La Doña Restaurante Mexicano — Restaurant in Cape May

This was one of the worst restaurant experiences I ever had. I read an article about Jersey shore restaurants that was written by Craig Laban and La Doña was one of the restaurants reviewed by him. Needless to say, he highly recommended it and spoke of the authenticity of the food and how the owner of the restaurant was from Mexico.

When we arrived at La Doña, the restaurant was busy but we were lucky enough to get a table for two in the beautiful outside space. It took a few minutes for our server to come over and bring us water and tell us the specials. Then, a few minutes goes by and the owner comes over and takes our order for our appetizers. We only ordered apps when she first came over because we weren’t sure if we wanted to have full entrees. Seems pretty standard. We ordered guacamole and squash blossom empanadas. The guacamole, which is made table side, was just alright. It needed more salt and I found avocado skin in one of my bites. Also the chips arrived about ten minutes prior to the guacamole. The two salsas that were served with the chips were bland. The squash blossom empanadas we bland as well. Then, the owner came over to ask us if we wanted anything else. Then without us saying anything, she said we needed to order everything at once because the kitchen is too busy for individual tickets. Keep in mind, we only ordered apps. The way she had spoken to us made us feel very unwelcome. It really doesn’t make a difference to the kitchen if we order more or if she turned the table over and those guests put in their order. We decided we didn’t feel like finding another place to eat so we put in an order for the watermelon salad and another special, the octopus on a bed of arugula. During the time we waited for our second course, our server came over and asked if we wanted to order then we told him we had. THEN, another person came and asked if we are ready for our check. I told him yes when we are done our salads which still hadn’t arrived at our table.

When the second course arrived, the watermelon salad was plated nicely. The octopus on arugula could have used more love. Octopus is one of my favorite things to order when I see it on a menu. This octopus was not it. It was like rubber. I had trouble cutting it with my knife. I think if it fell on the deck it would have bounced like a tennis ball. During this time, the server came and filled my water and not the other person I was dining with. Also strange but not the worst part of the experience. We finished our second course and the check was brought to our table. The check was about average prices for the type of establishment La Doña is trying to be. We put the credit card in the check sleeve and waited. The owner came over and asked if we needed change, but they never even ran the card. The communication amongst the staff was just terrible. Anyways, she ran the card we tipped twenty percent, which we would usually tip more. But the whole experience was just terrible and ruined my time in Cape May.

La Doña’s food wasn’t only mediocre, but the owner is terrible. They did check to see if we liked our choices, but I just said it’s fine cause I felt like she wanted to argue. It was just uncomfortable. If the owner wants to be the face of the restaurant she needs to work on her customer service skills. I felt sorry for her staff. I love Mexican food. I’ve worked in places that cook Mexican and I’ve eaten at taquerias all over the country. I’d never recommend La Doña to anyone. Just stay away...

I would give this review zero stars if I could. Let me start my saying that I have eaten at this restaurant two times (each time that I’ve been to Cape May with my husband). We have always had a pleasant experience. My husband, my toddler daughter, and I are vacationing in Cape May this week and wanted to enjoy this restaurant with our daughter as is our tradition. When we arrived, we were told that there was no table available. I then asked, “no table?” “Even if we wanted to wait?” I was then told 45 minutes. I immediately felt like this was strange because a restaurant would never simply say no, no matter how long the wait is…they would just tell you how long the wait is.

My husband and I walked away for a moment but felt unsettled. We had a hunch that it had something to do with the fact that we were with our daughter. We decided to walk back towards the restaurant and saw a couple walk up and were told that it would be “a couple of minutes to be seated.”

When we confronted the hostess about it, she claimed it was because “there was no room to place the high chair.” When I pointed out an empty table, she claimed that there was no room for the high chair, even though another employee overheard and said, “it looks like there is room.”

At that point, we definitely did not want to eat at this restaurant. The hostess continued to say that there is no room for the high chair. If there is room for a chair, there is room for a high chair. Needless to say, this restaurant is not child friendly. There are plenty of other restaurants in Cape May for you to enjoy. Take your...

Slow service, overly spiced food, tough dry meat but the most disappointing aspect was the unwillingness to attempt to make our bad experience better. Visited yesterday. Three children, ages 4,8,13 and 2 adults. Server was solicitous, pushing tables together to accommodate our group and refilling water glasses, until we received the food, then never made contact until we asked for the check. Upon arrival asked if they had a children's menu, did not. Recommended quesadilla for the kids which turned out to be too spicy for the 4 yr old. The corn also was too spicy for both the child and adult, who generally likes spicy food. My pork sandwich was inedible, too tough to chew. I kept looking to catch the eye of the waiter to switch out the order. If he had been doing his job , he would have checked in on us and saw I had taken only a small bite and there was a problem with my food. After waiting so long I lost my appetite. When I politely told him I couldn't eat the meat & hadn't expected it to be thick and tough. He made no attempt to resolve problem. Instead replied, " I'm sorry you didn't like our food, but it's not our fault it's not what you expected" I stated I didn't think I should have to pay for it & was hopeful when he returned with check it would not be on the bill. It was on the bill. My mother was anxious to leave and kids were getting restless. Incredulous, I said I didn't want to pay for something I couldn't eat. He left, for a moment I thought would come back with a manager, but he instead he gave me a "complimentary" bag of greasy tortillas. Very...