Nuevo Grill & Cantina — Restaurant in California

I'm kind of torn in this review. On the one hand although the menu is typical for a Mexican restaurant. I only usually order the carne asada platter or the shrimp Caesar salad. Both are pretty good. But I don't care for how they flavor most of the other dishes. Some of their seasoning and sauces make me nauseous. And I'm not a picky eater. Our waitress was very personable. But considering there was only five tables and 2 bar customers the service was sub par. The staff spent more time talking with each other at the bar then taking care of the customers. We were served chips and salsa but still no place settings.We had to get our own napkins and silverware from another table. I've seen other reviews where they complained about oily chips. But it seems they make their own so that's probably why they are a little oily. They actually have good chips. Better then premade store bought. Their chip salsa is also good. Once again they were a little slow on drink refills. Didn't think much about it at first. Then realized it took 6 minutes to get a refill ( I didn't want to mention it so just waited to see when it would happen). Aside from that they do have a nice atmosphere. One of the more comfortable places to dine in Ramona. And the staff is very cordial. They just need to change how they flavor most of their menu and be a little more attentive to customer service. Hate to see what it would be like with a full crowd there. If they want to see how a great carne asada burrito tastes then they should go to Los Amigos Mexican Restaurant. Its that one in the San Diego country estates shopping center. It's a little hole in the wall type restaurant. Not really much atmosphere for dining in. But they make a great carne asada burrito. Some of there other items are ok but not great. But put that burrito in Nuevo Grill and then they have food to match...

Held off writing a review until we had a second visit. At our first visit we were seated right away but waited 20 minutes to be greeted by the server. Apparently the host never told our server we were her table. She was apologetic and the rest of our night continued without incident. Unbelievably, our second visit had the exact same snafu. Seated and ate through a basket of chips before a server came over. It was especially odd because our booth was in a server’s section and she literally served the table in front of us and behind us…but not us!!! She had to walk past us to get to either of her two tables in that section and never even said hello. It was so awkward—as if she knew us, hated us, and was intentionally pretending like she didn’t see us!

The server we ended up having was working a completely different side of the restaurant. This inevitably led to poor timing for everything else in our meal. 2 of us were done with our meal by the time the other 2 got theirs. Can’t say I blame the server we had, if anything we owe her for getting any service at all! Even the host brought out part of our order…can’t say I’ve ever seen that happen in a restaurant before.

It’s very frustrating because it seems like the kind of place where the regulars get good treatment and you just get ignored. Dining out is supposed to be a treat. I left both of my visits just feeling like no one wanted us there.

As far as the food itself, it’s alright. Chips and salsa are great, carnitas is excellent. Everything else is just okay. Drinks are inconsistent. The rice and beans stayed on my plate...

We have been here on multiple occasions.Chips and Salsa are good. The rice is pathetic and the worst i have ever had. The beans have improved. We will no longer here as we have ordered take out twice and it to was pathetic. $13.00 per plate VERY SMALL PORTIONS and seems to be the old dried out meat and its just a little mess. Not worth the money AT ALL so don't waist yours like i wasted mine. They also now charge you 5.00 for a "little" half filled bag of chips. The carnitas plate came with three corn tortillas that i didn't even have enough meat for three tacos. I went hungry that night not only because of the portion but also couldn't get past the quality "lack of", PATHETIC AND A RIPOFF. I never post about restaurants but i just couldn't let this one go. SHAME ON YOU NUEVO GRILL. YOU LOST A GOOD AND LOCAL CUSTOMER. Maybe better for you to stick with the bar and X your...