Ocotillo Prime Leña Y Mar — Restaurant in American Fork

*edited in response to reply

Being huge foodies here in American Fork, my wife and I were stoked that a new upscale restaurant with promise was coming, unfortunately we were disappointed.

First things first, I will acknowledge that we came pretty early on since the restaurant initially opened. That being said, processes, service, and the ambiance in general was pretty lackluster.

As soon as I walked in the door I got hit with the familiar scent of going to Arctic Circle as a kid. Smelled and felt just a bit greasy. Be prepared to throw some elbows trying to get to hostess station, it’s pretty tight in the entry with standing room only (except for a two person bench). It is also pretty loud, which I know is a personal preference thing, but if I’m going to spend $100+ for dinner I would prefer to not yell as if we were getting a bar pizza.

We waited exactly 1 hour and 36 minutes for our appetizer and entrees to be brought out. Results:

Ceviche Sonora - 6.75/10. Unnecessarily acidic, and you’re served 3x as much cucumber than fish/ shrimp depending on the order. Due to allergies we specified preferring a red sauce, and received green.

Parmesan Sea Bass - solid 8.5/10. Really a fantastic dish. The Spanish rice and broccolini was pretty average, but the fish was wonderful. Only thing I would call out is that it seemed the Parmesan was melted on top as the fish rested as opposed to getting seared as well. Feel like you miss out on that toasty flavor typical with this dish. But still fantastic.

Short rib spaghetti - 2/10. This dish was pretty confusing, it’s essentially a foot long rib garnished with a quarter of the pasta you’d expect. Couldn’t even taste the Grano Padano making the sauce pretty flavorless, unless you like the faint hint of mushroom. The one good thing about the dish was the sheer amount of rib meat you do get, however, the rib itself was dry, under seasoned and tough (seeing as how the rib is supposed to be braised until fork tender). Super underwhelming.

All in all, if you’re looking at the menu online, be prepared to spend at least $15 more per dish than you think since they don’t have prices available for visibility. I value quality food and culinary experiences more than most other things, and I was let down by our trip to Ocotillo Prime. If you have plans to come already, get the Sea Bass. If you don’t have plans to come, just go to Sol Agave down the street.

*Appreciate the reply and totally understand things being clunky as a brand new establishment. But since you brought it up in your reply, I will clarify that after waiting for an hour (expected wait time I was told was 20-30 mins), I personally checked the status of my order to find that it was actually the kitchen who cancelled the order, not me. We asked that the order still be prepared and it came out about 35...

Disappointing Experience at Ocotillo Prime - American Fork, UT My wife and I recently dined at Ocotillo Prime in American Fork, Utah, based on some positive reviews we had seen. While the food we ordered was undeniably pretty good, I have to say the overall experience left us feeling quite disappointed, primarily due to the lackluster service and surprisingly high prices. The entrees we selected were tasty and well-prepared, living up to the "prime" in their name. However, the cost of the meal definitely felt on the higher end for the area. We were prepared for this going in, but the service we received didn't feel like it justified the price tag. Our biggest issue arose when my wife was considering a nonalcoholic beverage. She wasn't entirely sure if she would enjoy it, so we politely asked our server for a little more information. Unfortunately, the server was less than helpful, simply stating that it was "good" without offering any specifics about the flavor profile or ingredients. Trusting their recommendation (which, in hindsight, we shouldn't have), we ordered it. To our dismay, the drink was quite unpleasant. My wife took a single sip and immediately disliked it. I tried it as well, and I have to agree – it was not good at all. We brought this to the attention of our server, mentioning that we had only taken a sip and that their vague "it's good" recommendation had led to us ordering something we couldn't drink. This is where our experience sharply contrasted with the positive reviews we had read about Ocotillo Prime's customer service. Instead of offering a solution or even an apology, our server simply smiled and giggled, making us feel dismissed. They did not offer to take the drink off our bill, despite it being virtually untouched and our clear dissatisfaction stemming directly from their unhelpful suggestion. Frankly, this was incredibly frustrating. We relied on our server's input, were given misleadingly positive information, and then were left to pay for a drink that was clearly not to our liking. It felt like a complete disregard for customer satisfaction. While the food itself was decent, the combination of the expensive prices and the genuinely poor handling of our drink issue has left a sour taste in our mouths. Based on our experience, I would recommend being very cautious about ordering anything you are unsure of and definitely avoid asking your server for advice on drinks. You might end up stuck paying for something you can't even finish, as we unfortunately did. Our experience with Ocotillo Prime's customer service was far from the positive reviews we had seen, and it significantly detracted from...

Overall food was great, the service was so-so for reservations. Atmosphere could have been better if it didn’t feel like we were thrown in an overflow corner.

Decided to try out this new restaurant last night after seeing Salt Lake Foodie’s video on Facebook. We were excited to try the new restaurant that was close by to where we live.

To start off we made the reservation for 2 at 7:30 PM off of their website. My husband decided to call the restaurant to make sure they were open because google doesn’t show their hours of operation but there were some reviews. Once the receptionist answered we informed them that we reserved a table for 2 for 7:30 PM. The receptionist requested our name and said that they couldn’t see us for that time. But said she would write our name down so that when we arrive we will in fact have a reserved table.

Upon arrival we checked in at 7:25 PM, no issue the receptionist did say that they needed to clean off some tables before we can get seated. There was a couple of two in front of us that got seated 7 minutes after we checked in. As we were waiting a lady for a table of 1 walked in, and a couple of two also walked in around the same time to check in. They called the lady for table of one back before us. at this point we’ve been waiting for 20 minutes for a table.

After 20 minutes of waiting we got called back, the guy that seated us did apologize for the wait, and took us around corner to the right to the table. We were placed in the corner away from everyone else, almost as if this area was for overflow. Which I wasn’t too fond of I would have loved to experience the action in the middle of the restaurant.

Instantly we were greeted by our server with chips and salsa and drink requests. Ordered our appetizer, but had a couple of questions that our waiter was kind enough to answer and explain. Upon ordering we were wanting to order the pig wings as the appetizer, the waiter told us they don’t have the meat for the pig wings, they ran out. So we opted for the cauliflower which was delicious. The waiter came back again to take our order for the main course. I ordered the short-rib spaghetti, my husband ordered the Leña y Mar and we also ordered the Ribeye Tacos with Bone Marrow (Tuetano). The food was delightful. Would I come back? Yes, but only to try...