The Spotted Donkey Cantina — Restaurant in Clearwater

First of all, let me preface all of my comments with… the only people who will benefit from the terrible experience my wife, and two children had, will be future consumers, because the owner, manager, or ‘whoever’ is in charge of this place CLEARLY continues to make the same mistakes that garner low reviews. I have looked at the history of responses from management to the reviewer and it’s always: “well try to do better next time”, or some other sort of trite expression. DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY AND TIME HERE!. It’s not worth the disappointment. When our family came into this place around noon, some older guy with a mustache met us all at the door as we walked in. He said “OOOoooh “, to us. It was the weirdest comment to greet us with as we walked in. He did not say welcome, or anything that led us to believe he appreciated the money we were about to patronize his business with. (Our check was over $100.00). Friends, I kid you not, my wife and I felt like he did not want us to come in. Nevertheless, we proceeded to order after being seated. Ok, I had the $20.00 Cantina Burrito. It looked good, but was missing the fresh guacamole that was supposed to come with it. I chose not to say anything, because I was more focused on having a good time with everyone and simply let it go. About half way through eating the burrito, one bite had some sort of sand in the bite ! . Yes, I couldn’t believe it. It is unmistakable. Again, I simply removed this trash from my mouth with the napkin. I was disappointed greatly. My wife had the Mexican Shrimp Ceviche. The food looked good!. But, the tostada looking part of this dish was fried in oil making it crispy. Unfortunately, the cook (and I say COOK, because it is difficult to think a Chef would send out such junk to our table) did NOT drain all the oil from this tostada looking thing. My wife opened it up and found a lot of undrained OIL still in it. She chose to look past this mistake, and continue with our meal. Oil makes people without a gallbladder sick---my wife. We still turned the other cheek and provided 20% tip. Folks, I’m an easy going guy when it comes to tipping and dining. I simply ask for reasonable good service and food, especially if the establishment has prices high enough to justify the need for excellence with food quality. This place is not quality. Look at the history of bad reviews and one will often see customers complaining about food quality. As a small business owner who serves the public, I follow reviews, and how bad reviews can impact the rating. When I see the ‘bar graph’ provided by google reviews, I see an UNUSUAL amount of 1 star reviews. I know, (and so do many others ) that the only way to bring up the overall rating, is to get many of your friends to post fake 5 star reviews. This deceptive technique appears to be happening with The Spotted Donkey Cantina. Do not be fooled. Avoid this place at all costs. To the owner or manager: don’t waste your time responding back with ...

I wish I could’ve given 5 stars. It’s a nice little restaurant. But, unfortunately the experience wasn’t great. The food was pretty good. I’m a Texas girl- so I’m very picky about Tex mex and Mexican food in general. The salsa was okay. I like mine with more spice but, it had good flavor. I ordered the mahi mahi tacos. Those were good as were the beans and rice. So here’s why this is getting 3 stars instead of 4 or 5. The service wasn’t great. The place was virtually empty. When I walked in- there were only a handful of tables being used and all in different areas with different waiters and waitresses. I ran out of my drink and salsa while waiting on my food. No big deal until more than 15 minutes had passed. Hadn’t seen my waitress at all. My food comes and there is still no salsa or a refill on my drink so I wait. Finally, waitress comes. I ask for my refill and more salsa. A few minutes later she comes back. So I eat and am ready to go. 10 minutes later someone checks on me (not my waitress). I ask for a to go box and a DP for the road. Someone brings my check and my box. At this point, I needed another refill and had never been offered one. But the waitress checked on the couple next to me and then walked away. I get it. A single person- may end up with a $22 bill which one turn would yield you maybe a $5 tip. But still, I tip well. Very disappointing that I was ignored when the place wasn’t busy at all. So, instead of a 20-25% tip like I normally leave for good service, I left the bare minimum. Because frankly- I should not be getting checked on more by other waiters or the host than I am by the waitress who is supposed to be working and would be getting the tip. I was very...

UPDATE: With a change of menu and removal of my favorite pablano dish. The inconsistency of the salsa flavor the last few visits. And the steady decline in quality, I changed from 5 stars to 3. Not sure what has happened to bring on the decline. ORIGINAL REVIEW: I live local and enjoy Clearwater Beach. Amazingly I always pass this place by since I assumed it would be the typical Tex Mex and the menu also is rather abbreviated for a Mexican Restaurant. Well, I was wrong. Very glad I finally stopped in to give it a try. The service was excellent thanks to a wonderful server named Lexi. She answered all my questions and also made some suggestions, yes Lex, I will return soon for those enchiladas! Now to start. The chips were fresh and the salsa the best salsa I ever had! Best way to describe it would be a cross between a traditional tamatillo salsa and fire roasted salsa and then kick it up a bit with some curry or cumin spice. I swear I tasted an Indian influence in this salsa. After eating like two rounds of salsa as I could not help myself to stop eating it, I had the shrimp ceviche. The shrimp was fresh and juice it came in excellent. More like a traditional coctel de camerones in my opinion. In all, fabulous way to start dinner on a light and fresh note. For dinner I went basic and got the quesadilla. And even this was a surprise. The shell was cooked perfectly with the inside stuffed full of warm moist cheese, chicken, and peppers all in perfect balance. Very pleasant experience. I will return for sure. Great service with outstanding food that is made with love using quality...