Leña Steakhouse — Restaurant in Elfers

Ok food, zero service. It wasn’t busy at 8p on a Tuesday. I was the only one at the small bar (5ish seats) but only got spoken to when I walked in, when I placed my order, and when I left, the bare minimum. The only exceptions were when a female waiter asked how my drink was and a male bartender made a joke about having his back to me, but no one ever asked if I needed anything. I had empty plates sitting for half my meal no one cleared and waited for 5 minutes while staff was rushing around everywhere (for what? I was the only one there) after I’d eaten literally everything I ordered and was just sitting there wanting to pay, staring into space before anyone noticed to give me my bill. The final other table had just left, and I was done an hour before closing, but they didn’t even ask if I wanted another drink or dessert. The female waiter just pulled out the payment thing and stood over it watching as I selected no tip. 🤷 I don’t cave to pressure. I eat out all the time and can’t remember that ever happening where they didn’t ask how my food was or if I wanted water or something. Idk why waitstaff don’t realize that if you’re a single diner having filet you probably have enough money to leave a great tip for good service, but I will say anywhere I go they pay a lot more attention to families, as they did here. It could also be because I’m female and people tend to better serve males and assume they have more money. It’s a terrible experience when I’m paying equally or more per-person to have a great time, which is the point of going out, otherwise I’d cook at home. I typically leave 20-25% tip, never below 20% for standard service, and have given over 100% for some who are simply kind or seem to go above and beyond. I left nothing this time because I got no service aside from them bringing my plates, which is obligatory. They didn’t even respond each time I thanked them. I may go back and try a different meal because the food is decent and I’d like to give them another chance in case I just got the offals of the crew, but to the establishment and staff: Please exercise empathy in how you run. I work hard for my money, and you have to work at least a little for it if you want it, too. Would you want to be ignored if you went to grab some food by yourself? Your staff were too busy with cleanup and prep to even look at customers, and that’s the opposite of how a business should run. Customers are your lifeblood. I’ve worked in food service and know the care required. You need to recenter. I hope your staff will provide better service next time so I can tip generously to match and be encouraged to return, since there are plenty of other places to go. I will say as far as the food and drink, I was surprised not to get an authentic caipirinha when I ordered a traditional one, as I’ve had them in South America. I mean c’mon, it was in a mason jar. 😂 Y’all have to know what you make is not how they’re normally made or served. Also it’s the first time I’ve had a filet with the chewy kind of fat on it; normally it has the melt-in-your-mouth kind of fat that’s delicious but theirs is low quality meat, served in 4 chunks. I’d rather pay more for great steak, which is why I went to a steak restaurant. They also don’t properly trim the asparagus so the bottom 1/4 is the tough part you’re supposed to break off before cooking (not a chef personally but have learned from them, and it’s obvious if you’ve ever had asparagus that the bottom part is too tough to be served). The mashed potatoes were really the only thing that wasn’t needing some help other than the sauces, which were delicious. The fire alarm even went off, adding to the feeling of chaos in the place. It oddly feels like a strip mall restaurant once you’re inside, so also no “atmosphere” to speak of aside from the toddlers running around piercing your eardrums with shrill shrieks at the top of their lungs, which just reminds me of the odd gap between what’s allowed when it comes to kids vs adults. Disappointing first visit but maybe better luck next...

Went here Friday night for the first time for a Mother daughter dinner! Parking there seemed to be a decent amount of cars in the parking lot, so I was hopeful. We were seated pretty quickly, our waitress was pretty nice and attentative. We ordered the pork belly and avocado along with our drinks. I ordered a frozen passionfruit margaritas. When i recieved it, it looked great but the taste was bismal.. Very watery.. no flavor of passion, just like a cheap liquor taste. When she asked, I said it was ehh.. she said they only offered a low grade alcohol. I was more worried about the juice or mixer/ flavoring. Said they used a syrup but the drink was practically white. If you know passion fruit, it's bright yellow and sweet! We then got the appetizer which seemed abit small.. there was alot of guacamole and the smallest pieces of pork belly all mostly fat. my daughter and I ate most of it with the green sauce sauce. The guacamole had wayy too much lime and just wasn't pairing well. After looking at the menu we decided to both get the Fillet Minion. My daughter got the fried and sautéed bananas (no sauce, just sugar and cinnamon) and French fries, which were perfect. I ordered the mashed potatoes (big serving) and corn on the cobb(lil undercooked but serves with parm and maybe salt/pepper in a small bowl of butter). When we got the steaks, To my surprise there were two pieces of meat on each of our plates. My daughter ordered Med Well while I ordered medium. My steak was under cooked and seemed to be Med Rare. Waitress took it back very politely but when my daughter cut into hers she got an odd smell. I thought maybe it's just the seasonings they use, But I tasted and smelled it and it did seem off. My steak was cooked a bit more but after cutting into the fillet it didn't seem like a Fillet Mignon.. this thing was literally falling apart (and not in a good way) It had me thinking all kinds of stuff (Gordon Ramsey Kitchen Nightmares) The waitress checks in and we tell her about my daughter's steak and she asks if she wants to try anything else. At this point we're kinda suspect of any of the meat so she declined. They took the steak back and the waitress asked if she wanted a dessert..mind you the menu doesn't mention dessert at all. So we just sat sure to see what she brings. She brought out a flan, topped with mint and almonds. When we each took a spoon to it, you could tell it wasn't fresh and the syrup flavor wasn't good. When the waitress asked how we liked that.. Honestly it tasted like it was sitting in the refrigerator for a minute. I asked for a bill and to take the fries and bananas home since my girl lost her appetite. When I got the bill, I was going to hand her my card blindly and my daughter reminds me to just check the bill. To my surprise the steak was still listed on there. Mind you with any issue we had she said she would let the manager know but not once did they come out to speak with us. When I asked why the steak was still there, she said well the no charge "Flan" was supposed to compensate for the steak. I really didn't have a response for that, lol but told her I would happily pay for the sides but i want paying for fake fillet that was funky and returned. So she again goes to the back and then comes with an adjusted receipt. I still tipped the waitress but before the tip it was over $80 for what we got. We left and probably won't be back. Definitely not the "best steak in town" per...

I really wanted to give this 5 stars across the board, but wanted to be honest in my review. For those who don’t want to read the entire review, don’t let the 4 stars stop you from going. All in all it is worth the visit. Just pay attention.

I’ll start by saying my husband and I visited on Friday evening around 5:30 pm.

First impressions - overall place is clean and nicely decorated. There is a wine wall right when you walk in and it is beautiful and elegant. We were greeted immediately. However the tables are shoved in every open space leaving very little room to move about or through as you make your way to the table. If you’re a healthy person, you will definitely bump into someone else. In fact, while seated watching another party gather at their table, one lady smacked another seated guest not in their party in the head as she was deliberating over her seat choice. The chairs are small and uncomfortable, but for a quick visit, are fine.

The service was okay. There were four servers/girls perched against the wall looking over their guests and a larger man who kept appearing from the kitchen with one bartender tending the bar and drink requests. Our server was okay. Could have been a little more attentive to keeping our glasses full, but all in all she was pleasant and she did the sweetest thing for another table she was serving. It was a dad and his little girl. The little girl was cold, so the server brought 4 warm towels over to her to cover her shoulders. It was truly the absolute sweetest!!

The food is phenomenal! Portions are large. Seasoning, flavor are fantastic. All were fresh and cooked perfectly. No complaints on food.

The bill. The first bill that came out had one price of 89 for cash and 92 for credit. After quickly scanning the bill we gave our card to pay. When the bill returned for signature, I noticed that the totals had changed. The total was now 99 for cash or 103 for credit. I questioned what had changed and a different girl, other than our server came over and was very confused-stating that this was the bill she had brought us and asked if someone else had brought us a different bill. She is not our server or the person who brought our bill out originally. After going back and forth and unfortunately not having the original bill available I conceded and paid. Here’s what I’m sure happened-they forgot to add an item to our bill. However honestly I can’t say for sure and the original bill looked correct also. Instead of saying something they added it and then charged our card. The proper way to handle this would have been to come out and admit that there was a mistake and the total changed. Instead she acted confused and kept saying that the bill was right. I will say just watch your bill before and...