El Cisne Restaurant — Restaurant in Arizona

This review is based on an event that happened several weeks ago. I put off writing this review because I really hate writing bad reviews.

Anyway, we were two couples with discount coupons and used the coupons as an excuse to try a new restaurant.

When the wait person arrived she had an attitude and stated that those coupons weren't good unless we bought alcoholic beverages. We argued that there was no such stipulation on the coupon. We were there for lunch and don't particularly want to drink alcoholic beverages with lunch. We were about ready to leave when she gave in decided to respect the coupons.

I don't know if it was because of the confrontation or this place is really like this, but the place was not busy at all and the service was bad. Some of the food was OK, but my pork tacos were mostly gristle. I didn't have time to complain and didn't want to have to deal with more confrontations and so we paid our bill and left.

It seems like a good business practice to distribute coupons to attract new business and welcome people when people use them. I don't know many people who would return if the experience is bad. So what...

I want to note this one star review is only for the service. The food was fabulous. First, we entered when the restaurant was pretty empty, early on a Saturday evening. As it began to fill up, we noticed tables of people who arrived after us were getting their food. 30 minutes after our order was taken, we called over a waiter and expressed our concern. About 10 minutes later the food arrived. Did they even forget to deal with our order? Then we were charged for a side that was not brought and another side was incorrect. Ok. Nothing terrible yet. Then after finishing, we had to find someone to bring our check which took 15 minutes after our plates were cleared. Then, no one came to pick up the check for another 15 minutes. It was like we were being held prisoner. After getting up and trying to search out someone to process our credit cards, finally it was done. I couldn’t understand it as the waitstaff was pleasant and running around working hard, but somehow our table was being ignored…..I’m sure unintentionally. I’d love to go back, cause like I said the food was great. But if we do it will only be...

We stumbled on this place years ago and had a lovely meal there. We don’t live in Tucson, and when we’re in town we stay 15 miles from this restaurant, but for my birthday this year we decided to make the trek back to recreate that special night years ago.

So we drove out there today and walked in, excited to see the place is even bigger than it used to be. But we stood at the host stand for 5 minutes before anyone acknowledged us. We were sat and brought chips and salsa immediately…and then we waited.

One of the servers looked at us several times. No smile, no acknowledgement. We were thirsty. More minutes went by, we decided what to order, but no one came to take our order or offer water. The server gesticulated in our direction while talking to the hostess. After 10 minutes or so, we got up to leave. I thought someone might see us and call out, “so sorry, we’re slammed tonight, but we’re coming to help you!” But no one seemed to notice.

Not a great birthday dinner, obviously. We headed back to Tucson proper and had a delicious and cheaper...