Macayo's Mexican Food — Restaurant in Glendale

Went here for a late Mother’s Day dinner with my two daughters. We sat on the patio by choice. It was nice outside. So we did expect a little bit of a wait as one normally wait a little longer when you choose to sit on the patio. However, it was about 45 minutes from the time we sat down until someone came to take our order- then after placing the order, it was another almost 40 minutes until we got our food- we didn’t order much only tamale bites appetizer to two cheese crisps one side of black beans, one side of rice, and a shredded beef burrito. They were out of Baja sauce, but the server did try to make a different sauce recommendation to go with the tamale bites. Typically it comes with Baja sauce not a huge deal . However It shouldn’t have taken more than maybe 15 minutes to make the food that we ordered. The server was very nice but seemed very stressed and it looked like she may have been the only person serving not entirely sure but I didn’t see other servers. We ordered two sodas and lemonade which usually come with free refills, when our food finally came out, our drinks were and had been empty for at least 20 minutes or so- the server did offer a refill which we said absolutely please- halfway through finishing our food, the drink refills finally came back- about another 20 minutes later. By that time, we were ready to go, asked for boxes, which took another 10 minutes. The server was very nice. Did apologize for the wait several times I still gave her a big tip because she looked very stressed out and I didn’t want to take it out on her. The fact that the restaurant seemed understaffed.

The food was some of the worst food I’ve ever had at a Macayos. I have been going to this restaurant- not this location though- literally for 20 years. Never have I had food as bad as it was. The cheese crisps had no flavor whatsoever and were both basically burnt. The rice seemed like two day old rice that had been microwaved. The beans had no seasoning at all. And look like they came straight out out of a can. My daughter only ate three bites of her burrito before saying she didn’t want anymore She said the shredded beef was chewy and didn’t taste right. I was tempted to send the food back but after already being there for two hours, we were ready to go. I didn’t wanna wait any longer. I am not sure how this Macayo’s location is so much worse than any other location I have been to- and I have been to every other location in the west valley. Hopefully it was just an off day for them, but being the day after Mother’s Day, you would think that they would be properly staffed as a lot of people are going out to eat, and you would think that the food would be good and fresh not old and burnt. Very disappointed that I spent $60 on this food about $80 with the $20 tip that I left. But I didn’t want the server to be punished because the cooks don’t know how to make food or because the management doesn’t staff correctly. We literally ate a quarter of our food. Here is a picture for reference of how bad the cheese crisp is burnt and what the black beans looked like, very, very disappointed. The only thing that tasted halfway good was the...

This restaurant has been my favorite since I was so little I called it “the place with the birdie on the door”. For the past couple of years, I have visited this location about 10 times. The food has always been great! The portions have gotten smaller as economic costs everywhere have gone up, especially with the rice, which is a bummer. I usually eat twice with my meal and now never have enough rice for the second time. The problem at this location has been the service. I struggle financially so going out to eat is a once a month luxury for me. In my house, no one cooks for me. I prepare meals for others constantly. It’s so nice to be served a tasty meal without having to prepare it so it’s a bit of a special occasion for me. I know the servers don’t understand all of that but when they suck at their jobs (which they have 8 out of the 10 times we have visited this location in past few yrs) it ruins the whole experience for me whether I like the food or not. They have been very slow, inattentive, and some just so rude. They have not been super busy or anything to explain their inattentiveness. This last visit, I was told my kids could not order their side like we ALWAYS have for years. We don’t order any extra; we just order their side of rice OR beans as both. The server has never said much more than making sure we don’t want extra, just want to split the portion into both items. Our most recent server said we couldn’t order it that way, that we would have to pay for an extra side. When I said we always order it that way, he was very FIRM that he has worked there for 15 or 20 yrs (I can’t remember which) and they have NEVER allowed it. Well, they did the last 9 times we were here and at the other locations as well. He was just so rude about how he handled it, it was silly. He spoke to the manager and I had to pay extra for both of my kids. My other favorite Mexican food is Manuel’s and the difference on how they handle my leftovers is also so much better. They always give me a container for the salsa, some extra chips, and serve the kids in styrofoam so they can have a drink to go. At least, the Surprise Macayos on Bell is MUCH better service wise and we usually go there. They still don’t do all of the extras with my leftovers but the service has always been really great. It’s a bummer because this location holds fond memories from over the years and the food is still so good but I don’t have positive feelings about this location anymore. One or two times of bad service can be acceptable (everyone has bad days) but these odds are not good. Even the two times it wasn’t bad, it wasn’t good. You should have a 5 star rating. Macayos has been here my whole life but with service like this, I can’t see you lasting a whole lot longer. The last two times we were there, the restaurant was practically empty. It’s not hard for me to...

We ordered two dishes and one iced tea. The server kept asking us did we want this item or that item. Finally my husband asked were these items extra. She said, yes that they served sour cream, guacamole and beans with the fajitas. My husband very forcefully told her that we just wanted what came with the meals, no extras.

The tea comes. Its cloudy and bitter. My husband tries a sip, to see what I'm complaining about. We finally get the waitress attention and she brings a replacement. Note - she is very slow, wearing a grubby, smelly "uniform" and very rude.

Then when the meal is done, she brings several plates out and says, "Oh, here is your cheese." We did not realize that we would be charged for this as she stated, here your guacamole, etc, whenever she put a plate down. I say "happy birthday" to my husband. She frowns and says nothing.

When we get the check, I am trying to figure out why it's over $40. We are being charged for "extra cheese" and an extra drink. This is lunch and we ate here before for less. We are senior citizens.

The waitress brings a small ice cream and tells my husband "happy birthday, sorry we cant sing for you but you didnt tell me until after you ordered." I tell her it's ok, no problem. We really didn't want ice cream as I had dessert planned at home birthday cupcake. Really, I'm wondering why didnt she ask us if we wanted ice cream. My husband did not really want it.

I ask about being charged for 2 drinks and she says "yeah, I don't know why they did that, I'll see what I can do." I did not bother to ask her about the "extra cheese" as I figured out that this was a way to scam us. I tell her to forget checking on the bill as everytime she leaves, it takes 10 minutes and we wanted to get home.

After we left I realized, I probably tipped way too much anyway, as I gave her $50. If the extra drink and extra cheese are removed, bill should have been about $37. We discussed that there are many other Mexican restaurants, nearby. My husband wants to try one of...