Macado's — Restaurant in Harrisonburg

TL;DR: Service is sub par. Some food was good, some was not. Kitchen can't support. Not enough staff. Management is not reducing capacity. The 2 Bartenders and 1 server are overwhelmed. If you ever get seated, your entrees will eventually arrive, and will eventually be followed by your appetizers.

Long Text:

Horrible service. We were told it would be a 25-30 minute wait. I gave them my number for the waiting list. We were sitting in the entrance area when you first walk into the restaurant, and we maintained visibility so that they knew we were waiting.

50 minutes later, I walked up to the front desk to ask about the wait. I noticed that they had seated people on the list after us and never called us. The hostess was running tables.

15 minutes later, the hostess had yet to return to the front desk. We watched 3 groups of people leave during the 15 minutes because they were never greeted.

We decided to sit at the bar. We still want to give the restaurant a chance. The bar reps are friendly. I will update the rating after we finish our visit. I am trying not to let the beginning of this experience ruin the rest of the visit.

Update: Friday is supposed to have a special on the queso black bean dip. We found out that the menu at the restaurant was updated, but the online prices were not updated. They charged us more for the queso. There was an additional dish on our bill from the group next to us. They were not seating anyone because they had no host. There were two bartenders, a server and a busser. The restaurant was seating more people than it could handle, and then not seating anyone for an hour. The bartenders and server were suffering from mismanagement.

Food: I got the pastrami Reuben. It was hot and delicious. Pastrami was tender with a pile of sauerkraut. My wife got a BLT sandwich with breaded chicken. It was room temperature. My friend got a sandwich. They forgot the pickle.

Back to service: Our appetizers came out after our meals. The fry cook was backed up.

The person next to us had ordered their food before us and received it after we were done eating.

No one was designated to communicate with the groups of people piling up at the entrance. People were asking the bartender where the host was only to find out that the restaurant had no official host tonight.

Why would you seat people at the bar, tables/booths around the bar, and the booths throughout the rest of the restaurant when you are unable to serve them? Why not close half of the restaurant so your bartenders and server can work together while reducing the impact on your kitchen?

Conclusion: Macados might be a good restaurant in other locations, but the mismanagement makes it embarrassing and laughable. We tipped the bartender, but your bartenders and server need a raise if you want them to keep putting up with the experience we observed.

I would not recommend eating at the restaurant. I would be cautious about picking up food since the kitchen can barely keep up with the service. Your food might be cold or missing something. If you want a sandwich, go to Potbelly's. If you want a burger, go to Jack Brown's or Billy Jack's. If you want a drink, the bartenders are friendly and will take care of you.

If you are looking to hire, the 1 server was a beast as they continued to serve people in the rest of the restaurant while somehow helping with the hosting (even though there were long droughts...

My family (party of 6) went to Macado’s today around 3:45 pm after moving our freshman into her dorm. We stood there for a good 6-7 minutes before anyone came and greeted us. Finally, a girl with a brownish ponytail and glasses came to the hostess area. She told us that it would be a 15 minute wait because she was the only person cleaning tables and seating people. She was very rude. I said ok and let her know that we had been there about 6-7 minutes already. Then she asked a Door Dash driver that was waiting what she wanted. The lady told her that she was there for a Door Dash pick up and she said “for who” in the most hateful manner. After she took care of her, she went back to cleaning tables. The tables had already been cleared and she was going from table to table sitting down, spraying them and wiping them. I watched her do about six tables and still never seated us. She eventually came back to the front where she took the name of another couple and gave them the same story about how she was the only one cleaning tables so there was a wait. There were very few people sitting down in the restaurant at this time mind you. The lady that had left with the Door Dash order had also came back inside with the order. Your employee looked at her and said “What?” She told her that the drinks were missing. She replied “Oh my God” and reached in the cooler to get the drinks that she had neglected to get to begin with. She again, was extremely rude. She didn’t acknowledge us and went back to cleaning tables. I am embarrassed to say that we waited about 30 minutes and she never sat us so we left. We watched about 15 other people come in and leave after no one ever came to take their names. We wouldn’t have waited that long but our daughter wanted to eat there. We went to another place that seated us right away, had friendly and fast service, and was giving freshmen a free dessert. It is disappointing that your place was so understaffed on move-in weekend and that the lady seating people obviously lacks...

The worst service I have ever experienced at a restaurant. As the night progressed, the service got worse and worse. The bartender who “served” us was completely rude. We waited 20+ minutes every time we had to get drinks or place an order. We were handed sodas in lukewarm bottles while everyone else in the restaurant had cups with ice. We were given dirty plates and silverware and struggled to flag anyone down to fix it. We asked the front for new ones and was given plastic takeout silverware. We then tried to place a take out order multiple times and the bartender responded, “can’t you see I’m busy.” We placed it at the front desk who ended up falsely charging us an extra $8. All it seemed like he cared about was to make a money and tips without actually providing service. He repeatedly would tell us in a rude tone how he was too busy for us when we waited way longer than anyone should to order or receive items from him. We then got our food after waiting for over an hour and it was messed up. Instead of listening to how the order was messed up, the bartender stuck his hand and face by the food and stated, “it’s not messed up guaranteed but I guess I’ll just take it off the tab!” He stormed off and spoke to us in such a sarcastic tone when we simply and POLITELY asked for bare minimum service. We talked to a manager who was very polite and fixed the situation by giving us a refund and asking to fix our orders like the bartender should have done. We then could hear the bartender screaming in the back and slamming things down by the bar. If you can’t handle service or your customers then do not serve them. There were other waiters that could have taken us but it appeared that he wanted to make some money without actually tending to us. Meanwhile there were other tables he was tending to appropriately and politely. I really hope they can...