La Catrina Tacos & Tequila Bar, Middleburg — Restaurant in Florida

I did not think I would be writing this post when I first walked in for dinner last night at La Catrina, (02/20/24) but unfortunately after this terrible experience I will not be returning. (I want to mention I've never written a review good or bad about a restaurant before, so this should tell you how awful this experience was as I'm taking the time to write this whole thing out. Also this is a very long review but please read the whole thing it is worth the time.)

To start with, the last 4 or 5 times I have been here for dinner the food and service has slowly but surely decreased in quality, but these last 2 times have been the worst. On 02/16/24 my boyfriend and I had dinner here. He got the wrong drink, he ordered the chori-pollo and it was very overcooked. I had the combo #3 dinner and the pepper in the chile relleno was not even cooked all the way through. We were both disappointed with our food but I'm not a Karen so I wasn't going to ask them to remake it. We brushed off the mistakes and lousy food on the fact it was a packed friday night and somewhat close to closing time. But it is rather annoying when we're spending about $50 on crummy food.

Now as for last night 02/20/24 this experience was absolutely unacceptable. Had it just been disappointing food again I wouldn't even be here writing this and would've just accepted this place is going downhill, but it was more than that. We both got the right drinks this time but the tacos we got were terrible. I had ordered an asada, pastor, and Mahi Mahi taco. The asada had a lot of fat in it and was not seasoned, the pastor had good seasoning but a very small amount of meat, and the Mahi Mahi was the worst. It was not blackend as advertised and the pico de gallo was old. My boyfriend got a chorizo and two pastor tacos and he said his had good flavor but again very skimpy on the meat. I unfortunately do not have pictures since I did not think I would be writing this. But what really sealed the deal for me to never come back and is my main reason for writing this is that a fight broke out between 2 drunk men at the bar and nothing was done about it.

A little over halfway through our meal I suddenly heard a man shouting "Stop!" repeatedly and looked over at the end of the bar to see one man holding another mans arm locked above his head. At this point the whole restaurant had gone silent and were staring at them. Their friends tried to de-escalte the situation and break them up but the men started yelling louder and shoving eachother till one man had the other pinned against the wall. The manager sat at the other end of the bar the whole time and did nothing till the one man was pinned against the wall he then walked over said something to them and sat back down. The men continued to be loud and obnoxious and not even a few minutes after the argument the man who had instigated the fight had a new beer in hand. He could barely stand up straight, had started a fight and they didn't kick him out or at the very least cut him off from drinking. They obviously care more about making money off their drinks then the quality, atmosphere, or safety of their patrons.

Like I said I will not be coming back and have told my family and friends not to come here anymore either. This is very unfortunate because I used to really like this place and would always choose it over other Mexican restaurants in the area. But they don't have good food anymore, nor is it a safe environment when they let drunk customers act...

TLDR: horrible service, A/C out, hair in food, no baby changing table

Not usually one to complain and have never left a negative review but this was by far the worst overall dining experience I’ve ever had. I go in to change my baby’s diaper while we waited for our table. Baby and diaper bag in my hands, hostess tells me where the women’s and “family” restroom is but fails to mention there is no changing table. As soon as I walk in I notice how hot it is. Ok fine no big deal. After coming back inside and getting my baby in her seat I am already sweating due to no a/c on 90+ degree day in Florida. They had men working on the ac right above the tables on a busy Saturday evening (unsanitary but at least they were trying). I can overlook no changing table and ac being out.. it happens. However, it just continues to get worse. Every interaction with the waitress was as if we were inconveniencing her. She asked for our food order before taking our drink order. She walks away before we can order queso after ordering drinks (my husband ordered a water for me as I was still outside changing my baby). My meal came with tacos which come with beef, cheese, and lettuce. She asks if I want the cheese and lettuce.. odd question as if I only wanted beef on a taco shell. I also asked for a coke at this time. My MIL asked for a side of sour cream.. waitress uses her hands to ask if she wants this much or that much vs saying small or large.. again odd. The food comes and the waitress leaves. When she comes back we asked for silverware, my coke, and the sour cream. She comes back without the sour cream so we asked for that again. As my husband is eating his 2 or 3 bite of his quesadilla I see him pulling a hair out of his mouth (dark long hair and me and my MIL have blonde hair) so he obviously doesn’t eat anymore.. plate still 95% untouched. He takes our baby outside as she’s sweating by now too. Waitress asks if we want to go boxes so I tell her just a box for my food as his had a hair in it. She shrugs and walks away leaving his plate on the table. I boxed my food and she tries to take my plate away and I let her know I was going to finish the half taco still on it. Again she walks away leaving his plate with the hair. She brings the bill and it still had the charge for my husbands plate.. fine we ordered it we’ll pay for it but you’d think they’d offer to remake it or comp it. My FIL puts cash on top of the bill and tells her she’s good when she comes back to take the bill.. no thank you or have a good night.. again just walks away. One or two, shoot even three, of these issues I would overlook but overall it was a terrible experience. You’d think by the way the waitress acted that we were rude/complained right off rip. Which we never did even after finding the hair, so not sure if she just had an off night or what.

I’ve heard this place was basically a ripoff of lanop.. which is what made me want to try it to see if it was any better than lanop as I had heard it was. Literally same menu as lanop and honestly the food was good/same as lanop other than the hair and tacos being half as full, so I don’t see why people praise this...

My family and I have really enjoyed having this restaurant in town. So much that it's become a once a week treat for us.. never a single complaint.. until last night. Once we got seated, we waited quite a bit for our server to show up. Once she came over we just ordered our drinks and food. After ordering we then waited quite awhile again.. never having our server come by once. Never asked or refilled our salsa. She was aloof. Once we got our food my son's fajitas came to the table with zero smoke trail behind it(not the norm, and I addressed that), and my carnitas were stiff and tough like it had sat awhile after being cooked. I ripped a piece of meat with my fingers to check the temp and there was no heat. I told the server the food was cold and she just glared at me and didn't say a word. My mom was too hungry to wait so she ate her cold food. I sent mine and my son's back. He definitely got new food back, but mine was fiddled with and put in the microwave. That piece of meat I ripped was flipped over and tucked in under another piece of meat. I've worked in food service for many years, that's unacceptable. I was just going to let it go and eat what I could of what was in front of me but I gave up. My mother told the server how displeased I was and she had the nerve to blame it on the cooks! No ma'am! The cooks have never been an issue there.. that's why we frequent La Catrina.. and until her, the staff has been great too. Just some advice, don't let one bad apple...