The Original Barrio Fiesta — Restaurant in Glendale

I have not been in this place for about a year or so. Last time i was here they used to have servers who are very accommodating and friendly. Now, the servers are the owners and i believe the cook was the mother of the owners which i totally understand that business can be slow sometimes. The only problem is, knowing that these people are the owners you expect from them that they are the one who will set the bars high in giving good customer service. Tonight that was not the case, i was shocked to have experienced the WORST and HORRIBLE customer service ever!!!!

They should be thankful that we brought 20 customers with us to celebrate my sisters birthdays. I was not saying that we should be treated differently or should be treated like VIP's but at least i expect from them to try to have some courtesy by showing us that we are welcome to their business and if they could not give us good customer service at least act like it or have some decency to be nice to us since we are giving them business. I do understand that we all have our moods sometimes but come on you guys are running a restaurant don't take it on your customers if you are having a bad day!!! Being rude and unprofessional is the worst thing that you can do to your customers knowing that you are the owners of the business!!!

I hope the owners will realize that they are still in business because of customers like us. I wish them luck and hope that they will still stay in business. Piece of advice though, success does not come in just serving good food but also comes in providing good service to...

TL;DR Extremely overpriced, subpar dining experience with lack of basic amenities, and just OK food.

Price - With the increase in food and labor costs, it's understandable to expect higher menu prices than what we were used to. However there is something unsettling about charging $32.50 for Kare-Kare and then an additional $6 for plain white rice. Rice should be included (for obvious reasons) so the actual price of this dish is $38.50 when including the rice, which is excessive. They also use Covid-19 as an excuse to no longer serve water and will attempt to upsell a $3 water bottle instead.

Poor dining experience - no water, no restroom, no high chairs/booster seats, floors were sticky, windows dusty, and everything is served on disposable plates/utensils. Service felt very transactional with pushy upsell on drinks/desserts. There was a real lack of hospitality.

Questionable ethics - after researching and reading other reviews, it appears that they incentivized 5 star Yelp reviews by giving away free dessert in exchange. This is why you will see an abundance of 5 star reviews that are only 2-3 sentences long with 1 photo uploaded.

Food quality - the food was not bad and the portions were decent. Not good enough to justify all the points listed above though.

To close, this was one of the few times when Google/Yelp has let me down. I don't mind paying a premium when food, service, and experience are great but this restaurant falls severely short on most of these things. Please avoid...

This place is a disgrace to the franchise!!!! I love eating kare kare and have the high expectations of that particular taste that brings me back even when we’re re hundreds of miles away. But this particular place destroyed it!!!! I would be ashamed to serve this dish with the way it tastes if I was the owner. I complained about how it was and told that I didn’t want it because of how it tasted. They told me that they can’t take it back because I ate a piece of meat. If you you are smart enough , then you could figure it out that I have to try it before I can complain! The meat was hard and the color of the sauce was reddish . Peanut butter in color will always be brown and never REDDISH!!!! The cook who may even be the owner, insisted that this was their specialty . One thing I can tell you is that there is nothing special about how she cooked the dish. If this was her “specialty “ then use you imagination about the other dishes. If paying customers are not satisfied with their food, then that establishment should do the right thing to make it right by deleting that charge and taking it back. NOT THIS ESTABLISHMENT!!! Before I forget, if you want water, this worthless establishment automatically gives you a bottle water which they charge you for $3. Don’t ever waste your time, money and effort to ever try this particular restaurant in Glendale. This place should close their doors to make it right for...