Fernando's Mexican Grill — Restaurant in Des Moines

So today unfortunately for me I ordered a taco salad by phone at Fernando's Mexican Grill ....Fernando the actual ower of the establishment took my order .....after repeating what I wanted for my order 3 times. ...I asked how long it would take I was told 3 minutes.....I arrived in 7 minutes.....I came in the store....and my order was on the counter.....the young lady asked me my name I told her and she began to ring up my order....she asked me if I would like to see it....SOOOOO GLAD I said YES......it was TERRIBLE....it looked like a hodgepodge of leftovers mixed together...seriously like what you would put in your pet dogs food dish...my disappointment was immediate and I asked the young lady what happened....before she could answer Fernando came to the register and asked me what's wrong .....I told him it looked awful and I had never had a taco saladthat looked like that from his store...he said "oh I put the toppings on the bottom and the meat on the top ...that's why it looks that way" I said oh it never looked like this since I've been coming here.(for about 2 months and the taco salads prepared by the ladies that worked there were beautiful and put together correctly)....I said I dont want that ....he replied you don't want that ...then ok have a nice day ...and refused to serve me another one done correctly.....saying he's not going to waste it....sad that he would not accommodate paying customer....and as a courtesy for HIS mistake....make a fresh one the RIGHT way.....for which I was still...

I stopped at the Mediterranean place. If you aren't aware, this is three restaurants in one, Hummus, Krispy Chicken, and Fernandos mexican grill. The Mediterranean place is NOT IT. Their falafel was OK I guess, but a little too soft inside. Like it was underdone, it was super soft and mushy inside but also tasted of RAW garlic. Raw garlic can be OK in small amounts, but I'm pretty sure falafel has A LOT of garlic and needs to be fried long enough to tame the flavor. They don't have the green hot sauce, the shawarma was the blandest shawarma ive ever had, and the variety of sauces was SAD. Their tahini was flavorless, besides an odd bitterness, the spicy sauce they had wasn't good at all, and the guy smothered the pita with it to the point that I couldn't even eat it without getting one big wad of gross sauce in the first several bites. The pita was chewy and flavorless, and dude acted like he was legit irritated that I was there in the first place, which made me not want to be there or ask for any advice, extras etc. It was a very unwelcoming environment, the food was extremely subpar. The only good thing is that it looked pretty clean. Which isn't surprising, considering they were dead. And the fact they were dead also isn't surprising because the food isn't good. I wouldn't come back here if you paid me. It just wasn't good, I'd never...

The food here was decent enough - pretty average for Americanized Mexican fare.

But the service was terrible. The guy behind the counter was unfriendly and borderline rude. He was quite clearly unhappy to he there.

Our toddler son was struggling - it was nearing nap time - and I was trying to get him quickly seated and situated so as not to disrupt other patrons, though the place was not busy in the least. The man behind the counter gestured vaguely in the direction of the dining room when I asked where I could locate a high chair. To top it off, he got my order wrong.

I don't like leaving negative reviews, but I would go to a different restaurant if you're seeking good Mexican food and good service - there are lots of good...