Miguel's Cocina — Restaurant in Carlsbad

Been here multiple times, usually for lunch or happy hour, but this is the 2nd time we have come for dinner and had a similar experience. We made a reservation for 6 and were seated immediately when we arrived. Felt like vips walking into a packed house and going straight to a table. Unfortunately the large party next to us was getting served food as we sat down, but the chips and salsa came quickly so no problem. The problems started when our waiter walked by our table 4 (I counted) times without acknowledging us. When he did come to the table he was pleasant and took our order. The non alcoholic drinks arrived quickly, but the lemonade was weak and tasteless and the water tasted like the lines needed to be cleaned. The bar drinks were slow but not unacceptably and were decent. All but one meal was served at the same time. No problem, start eating, the fajitas will be out quickly. Flash forward 9 minutes (again I counted), and dead fajitas were dropped at the table with nothing else; no sides or tortillas, no plates, no cheese that was ordered. When the waiter came by shortly after, we showed him the fajitas and to his credit he immediately took it away and tried to make it right. He told us his manager would drop the food off. Another 9 minutes and as everyone else is finishing the last of their food, a woman, presumably the manager, drops off sizzling fresh fajitas. While she asked if we needed anything else, she never acknowledged the situation or attempted to speak to us. The fajitas were decent, but over salty and there were literally 3 slices of beef. As we finished I asked for the check. The server looked at the check and dropped it off. No consideration for the egregious mistakes was originally given. I asked to speak to the manager, who did turn out to be the food runner. Got a bs story about how she was gonna to take care of the fajitasl but got busy, but the waiter saw that there was nothing discounted and what Manager doesn't take care of that right away. The manager was either disingenuous or incompetent and the waiter was nice but overwhelmed. Overall a very disappointing experience that will prevent us from...

Very disappointed. Wanted to take the family to try a new place for my boyfriend's 45th birthday. We had reservation and was seated pretty quickly. Once we were seated no one came by to take our drink orders or even greet us. I started a timer after a bit of waiting. It was about 5 minutes (probably longer if I started a timer when we sat down) later when a guy came over and dropped off chips and dips without saying a word. Another 6 mins went by and still no one came by to greet or get drink orders. By now we were thirsty from eating chips and dip. We contemplated getting up and leaving but it was already late (almost 8pm) and our waitress finally came. She was less than hospitable. She seems like she hated her job and she did not want to serve us. We put in our food order and we waited and waited we needed water refills but no one came by. I started another timer to see how long it would take for us to get more water. It was a little over 6 mins. Our food finally came, still no water. I asked the waitress for water and she nodded. Then we waited again. She walked by after a few minutes and I got her attention and asked for water again. Now the kids started to say if we want something ask all at once because she won't be back for a long time. The food wasn't great. I don't know if it sat too long before it made it to our table. When we were done I thought maybe there would be some type of acknowledgement for my boyfriend's 45th birthday. Nope..... don't know what I was thinking. When I received the bill I paid with the QR code because we were tired of waiting. The ambiance seemed like it would've been an enjoyable place, but definitely not the experience we got. I felt bad his birthday dinner I planned a week in advance did not work out. We had better service and food at Denny's the next day. I expected better from an...

Appetizer people, entree people, and dessert people. The world is filled with all 3 of them. If you happen to be of the app persuasion then you should think about swinging by Miguel’s (especially if you enjoy Mexican food).

Our Review Team for this visit reached consensus that we could have eaten only the chips, salsa, and warm queso and called it a night. While we didn’t exercise that level of restraint, we found it comforting to know that we could. Several of us marveled at the texture of the chips and how they seemed to achieve the perfect “crunch” factor.

If you try the warm queso and want to take things a step further, we’d recommend the “Pollo Asado Burrito” as it arrived at the table wearing it like a blanket. 😋

We found the portions to be universally generous which led to collective and spontaneous laughter when our server asked if any of us had saved room for dessert. Although many of the things he enticed us with sounded really good, there was just no way that was gonna happen unless he sat down and joined us.

For me the most enlightening portion of our review discussion focused on the beans. Apparently for many on our Review Team a good Mexican meal can be accurately forecasted by the quality of the beans. Our team found these to be “creamy” and flavorful and concluded that they tasted homemade. Who knew that for some the overall enjoyment of the meal is dependent upon the quality of the beans?

If there is something that makes or breaks a meal for you, we’d love to hear about it in the comments section below.

And that’s…Henry’s...