El Mexicano Tapas & Tequila — Restaurant in Clifton

Used to be my favorite place to go…We went there this past Sunday to celebrate our engagement I was a little wary to try again but wanted to give it another try- because we went there on Mother’s Day, with three of my teenage kids to learn it was a fixed menu at $23- and up, needless to say our bill was insane- But nonetheless we tried again this Sunday we were seated outside alfresco it was a lovely evening when we were seated and I noticed everyone was being waited on with their cocktails and their chips n salsa and appetizers- our waiter came up to the table and I asked about the menu and if they could prepare one of my all-time favorites that they’ve had on the menu for years and he told me no- then I started asking about anything comparable or kind of like the dish I used to love so much- again I was told no... then he looked at me like I was taking too much of his time and said are you going to order drinks or what? Should’ve known then it was not going to be the evening I had hoped for- we ordered a pitcher of sangria - we sat there for what seemed a good 25 minutes until I had to ask the manager where is our waiter? And while we were sitting there we noticed many other people getting seated with other waiters given appetizers given chips and salsa their cocktails came.... we sat there with nothing... when our waiter finally came back with our sangria - we ordered and appetizer and had to ask for chips n salsa - which everybody seem to get as they’re seated- not us.... and then made an appearance and he asked if we knew what we wanted for our entree- (still no appetizer at the table nor chips and salsa - in fact when a family was freshly seated across from us I looked at the hostess handing chips and salsa to them as they were seated and asked do you mind if we get some of those since we’ve been here for like forever ) ... I asked him if the paella had muscles in it and if it did could he please make mine without muscles if it was at all possible or at the very least limit the amount of muscles in mine.... he nodded and I explained to him I do not like muscles I get sick on them if there would be an issue with that I’d order something else and again he looked at me and nodded and said no muscles..... and I said please space it out we’re in no rush... as we were trying to enjoy the evening and celebrate...Well our food finally came out my fiancé’s steak looked amazing and said it was wonderful I started being my paella I noticed although there was no clams well our food finally came out my fiancé’s steak looked amazing and said it was wonderful I started eating my paella I noticed although there was no Muscles on the top this dish was loaded with unshelled muscles- like an amazing amount of muscles it’s like I asked them to put extra muscles in it I couldn’t even take a bite of rice without eating a muscle- so I mention this to the waiter who then disappeared so then I talk to the manager who then disappeared so I sat there- Kind of in disbelief, Now at this time I noticed the table across from us was having some issues with what they had ordered and the same waiter they were getting agitated as I was- The manager comes back To say that he will remake it for me which at that point I said no thank you since my fiancé was done with his meal and I completely had lost my appetite at this point. Then the waiter comes back to take my dish I looked at him and said where have you been? If you knew I didn’t like my meal why did you walk away for 20 minutes and ignore me that’s no way to show any kind of hospitality to your guest- He goes I am so sorry what can I do to make it up to you and jokingly I said bring me another picture of Sangria which he did. So they said they took my meal off the bill and I signed for the bill without my entrée on it however when I looked at my bank statement today I noticed I was charged $30 more than the bill had said!!!!!!? I miss the way it used to be before this new Guy...

I came in to have a girls night. The ambiance was very cute inside, they had a few photo ops set up around the restaurant. I missed my reservation, so they moved my reservation to 45 minutes later from my original reservation. They took my phone number and said they would text me when the table was ready and opted for me to sit at the bar and wait. We waited at the bar for our table, the bartender was very attentive and super friendly with our drinks. Over an hour went by, I didn't hear anything about my table. I went up to the host desk and they put us at a table immediately by the door. It was extremely cold every time the door opened and they claimed that they didn't have any other tables open although when you looked around there were 5 other tables open. We let it go instead of complaining. We ordered guacamole, shrimp quesadillas, tremana margarita, tulum rose, elote fish tacos, birra tacos, and octopus tacos.

Our guacamole appetizer came out with the drinks which took about 20 minueted to arrive. The shrimp quesadillas were ok. You have to ask for sour cream which we were charged for. The fish tacos and birra tacos were really good! The octopus tacos came with a cream on top of it which is not stated in the menu. When I asked for the tacos to come without the cream I was told by my waiter Fabio, that he would have to charge me for a brand new order of the tacos without the cream. When I asked why that is he said it's just the way it is. Very interesting when the menu only states avocado, potatoes, octopus, and pico de gallo, but NO CREAM. When I asked to speak to the manager she accommodated me by refrying the octopus and giving me a new tortilla for the 2 tacos out of the 3 I had remaining. I've worked in the restaurant business for an extremely long time and that was very unheard of to me. Fabio then never really came back to check on us. We had to ask the busser to get us more water, boxes, etc. when we asked him if it was possible to get the hookah girl he said that they didn't do hookah until 9pm but the host said it was incorrect but we could order the hookah now it would be brought over by 830pm. We said ok and that's how we proceeded to get hookah. We tried to look for the manager again and she was at the bar having a cocktail. Fabio was on his phone and look disinterested in us. Then they added an 18% tip to the bill which on their menu stated that gratuity is only added to parties of 6 or more. We were a party of 3. Overall the food was ok but I definitely wouldn't bother to come back from the total...

Attention owner. Last Saturday night I went there with my girlfriend. She ordered steak tacos and I ordered tacos al pastor. When the food came the runner switched our tacos, ( which is totally fine because anyone can make a mistake ) so basically my girlfriend ended with the pork tacos which she never ate because she doesn't eat pork. When the server came around the second time we let her know what was going on. She offered to switch them for chicken tacos. A few minutes later the runner came back and took the pork tacos back to the kitchen and dropped off the chicken ones. We both automatically thought the chicken smelled extremely raw, it looked like it was maybe barely boiled, and had no seasoning. My girlfriend took a bite and had to spit it out. At that point we asked our server for the check. She asked if we wanted a plate to take them home, and we told her no thank you we didn't like it. I gave her my credit card so she could charge me and when she brought the receipt copy to sign I notiched she charged me $72.29 dollars! I asked her to speak to the manager, and this is where everything goes wrong. I explained the situation and told him I didn’t feel like they should have charged me for all 3 taco orderes, but yet I would still be ok paying for 2 of them. First of all he didn't even let me finish the story, he walked away to go get the server and hear her side of the story first. Second of all the server BLAMED my pregnant girlfriend for eating the pork tacos which she never did because again she does not eat pork (the runner took them). And third of all he told us there was nothing he can do, and told us is not his fault my girlfriend didn't like the food, and that when you go out to eat you’re expected to pay and not to get free food, this is not a cafeteria (his exact words). Let me tell you, I have never in my life ate for free or expeted to, but it’s very unfortunate that the food and service was poor quality. This is not the way to build clientele. The server’s name on the receip says Angela A and I did not get the manager’s name, but he’s a tall guy with a low haircut on the side and a hair bun, also had a Jesus cross...