Cocina del Barrio — Restaurant in Fort Snelling Unorganized Territory

Complaint - Rude and Untimely Service

Around 1pm CST I arrived at the terminal to wait for my flight and like any other person I wanted to grab a drink and some food while I waited for my flight out of gate H8. When I arrived at Barrio, the sign clearly stated ‘Please seat yourself’ but due to social distancing allowances, the ‘bar seats’ were full. Instead of stopping and starting a queue that would inevitably end up blocking the walkway, I patiently paced back and forth between the gates for 45mins while keeping an eye for an open bar seat. On multiple occasions I made eye contact with the red head waitress that was working tables.

In this time, other people began to form a queue, which predictably, blocked the flow of customer traffic through the airport. These people were seated at tables, which I had no problem with because I was waiting for a bar seat to open up. Finally, an empty seat at the bar, so I approached the waitress and asked if I could sit there and was told, ‘No, we are pulling from the line.’ To which I said, ‘The sign says to seat yourself. I’ve been pacing for 45mins waiting for a seat and you’ve seen me walking back and forth. It’s not my fault people lined up while I’ve been waiting for a bar seat.’ In response, I got a ‘That’s too bad, we’re pulling from the line.’

At this point, I was at the end of my patience and walked away. My plane was boarding, so I would’ve only had time for a quick beer anyways, which would’ve kept me more than happy. Instead, I had to resort back to pacing and incorporating some of my calming techniques in order to avoid an embarrassing public outburst. I waited much longer than the people in the queue, because I’m very specific and particular about being in public spaces. I also didn’t want to selfishly take a whole table for myself that could easily sit a family/group.

As someone on the spectrum, I do not handle chaos and misinformation like other people. I shouldn’t have to identify myself in order to receive common sense of order and operation from a staff member. I do not believe she meant any intentional offense, but again, all it takes is a little common sense and a logical thought process instead of blindly adhering to some arbitrary line that shouldn’t have existed in the first place. It wouldn’t have been hard to change the sign over to ‘Please wait to be seated’ if that was the situation (since there was staff member standing there). You neurotypicals are the funniest little lemmings, but it frustrates the hell out of people like me...

This is my first and absolute worst experience with your airport bar area and will make sure to keep my money to myself the next time I visit. You ask us to social distance in the seating areas, but 30 people standing in a crowded line and blocking the walkway is acceptable??? Thanks...

tldr; without hyperbole, the worst airport food and experience I have ever had.

Where to start? I hadn't eaten in 12 hours on a travel day, so a burrito with "roasted summer vegetables" sounded like manna from heaven. I didn't have much time before my flight, so I ordered from their to-go, where I was told it would be 10 minutes. 12 minutes later, I was told it would be a few more minutes, despite the person who ordered after me having just gotten their food. After 30 minutes, I was told it would be "just a few more minutes," despite the fact that the woman hadn't actually checked on my food. After 40 minutes, I asked her to actually check where my food was. She was gone for 10 minutes, during which two things happened:

1. I am 100% certain that they had forgotten to make my food, and she was back there so she didn't have to tell me that while they slapped some beans and rice into a tortilla and called it a burrito, and

2. My flight started boarding.

She finally comes back with my "quick to-go order," 50 minutes after I ordered it. I ask for silverware, since I am now going to have to eat this on the plane, I figure my seat mates might appreciate me not spilling delicious roasted vegetables everywhere. I am told she doesn't have any, but the Caribou Coffee next door does, despite the fact that they had been closed for several hours. They did not, in fact, have loose silverware strewn about.

I finally make it to my plane just in time to board, and I figure politeness be damned, I am eating my burrito. Turns out I needn't have worried. The closest thing to "roasted summer vegetables" in the burrito were under-seasoned, under-cooked beans. In fact, other than one bite in the middle with a smattering of pico de gallo, there was nothing but under-seasoned beans and completely unseasoned rice in the whole damn thing. And, to top it all off, they included "chips" with the burrito. I say "chips" because they were so stale and chewy they could have been used to roof a house and been texturally indistinguishable...

Stopped here while at Terminal 2. One of the worse restaurant experiences we’ve had. DO NOT eat here. Our server was an older man, not friendly or helpful one bit. He paid more attention to the single lady travelers than to couples. Spent more time talking and serving them than others. He kept asking my wife if she wanted another drink, even when her drink was ½ full, and not once asked if I would like another beer. I had to catch his attention to order another beer, then it took 15 minutes before he brought it to our table. I ordered the steak tacos and what a joke. It came with 2 tacos, and hardly any fillings in the tacos. One of the tacos had 1 tiny piece of steak in it. The tortillas dry and no flavor. The meal came with a little container of beans, with no flavor! Not worth the $13.50. My wife ordered the chicken burrito. The burrito was filled with rice and beans, she finally had to cut the burrito open to find one piece of chicken. This too had no flavor and dry. I tried eating it and couldn’t choke this thing down. A red sauce came with the burrito, I tried to spice up the burrito with it and the red sauce had no flavor. Overall, the food was very bland, small portions and expensive. Service wise, terrible. To make matters worse, we left a tip, but not the standard tip, due to terrible food and service. Our male waiter must not have liked the tip and confronted my wife about the tip. He wasn’t even man enough to say anything to me. He kept questioning the tip and I told him the tip represents the food and service, and it’s not professional to question your customers on the tips they leave. This place even charges extra 4 percent gratuity. When we were leaving, the table next to us had 4 young gentlemen, who asked if the food sucked and we said yes, and don’t order. But I guess it was too late, they put their order in. I told them to get the waiter and have him cancel their order and go to Subway. Buyer beware if you eat here! I recommend avoiding this place...