La Palapa — Restaurant in Chicago

I have been going to La Palapa for some time. The food here is really great, total to the contrary for the poor service we received this weekend. When we arrived we were greated immediately and the waitress seated us in the inside section. If you have ever been in this place the inside section consist of only a couple of tables enough to be able to see everyone. Needless to say there were only 2 families in this area, so everyone was noticeable and standout in this section. After being seated we waited about 15 min without service, however, all the waitresses kept walking back and forth with orders and trays with food. I finally had to stop one of the waitress and ask if we could get service. She said that our table was not part of her section but she was going to send someone. A waitress came 10 min later, without giving us any explanation for the delay on service she just took our order and left. Lucky for us the food was served within a reasonable time. From this point on our waitress disappeared and never came back. I had to personally get up and get myself another drink, and more sauce. I was helped by a gentleman that had been eyeing our table for a while, little did I know he was the manager of La Palapa. I explained to him that our waitress had disappeared and never came back!!!! He didn’t even bother to give us an explanation or offer an apology. Once done eating we had leftovers and again I had to get up with my plate in my hands to get a disposable container. We had to go directly to the small cash register they have to ask for our bill!!!!! NO SERVICE AT ALL. Our waitress finally appeared so we could pay and I asked her why she had totally abandoned our table. Her response was that they had no waitress assigned to that area, and she was busy with other customers. The waitress explained that she had told the manager this when he sent her to our table. The manager was right next to her, I asked him why we had been treated so poorly, he just stood there like I was speaking another language and ignored me totally as if I did not exist or he did not understand, needless to say I never got a response more less an apology. I understand that this place gets a bit crowded and sometimes it can get very overwhelming, but I can guarantee you that as good as the food is I will never go back. There are many other restaurants that would love to get...

this is a review on management; no complaints on the food

we have been religiously going to this restaurant for over 10 years. we have never had a problem with the service or food...UNTIL yesterday.

We accidentally left my credit card at the restaurant. We only realized that because we got a fraud alert from my credit card. we logged into our online banking and discovered countless of charges in the area and online.

We immediately locked my card to prevent further use and reported the charges as fraud.

We contact Palapa and informed that that we left the credit card after signing and that we highly suspect that the waitress (who is fairly new) stole the card and used it immediately. The manager was LIVID, but hold on, not with the waitress, but with US. whoever we spoke to on the phone began shouting and threatening us to call the police if we want. We responded by saying that we would not report it to the police but rather thought it would be good for them to know that it may have been an employee. It was also not really busy because we went during the afternoon on a weekday. As a business owner ourselves, we thought it would be in the business' best interest to know if an employee was suspected of stealing credit cards that it would be taken seriously. An honest individual would try to get a hold of the customer and if not, would call the credit card company to report the card as lost...

We usually use cash when we go because you get charged an extra fee, but this time, we decided to use our credit card and were taken advantage of.

The food is great and usually the service is great, but we are very very disappointed with our experience yesterday and how it was handled. We have reported all charges as fraud including the ones where Palapa charged 2 extra times; once in the same amount and once in a different amount.

VERY DISAPPOINTED. If you're going, we would highly recommend paying in Cash... other than that, the food is great as usual, but after 10 + years as a loyal customer, we have a slight bitter taste...

Came back again 3 years later and still the same issue service right off the bat. Or lack of it anyway. When waitress finally came over she apologized for the delayed service as they new. We ordered right away as we new it would be forever for anyone to comeback. Went simpler then last time 3 beers and two seafood cocktails. Still for ever for food to come but to their credit they were pretty full. But again once food was dropped off nobody came back not even to offer us another beer. I won't be back for sure this time unless I have two hours to wait to be waited on.

Service started out good. They give you small portion of ceviche to start. We ordered two appetizers right away and as we enjoyed the small ceviche portion it took for ever for out appetizers. We had eaten all the tostadas while waiting for the appetizers. That when the large portion of ceviche we ordered never came with more tostadas and we had to eat it with forks by its self. Then we proceeded to wait for waitress to return for our order. We ordered two cocktails that again took forever to receive. I had to get up and ask for tostadas or crackers. And check came immediately after food was served. Food was okay at best and service left much...