Plaza Azteca Mexican Restaurant · Broad — Restaurant in Lakeside

My family meets to eat out about 4 or 5 times a year and usually we go to mainstream places like Cheesecake Factor and TGI Fridays. One of the ladies wanted to try something different and suggested this place (Plaza Aztec). I was skeptical of finding only traditional dishes filled with beans, paste and tortillas, but was pleasantly surprised when I saw the most expensive steak dish on the menu. Ordinarily it would’ve been perfect and was good once I reheated the leftovers at home. The problem arose with a particular male, dwarf-sized waiter and the male manager who filled-in for him after he simply left. I have knee pain and prefer to stand whenever I can, but the dwarf seems to have felt intimidated by a larger male standing near him. He became non-responsive to menu-related questions and we never saw him again. I was so engaged with conversing with family members I hadn’t seen in months that it wasn’t until we left that one of the ladies pointed-out the petty attempt to offend me. What did they do? As stated, the dwarf vanished. Next, the manger (filling-in for the dwarf) made us wait an extended period of time before bringing out the food. Next, he (the manager) brought everyone’s dish out except the male in the group with knee problems and when he did bring his steak platter out (the most expensive thing on the menu) it was cold. The later told us that we were being monitored and when they noticed that we had no issue with time (as we often remain talking after the meal is done) that he decided on a last ditch effort to offend by further delaying the platter.

While I don’t think the Mexican staff (or Mexicans in general) are devious enough to taint or contaminate a guest’s food it is reassuring to me that time only allowed a few bites and the left overs were microwaved later hopefully killing any germs. What the petty staff didn’t realize is that I almost never notice slights or insults (i.e., until much later) as evidenced by the fact the I (the alto hombre with knee issues who always pays the entire check) handed the staff the usual generous tip.

In looking at my receipt here (and just to jog the dwarf’s short memory) the date of our visit was 2/5/22, it seems that the server’s name was Alexis and Jonathan Avalos is the manager who took over after he abruptly left. Needless we will not be returning and will stick with mainstream...

This is my 2nd bad experience with Plaza Azteca on Broad Street in Richomnd, VA near Burlington Coat Factory. They use to be a really good resturant. However in recent years they have fallen off. I gave them the benefit of the doubt the first time since it was Cinco De Mayo. We waited 4 hours to be seated and 2 hours to eat (shame on us for waiting but we were enjoying a long over due girls night). Keep in mind they were not busy and it was not a holiday this time around:

They lost a reservation made 3 days prior They sat us in an outside room with only one working heater We had to ask MULTIPLE TIMES for water and silverware. (I thought that was automatically provided 🤔🤔) The main waiter was rude. When asked to turn the heat on, he sarcastically stated the heater was out by turning the switch on and off(then why sit ANY customers there during winter months 🤔🤔). I forgot to get his name. One person ordered shrimp and steak nachos and only received 1 peice of shrimp. I hope she wasn't charged. Two additional orders were messed up. When asked to repeat what was written down the waiter had "a mood"! Dude I'm trying to help you, this is your job not mines. Pipe down!!! 🤔 I smell discrimination... Off top the waiter stated you can only have one drink at a time (to the entire party). HUH?!?!? Where they do that at?? Per Virginia State Law: For each meal ordered, the restaurant may sell two cocktails in individual 16-ounce containers. So miss me with the liablity issues. My cousin asked for Hennessey and was served (IDK what the f* it was)!! They only received an extra star from me because my food was fresh when I requested it to be sent back (I guess it was). Usually when I'm dissatisfied with my service I cancel my order (only God knows what they do with your food in the back once you've complained).

2023 I'm not letting any eatablisment off the hook for piss poor services!! Everyone has gone through hard times during the pandemic. I perform my job to the fullest and so should everyone else. You expect a good tip, we expect good service!! In this case the tip would have been $0.00 with a statement saying "Do better next time" but I didn't pay the bill. Lucky whoever!!.

Three times a charm does not lay here!!! People have got to...

Good and drinks are always on point!

We had a group of 7. We called ahead to reserve and arrived a few minutes early and they were accommodating. After being seated they took our drinks and we got appetizers. Chicken wings are flavorful and seasoned well, a bit fatty. Taquitos delicious, loaded with meat and cheese. The fresh guacamole does not disappoint. Empanadas were flaky and delicious. Ate our appetizers while chatting then realized we had been seated for 40 minutes and no one ever came to take our entree orders. Also our drinks were completely empty. Eventually we had to ask another waiter staff to send our waiter over. He never showed up and someone else came to take our order. We waited a whole hour before someone took our order. The food came 30 minutes later which is acceptable with a large party. Seafood chimichangas were the best I ever had. The lobster bisque adds to the creaminess of the cheese. Lots of meat in this dish. Only once for the whole hour and thirty minutes did someone come to refill our drinks. And there were plenty of staff walking around our table, they walked past without consideration. While it was a Saturday night it wasn’t extremely busy. When the bill came we realized the tip was already factored in. This was disheartening, it felt like that’s why the service was subpar because they knew they guaranteed a tip on a large order. Will never return with a large party. If you like waiting for amazing food even though it is not busy this may be the spot for you. There are other places with much better service and...