El Forastero Mexican Food — Restaurant in Auburn

I was a regular at El Forastero in Auburn for about a year, but I do not intend to return. I found their burritos to be generally tasty but inconsistent in quality. My biggest complaint up to this point was the occasional large glob of fat in their birria, which should have been torn apart or removed before being put in a burrito.

The reason I am leaving one star is that on Friday 1/27 I found an inch-long bone in my birria burrito. Based on the shape and size, I would guess it came from a chuck roast. Wanting to bring this potentially hazardous quality control issue to their attention, I went back to the restaurant and asked to speak to a manager or supervisor. The gentleman at the counter (the same one who took my order at the drive-thru) seemed very dubious about my claim after inspecting the bone, and asked if I wanted a refund or a replacement burrito. I declined both: I had eaten the rest of the burrito, and was just looking to offer helpful feedback rather than looking for a handout.

He explained that there wasn't anyone in charge at the restaurant, which frankly beggars belief. It is likely that hundreds of thousands of dollars were invested to open this location, so I can't imagine any responsible owner would leave it completely unattended and in the hands of a cashier. He offered that I could come back Monday to speak to someone (he didn't say who), but I explained my schedule and that I do not commute into Auburn on Mondays, and I asked for an alternative day. He shrugged and said, "Thursday?" to which I had to respond, "You don't know when there will be a manager here?" He said that there was usually someone present, just apparently not at 3:30 on a Friday. This is pure speculation, but I'm guessing that Monday and Thursday are this employee's days off.

Being quite stunned and flabbergasted at this point, I went back to my car and typed up an inquiry for this location on the El Forastero website, explaining the situation and requesting a response. It is 5 days later and I have receive no response, neither email nor phone call.

You messed up, El Forastero. As a loyal customer I tried to bring a quality control issue to your attention, and instead your irresponsible employees and lack of leadership convinced me that my business is better...

the service is good don’t get me wrong but very hard of hearing apparently. i go here almost all the time. yeah some mess ups here and there. but who am i to complain when i chose the place plus im really hungry. and yes some of the food great. but this time im tired of it. asada fries is my go to here but my crazy brain decided to try different things and man i wish i didnt. food smelled good but apparently again hard of hearing. added everything i said not to . added none of what i wanted. i have allergies dude there’s a reason i request the same old things to be removed all the time plus it’s the same ingredients as the asada fries just remove the same thing 🤦🏽‍♀️… i come here there a lo. almost every other night, how do you not recognize customers who come there often like seriously. and over and over and over again. mistakes after mistakes but we hoping for better results. some nights are good but the rest it’s like you hate your job and making customers suffer for it . we never complain. cause it’s convenient and we like food. but enough is enough. my hubby had to go back 4 times because clearly we said don’t and this and that and we returned the food but it’s like you hand us back the same plate over again. because it’s still the same issue. like seriously. you heard what we ordered why can’t you hear what we want removed or added on. and you should talk to your customers like you like your job. not sounding like you hate your life cause everyone has something to live for. we like your food like the place and location but get it together. and stop messing it up so much. told hubby i’m just cooking...

I'm a walking garbage disposal that ate and actually enjoyed military food from my service days, so when I say the following, I mean it! One of the worst Mexican food restaurants we have ever eaten at. Overly expensive for small portions, orders with missing paid for extra items, and hazardous food. The street tacos are tiny, barely filled (half the amount pictured in menu online) and way over priced, the burritos are a travesty of slop with careless globs of ingredients not layered in and bad flavors, and the rice is just BAD. I mean, how do you screw up rice??? They scammed me with the menudo as well as could have caused a medical situation due to it. My menudo has a giant inedible joint bone in it almost the size of a baseball so they tricked me on portion size. The soup also has SHARP chips of bone in it that I could have choked on. I caught it last second and choked and spit it out! I've gone to various qualities of restaurants that have better menudo with more in it and larger portions at half this price! The combo plate was horrible and twice the price it should have been. I'll be going back to talk to the manager tomorrow, which will be a first in my life. It was that bad. Also, for some reason they required running my credit card a second time AFTER giving me my order receipt. I will be watching my credit card account.

So I am editing this review minutes later as I just checked my credit card account and they charged me the...