Carnitas Tio Juan — Restaurant in El Paso

To the owner, you have a great location and there is no reason you shouldn't be full of customers from open to closing. Chips are the first thing customers encounter. It sets the tone for the rest of the meal. Mine were so hard and stale they could do internal injuries if not well chewed, except that your mouth takes the beating instead. Thats mostly because you leave them out on the counter in little bowls and big bins where they absorb moisture all day makeing the aready low quality chips tougher and chewyer than they already are. Im not trying to be negative here. You do many things very right. Your hot sauce is perfect. My crispy tacos were excellent. Sweet tea impresive as well in a big mason jar with lime. All excellent. Just consider putting a new and more eye catching and attractive paint job on the roof section outside. Train your staff/family to exude just a bit more service professionalism (they were very friendly) but give them tips about what to say and what "the house" feels are your best dishes. And for Gods sake do something with those abysmal chips. Paying a couple dollars more doesn't kill me. But those chips almost did. Haha. You could even make it your mission to have the best chips in town and use that to raise your reputation up. You have the location and 98% of the right ingredients for a great restaurant. Im rating you a 5 to give you a lift because your food is good and you deserve the chance make changes to do well. Your just missing a few golden opportunities to really shine. Quality is always about the...

Menudo Sunday. Tio Juan's turn. Waited to be seated until the greeter finished sharing some amusing anecdotes with 2 of the waiters. We're standing next to 3 empty window booths. I asked to be seated on one of the three. Waiter says can't do because they're working segments. We have to follow him to other side of restaurant. I object. After some staff consultation they allow us to sit where I asked. We all order menudo. My wife, not a menudo fan, asks the waitress to change her order to a breakfast plate.(more expensive than the menudo). The waitress says she can't do that because the original order is already in the system. She goes to check, comes back with the menudo anyway. Says she can add a different plate, but we have to still pay for the canceled menudo. Asks if we want to speak to manager. I say YES. Large lady comes out, explains that nothing can be done. My wife doesn't want to make a scene. I'm ready to clear the table. My wife says she will take the menudo to go. By this time myself and the other 2 people with us have ate enough to know we are done eating. All this time the bowl of menudo has never left the waitress hand. I guess it's impossible to pour it back into the pot it came out of. I paid. Left the girl a nice tip. Not her fault she works for jerks. The menudo and hominy itself was too chewy. Could've used longer cooking. The heat was good, but watery. Good looking restaurant, easy parking in very busy intersection. I won't...

Regular customer that goes often. We like the food and haven't had a bad service (like some of these reviews).. However, I'm giving one star based on the "closing time" on Sunday. 6PM is the posted closing time but, we went at 5:25PM and the doors were locked.. Yeah, yeah, should have got there sooner (I can already hear people's mouths 🙄)... My point is, if you want to lock the doors 30+ minutes early, then post 5:30PM as your closing time.. I mean, this isn't an airplane where boarding begins 30 minutes early, this is a restaurant with regular posted hours... Whats worse is, I called and the employee that answered the phone couldn't even give me a straight answer as to why the doors were locked other than, "uh, well, uh... we close early when it's slow"... What!?!? Well, perhaps that needs to also be posted as a disclaimer on your hours... 'We close at 6PM on Sundays... maybe... we don't know.. 🤷‍♂️ if it's slow you may or may not get in'.. I didn't go to "restaurant owner school" but, I can only hope that if I had, I would have learned how to post my hours properly.. Furthermore, if it were that slow, it was probably because patrons were afraid to go in fear the doors may, or may...