Sandra's Cantina & Grill — Restaurant in Blanco

🔴PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT🔴 My husband and I worked here for one week. (Today being my last day) We have been in the restaurant business for fifteen + years and this is the absolute most DISGUSTING establishment I've ever stepped foot in. Probably the most disturbing thing is the fact that the silverware is not washed at all. There is plastic container with " hot" water ( hot water only lasts for about ten minutes) and soap that the silverware is soaked in and then rinsed off and then served to the customers. Throughout the shift, the cooks use the inserts of food as their personal dip. ( sauces, beans, gauc, pretty much everything in front of them) Not only do the cooks do this but the owners very young children do this as well, waking into the kitchen eating off the line like they were at home. I've seen the cooks licking their fingers and continuing to cook your food! There is very limited space so not only is raw bloody meat stored above the vegetables but "clean" dishes are stored on the floor. When food is set aside to cool down, it is stored uncovered on the dish rack under dripping wet dishes. So all night water is dripping in the big batches of beans, rice, meat ect. For all of those wondering why your meals take so long to make it to the table, it's because the cooks are in the kitchen drinking all day long. Not just them but the servers and owners as well. Because they are all related, they treat every shift as if it were a family reunion. Being perfectly honest, this restaurant is a true nightmare. Every person's worst fear when dining out is brought to realty at #Sandrascantina. As far as the "owners", they are the worst people I've ever worked for by far! When my husband and i had our interviews, Brad told us that we needed to be prepared because his wife was a hard person to work for. Wow! That was the understatement of the decade. Sandra has no class, no manners, no couth and obviously no respect for herself or her husband. While Brad hides away in the office or his house, Sandra is literally terrorizing the entire staff. She had the audacity to tell my husband that he looks old when she herself looks like the columbian grim reaper. She barks orders all day long, so to drown out the constant bellowing, my husband took earphones to work. He walked in the door, she noticed them around his neck and immediately got in his face yelling about how he couldn't use them because he needed to concentrate on " washing" dishes! (Needless to say, that was the last straw) The next day I went in and was completely ignored by Sandra and her entire staff of minions. Sandra has the whole wait staff terrified to make any mistakes because anytime they do, they are made to pay for the order. I would understand if it was a habitual problem, but other than that it should be classified as " the price you pay for doing business." The first day i worked there Brad and Sandra had negative things to say about EVERY ONE of there severs to me. Even their little "pets". They are not nice people nor do they care about their staff and customers well being and i would seriously think twice about visiting their establishment. In preparation for this review, we have filed a report with the Bulverde police department to ensure that no retaliation is taken against our family due to the fact that intimidation tactics were already exercised by Sandra and her...

I'm writing this review to let people know how our visit went. Not very well. Food is great, no doubt, however, tonight I took my wife and three kids, mother in law and her twin sister out to eat some great Mexican food. The wait was over 1.5 hours. I understand long wait times, but when 5 other tables around you get their food before we did, and two of those arrived 15-20 minutes after we arrived and put in our order, I consider this longer than expected. To add to this, when our food did come out, two plates arrive first, 5-7 minutes later 1 more plate, 2 minutes later 2 more plates, and finally after waiting a few more minutes our last two plates arrived. Needless to say, a lot of the food was cold by then. We ate our meal and when I brought it up to the wait staff, she let the owner know of my concern. The owner didn't even come to our table to apologize for the inconvenience, instead he sent the wait staff out and offered an insulting 10% discount. Gee thanks wow. So I asked to speak to him personally, hoping we can settle this like fair individuals.

When I walked inside, he acted like he didn't even want to talk to me. He never introduced himself, he wouldn't even come out from behind the counter to speak to me. I had to wave at him to come speak to me face to face. Again, no apology, I explained to him the situation, our long wait time, and he said, "the staff was supposed to tell you it was going to be a long wait". I told him no one told us this was going to be the case. I explained the 5 table thing, again, no apology, he said 10 % was all he could do. I asked him to consider more. He then asks, "well, what do you want". A little surprised by his up front approach ( I can see he was very defensive ) I asked for a 50% discount, yes a bit bold of me, but what the heck worth a try. Of course he denied this. I asked him to consider how he would feel if he himself got this kind of service. Obviously, he didn't care he already had his mind made up. Finally, we agreed to 20%. Again, wow. The point is this: the owner did not have the decency to come to our table to talk about the situation. Never apologized for the situation. He threw his employee under the bus by stating that the person who sat us failed to do his job (admission of guilt). And here's the kicker, when I told him that I would pay him $50 out of an $88 dollar bill, he threatened take down my plates and to call the sheriff on me and report me for what he called "dine and dash". It gets better. As the staff was listening and watching the owner and I have this discussion, I was pulled aside by various workers and they expressed their frustration with their owner themselves, stating that this is how they get treated as well. Obviously, the staff have more of a sense of understanding than he does. I paid my bill, tipped my waitress and it took me 20 minutes to drive home, trying to calm down after being treated disrespectfully, and even more upset that my well earned money had to go to fatten this guy's pocket. Never again, I don't care how good the food is, you just don't treat people like this. If you decide to go, just consider what type of person is...

UPDATE: I'm changing my 1 star review to 4 stars because we have gone there numerous times after a break from my last review and the service has definitely gotten better. The quality of the food has stayed consistent. The food sometimes does take a bit, but the food is fresh so no complaints there. Our servers and bartenders have been excellent and the hostess makes sure to take care of you and get you seated as quickly as possible. Again, we love supporting local businesses and that's the reason we gave them another chance.

OLD POST: Food is usually good. We've been eating at Sandra's since about 2011. The service was bad in the beginning and even the owners were rude. After eating there the first few times, we stopped going there. We moved closer to Sandra's, so we figured we would give them another try after several years. We love supporting locally owned businesses. The service was a bit slower, but nothing to complain about. The host that greets you at the door is awesome and we give him 5 Stars for his friendliness and attentiveness. We've continued going at least once every month or so because the food and drinks were good and the ambiance is relaxing. Sometimes 2 or 3 times a month. Well after tonight, we definitely won't be going back. The food took almost an hour to come out. My wife's plate didn't come out with the remainder of the food. The waitress said the food was taking longer because the order came with grilled onions. After about 5 minutes of still waiting for my wife's food to come out, I advised the waitress that waiting for the food for almost an hour was unacceptable and I wouldn't be eating without my wife getting her food. She then cancelled my wife's order and said she thought my wife cancelled her plate, but still attempted to charge me. Of course the owners are rude and don't even make an attempt to rectify the issue and provide any sort of reasonable customer service. I highly recommend you find somewhere else to eat and overlook this place. I recommend Aye Chiwawa in Bulverde. We've never had an issue and the management and staff are excellent there and their prices are more reasonable...