Sonora Cocina Mexicana — Restaurant in Asheville

Wow. I have never given a 1 star review before in my life and if it was just for the food, decor, and drinks, this would be an entirely different review. My party of 7 entered the establishment to a sign on a table that told us to be patient because they were understaffed. No worries as it was a Friday night and we were very understanding as this is how things are now everywhere since Covid. We waited quietly for someone to acknowledge us after a few minutes, as two women and a small child were standing at the bar talking, when someone in an extremely, rude condescending tone yelled at us to put on a mask. It was so abrupt and very shocking that we didn't even know if that person even worked there or was a customer. Two women in our party had masks in their hands and quickly had a mask on their face, as they were already in the process of doing so as we were yelled at. If this woman greeted us appropriately, looking at us and not screaming through the person she was having a conversation with, she could have seen us being respectful. We were so taken aback with this approach, that we all felt very uncomfortable at that point to be greeted like this. We thought about walking out of the restaurant at that precise moment but we really wanted to try their food so we stayed. They sat us less than 3 feet from where we were standing by the front door. The server was attentive with providing great suggestions, maintaining our orders and drinks. The tacos and bowls we ate were delicious, as well as the Sangria! I did have to remind our server to give me the $7 special price as my bill showed it full price at $9, so I'm glad I paid attention to my tab. Every one of us tipped our bills well over 20% - 25% because it was not this employees fault for this rudeness. We all felt like scolded children and spoke at the dinner multiple times how this affected the entire vibe and atmosphere of the restaurant and our experience.

Kindness goes a long way. A simple, please put a mask on while not a your table would have made this a 5 star review. We wanted to make sure Tim the owner knew how we felt because we didn't want this to happen again to other customers, because our very large party was minutes away from walking out. He was very attentive to what happened and assured us it would be addressed. We left and hoped he would. We wanted the name of the woman to add to this review so while we went back in to ask, we were abruptly confronted by this same woman, and when asked for her name, she replied she was the owner's WIFE. Unbelievable that this is how you treat customers when you are the owner? I'm sorry but I will NEVER promote this business to anyone who asks me where to go get amazing Mexican food or tacos in Asheville because how you treat people, especially as the business owner is what sets you apart. We all left that place like we did something wrong and that is not right, especially when the service industry is so hard right now with keeping employees. We wanted to give this woman the benefit of the doubt, maybe it was a bad day, but there are multiple reviews here with her attitude. It's a real shame because the food was great. Again, a little kindness could have went a long way here as well as patience, since that was what was asked of us as...

Extremely unfriendly could not even taste the food when the owner over reacted because I didn't ask her permission to take pictures inside her building...I had order and been served..she abruptly closed out my 23 dollar bill and demanded me to box my food a leave..the chef came out to reinforce the point..WOW..MY FIRST TIME experiencing such meanest and coldness from a owner..The shrimp taco that I ate was absolutely horrible. The shell was not hard shell like requested, no avocado lettuces or Cheese...There menu was kinda high price and the negative redstate atmosphere honesty negatively affected my objectivity and ability to SEE WHAT THE FOOD TASTE LIKE...When I entered the restaurant the owner was very kind...I was having an excellent time. I only came in to use the bathroom and see if she could charge my phone..she did and I thanked her. I order food to show my gratitude and was able to get enough charge to make a call to have someone pick me up from downtown ASHEVILLE..I was unaware that the bus schedule was different on the weekends and it was raining..everything was going great...when the food began to arrive. I had the dumb idea to share the experience and arrange the menu ,.y food , water bottle was very different and nice, the art work nice and colorful..I did not think and I forgot to ask her permission..I apologized when she requested that I stop taping..I showed her personally that I deleted the video...box up the food..PAID MY BILL..and honored her request to leave.. I hope no one has to experience such a humiliating experience from any type of business owner .

I will learn from this experience and think not twice but 5 times on considering sharing my food experincing on a restaurant about there food and atmosphere..

It seemed like someone prompted her and she went commando..about what ever negative thought could have programmed in her from bad past experiences..I have no idea ...That has never happened...

Went to this establishment for lunch with my wife and kids. The waitress was very polite and had an all around pleasant demeanor. The dips and chips were brought out; which were very well done! Then the main course came which was; steak, steak tacos, shrimp tacos and what the waitress called a cross between a Mexican pizza and a tostada. At first glance all looked very pleasing; however, my wife could only stomach one shrimp taco, my son ordered two steak tacos with no mushrooms-it had a ton of mushrooms on it, which you could easily see piled on the plate, he only ate one of his tacos and after I managed to get down one of my corn tortillas with some steak and beans on it, I honestly felt sick. My other sons cross between a pizza wasn’t crispy at all and was completely covered with a sour cream/avocado mix....I’ve been cooking for over 15 years and if you have to slab sauce on something that you’ve cooked, ITS NOT GOOD. Needless to say the cross pizza whatever thing had two 10 year old bites taken out of it and he couldn’t do anymore. When some other lady came to take the plates because the waitress never came back to check on us, she asked if we needed boxes and honestly sounded and looked confused when I said no. Never not one time were we asked if the food was “good”, which it wasn’t even edible. The waitress then brought the check which was $82 and change. I paid as my wife and children left out the door. When the waitress came back with the check I asked her why we had to pay almost $90 for food that wasn’t even eaten. She acted confused and asked if it wasn’t good and I stated to her that she saw our plates and then she asked if I wanted to speak to the owners or the chef; uh no, that should have been an offer when you picked up our completely full plates. I will never go back and will most definitely never subject another family member to that food ever again. Hope the $82...