Los Galanes Mexican Restaurant — Restaurant in Detroit

I don’t usually write reviews, but our experience at Los Galanes in Mexican Town today was unacceptable — and I feel compelled to speak up, not only for myself but for the group of hardworking educators I was with.

My coworkers and I stopped in today at 11:30 AM — we were literally the first customers in the restaurant — excited to celebrate the start of summer before heading to a high school graduation we were participating in. We were a group of nine, and expected decent service, especially since the restaurant had just opened and was completely empty.

Unfortunately, what followed was nearly two hours of confusion, neglect, and slow service. Our waiter — an older gentleman — was polite at first, but it quickly became clear that he was overwhelmed. After taking our drink orders, it took over 10 minutes just to get another bowl of chips and salsa. That’s with no other tables in the restaurant at the time.

Despite being seated first, we watched him take orders from two other tables before even getting back to us. He repeatedly forgot my drink order (no ice), which I reminded him of more than once. He stopped checking on our table entirely, and even sat down to chat with another customer while we were clearly waiting for boxes and our checks. At this point, we were pushing our time limit — we needed to leave by 2 PM — and still hadn’t been properly attended to.

To make matters worse, as we were finally leaving, we saw multiple tables — who arrived well after us — receiving their food and drinks long before we ever did. By the time I left (around 1:15), several of my coworkers were still waiting for their checks. Nearly two hours in an almost-empty restaurant is just unacceptable.

I asked to speak with a manager. I was told Juan, the actual manager, was not available, and the acting manager made no effort to rectify the situation. No apology, no accountability — and to top it off, an automatic 18% gratuity was added to our checks without discussion, forcing us to tip for poor, inattentive service. That felt like the final insult.

This experience was not only disappointing — it was incredibly frustrating, and honestly, it felt disrespectful. We are educators who came to spend our time and money at your establishment, and we were let down...

I took 12 of my students to @Los Galanes, Detroit, MI in SW Detroit today. I called yesterday to let them know and was told that they did not take reservations and there may be a wait - OK. Come today, shortly before 11am, they send someone outside to tell us that they are not taking any school groups and that we need to leave. I explained that I called the day before, but the owner said no, we would be allowed in the restaurant. I asked to speak to the owner and went in. He was across the restaurant and was yelling to me that he isn't taking a school group. He asked if we had a reservation. I informed him of the day before, and he said they already have a group. We were refused entry. I was told that if I was in a bad mood, I could go and eat somewhere else. It makes me wonder if we were refused entry and service becuase 100% of my students are African American? Were we refused service for another reason - because 1 table of 14 is too much compared to, oh IDK, 4 tables of 4? I don't think they closed down, but they refused to allow us in. Here is what I do know. I take back every good thing I have EVER aid about that restaurant and WILL NEVER go there again, ever! I will shout from the rooftops to everyone who will listen to NEvER GO THERE. Racist, rude, condescending, downright nasty people!! So, I had to go and tell my students we had to go somewhere else - and we did! Xochimilco Restaurant opened, welcomed us in, and did a fantastic job for my students! Thank you Xochimilco Restaurant!! It would seem that once again, people see with the eyes that want to see with, unfortunate. For full transparency, I did practice some specific register Spanish language before leaving the...

Service was very slow to the point of food being cold because they left the rice and beans sitting next to the table as the rest of the food was being prepared. The server forgot everything and we had to ask for everything 4-5 times. The Corona Rita was cool except it tasted more like Corona than the Rita. They added in gratuity to our party of 20 which is understandable but would not tell us how much our separate checks were and there were only maybe 5 separate. They charged for everything example Sour Cream x 12 = 10.80. Even though sour cream should’ve came with some of the meals. They said they can’t separate checks and this was policy but did not have it written anywhere and then said that “well we told one person and they should’ve told you guys” which was very rude. Then said well don’t walk out on your bill in which seemed to be rude as we all was ready to pay our bill with no problem. But they had already called the police on us which is funny because one of the guests was a Detroit officer. Then as I left my money on the table for the server the manager accused me of walking out which I did have to cuss him out politely and then let him know the money was on the table. He from there said to not come back and I promised him that’s not an issue. Maybe it was a bad night as I have ate here a few times and never had a problem. But the manager this night was very rude and should not be in...