Montezuma Mexican Restaurant — Restaurant in Guilford Township

((Disclaimer: I do not usually leave bad reviews unless it's a bad experience, I worked as a line cook and server so I understand the struggle))

My partner and I recently moved to Chambersburg, and wanted to celebrate our 4 year anniversary by having some authentic Mexican food. Our coworkers have talked about how good the food at Montezuma Mexican Restaurant is, and to say we were more than happy to try it would be an understatement. Sadly, our overall experience there was mediocre at best.

When we first walked in to the restaurant, we were very happy with the way the food smelled, the music playing felt very nice and have a home-y feel to it, and the decorations looked very pretty and we were loving it. Our host took us to our booth and we could not wait to eat as we hadn't eaten anything since noon. Our server brought our drinks and we actually enjoyed them, so we thought it would be the start of something great, unfortunately, it wasn't.

When we received our tortilla chips and salsa, a smell of old oil was present but we just assumed they had been cooked recently, and proceeded to snack until we ordered. The tortilla chips tasted old as if they had been sitting on the hot plate until they were served to us, and the salsa tasted bland and watered down. I understand not everyone enjoys spicy food but there was almost no taste to it at all. We excused it as being complimentary and moved on to the food.

My partner and I got the Burritos Azteca (one with cheese sauce, and the other with chipotle sauce as my partner doesn't like chipotle or mole), and ordered guac and refried beans on the side. The steak inside the burritos tasted bland and unseasoned, the chipotle sauce felt as if it was burnt, and it didn't feel spicy, which again, not everyone is a fan of so it gets a pass but I was expecting a bit of a kick at least. The rice tasted as if it was boxed Spanish rice with no seasoning and the refried beans tasted as if they were "Old El Paso" canned refried beans. The guac was my least favorite of all, there was not a hint of salt to be found anywhere and it just tasted of onion.

We tried using salt and pepper and that did not help. My food was very disappointing and I could not eat more than one bite of it. My partner's burrito tasted better than mine because of the cheese sauce but the bar was very low to begin with. I don't usually send food back, I'm the type to tough it out and just eat it or box it up and throw it out but we did not feel comfortable paying for a meal we didn't eat. We did however feel fully comfortable paying for everything we had eaten and did not have an issue with that.

Sending the food back was actually surprising not only to me and my partner but also the servers. Because when our server came to check on us and we explained we did not enjoy the food and felt bad we were even complaining, our server left and never came back out. Other servers in the back were eye-ing us which made us uncomfortable and it wasn't until about half an hour later when our host had came to check on us and asked if we needed boxes to go that we explained the situation to him as well.

Our host left and came back and apologized for the inconvenience and offered us a 10% discount of our meal as I had eaten "half of my burrito" so they couldn't take it off. Usually we would just agree, bite the bullet and leave but again, I took a literal bite out of everything and did not touch it again. We had to speak up again about how uncomfortable we were paying for it and it wasn't until I explained everything that was wrong in detail for the 4th time that our host offered to take my food off the receipt.

Overall it was not an enjoyable experience especially for our 4 year anniversary. We were saddened by the situation and don't think we will be coming back to eat here.

P.S. in the pictures attached are the "half eaten burrito" and the food we ate.

Thank you for coming to my xTED...

I've been coming here for years. The service is always great, as is the food. My go-to for years has been the fajita burrito which I highly recommend. I felt inclined to leave this review after an unpleasant expereince today as we dined. While we were in our booth a man approached us and handed us two loose roses from a bouquet. We weren't really sure what was happening but he then handed each side of the table a laminated card with a sob story asking for money. I'm fine with giving to those in need but to be approached while I'm minding my business, dining felt so icky. Im so disappointed that the staff at Montezumas would allow this man to solicit to its patrons. The staff seemed fine with it because the man stopped at the kitchen doors and greeted them and had a brief conversation calling them his amigos. The whole expereince rubbed me the wrong way and honestly I dont know that Ill come back to this location anytime soon being that they allowed it. I hope Montezumas heads my warning that allowing people to approach their patrons like this will be harmful to their business. For now it looks like to-go orders or their Gettysburg location which is a shame because Lincoln Way has been my go-to for years and years. The food is fantastic though so dont skip that, just be weary of anyone who tries to approach you while dining that is...

It is very rare that I leave a bad review as I try to be very fair yet honest. But Montezuma's, you're up. I wish Google would let you leave a zero stars because they deserve it. My last three trips there have been underwhelming.

It is so ridiculously frustrating to have someone repeat back what you order and have it come out wrong. I paid $33 for a completely bum meal. 2 chimichangas with a white sauce and beans on the side. I literally was given a spoonful of beans. No white sauce or red sauce to go with two dry shredded beef chimichangas SMOTHERED in guacamole.

The solution after I called them to give my FIRST EVER phone gripe, "we can make something new and you can drive back in pick it up". I simply wanted them to thank whoever put together that meal for what appeared to be zero F's given.

It's CRAZY how the price of everything is sky rocketing and the service at most restaurants and even other places has tremendously gotten worse.

This is probably my third straight bad experience from a Montezuma's in...