Frida Mexican Cuisine — Restaurant in Glendale

I want to share my experience today at Frida restaurant in hopes no one else experiences what my friend and I experienced and that management really try to prevent this from occurring again. Today (Nov. 20th, 2018) my friend took me to this Frida restaurant so that I could try authentic Mexican food and celebrate my arrival to LA. We were seated at the bar and had our hearts set on the Molcajete Frida (to share). A Caucasian man with tattoos at the bar (from Ohio I think) took our order and proceeded to tell us that the Molcajete Frida was not available along with everything else that required being grilled (which was most of the menu). He told us that it was due to there being something wrong with the ventilation in the kitchen that prevented them from making these dishes. We were disappointed, but then proceeded to ask this bartender if he would recommend us anything else on the menu that was similar to what we wanted. We ended up ordering the Carnitas Platter and 3 tacos along with a side of guacamole and two margaritas. A few minutes after ordering, my friend and I see that various people from the kitchen bring out 6 Molcajetes to a table at the front. At that moment we were really hurt that the bartender lied to us rather than simply telling us the truth that the wait time would be more or that for that dish they had reached the limit for the night, etc. We questioned the bartender about the situation and he got nervous and immediately got his manager. I understand that this bartender was probably following instructions from his manager, but the way they went about it was not right at all. His manager (a Hispanic man) comes by, rests his elbow on the bar and nonchalantly tells us that the group of 6 people had made a reservation before for that specific dish and that his boss told him so. (Something that I don’t believe at all). It seemed like a group of 6 people that waved cashed around and got special treatment. He didn’t apologize nor offer a solution to remedy the situation. It was obvious that the manager didn’t care. When we finished our meal we asked for our bill and saw that we were charged more for the margaritas than we were initially told by the bartender. It was just something on top of the awkward experience with the bartender and the incompetent manager. The only person that was nice to us and apologized about the experience was a Hispanic man that brought food out from the kitchen. I think he was a waiter. It doesn’t take much to treat people with respect and dignity, especially if they are good customers who just want to have a good dining experience. We could have easily walked out and refused to pay for the food after being lied to or not given the bartender his tip, but we didn’t do that because it wasn’t going to solve anything. Despite this incident, my friend and I tried to enjoy our evening and focus on the reason why we went to Frida’s in the first place- to celebrate life and enjoy our time together.

So all in all. This is the solution. Frida: treat people fairly and take care of your customers. Be careful who you place in management as these types of bad decisions can trickle down and have a negative effect on the organization's reputation.

For that reason I rate this Frida...

OMG! I don't know where to start! How about the fact that if I could; I would give this place 0 stars. To start; the food arrived about 45 minutes late; more or less; granted, we were a party of 9. The service wasn't notable by any means, and the complimentary chips and salsa were nothing special either. I ordered the mixed fajita platter and added on shrimp. To start, EVERYTHING WAS BLAND; EVERYTHING), the "well done" steak I ordered smelled and tasted under cooked, the shrimp was dry and overcooked. The chicken and bread were the only things that were tolerable. Even the sauteed bell peppers and onion were lackluster, which is really hard to mess up. I mean come on how hard is to throw some salt on something? The guacamole was the most awful I have ever tasted in my life. Aside from the fact that there wasn't a hint of salt in it; it was warm and did not taste fresh, in fact, it tasted like someone had made made it in the morning and it had lost its freshness throughout the day. The rice was flavorless, the re-fried beans had no flavor, neither did; the steak, shrimp, chicken, vegetables, guacamole or rice; everything was awful.The most "flavorful" thing there was, was the tortillas. To sum everything up; nothing had taste/flavor and wasn't cooked properly. Oh and the prices they were charging; better off going to the Cheesecake Factory and paying the same thing eating; not only decent, but flavorful food. My whole family agrees and regrets eating here. You're honestly better off going to Salsa and Beer for authentic Mexican food. OMG, literally; half the price and twice the flavor. You can get full on their amazing complimentary bean dip and chips; which even my picky brother can't get enough of, and the fajita platter is amazing. Basically same exact food items as the dish I ordered, but a mountain of flavor for much, much cheaper. They even have a complimentary salsa/pico de gallo bar and the items are so amazingly TASTY AND FRESH. The only downside is that the food is so good that the lines and wait time are identical to the ones at the Cheesecake Factory. Also the ambiance isn't the best because there is dim lighting, and its crowded; but for damn good food, I can deal. You can even take out. Save your money and your taste buds; go to Salsa and Beer and forget about this dump. Better you eat at 9:00 pm at Cheesecake than at 7:00 at this dump and cough up quite a bit of money for once again; say it with me now, "BLAND AND...

Website says best Mexican food in Glendale, i fear for glendale. If this is what you think Mexican food is then you are missing out. I am sure there is a hole in the wall that is way better. The ceviche, aside from being extremely overpriced, was flavorless. It was just raw fish with pico de gallo. That is not what ceviche is. We also got a paloma and a tamarindo and both drinks were not good. Ask them to make you drinks with El Tesoro or anything other than their well option. The tequila they used was not good at all. I took one sip and just ordered a Modelo. The only thing that was good was the molcajete. But even then they threw the avocado in the boiling sauce and made them taste horrible. Service was good but super upset how bad this place was.

The paloma is supposed to be one of the most refreshing tequila cocktails there is. Instead, the grapefruit flavor was barely noticeable. All you could taste was what i would describe as kirkland tequila. Instead of being tart and sweet with refreshing carbonation and notes of agave, it was flat and watered down. Im sure they used grapefruit flavoring that has been sitting there for months. It would be a much better drink if they used 1.5 oz of a decent tequila and squirt. I would have paid more for that simple combination.

The tamarindo was about the same as the paloma. Extremely watered down. All you could taste was the cheap tequila. Tamarindo is a very unique flavor. But again im sure they used some tamarindo syrup.

The rice was undercooked and lacked flavor. It was as if i was chewing on raw rice with tomato paste poured over it with some veggies. Rice is supposed to be fluffy not whatever they serve here.

If you do decide to give this place a try, i really hope you have a better experience. Our server was as good as he could have been, given the fact that he was stretched thin between way too many tables. It took him way to long to bring me my drink and waters, all because he had to make his rounds. But he was very friendly and i understand that the delays were...