La Carreta — Restaurant in Asheville

Yesterday on 15 December 2013, I was yelled at and rudely refused service at the Weaverville La Carreta. That morning I had showered, washed my hair, put it up in a ponytail, trimmed my beard and mustache and shaved my neck. I wore my blue silk shirt and black slacks. As the temperature was 30 degrees and it was intermittently sleeting with small dry particles, I wore my black stocking cap and military camouflage winter jacket. I then went to Ingles to do my grocery shopping. Afterwards I then crossed the road and parked in front of the Weaverville La Carreta. I entered the premisis and stood by the front counter. A short stocky Hispanic male stood at the end of the bar area with his hands on the back of a chair. I said, "Buenas Dias, como esta?" He yelled back "Bien". I nodded and said, "Hola", to the staff that I recognized from my previous visits. They pretended not to recognize me from my many previous visits before this time. "Without moving he then again yelling asked, "What do you want?" Politely I said "I want to eat". He stated that , "We are not open". I looked at my watch and saw that it was 10:32 AM. I wondered what was going on as I have entered before at 10:00 AM and been offered service. He asked me, "What time is it?' I said that it was, "Ten-thirty". He said, "Come back in 1/2 hour, we will be open then". I turned and walked out the door, got in my car and drove home. I do not know what situation I had walked into but it was not good to yell at a loyal patron and refuse...

We have been customer’s of LaCarreta for 15+ years. We have enjoyed birthday party’s, graduation and other special events at this restaurant. It’s common for us to eat there several times per week. The food and service has been great!

We know most of the long-time employees, including the owner on a first name basis.

It’s difficult to provide feedback with a negative tone, but here we go....

My family ate dinner there tonight. My son noticed a long hair on the plate, in the food. DO YOU WANT HAIR IN YOUR FOOD? It was not a tomato string or any other foreign object. We discretely brought the issue to the attention of the waiter.

After patiently waiting for quite some time, our waiter brought the check, stating he was unable to get any feedback from the owner, and that we could talk to him at checkout. Ok...So we walked to the register (thinking we would get a small disco, and maybe an apology). Nope!!!

Nothing but denial, he snatched the receipt from my wife’s hand, stating, “this is the last time I make a deal!” REALLY?!! I clearly explained we were not looking for a free meal!! We have eaten here for over 15 yrs!!! So I tipped the waiter $20 and left.

Bottom line, food and service is decent....if you have any issues, customer service...

I have eaten in this restaurant many times for years because the price used to be very reasonable, service is good and friendly and food was good. I used to love their chips but for some reason, the chips were hard and chewy. I ordered chicken fajitas. Not only the chicken was overcooked (dry and hard) , the flavor of the whole dish was bland. The soft tortilla was hard and dry. Worst of all, I told the waitress but she just smiled and did nothing. Ok, it's just $0.99 for the extra tortilla but I just did not enjoy my meal so I spoke to the owner and told him about the tortilla since I just want to make him aware of the problem. Instead, he said that if I ordered it, I should pay for it. So I told him in a nice way that I did not enjoy my food at all and that I will not be coming back again. I thought that since I am a familiar customer, he would listen and would not think I'm just trying to get a free meal. Well, he took the receipt rudely, deduct the $0.99 and said "don't come back!" and waved his hand to dismiss me. I did not say anything, went to pay my bill then left. I'm never coming back. There's a lot of other places I can give my business where food is a lot better and would actually value and respect...