Grand Hacienda — Restaurant in Florida

Fifth visit - the other four visits good food, poor service, poorly trained staff and possible deception. Today's visit went for a very late lunch and wanted a lunch size portion - rolled in at 1:45pm and despite the empty booths and all empty hightops and open bar area told the wait would be 10 minutes which is great for the 2pm cutoff. While waiting scanned the code at the hostess stand and selected two menu items that are on both the brunch/lunch and dinner menu. Then started seeing parties leaving soon after our arrival but not taken to a table. Magically at 1:59pm we were called to be seated and when the hostess was leaving menus told her we wanted to order a lunch portion as was there. There was no mention when asked to wait that the lunch was ending and would not be able to order from the lunch menu but only the dinner menu.  That omission is deceptive practice and if the hostess should let patrons know when they are asked to wait that they have a 2pm seating rule  The hostess told us could check with the server on lunch menus who feigned could not understand our request  re ordering lunch items as did not even ask for a lunch menu so she went to check and said no it was 2pm. If she had asked us what we wanted from that menu I would think that the kitchen could give me 2 instead of a 3 piece portion.  We thanked the waitress and got up and left and went to a neighboring plaza and spent $70 on a delicious lunch with excellent service we vote with our money. So Grand Hacienda's loss and the servers as we tip 20pc plus..  When I shared this experience today I was told that  this is a common restaurant practice as restaurant kitchens are packing up brunch items so they don't seat you on purpose and do not share why.  My advice is to arrive when they open to get the menu you prefer. My other odd experience at Grande Hacienda occured  on an evening visit  when a server told. me I could not order the bottomless margarita but only the per glass price  if I did not order an appetizer. as we need to order an entree. I pointed out that we were ordering the entrees and think it may have been a language barrier or not knowing restaurant vocabulary as the waiter thought entree meant starter/appetizer. That visit a manager  took over apologizing as we suggested the waiter check the signs in front and outside the restaurant as that is what we would like. We had drinks, entrees and desserts that evening and attributed it  to inexperience. I do hope these actions are not encouraged by management not to honor their advertising as not looking for anything free.  I have no idea if they have a service manager or train on their menu, etc. This has been open a while now and still continuing service issues - too many choices in the area to spend my money at an establishment that creates an aggravating...

Went to the Grand Hacienda on Sheldon Rd. on 10/28/2025 after I had seen a sign on the curb advertising tacos for $2.99 each. This was a Tuesday, so I was a little concerned about a large "Taco Tuesday" crowd, but there was no problem. Arrived there at approx 7:00PM and there were plenty of tables, but since I was by myself, I just took a seat at the bar. Bartender greeted me immediately with drinks and food menus, and I ordered a house margarita for $9. He brought me a free basket of corn chips and salsa with the margarita and I placed an order for the $2.99 tacos: 2 chicken, 2 ground beef. The corn chips & salsa were very good: home-made corn chips and the salsa was mild but tasty. The margarita was also very good. I like mine on the rocks with salt on the rim. Not too citrusy, just the right amount of margarita mix and tequila. After a short while he bought out the tacos and asked if I wanted hot sauce with them. I said yes to the sauce and he soon returned with a small cup of reddish-brown hot sauce. When he put it down he warned "Be careful". OK, good safety tip. So I dabbed my fork into the sauce a couple of times and smeared on the edge of the taco where I was about to take a bite. These are standard tacos: meat, lettuce, diced tomatoes, shredded cheese. There was a good portion of meat. Good thing he warned me about the sauce 'cuz this added a good punch, and although I like spicey stuff, this just about at the edge of my heat tolerance range; I was glad I only put on a very small amount. Very tasty though. If you are not a spicey food person, I recommend just dabbing the tacos with some of the salsa they give you with the chips; that would add some good flavor as well. Did the same thing for the ground beef tacos (small dab of hot sauce for each bite). The beef tacos were also very good, but I did not like them as well as the chicken, which was all white meat chicken and seemed to have a little more meat in them. If I go for another taco Tuesday, I will only get 3 tacos. 3 tacos is plenty when served together with a basket of chips & salsa. Had to order a second house margarita to put out the fire in my mouth from the nuclear hot sauce, so my final bill came out to $29.96 (2 x $9 margaritas = $18, plus 4 x $2.99 tacos = $11.96). Next time I will go the economy route and only order 3 tacos and a draft beer to save a few bucks. The only negative I can think of is the TV at the bar was not working - displaying a 'Weak Signal / No Signal' message until they finally turned it off about 3/4 through my meal. But no big deal, I was able to use my phone for an alternate technological distraction throughout the meal. ...

I dine out nearly every other day, so it takes a lot for me to call something the worst experience I’ve ever had—but Grand Hacienda managed to earn that title effortlessly.

My husband, our 5-year-old son, and I came in around 2:30 PM, excited to try a new local spot. Everything seemed fine at first. We ordered a pitcher of margaritas, and when it arrived, it looked more like water than anything else. Still, I poured a glass and took a sip—only to be hit with the taste of sweet tea. Not even alcoholic tea. Just tea. We politely asked the waitress what was in it, and she couldn’t even answer. No explanation, no apology—just an eye roll and a snappy, “There’s nothing wrong with it, but I’ll take it.”

We decided to stay calm and enjoy our lunch anyway, but then came the food—and it was honestly shocking. My husband ordered fish tacos, only to discover spines and bones throughout the entire dish. Totally inedible. I ordered the street tacos, which turned out to be under-seasoned, undercooked, and just plain terrible—the kind of food you take one bite of and regret immediately.

Here’s the part that pushed this from bad to absolutely unacceptable: they tried to make us pay for the fish tacos, even after we returned them due to the bones. When we asked to speak to the manager, the waitress told us—with a straight face—that the manager doesn’t arrive until 5 PM. So we’d have to wait 2 hours to speak to someone in charge. Three hours?! With a five-year-old?! Absolutely ridiculous.

This restaurant is close to our home, and we were genuinely hoping to find a great local Mexican spot. But between the awful drinks, inedible food, rude service, and complete lack of management accountability, this place is an embarrassment. We will never be returning—and I highly recommend you don’t waste your time or money either. You’d get better food, service, and respect from...