Los Cucos Mexican Cafe — Restaurant in El Campo

How do I give an ultimate negative star? I have been to some fairly hole in the wall facilities. But I HAVE NEVER SEEN A RAT AS BIG as I saw tonight. This was a legitimate rat. I only saw him because I could literally hear him running down one of those fake Cabana roof things they have inside. It's the one that connects to the wall of the kitchen. This thing came out of the kitchen ran down that roo, jumped over to a mini blind and hid behind one of the neon lights. If it had missed the jump from the roof to the mini blind it would have landed on my friend's head. I was only halfway through my sad excuse for a chicken soup. Who put chicken wings in a chicken soup? I have to pull it out of the bowl to get the meat off of the bones. I should not have to touch my soup. Soup is meant to be eaten with a spoon. Not a fork and knife. Upon seeing the rat the waiter came over and said "do you want me to move you to a different table?" NO! I want you to swear to me that my food is clean and that I will not get sick from being in this establishment! In fact you should probably come up my food and do everything so I don't leave a review like this. Instead they did nothing. I told the three waiters at the front what happened and they gave me a look, "I'm sorry, the next time you're here we can". I quickly cut him off to say "I will never return to this establishment nor any other Los Cucos". For those of you that don't know, this is not the first one that will probably be shut down due to health...

PRO: The food here is actually good.

CON: The service here has really gone down the toilet. I've been here at least a dozen times, and the service used to be great. The hostess knew her job, the waiters were quick and attentive, refills came quick, etc.

However, the last 2 times I've been, the restaurant has been disgusting. Like, trash on the floor, sticky or wet tables, and dirty utensils. I've had to ask for new / clean utensils because the ones given to me where not cleaned thorough, asked to be seated elsewhere because the table was wet, etc. On top of the lack of cleanliness, I've had to flag down my waiter for refills, to close my check out my tab, etc.

Recently, I went to dine at Los Cucos, and the hostess sat us down at a dirty table. I asked if we could be seated elsewhere. Rather than sitting us at a new table (restaurant was empty with ample options for seating), both the hostess and waiter called the cleaning lady over and made her clean the area right then and there while we all watched. Think, 2 minutes of idle standing for one worker to clean while everyone observes.

If I were the waiter or hostess, I would've helped prepare the table for the patrons, especially if they're standing RIGHT THERE! Instead, everyone just stood there... waiting.

My recommendation: Go elsewhere! With the recent price increases, I doubt I'm being a "Karen" for asking that the restaurant at least be clean and the...

It’s disappointing to spend so much money on what is a rare, fine-quality, family dinner, only to leave the restaurant feeling slighted, tired, and embarrassed. The food was excellent! Then came the bill. Wednesday is ”free dessert with each kids meal” night. The server was told by his manager to charge us for one of our kids’ desserts since the server forgot it was free dessert night and brought us a regular-sized order. We politely pointed out that it was not fair that we pay for what the waiter forgot, and he fixed it. Then an extra charge was added for toppings I didn't order. The server and I even discussed the price for when I ordered, but apparently there was some misunderstanding between us...or I am naive and don't want to think a business would try to take advantage of a customer for every extra dollar they can get. I haven't even mentioned the rubber band in the cilantro dip or that I asked four times for a to-go box. The meal ends with me trying to smile and swallow an apparently unwarranted quantity of food while feeling frustrated and uncomfortable about how poorly the dining experience has ended. At what point does the taste of the food compensate for how a person feels while eating it? The server made it right as best he could, we think, seemingly despite the manager, and was tipped well. I can pay for good food at lots of places; however, a pleasant, hassle-free experience...