El Mezcal Mexican Bar and Grill — Restaurant in Fayetteville

It took two tries to arrive with staff at the front of this new restaurant; the first time I entered was last week at 2:30 pm and there was no one to seat me even when I waited; if that happens to you, if no one shows up, take a seat and wait and eventually someone will take your order. Maybe they might want to use a "seat yourself sign" if everyone is in the back of the house during a slow time of day?

The meal started off with an abundance of chips and salsa. Water was served in an actual glass drinking vessel! I can't remember the last time water was served in a nice glass for drinking. And the water was actually good tasting or maybe it was the ice, yet with some lime, delicious. I ordered the special which was slow cooked beef in corn tortillas (a little over $17 including tax). The onions, cilantro and limes were fresh, the salsa tasty and the meal itself came with a little bit of rice and some beef broth, Overall the meal was hearty and flavorful. The view with the windows open was very pleasant.

The music is a bit loud for me so next time I would ask if it could be turned down a bit so as to be able to think or wear hearing protection. The smell of the cleaning products they use was pretty strong so maybe eating closer to the open window might help if you are sensitive to fumes when you eat. Neither of the debt card machine worked for payment, so I was glad I had...

The good:

Its a decent atmosphere, average service. No real complaints there. The prices are not high for today's restaurant landscape.

The bad:

The food is just not good at all. I will be blunt not out of hatred for the place but since it replaced another tex mex restaurant that was not great I'd like to help.

Nothing had much seasoning or flavor. The salsa is bland and needs at least more salt and fresher veggies. I had the Chile Colorado, the food looks nothing like the ground beef on the picture. You get steak with no marinade or seasoning boiled in canned tomatoes with onions added. Again bland and chewy. The rice needed seasong. The beans needed seasoning. The appetizer was ordered by someone in our party, the fries with steak and cheese. You can't really get a fry with steak on it so it must be forked to eat and was almost seasoned well but way overcooked. Oh and the churro was still raw in the middle.

Guys, if you want to survive you need immediate attention for the menu. I cant go back for anything I had. I didnt order bar drinks but I hope it is good enough to keep you going until someone learns to cook. If you need assistance I'm down the road...

I really wanted to like this place, but the whole experience was just weird and disappointing. I (and three other of my friends) ordered the cucumber margarita thinking it would be light and refreshing, but it was honestly curdled, and tasted sweet like frosting with a cucumber floating in it. It was undrinkable. All 4 of us ordered it and not a single one could drink it.

Our waiter was nice, but not knowledgeable. He told us our drinks were on happy hour but were shocked when our two drink tabs were all $45– when we asked he said it was his fault he didn’t mention it wasn’t actually happy hour and admitted that the bartenders were “really back and forth,” which was really unprofessional. When we mentioned our drinks were not drinkable, the manager came over and told us it was our taste that were the problem, and it was a best seller with no problem. There was no offer to fix it, no apology. While we did get half off of our margs, they were left undrank at the table.

The food was alright but the service was unacceptable. Needless to say, I will not be...