Spicy Burro Taqueria Bar — Restaurant in Elizabeth

Booked a reservation for my wedding anniversay. My wife and I got married in Mexico so we like to have Mexican cuisine to celebrate and remember. You can't tell from the photos or the reviews but this place seems to be having a crisis of identity. I booked on OpenTable thinking this was a restaurant and maybe turned into a club vibe at 9pm. Nope, it was 6:30 PM the music could be heard from outside and when we walked in the music was so loud that I could not even hear the host welcome us. I was able to gather him asking if we wanted to sit indoors or outdoors based on gestures and we choose outdoors because we still wanted to talk to each other.

Five minutes after we were seated I got a notification that my reservation was cancelled on OpenTable by the restaurant so now I can't even leave a review there. It seems like someone doesn't know how to mark off arrived reservations.

Even outside we still had to talk loudly to hear each other so my wife kindly asked them to turn the music down while she asked if we could get a waiter to take our order after sitting for 15 minutes with no one stopping by.

My wife ordered a frozen margarita (that you won't find on thier website because the menus do not match) and it was melted by the time she got it. She asked that they put in back in the blender and add ice but apparently the best they could do was give her a cup of ice to pour into the glass.

When it came to the food, my wife originally wanted the Pecado de Chicharron tacos that is listed on the website but the tablet menus they gave us did not have that as an option so we got the Guacamole with Chicharron and Madura instead to share and she ended up getting the Andale Mi Reina tacos which says it comes with Borracho Beans but it was a bean paste that was spread across the tortilla. I got the chicken burro and it was smothered in cheese sauce which is not at all what I expected for the price. It looked like something Qdoba used to sell but larger and somehow less flavorful (probably because everything tasted like the cheese sauce)

While we were waiting for to-go plates a man tried to get me to buy roses which is very much a club activity and it was only 7:45pm.

The icing on the cake was the nearly 16% tip that was added to the bill for a table of two. I'm from NYC orginally and have been living in NJ for a couple of years now. I've eaten at fancier spots than this where gratuity was no included for a table of two. That type of billing is usually reserved for a party of 6+.

I'm sure this place is great if you're going to club later in the evening but based on this experience I don't think I'll be coming back for dinner, maybe a lit brunch but not dinner. And yes, while my wife was at the bathroom a cat wandered into the patio which is not usually a good omen, could mean...

Saturday turning into Sunday. June 4th. Manager is horrible, disrespectful, tonight I had arrived at about 145am. Ordered 2 beers and 1 shot; accordingly. MY fiancé ordered 2 jose Cuervo shots (11 dollars each which is not the issue) we waited. Our shots arrived at 244am and one of the bartenders brought both shots. We were very happy to take those shots after an excruciating long day of work. My main bartender was Frank, he is amazing very genuine, respectful and attentive. The other bartender brings our shots and the manager quickly removes them from our hands and says we cannot drink those shots because she's afraid of cops arriving when in reality the bar is to be closed at 3am and no drinks should be poured after 245am ON CLOSING HOURS OF 3AM AND IN THE NEW JERSEY STATE OF LAW IF ITS CLOSING AT 2AM IT WOULD BE 130AM FOR LAST CALL. Most municipalities set their last call at 2 a.m except for Atlantic City which is 24 hours. Mind you " last call, bebida ultima " was never called. I tell her I been waiting on my shots for almost 15 minutes and the bar isn't even busy. She persist to throw the shots out and not serve them to me, although her bartender took a while. I then wait for my Bill which was given to me at 250am and was only 3 beers 1 shot. The manager also poured others beers in to go plastic cups to drink outside. When I asked why I couldn't have just taken my shot she proceeded to say " there is nothing I can do about it ". Everyone else was welcomed with a plastic " to go " cup which they finished drinking INSIDE. 40 dollars for 3 beers and 1 jose cuervo shot. Frankie although was an amazing bartender and did his job well. He definitely got a great tip from me and my fiance. I have been bartending 2 BARS in Elizabeth NJ for 10 executive years. Sucks to know she doesn't know hospitality. Everything is over priced. We only wanted to enjoy 2 beers each and 2 shots each before going home. They are sometimes closed on days it says on Google "OPEN". You can't support a business when it's pick and choose on customers. Food looks nothing like their photos on their website unless they were pre-made perfectly for their friends and family to upload on Google reviews. They definitely paid for their reviews from their family...

Disappointed to say the least. I’ve been a customer for over two years and have recommended the location to many friends. Service has always been great but unfortunately it seems that the greed of the owners has surpassed the importance of customer service. I made a reservation to watch the Colombia v. Argentina game Sunday with my wife. I was contacted to let me know that I would be required to leave a $50 deposit. No problem. I was further informed that I would be required to buy a bottle. For a table of two that seemed a bit excessive. Additionally I informed the worker calling that my wife was Muslim and would not be consuming alcohol. I asked how much the bottle costs and I was told it was $145. I went on to propose that I pay $150 in advance so that the business is guaranteed their money. I explained that we would consume food and I would consume drinks and if our tab was over that amount we would pay the remainder, if not, they can keep the $150 (plus tip). The worker went on to discuss the situation with his manager and later proceeded to call me and tell me they would gladly take the $150, but get this, I would have to spend the $150 strictly on alcohol! So I have to consume $150 of alcohol by myself and then pay extra for my wife to eat? The logic here was a bit mind blowing and I chose not to further engage the worker (who I understand was just following directives). All in all, this seemed like a very discriminatory practice and completely unethical, to say the least. Here I am trying to be reasonable and perhaps even generous given that I have been a repeat customer, and this is the...