Mesero - Preston Hollow Village — Restaurant in Dallas

My family (7 of us) were late making Christmas Eve plans. Our usual hangout, Rugerri’s, was closed due to the tornado. We landed on the newish Preston Hollow Mesero. We’re all big Mexican/TexMex fans and it was close by. The evening got off to a good start. Our waiter, Nick, was attentive and pleasant.

But things took a turn for the worse when dinner arrived. Two of us had to send our plates back because the food was room temperature at best. My enchilada was just okay but the carne asada taco.... the meat was tough and room temp. The tortilla was like it was just removed from the fridge and served. One of the returned plates came back in the same condition. Futility.

Mind you the restaurant was almost empty the whole night. On Christmas Eve.

We began to wrap things up around 8:30 (the restaurant was supposedly open until 9:30). When 8:30 rolled around we were the last ones there and the staff stacked chairs on tables around the restaurant. Then came the unpleasant high pitched whine of the vacuum. Yes, they vacuumed the dining room while we were still finishing our drinks. We flagged down a waitress and said it needed to be shut off because we were still there (and they’re open until 9:30—right??). And I asked to speak to the manager. The manager ignored us completely and purposely. He breezed right by our table. The vacuum shut off briefly (probably to move the plug) then back on. We quickly wrapped things up and walked to the door. We saw the manager at the front and expressed that our experience was sub-par and the vacuum should not have been on. The manager kind of shrugged it off and deflected the issue to the staff like ‘what can I do about it, silly staff’. “Manager”, huh? More like mis-manager. He had absolutely no interest in any of the problems. He just offered a cursory “sorry”—like, ‘okay bye—don’t let the door hit you’.

Wonderful way to treat people who just spent in excess of $300 for a lousy Christmas Eve experience. We would have had a better time and better food at Rosa’s—or pretty much any fast food franchise. What a pathetic way to run a restaurant. Thanks, Mesero, for a...

Today was my last visit to this restaurant. Or my first visit to the new restaurant. I forgot what the waitress said was going to be the new name. Google still showed it as Mr Mesero, their online website still showed it as Mr. Mesero, and their receipt still showed it as Mr Mesero. I had lunch with a few friends there today. We all had house margaritas which were 7.00, and online on their website it showed advertised as 9.00 each. Our bills showed as 11 each. I asked the waitress about it and she said they should've been 12 each because the prices I was looking at was for Mr. Mesero, not whatever they're called now. I said i was unanaware that they were no longer Mr Mesero. When i planned it the day before it still said Mr Mesero, and when I walked in I recognized the chef/ cook from Mr Mesero, and when I got the receipt it said Mr Mesero and online on their website it showed as Mr Mesero in business at this location. on my bill alone, between my husband and I we got charged 28 dollars extra for 4 house margaritas, but in their eyes it was a discount because they should now be 12 each. she also pointed out to me, that I should've asked how much I was going to get charged per margarita and not have gone with what's advertised on their online menu or the menu they hand you. That all that was going to change. So it's all going to change, but it hasn't yet, but the prices will reflect the new restaurant prices which hadn't moved in yet You're going to Mr Mesero but paying for a restaurant that's moving in soon prices. That's lovely. Also, when I ordered my food I was told everything came on the side, sour cream etc. It didn't it was all on my dish. I still ate it but it was deceiving since she said everything came on the side. We still all paid our bills with mystery prices and moved on, but we will never come back to whatever this place is or is becoming. It was a good run. I loved their Oaxaca enchiladas, which they still serve because it's still the same menu, they just might charge you a different price than what's on the menu or in their...

This was a recent email that I sent to the restaurant which then went unanswered further emphasizing the poor customer service at this place! I will never dine here again!

Dear Mr. Mesero,

What high expectations I had coming to dine at your restaurant last night. The drinks were great (overpriced but great), the food was wonderful, but the service was such a disappointment. We had a reservation at 7:00 and arrived on time. From the moment we sat down we were rushed so fast through our meal. Pressured to order, and then having food disappear before we could even enjoy it was less than ideal. There was literally less than 3 minutes between our guacamole arriving and our entrees being dropped. (I didn't realize that I was dining at a fast food establishment). And then toward the end of our entrees, we finally realized what was happening... A large group had arrived and they wanted our table. No offer of a dessert menu, we had to ask for that. Then we were literally made to feel so uncomfortable by the glaring eyes of the group and the wait staff hovering over us that we did indeed acquiesce and leave. No thanks from the stffg for dining, just a wait staff ready to pounce on our table to clear dishes away and seat the large group.

As a service professional myself, I find that this kind of service is unacceptable for paying guests. What should have been a wonderful dinner with colleagues as we wrapped up a heavy week of work, resulted in a rushed fast food dinner at an exorbitant price. Which, I would have been happy to pay if it had not been for the obscene staff hovering over our table the entire night. Sadly, I was so in shock that I signed the bill with my standard 20% gratuity but reflecting back on this I felt that you should know that a gratuity was not deserved for this type of service. I hope that future patrons will not receive this...