El Ponce — Restaurant in Atlanta

My wife and I ate at this restaurant a couple of weeks ago. I checked my credit card purchases about a week ago and noticed there were two charges. One was the correct amount of our purchase ($26.00). The other was an unauthorized charge of $41.19.

I went to the restaurant and talked to Roberto about the unauthorized charge. I showed him a screen shot of the two charges. He was cordial and said he would check into it and call me. He called in a few hours and said he couldn't find anything.

This was because I'd mistakenly given him the credit card posting date instead of the transaction date. I returned to the restaurant the next day and provided Roberto with the transaction date and showed him the screen shot of that date. He said that he'd check into it later because it was Friday and really busy.

It is now Wednesday morning, August 21, 2019, five days after Roberto assured me he would contact me. I don't know how a customer's credit card can be accidently swiped twice, and for different amounts. I suppose this could have occurred through inattentiveness and not deliberately.

Whatever may have happened, I know what has not happened. I have not received a call back from Roberto or anyone else representing the restaurant. Nor has the restaurant taken this unauthorized charge off my credit card.

Advice: keep your credit card receipts and reconcile purchases. However, in this case, this would not have prevented the second unauthorized charge.

Roberto, if you read this, I'd really like you to take the unauthorized charge of $41.19 off my card. As I stated to you when I first discussed this error, our meal was a (1) three-item combination, $11.00, (2) fish taco,$4.50, and (3) small queso, $4.00. This total, plus tax, was $20.87. I added a tip to make it $26.00.

It doesn't take this long to correct an error of this sort.

Thank you.

Update; Wednesday August 21: I received an email from my credit card company this morning (Wednesday, Aug 21) that showed the restaurant granted a partial credit of $15.19. That is a start. Obviously, there's still an overcharge of $26.00.

Roberto called a little while after I received the email and apologized for the error. He explained that his credit card company showed only the one charge of $41.19. Therefore, he refunded the difference of $15.19. I told him that my credit card statement shows the two charges of $26.00 and $41.19.

He suggested I wait a couple of days to see if the remaining overcharge of $26.00 comes off. (I don't see how this would happen without an action on his part.) Nonetheless, there's not much more I can do but wait. I had already called my credit card company this morning prior to receiving Roberto's call.

Unfortunately, this has caused the inconvenience of my credit card company cancelling my card due to the charge dispute. So I'll be without a card for several days until I receive a new one.

I do want to add that Roberto was very apologetic for this occurrence and his delay in getting back to me. He seemed genuinely regretful of this entire incident. He offered a couple of alternatives to make it right if the remaining $26.00 charge doesn't drop off in a couple of days. We'll see what happens.

Thanks to the restaurant's owner who read my original post and took immediate action to get this...

The experience that I had here over the weekend was horrible I brought my friend here for an outing for her bachelorette weekend thinking this was a great place to eat and get good drinks hearing from people that told me to try it out. First of all when Penelope took our order she was real cool and I just knew she was going to be great until 10 mins later she comes back and ask me what did I order so my friends at the table looking like hold up wait she didn't put our order in so I asked her hey did you not put our order in yet because we have somewhere to go, then she says oh don't worry it's in it will be coming out in like 10 mins I was like oh ok that's perfect. Until we was sitting talking and like 25 mins had went by and everyone was getting hungry when I'm telling you we all pretty much had tacos we was like what's going on we all was seeing food going out to people outside but no food was brought to us my friends where like where is our food so I went to find Penelope she was outside about to take someone else's order and I asked hey is our food coming she's like yea it should be in the window so I'm thinking to myself we are sitting by the window and it's no food in the window so I was like um there's no food in the window so she comes in line 5 mins later and bring 1 plate from our table of 8 out and everyone's like this is our food coming out so after a couple minutes the rest of our food started coming out, when I got my food I looked at my taco and it had a piece of wood stick inside so I informed Penelope hey it's a piece of wood in my taco she then proceeded to say oh it must have came from one of the skewers I asked if I could have it remade and she was like ok so now we where already late to our event by this point so I asked her can she put it to go and I should be compensated because of it but I would defiantly pay for my drink because it was very good, so then we also asked for our checks so we can leave i asked for a manager but the guy at the counter was like they are fixing your tacos and i made sure i emphasized that it be fresh well I don't know how fresh they where cause they came out way quicker than when I ordered them the first time, so we ended up waiting another 10 to 15 to get our check because as I watched her print our checks she walked past our table to print the checks to give someone a hug at the front door everyone was like where is she going we told her we had somewhere to go. Smh alot of our checks was messed up which was frustrating. At the end of the day I wish our waitress was more honest and came to check on us the place was not overly crowded it was around 630 when we got there and we didn't leave until 830 we was able to sit when we got in and it was alot of employees there I think they need help with team work because if she was busy they should have helped her because she said it was alot of us that's why it...

I have been a patron of El Ponce since it was El Azteca. Lots of changes have taken place. Not all have been good. They no longer offer pitchers of margaritas, which IYKYK. The menu has dwindled, yet they have tried to compensate for the change in atmosphere. It’s still not the most luxurious decor treatment, but patrons never visited for decor. We came for food and drinks. The last straw for me was this past Saturday. I went in, and waited as you now you have to wait to be seated. (Another new procedure.) No biggie.

I excitedly told the hostess (who was training another hostess) that I would like a table for one. They then proceeded to ask me if I wanted inside or out. I stated that I preferred outdoor seating. The kicker. They ask if I want in the Sun seating or out the Sun. I am a brown Nubian Queen. I opted for the shade. They then proceeded to explain how the only one top available was in the Sun. I opted to sit at the bar with the longest server that works there, I believe he’s management now. (He’s very nice, and if you see this, why did you let them turn YOUR restaurant into this😩) As I didn’t want to look at these two women who denied me service to a open table thus singlehandedly ruining my dining experience.

I know the crowd that this establishment USE to draw. If I was there on a busy night, I could possible be more understanding. As I can clearly tell, business is not as it were prepandemic, why deny me a seat in an otherwise slow dining time? I only wanted to enjoy my one mommy free day sipping a margarita at my then- favorite Mexican bar.

After a decade of visiting, I can no longer go back to El Ponce. I enjoy the Peachtree location of El Azteca and another spot called Rreal Tacos on 6th. Last note about El Ponce was that my Barria taco was more fat than brisket. I also can’t help but wonder if my skin was as porcelain as the hostesses, would I have been able to sit at my desired and OFFERED seat of choice. How do you offer me a seating option then say Its unavailable? Like whaaaaa?! It’s giving Eurocentric, inauthentic Mexican now anyway....