Rosa Madera — Restaurant in Camarillo

Rosa Madera potentially has a lot going for it. The menu is full of creative, very inspired preparations that rate far above the usual Mexican fare in Ventura County. I ordered off the Happy Hour menu to keep costs down, so by experience, I can say that the street tacos were excellent, as were the Birria Chimichangas. The dipping sauce served with the birria was the best I've ever had.

Now, for what didn't go so well. The service was truly dreadful on the Tuesday (4pm) that I visited. We were a group of 12, and I realize that few restaurants seem to be able to effectively handle large groups, that's a given. However, when we arrived they were not busy at all. It took 20 minutes to even get water. Another 20 minutes before our drinks arrived and all the while, numerous servers are laconically roaming around our table, ignoring us. It was quite a while before we actually got a server assigned to our table. They had a beautiful full bar, but claimed they didn't have Chardonnay, which I find hard to believe. Getting a second round of drinks was even more difficult. By this time the restaurant is starting to get busy. After asking about her glass of wine for the third time, the server told one woman in our party, "We are serving other customers, you know." Completely rude and inappropriate. It got worse. When the separate checks arrived, they were so bungled and incorrect, it was a nightmare. Our server tried to make the corrections, but the checks came back even more wrong. At this point, it's nearing 8pm, so we asked for a manager to help. He tried, but it was hopeless. One person in our party put the entire thing on her credit card so we could finally leave.

It's said that you should never visit a new restaurant during the first six months of operation, and this is really true. They need time to streamline, solidify staff and get the bugs out. I will visit again, because I want to try some items on the regular menu, but I will probably...

Food was really good and atmosphere as well. The problem me and two buddies had was with the service/management. We were feeling rushed the entire time to the point that we were being pressured to purchase more food. Finally we reached a point where I mentioned something to our server that if we needed anything we would flag him down.

It was at that time where he then told us that there was 2 hour time limit and his supervisor was pressuring him on us. We were never told about this time limit at any time. Mind you we're consistently ordering drinks along with food we were sharing. We had just received another round of drinks, were going to order a little more food but we wanted to wait a little and enjoy our drinks which were really well balanced.

The waiter then came and brought us our bill and told us that his supervisor was asking us to leave. We looked at him and said you just brought us a round of drinks and now you're telling us we need to leave? I told him we would leave as soon as we finished our drinks showing. 5 minutes later the supervisor or shift leader some guy named Erik, just came up and told us we needed to leave and quite honestly was very aggressive and defensive. Very unprofessional and just made a scene were the table next to us told us they felt he was in the wrong.

We finish our drinks and made our way out and there is still plenty of seating available, nobody was waiting to be seated. Their leadership may need to explore some hospitality trainings. I've lived in Camarillo for some time and I've never had an experience like this anywhere in town but it was rather...

If you looking to eat in Tijuana on Revolution St., this is the restaurant for you. We heard of a new Mexican restaurant opening in Camarillo and it was on my mind to try. I'm always looking for a good Mexican food restaurant. We called and were put on a table wait list. We arrived a few minutes after our text message regarding the table ready and our table was given away. When I walked in I thought, oh no we might be in the wrong place. We had to wait about 20 additional minutes. I was looking around and the decor was straight out of Tijuana, even with a 10ft mural of the Virgin Mary on the wall. The last thing I want to do is look at the Virgin Mary while I'm drinking a Margarita. Really? The loud bass Tijana music was overwhelming and was not pleasing to listen to. No conversation going on in there? The whole time during my wait I was thinking about leaving. I was hoping something would change my mind? Finally seated, the tables were so high my wife looked like a grade schooler from across the table. This place is absolutely geared for Hispanics fresh from Mexico. Its clientele is the same as the Ventura College swap meet on Saturday and Sunday's. The music and decor is the same as well. My wife and I felt very out of place. We didn't even wait for the waiter/waitress to come to the table and we gladly left. I can safely say that under no circumstances would I ever return to...