Recreo Cantina — Restaurant in Chandler

This was my third time here for food (I've been more for drinks) and each time there's been something wrong unfortunately. The first time was lunch on a Friday afternoon, we sat and waited over ten minutes to be greeted AFTER having to get someone's attention. She told us they were understaffed with just 2 servers on the floor - clearly not enough. The second time, I just didn't enjoy my veggie mix (but everything else was great). They went above and beyond, taking care of my dinner even though I enjoyed all but one aspect. We really appreciated it. This third time was horrible unfortunately. We waited over 15 minutes to get greeted at our table AFTER getting someone's attention. I had to ask for a high chair for my son and then again get someone's attention 10 minutes later to get service. This person wasn't even a server and she took care of us which was super nice, but our actual server didn't come over until after we got our food and she told us we "slipped through the cracks". They again, were understaffed on a Saturday afternoon, with an event on the patio and only ONE server inside. We were then greeted by someone I think is the manager but he didn't introduce himself so I'm not sure. He asked if our food was good, which is was, and then he left. When the check came, nothing was even offered to be taken care of, which I usually don't care about but for this circumstance I was shocked! We paid $70 for a horrible experience and we walked out with a coupon for a $2 margarita on our next visit. To me, this just seemed like the absolute bare minimum for a 2 hour experience that should have been a quick lunch. I was really disappointed and didn't think we will...

My husband and I were walking around downtown chandler when we came across the host of Recreo. Upon walking in we were surprised how big the building actually was. Ask to sit outside! There is a beautiful outside setting with big outside games , TV’s , plenty of seating and swings for the bar seats! The atmosphere was great, the service was okay. Our waitress really didn’t check on us after drinks were dropped off. I ordered a prickly pair frozen margarita. Basic margarita nothing special except for the sugar instead of salt around the rim & it was strong so it made up for how much syrup was in it. We ended up ordering chips & salsa (the first order of chips were stale but the second one was better, salsa had good taste), stuffed peppers(tasted good but just a version of frozen jalapeño popper), Birria tacos (the consume was thick like a sauce so we were unsure if it was consume or dipping sauce of some sort & the meat was mostly fat) and the trio taco plate that consist of shrimp(grilled)(enjoyed the fresno sauce, lettuce, three cheese blend & avocado), tinga chicken (seasoning unsure we didn’t enjoy personally), & carnitas (the meat was too many fatty pieces & we didn’t care for the pickled red onion. Sadly as we were walking back to the car we both started to experience bad stomach aches! Our stomaches were on fire and we started to vomit. We both ended up getting food poisoning from here. We shared all of our dishes. My husband does have a soy allergy and I am allergic to Cajun seasoning but we are unaware of the allergy ingredients here since it was a new place. Overall an honest try but will not be...

Visiting from Vegas, friends of a friend suggested we check out Recreo on a busy Saturday evening...

Ambiance & Service: The main dining area houses plenty of booths, tables and the music volume is loud to provide an upbeat vibe. The artificially grassed outdoor patio location in the back offers fun games to play while drinking: Corn hole, ping pong and an oversized connect four game. There's another bar in the back with swing seats instead of bar stools. This is a great place to drink and hangout Drinks were ordered when we were seated. It was a good 25 minutes before we put in our food order. Our server, he just disappeared during that time period? We wave him down when we see him and get the order in. The kitchen was pretty good with getting the dishes to the table pretty quick. He checked on us sporadically through the night. He was friendly but was hard to find.

Food & Beverage: Garden Mule - This gin based mule was very tasty and came out in this cactus planter cup. This tasty cocktail was delish and definitely social media friendly. Rib eye Mac n Cheese - Great dish top to bottom The shredded ribeye was flavorful and the mac n cheese was exceptionally cheesey. Good times.

The service needs some work. It was almost like our server took a break, and didn't have anyone cover his tables? The culinary aspect was great so kudo to the kitchen. This place has a ton of potential if they can fix their service...