El Paisano Grill and Bar — Restaurant in Carbondale

It's hard for me to express my disappointment in El Paisano and how it has fallen from grace over the last few months. The last three times that I've visited, I've had to walk out as the wait staff literally never showed to our table. When El Paisano first opened, the staff were prompt, the food was amazing, and the attached grocer was a welcome stop before leaving.

My dismay with this restaurant began when my wife and I were seated at the front of the restaurant a few months back on a weekday evening and then staff never returned with menus, chips, water, etc. The restaurant wasn't busy with only two or three other couples seated but staff seemed short that day. We figured it was a one off bad visit so we simply went around the corner to Tequilas.

About a month ago, I returned on a weekday afternoon with 2 coworkers. This time staff didn't greet us upon entry and simply looked at us in passing as they waited on other tables. After about 10 minutes, staff began avoiding eye contact with us and seemed overwhelmed though not many people were in the restaurant. I didn't recognize any staff that we had seen before so we again just summed it up as new staff not being able to get caught up with a lunch rush.

Today was that last time that I will probably visit El Paisano unfortunately. My family and I entered and after about 3 minutes were greeted. I was surprised and hoped that this was going to be a great visit because they really do have fantastic entrees. We were told they were cleaning a table and they'd seat us shortly. No problem. A couple minutes passed and we were seated. We were off to a decent start. We were seated at the back of the restaurant and that was the last interaction we had with staff. There were two other families at the back of the restaurant that were being waited on by two servers. Staff never brought water. They never even gave us menus. We waited 10-15 minutes and that was it. Again, we went around the corner to Tequilas. We were seated immediately at Tequilas, were provided chips and water, and received our entrees in less time than it took to be seated at El Paisano.

I want to love El Paisano and their grocer has a fantastic selection and great chorizo. Unfortunately, in the last few months, the service has become downright deplorable and I can't just keep hoping that...

For those who prefer short reviews -- get the street tacos/traditional style and maybe nothing else....

To elaborate, the chicken street tacos, quick service, and friendly staff are the only reason for my three stars. The chicken tamale was pretty good but lacked flavor and was not hot. Salsa is not great, rice and beans are pretty good. The spinach burrito was just laughable, I'm not even mad. The tortillas were not spinach, they were plain wheat (they likely just ran out of spinach or don't actually have them, it's fine) but there was nothing holding the burrito together...no cheese...no beans...(beans and cheese weren't in the description so I'll give them that but maybe it should then be described as a vegan option?). It was just wheat tortilla limply hanging around sautéed broccoli, yellow squash, and mushrooms (no trace of other listed toppings: onion, bell pepper, tomato, or cauliflower). It was a very weak display of a vegetarian option and it cost like 10.99.

I'd happily eat the street tacos again, they were hot and delicious and traditional -- but, for our first time eating here, I was pretty bummed about the...

So today I decided to give it a try at these place. We ordered our food it took awhile to get. When we got the food with my plate I received flour tortillas witch I'm not a fan so I ask my waitress to change for corn . To begin she n ver asked. But she gave me a angry face look and I asked her. Then to make matters worse my daughter had asked for a cheese quesadilla and she got chicken. She doesn't eat chicken. And when I told the waitress about the error she started arguing with me. She said that she had written down chicken and that was what it was. I told her I had said cheese and she continued to arguing. There was no apologies. The service was terrible and the food presentation speaks by itself. I immediately left and had to pay for my plate witch I didn't finish because I got mad. The waitress didn't want to give me her name but the receipt said Maribel. I asked her to speak to the manager and she said that the manager was not in. Terrible...