But when I arrived to place my order, the employee at the register asked what my name was as if I had placed my order. I showed him the phone that was still counting the minutes (which was 23 minutes at this point) and told him I've been waiting to place an order for that entire time. He laughed and said sorry about that what would you like. As if I hadn't just waited 15 minutes on the phone and then decided to drive to the physical location in order to place an order. No compensation, just a simple sorry about that, and proceeded to try and take my order. I'm sorry about that but I won't be visiting your El Nopal again for its mediocre american style...

Placed an order for pick up. When we got home, order was wrong. Ordered chicken tacos got beef, and a simple steak burrito but the one i got was totally covered in cheese sauce. Called and talked to "Jonathan" to let him know order was wrong. My plan was to take back the food and get my correct order. Well he then proceeded to tell me "next time you order, I recommend you look at the menu instead of ordering a la carte." When I repeated what he just said to me he tried to tell me he didn't just say that. I asked for a manager, he refused and proceeded to tell me he was the manager. Then after I went off in Spanish he finally fessed up that he was the owner's son. The entire time he refused to let me talk to anyone else and continued to talk over me as if I was in the wrong. Instead of stepping away from the situation and de escalating it, he made it a million times worse by acting like he was the highest in command. His condescending tone was completely unacceptable. I did finally get a refund for the incorrect items. I did advise he take some management classes to learn how to talk to customers (he sounded incredibly young). Forgot to mention he said his dad's name was Juan and was only there a few times a month and the other manager Hector wouldn't be able to do anything for me because he was lower in the chain of command. I will NEVER step foot in this establishment again. There are many Mexican restaurants to choose from in the area. I highly recommend...