El Tapatio — Restaurant in Bladensburg

It's a good idea to answer the phone with a good attitude. I called this restaurant to try and inform them they shouldn't prepare an order my daughter made by mistake to this location.

We would never drive that far for pickup, and she thought she was ordering delivery. That's our mistake, and it's an honest mistake.

When I called them to save them the trouble and expense of preparing my order when I would never be there to get it, the first person I talked to only spoke Spanish. No problem, a simple "hablo ingles?" got me to someone who spoke English. Fantastic, this is good.

Then I proceed to let him know they do not need to prepare my order. He goes off about needing to contact the service I ordered the meal from to get a refund. I know about that, I'm simply trying to prevent him from wasting time and money on a busy night by asking them not to prepare the order I'm about to call and cancel.

This is where the attitude kicks up. I give him my address, thinking they can see the order by address and cancel it. Aggravated he says "I don't need your address I need your name" and I politely informed him "I didn't have a way of knowing that, my name is -insert name-".

Then I called BeyondMenu and cancelled the order there as well.

It's one thing to assume the worst, it's another to assume the worst and expect customers to know how your systems work. Communicate effectively and remain polite for the best experience.

Given the benefit of the doubt, I've given 3 stars. I did not receive food.

Next time I'm in the area and have cravings, I'll pick up an order and update this review...

If you're Black and not accompanied by a person with Latin/Hispanic blood DONT GO HERE‼️‼️ They're Rude & Service is horrible. My sister , brother and I keep in mind he's disable we attempted to dine in we wanted to sit at the bar which was completely EMPTY by the way anyways we go sit as directed by one of the waitresses. Patiently waited at the bar for 20 min before anybody even looked at us. Another waitress walked in the bar are 2 times to grab Beers for other guest she DID NOT glance at us once. Finally a waitress greeted us although ther English was fluent she tried to help us she couldn't really understand us. She leaves ! 15 mins later and YES I counted 3 waitresses return unclear of why 3 were needed but the masculineowas more fluent came and took oorder 2 orders of chicken tacos , steak quesadilla, &3 house margaritas! She ID me confirmed everything then translate to her coworkers. (This was a SUNDAY WE WENT it wasn't even 30 ppl in the place .) Waiter return about 5 mins later "We can't serve you because we have a FULL house" " Your food will take 1hr- A hour and half . Like excuse me ma'am why didn't you mention that at first when we first sat down 30 MINUTES Ago ? Then why does it take THREE waitresses to tell us we can't be serve I felt Ganged up on! I really wish I took pictures their was NOBODY there! I felt so discriminated against ! We were the only trio of Black folks. Considering I ate their during take out before it was just foul it really hurt me if I could give ZERO STARS...

Ordered the birria tacos and Filete de Pescado and went outside. Came back in and told that there was a difference (we wanted the ones with the consume so make sure you ask for those specifically) and charged $2 extra dollars, which is about the average price so no problem. Waited for about 30 minutes; noticed that the patrons sitting in, who came in after us, were JUST getting their food, which was just a couple of plates of tacos . Waited another 10 minutes. I'm thinking that if I have to wait this long, then the food better be good.... And it IS SOOOO good! Definitely going back but will definitely call in order the next time! The birria tacos are HUGGGGEEEEE, gooey with cheese, plentiful with meat. We call the to-go box the baby because it's SO heavy. The consume is flavorful. I suggest squeezing a little lime (included) into the consume to give it a pop of flavor. I didn't have the fish but my mother said it was really good, the size of the fish was sizeable and would order it again. Again, call for carry out. It takes about 20 minutes but SO SO...