La Hacienda East Boston — Restaurant in Boston

My family and I are from Texas where Mexican restaurants are a staple. We recently moved to the Boston area and have been searching for good Mexican, or Latin food type of restaurant. I found this place on Google maps and saw that it had nearly 1200 reviews and a rating of 4.5 stars. So I took my family to this place on a Saturday night with high hopes. We first walked in and stood at the hostess podium waiting for a few minutes for someone to greet then sit us. After a couple of minutes a staff member walked up, gave a half smile to us and walked away without saying anything. Finally a middle aged gentleman came and sat us. A server finally came by out table to ask what we wanted to drink and dropped off the chips and salsa. The server wasnt very friendly, she didnt offer to tell us anything about the restaurant or the menu. We ordered a couple of margaritas from their drink menu. While waiting for the drinks I tried the chips and salsa. My god I've never seen salsa with so many chunks of white onion. The Salsa literally was chunks of white onion and tomato sauce. The chips were stale. Got out margaritas. Not impressed. They tasted like like juice, soap water, and cheap tequila. The children's menu only offers, hot dogs, cheese burger and chicken fingers or wings... what kind of mexican restaurant doesnt offer any type of mexican dish on their Children's menu? I had to pay $9.00 for a cheese quesadilla off the regular menu for my daughter. It was so disgusting that she wouldn't even eat it.. and this girl loves cheese. Our server never came back by to check on us, or ask us if we would like another drink. Although she came by once after my wife's food was dropped off to ask us how our meals were. Only problem is that my daughter and I were still waiting to receive our food. She was completely oblivious to the fact that there were no plates of food in front of us. I guess that worked better because if she would have asked us when we actually had our food, then I would have told her it was no better than "ok". We had to litterally ask another server to help us. If you are looking for a good experience or even just decent food... try else where. I miss Papasitos and Uncle Julios...

THE SECURITY GUARD FORCED MY FRIEND & I TO DO SOMETHING WE DIDN'T WANT & ONE OF THE STAFF ASSISTED HIM IN MAKING SURE WE DID! 😔 What a Sunday!

Let me start by saying that I've visited this place several times when visiting Boston. I've never had a problem. EVER. The food has been satisfactory, the drink prices are reasonable, and the staff are warm & attentive.

This particular visit, we had a server by the name of Jocelyn. She was amazing! My budget was tight, but I had to leave a semi-generous tip because her service deserved it. 10/10.

It was a friend's birthday and we all worked until late, but we didn't realize Boston had a cutoff time for alcohol sales at stores, which is why we ended up at La Hacienda for drinks. The bday boy didn't come out, so I had the brilliant idea to sneak some beers back to surprise him.

I mentioned that the staff & security are attentive. This is true in the best of ways, even though it didn't work out in my favor.

The security staff, San Antonio (has a giant. can't miss him), he knew what was happening the moment beers landed on the table 🤣. I failed to get past him, but figured we'd make a dash the minute his back was turned to get ONE BEER to our bday pal.

OPERATION BDAY BREW

Having already paid our bill, we waited as we forcibly drank the other beers (a labor of love). I'd already hidden that one sacred brewed treasure for our friend in my coat. No one saw.

We drank & drank. Our patience was finally rewarded, as San Antonio finally went away!

Commence operation

Just as our master plan to make a mad dash out the bar was going to start, a server several tables away walks by, pointing 2 fingers to her eyes then at me, says "I see you amigo."

ABORT MISSION!

My friend & I laughed so hard. We were so impressed we bought more drinks.

San Antonio or any of the staff could've easily decided to have us leave, but they were casual, understanding, and great sports.

As I said... they're very attentive.

Jocelyn made our night & so did San Antonio.

I look forward to going back. I promise to be a good boy & keep all drinks...

RESPONSE: Thank you for your reply. It's disappointing. You must be the new management 🤔

Let's see..... Large soup went from $12 ➡️ $17. With tips and taxes difference it's nearly exactly a 50% increase. AS A ONE TIME HIKE.

Steak Burrito went from $8.5 ➡️ $13. It's a 53% increase as a ONE TIME HIKE.

Chicken Burrito went from $7.5 ➡️ $12. It's a 60% increase.

So I stand corrected, the prices increased by MORE than 50%. Your service has a LONG way to catch up with these price hikes.

Our service on Father's Day was terrible and had nothing to with the place being busy. Not sure what you discussed with the staff as you never bothered to collect any details.

We have been using your competitors since we had unaddressed issues 9 months ago. NO, their prices haven't hiked nearly as much as yours while the service has steadily improved.

Have a great day.

ORIGINAL: This used to be our place of choice for 7 years but they have recently jacked up prices by nearly 50% while the service has noticeably dropped. They made a mistake and ended up charging us for their weak attempt of trying to fix it. For nearly $20/entree there are plenty of option with a far superior service. Very disappointed that even after conversation with the manager they were infinitely far from standing up for their mistakes. We will try and talk to the other manager we know but have no desite with trying to prove anything. Not a change for the better. Seems rather greedy. We will pause for a bit see if...