Pancheros Mexican Grill - Cedar Rapids Edgewood SW — Restaurant in Cedar Rapids

Unfortunately, the experience was very unpleasant.

It started the other day when my daughter got a bowl from pancheros and let me try a bite. It was so tasty, so for Sunday lunch, I thought I'd get everyone a bowl or burrito if they prefer. Had them send their order via text and went in.

There were a few people in line, but the wait wasn't horrible, maybe 10 minutes wait or so. This was my first official ponch order. Other than the bite i had from my daughter the first time eating pancheros, so I was initially excited.

I told the worker there would be 3 bowls exactly the same but 4 total and then a burrito.

I read the texted orders. She had a question, so I repeated the order and offered to reread it as many times as needed, which seemed to upset her. She started getting very heavy handed. and reasked her question, so I reread the text with the order. She stated that she wanted me to scan the text and answer in the order she asked.

This was the order:

Extra rice, chicken, black beans, queso, corn, mild salsa, sour cream, cheese

I didn't see why repeating this 4 times wasn't clarity enough, but It upset her so much that she really started slinging food. I should have stopped and just left because at this point, the visit was very uncomfortable, but I assumed the food would at least be good. Of course, I later find out we are all missing items in our bowl or burrito and the food wasn't.

I didn't realize items were missing until I took food back to the family. One bite and immediate complaints.

I hadn't told my daughter the struggle it was to even go there when she stated

I eat there all the time. She was confident they'd get us fixed up if she called "either fix these or compensate."

Mine didn't taste the same as the first bite from the other day but I assumed it varied from day to day.

I ate mine and figured at least I wouldn't have to worry about craving pancheros anymore

But my daughter called the store but: the lady who answered told her there was nothing she could do to address the manager tomorrow. This upset her so she went there just to get a face to go with the situation and took her picture

3 out of 5 of us just ate, but it didn't taste right. The other to refused and went and got Jimmy John's.

The follow up email wanted more information and the only thing I would have to add would be maybe clarification on why I was frustrated. One her attitude, it was my first order, if I didn't give it in the right way or order the they want post clearly how one should order don't give them a ton of attitude and two chicken was dry, order prepared carelessly, and 3 when it was brought to your attention the order is wrong a bit of empathy and do what you can to resolve. I'm sorry the way zi ordered reading the text then rereading if needed wasn't right but initially, I was super excited to eat there. I deliver food for customers often and It always smelled so good and my girls always told me to try it as they loved it assuring me I would also. Pancheros was on my bucket list. Something simple I know, but I tend to go to the same few places over and over...

Let me start by saying I LOVE Pancheros food. I wouldn't discourage anyone from going there to get anything to eat, ever. My problem is just how hard that has been to do lately. I frequent this Pancheros probably 3 times a week. I really, really like the food. But in the last 2 weeks, I have gone there and been really let down by the operation. A few days ago I stopped by to have a burrito bowl. Nobody in line, and no other customers in the store. I am greeted by an employee telling me it is going to be a 45 minute wait, as they had online orders to make. I get it, you have to keep up on online orders, and those are customers as well, but 45 minutes? I haven't worked in the food industry in a few years but I can't imagine how much food you can make on a line such as their's in 45 minutes.

A secondary issue I have, is the portion size difference between ordering in store, and for delivery. I can't order online anymore, because if I do, I will end up getting half-full bowls that leave me questioning why I spent the money. When ordering in store this isn't an issue, as portions are fair. I can not stress enough, often times when I did order online, I would get food that by weight is probably half of what I would expect in store. But I fear that employees half-fill the burritos and bowls ordered online because they don't want to make any more ingredients that they so often run out of. Which brings me to my final reason for the review.

Today, July 7th I walked in to an empty store at 6:30PM (A Wednesday), I get in line, and as they start to make my bowl they realize they are completely out of rice. None cooking, none ready, they say they are out for the night. Owner, if you read this, I can not fathom how much money you lose every week from this happening. One way or another this location is always out of something, and that's only if it isn't out of 2, 3, or 4 things.

I'd like to close by saying that staffing I'm sure could play a factor in this, as many businesses have struggled coming out of the pandemic to keep a staffed operation, and I have empathy for that. I really just want the location and business to improve, because as I said before, I love the food, and crave it almost...

I ordered through the app for delivery by DoorDash.  The DoorDasher called and asked me to confirm how many burritos I ordered because the store only put two in the bag for pick up.  I confirmed that I ordered three burritos and chips and queso.  She said the store told her that only two burritos came through on the order to them and that I was only charged for two burritos.  The DoorDasher also showed three burritos on the order but the store refused to fulfill the order as placed.  My card was charged $42.40, which included three burritos, chips and queso, delivery fee, tax, and tip. I called the store and the employee told me that only two came through on the order to them. and refused to provide my third burrito.  I asked if I needed to come to the store myslef and show my order and she said yes.  I instructed the DoorDasher, who had not yet left the store, to return what she picked up from the store and cancel the order.  She did so and I drove to the store. When I got to the store, I explained why I was there and an employee told me that over the phone I told her I ordered 4 burritos and she said I had only ordered three, but that is not what I nor the DoorDasher told the store when we spoke to them independently regarding my order.  My order was cancelled/I did not pick up the food as I was very frustrated at the whole situation after having to spend over an hour of my time resolving the situation and now having to write an email to request a refund for an order that was not fulfilled.  I will no longer purchase from this store as this is the third time they have messed up an online order. Additionally, when I got to the store, there was a line of 5-7 people and the employees told them it was going to be 25-30 minutes before they would be served in-store because they had several online orders to fulfill first.  They also were out of queso and said it would be a minimum of 30 minutes before more was available.  This was one of the worst customer...