Irma's Restaurant — Restaurant in Deming

Passing through town, we arrived at 8:35 to a bustling dining room, with several large groups following us in a few minutes later with a closing time of 9 PM. We had high expectations. While this is clearly a locals favorite, we will never be back not the least of which was because of the food. I should state that we love love, love everything about New Mexican cuisine, having lived in New Mexico for almost a decade, and also making it at home quite frequently. First, we waited unacknowledged in the lobby for approximately 10 minutes before the couple in front of us stated that they were waiting for takeout, and that we should seat ourselves. Taking note of the sign in the lobby that instructs not to sit at dirty tables, we saw 4 clean empty tables and took a seat at one of them. After sitting at our table for approximately another 10 minutes without acknowledgment, I approached the cashier stand seeking menus as a waitress was walking away after checking out another couple leaving the restaurant. I politely stated that we had sat at a table, but that we hadn't received any service or menus yet, to which she very tersely, and abruptly responded "that's because you weren't supposed to see yourself, and we weren't ready for you." While I was taken aback at the blunt rudeness and lack of customer service, I apologized and said that it appeared we were to seat ourselves and that the couple in front of us had stated that we should. To which she just looked at me with a frown on her face, and said "no." Moving on, eventually, a drink order was taken and approximately 15 to 20 minutes later we received menus. I ordered the Chile rellanos plate, and my husband ordered the chicken enchiladas plate, Christmas. About the best thing I can say about this restaurant is that their CHIPS AND SALSA ARE EXCEPTIONAL. We did order a pint of salsa to go but never received it. Since the waitress was so rude and we were clearly an inconvenience to her, I didn’t press it. My rellanos were slightly burned, and tasted very peculiar. The enchiladas were good and not great. While All the food was OK, the customer service was unacceptable which may be okay and accepted by your regulars, don't expect repeat business or recommendation from us. The biggest recommendation I could give would be to enforce customer service as being a priority and not an option and perhaps hire another waitress to cover the floor so that the team isn’t running around completely stressed out as they run between tables. While they clearly work hard, the food was memorable for the wrong...

Placed an online order for pickup, ETA 5:45-5:55. Arrived at 5:55, arrived home at 6:01 and my $8 Queso was literally INEDIBLE. (spoiler; didn’t get a refund).

I even did my due diligence to try microwaving it and adding milk to reconstitute it before calling the restaurant to politely ask for a refund since it was literally unable to be eaten.

But I should mention that not only was this $8 queso inedible, it was ALSO delivered in a 20oz styrofoam cup that was 2/3 full…??? Instead of…maybe.,. A BOWL….? I generally don’t like to eat queso as if I’m putting my arm in a pringles can? I feel like this is a VERY reasonable stance as a consumer to not want the back of my hands and knuckles to be coated in queso??

So, I called and explained the situation and politely asked for a refund. The person who answered the phone told me to hang on, and then came back a few minutes later and told me to BRING IT BACK to exchange for a new one???

At which point, all of my other food would then ALSO be cold too…? Why would I waste MY time and gas for YOUR restaurants mistake of sending out low-quality food?

The level of disrespect to your customers is 100% appalling.

I will not be back during the remainder of my 45 day stay in Deming and I hope that this review costs you far more in business than the $1 worth of cheese that you didn’t want to refund to...

Driving home decided to stop by for food. Nice little stop on the corner. Food menu on Google maps was a bit outdated, but no big deal.

Had the deluxe Mexican plate with both red and green. The red meat was very well cooked and easily fell apart. The green was equally tender. The cheese enchilada went well with both green and red sauce. You can't get wrong with either one or both. The chile relleno was good with the red and green sauce, but I feel they were too smothered and hid their flavor. Very hard to find good chile rellenos, but Irma's has really good ones. Wish they were bigger though. The taco was very good, great corn tortilla, and seasoned/prepped great.

I also had a gordita on the side. Never seen one that was deep fried as they do it here, but I wanted to try it. The deep fried tortilla was very crispy and held up great. Wasn't too greasy or soggy, so it was perfect. Had it with the carne asada which was cooked and prepared great. It was stuffed to the brim, but it was a great single item.

You won't be disappointed eating here. This will definitely be a new stopping/eating place that I'll be going to AND...