La Fiesta Mexican Grille — Restaurant in Alachua

We walked in at 8pm to grab a table for 15 guests. I understand that is a big party, however it was 3 hours before closing and from the looks of it they had plenty of room for our party. The hostess went to go tell an older lady of our party and she visibly stuck out her tongue out like “bleh” 🤮 which I saw and instantly made me feel uncomfortable. From then on, her and the male server she was folding silverware with had their eyes on my party the whole time. Specially the older lady was given my party mean looks throughout our entire meal. Our server, Adam, however was very attentive and had great service.

We get our meal and are enjoying our food when suddenly one of our friends spit out something hard that they bit down on while eating his soup. We then see it is a RAZOR. He immediately got up to find a manager or the owner but was unable to find either. We told our server and they brought it back to the kitchen. Apparently, they had gotten a new tomato slicer and a piece had come off, even though it was brand new. How a piece of a tomato slicer ended up in his soup I have no clue. They took his meal off his bill (he still had to pay for the 2 other meals his party got) and said they called the owner but was unable to get in contact with them.

I asked the server later on if the lady who was dressed in a gray shirt and blue jeans (the lady who kept looking at us sideways throughout the whole meal) if she were a manger and he stated they had no manager on site right now.

I left a note on my receipt saying Adam was a great server but I’d like to speak to a manager or owner if possible about other things regarding our experience. I left my phone number on the bill, so hopefully it makes it to the owner or a manager.

I’ve never had an experience like this with La Fiesta. In fact, when they were on the verge of closing I was very sad for the owners and Gainesville as they were a go-to restaurant for me & my friends in high school. I was looking forward to them reopening with the new renovations they did after being so close to closing their doors. I don’t think I will be back after my visit today. I’d rather bring my business to a restaurant who wants it and doesn’t have razors in their food.

Update The owner called me personally this morning to sincerely apologize and discuss the topics of my review. Dave was extremely apologetic and offered to send us a large amount in gift cards for the experience we had. He said he would talk with his staff as well. Thankfully, nothing worse followed the razor blade and we hope this will never...

My wife and I have been coming to La Fiesta restaurant for many years and it's always e pleasure dining here. Its a great family owned and operated business. With that personal investment they take exceptionally great care of their customers with genuine concern for their satisfaction of food, drinks, service, & overall experience.

Regular & Adult Beverages: They have a full bar, with a vast selection of tequilas, from wells to standards to ultra premium they've got it! Traditional cocktails are also offered along with Mexican and domestic beers and wine at a reasonable price. The standard fare of soft drinks is available, the unsweetened tea is always fresh and never too weak.

Apps Like most Mexican restaurants, a basket of freshly made chips accompanied by their excellent home made salsa will arrive at your table shortly after being seated. I'd highly recommend their guacamole and their queso dip is top notch! This is one of very few restaurants that have never served me anything that wasn't delicious! Some of my other favorite appetizers are the quesadillas (any style or veggie), and the chicken nachos are to die for! The latter two I'll usually enjoy as a meal however.

Main Events Fajitas, chilli rellenos, are all great. There are many dishes available for vegetarian and vegan diners , with frequently added or replaced menu items keeping things from getting boring. Whenever I'm having trouble making up my mind, the owners are very helpful to make suggestions, I've found several new favorites at La Fiesta this way. If you go expecting the typical Mexican restaurant experience prepare for your expectations to be exceeded in almost every aspect!

Something Different Gainesville is a difficult area for retaining staff with so many transient citizens (students) and that can make service consistency especially challenging, but Jessie, Lupe, David and the rest of this wonderful family have figured out how to maintain the quality and service despite the obstacles. This is especially noticable during the summer or seasonal breaks for students. Many area restaurants fail horribly at this. I don't think this point should go unrecognized, it definitely influences my decisions when the students are out of town. Part of that success is obvious, their commitment and just plain hard work is inspiring and won't be found at any chain...

We were on the road and this place was easily accessible from the highway. The look was clean and bright, we felt it would be a good stop.

Things started fine. I ordered shredded chicken tacos. My husband ordered enchiladas supreme. We both got Coke zero.

Chips and salsa were tasty and well done.

Then our food came. My chicken tacos were decent. Not much flavor and leaning towards the bland side. My husband immediately realized the sauce on his enchiladas had flour in it. He has a gluten allergy and nothing on the menu indicated there was flour in the dish. He orders this dish a lot at Mexican restaurants so without knowing how this location serves it, it came with a sauce he cannot eat. We immediately got our waitress and asked if there was flour in it. She wasn’t certain and there was also a little bit of a language barrier. She brought over another server and he spoke with us and immediately went back to the kitchen to confirm. He came back and said yes, sorry it does.

This is where things go bad.

Our server refused to take back the dish and fix it. She said do you want to order another one in addition to this one?

Let’s see…. My husband eating this one ends with him sick till tomorrow with doubled over pain and damage to his intestines… so yeah… we need to get one without the gluten.

My husband didn’t want to cause an issue so he said we will just wrap it up, and that I can eat it later since I don’t have any allergies to gluten. Mind you, we are on the road, so we had to pack it up for the remaining 5 hour drive home.

He asked for one without the enchilada sauce and she offered to put cheese sauce and he said yes please.

When we get the check we now paid for 3 meals, plus she charged an extra $1.50 for the cheese sauce. The sauce that was replacing the enchilada sauce that was removed from the dish.

I hope this location can understand that allergies are real, they are important to understand and be able to work around and when an accident happens, like what happened with us, the dish should have been exchanged for something he could eat, we shouldn’t have had to purchase the one with the offending sauce, as well as another dish.

I have never ever experienced this anywhere we have ever eaten. I think it’s pretty clear we will not be back.

If you have any food allergies, this place is...