Linda Vista — Restaurant in Gainesville

First off I don’t know why is there not an option to leave no stars on google because that's what this place deserves. In my 26 years of life on this planet, this was hands down the worst experience I've ever experienced in my life. And yes I'm going to name drop my server and pray his boss reads this review and learns how to better train their employees. Our server was named Emilio. He only handed us one menu but I was like okay whatever that is just a little mistake.

From the second we sat down he treated us as regulars and asked if we were ready to order along with what we wanted to drink. I ordered a beer and my girlfriend ordered a Coke he brought our drinks back in about 2 minutes and asked once again if we are ready to order. I let him know we just needed a couple more minutes and I did not see him in the restaurant for a good 25 minutes.

My beer and her coke were gone this whole time and sitting at the edge of the table. He did not even end up bringing out our food to serve us. One of the guys from the kitchen did and I asked him for a refill on our drinks and he just told me “Ask your server”. Nothing more. Then after ANOTHER 30 minutes, I did not see my server but the same guy bringing out another table’s meal and was like “Could you please let our server know we need another round of drinks. He did and our drinks were there within five minutes.

We were not asked ONCE how our meal was and only checked up on us when we called him from another table as he was serving the only other table he was wading. Dear Emilio’s boss, LEARN TO TRAIN YOUR EMPLOYEES BETTER OR FIRE THE BAD ONES. This kind of behavior from an employee to a customer is not only unacceptable but deplorable. To say once again, I have never been treated this badly at any restaurant I have EVER been to.

The man literally had our receipt ready to go just after we finished ordering our meal and I was not even able to leave until close to 9 pm when we were ready to leave at 8:20 or so. At that point, he slapped the recept down and just said to go to the hostess to pay. We went up there to pay and she asked how the service was and my girlfriend said “I mean it was okay I guess” and after saying that she shot her a mean look. This restaurant felt very unwelcoming and I have no idea how this place managed to get anything above 3 stars on Google.

This kind of behavior would be understandable if it was a very busy night but in this instance, there were only three tables occupied including ourselves. He left our old drinks and dirty dishes on our table as if it was as busy as Superbowl Sunday.

But hey the food was pretty good along with the cheese dip so I guess takeout would be a good option if you are...

On the road again, traveling solo, I had a Mexi-feast craving. I read a whole lot of reviews about the various Mexican restaurants in the Gainesville area. I settled on Linda Vista, based on that research.

I got in just before the Sunday lunch crunch, so I was seated right away, although it was a completely isolated booth next to the very end of the bar. It felt cramped and like I was in quarantine.

I was presented with the usual chips & salsa. I always remark in my reviews that I can immediately tell a lot about a Mexican place by their chips & salsa and also their guacamole. I found these chips to be fairly bland, in desperate need of salt. The salsa was just okay, with a bit of a tinny taste? I've definitely had better on both counts.

They were running a Special, Lobster Enchiladas. That intrigued me, as I love lobster and thought what a perfect combination of flavors that might be. I was WRONG... There were nice sized chunks of lobster, however, the enchiladas themselves were almost clear, or see-through, soaked with oil and there was an odd too-sweet taste note that over shadowed any lobster taste. I was very disappointed. Also, this dish only came with the Enchiladas. No rice, no beans, no guacamole, sour cream, tomatoes or lettuce. I really love Refried Beans, so I ordered a side dish of them. What I got for an additional $2.07 was a decent sized portion of very bland and fairly tasteless beans. I added a healthy dose of salt, which barely helped. The Refried Beans were a flop.

The other important component of a good meal is, of course, service. My server was Jeronima. She started out fairly attentive, but as the meal progressed I saw less an less of her and she became less and less verbal and attentive. I was really let down when she dropped my bill off. Literally....she dropped my bill off, without a word, a thank you or anything and disappeared. And I PROMISE you I had been NOTHING but KIND. I NEVER abuse or bully servers. I respect them tremendously, knowing they have a very difficult job.

Overall, I was sorry I'd wasted my meal decision on Linda Vista. I've had excellent Mexican meals and this one was no where...

I've normally had a decent experience here. I have an Onion allergy and kindly ask them if they can make my soft tacos plain, no onions, just the beef and cheese only. I've been here plenty of times with no problems, I always check my tacos first before eating. This time, I got Tacos with onions, and fortunately I didn't eat it. I politely asked the server if they could please make me some new ones without onions, because I have an allergy. She left, came back less than 30 seconds later and insisted they ALWAYS cook their ground beef with onions.

Which I know is not true, because every time we have come here they have made me my own tacos, and I always double check them to be sure. The worst thing I ever got was a stray piece of lettuce like one time, and that's not a big deal.

What gets me is that I explained very nicely that we have never had that problem and I've never had any onions in my tacos, and she insisted they always do. So does that make me a liar then? I am a paying customer.

So what? You can't cook up another batch of ground beef without onions? Seriously!

I've ran Customer Service departments. I am always extra nice to workers because I understand what it's like to deal with difficult customers. But this is unacceptable... this is a place I love coming to. She asked if I wanted anything else and I just calmly and politely declined, got our bill, and left.

This could have been handled better. In fact, there was no problen prior. Not sure why it had to be one now?

I'll come back if they see this and agree to do what they had always done for me before. What a way to lose a loyal customer with allergies!

UPDATE:

Response from the owner below "Also it's not that we couldn't cook beef without onions but the taste was going to be different and I personally didnt feel comfortable."

So they ADMITTED to being able to cook beef without onions but they care more about their own feelings than customers who mention they have allergies.

FYI, I came home sick and stuck in the bathroom for hours.

NOT coming back. Will be taking...