El Meson at Hamilton Place — Restaurant in Chattanooga

If you've ever wanted to eat on the set of the film noir movie, TOUCH OF EVIL (1958), this may be your chance --

I kept waiting for Marlene Dietrich to pop out of the kitchen and offer me some chili!

To its credit -- (as far as atmosphere goes -- ), this is probably one of the most authentic-looking Mexican restaurants I have ever encountered. The architecture and decor everywhere are superb -- it's like eating in a "Mexican theme park -- "

Food: I had the three tacos with rice meal and it was delicious. (It did seem a bit pricey, though, for what I would consider a fairly basic" meal.)

My two biggest issues with EL MESON are:

#1.) The customer service: Virtually non-existent.

(I lost track of the number of times I had to get up to find my waiter -- who was actually the Maitre d' subbing for him/her.)

Not really sure what the root of the problem was, as I was one of the few people in the restaurant. It was between mealtimes, so it was very slow. Regardless, I got the distinct impression I was being intentionally ignored. (I have been told the Hixson store has the same issue . . . )

#2.) But like Orson Welles making his way through Venice, California with an enormous trail of debris following him, this restaurant is rather dirty --

And when I say DIRTY, it is in a very, VERY obvious way -- like no one who works there really cares -- even THE MENUS are filthy --

There is trash everywhere -- power drink cans and other "outside food" left behind by guests on the ledges and tables, tables not even bussed -- even after the guests have left some time ago.

Even the exterior of the building is dirty, with trash in the parking lot, tucked into the bushes and laying on the lawn all around the facility. (No one has evidently checked their building exterior or landscaping in quite some time.)

Just a general aura of apathy which is not conducive to a return visit. (Except for THE BAR, of course -- where the patrons are probably too drunk to care.)

As of this edit (06 Aug, 2024), I have yet to hear from management in response, thus confirming all of...

This was the worst restaurant experience I think my family has ever had. I should have left before we were even seated. I had to tell 5 different people how many of us there were. One lady told me there was no seating and another said there was. After about 10 minutes of “looking” for a table, we were seated at a table that had been vacant the whole time I was there right by the door. Our waitress seemed extremely rushed and like she was too busy to even write down what we ordered. We got drinks after about 5 minutes and salsa that literally tasted like tomato paste. We asked for some of the flavored salsas and they were better. We will never return here to eat. as a mother of 3 kids, I expect a bit of fussing and a bit of a wait, but we sat there for an HOUR waiting on our food. Over the course of the last 30-40 minutes, our waitress told us our food was “almost ready” on three different occasions. When it was ready she brought out the wrong food for our toddler. I told her more than once that it was wrong and she kept trying to take my older sons food back. When she finally figured out it was the toddler’s food, she took it and of course he proceeded to have a fit because his food was taken. She finally brought out our food and immediately offered us to go boxes and to go drinks. I thought this was extremely rude considering we had sat there for a whole hour before we got anything we ordered. At this point though I was done. All of my children were crying, the waitress was clearly rushing us off, and the food (when we got what we ordered) was just mediocre anyways. As we were leaving a waiter dropped a whole tray of food behind where my son had just been sitting. Hot food and glass went everywhere, so I guess it’s good we were leaving. Overall I would NOT recommend this place to anyone who wants to enjoy...

I had just terrible delivery and spoke to the manager he invited me in to eat so he could make it right, I walked in on a Sunday at about 12 it wasn't busy maybe 5 tables. That's not good. It smelled in the lobby of nursing home and depends, and didn't go away so I assume with the restrooms right there probably a basd seal on a commode. I'll give them the benefit there as they could have done everything they could and were waiting on a plumber. I order stuffed poblanos they came out soggy and cold which is crazy because I assume like any resturant the roast the peppers as a prep item then stuff and fry to order, well, the server after telling her my issues they were cold rice beans were cold, soggy and tasted weird like a walk in cooler it made sense when she said "oh that's the only thing on the menu that's not made fresh" now I could understand maybe prepping them like stuffing ahead of time but she they stuff them and fry them and just microwave to order, so I asked to look at the menu and ordered street tacos and rice and beans and asked her to make sure the food was hot, it wasn't. Rice and beans were luke warm again and the tacos were on store bought tortillas and the cilantro was wilted and old and the onions were transparent I took 2 bites spit it out, left the server 10 dollars and left, the manager was taking care of it. It was awful, LA AL Tena is just up the road and the food is hot and fresh and just better and cheaper. Forget thus place its, well I'd say hot garbage, but they do not even rise to that level, it is luke...