Amelia’s Rustic Mexican Restaurant — Restaurant in Hillsboro

Response to owner reply is below.

A group of co-workers and I went to this restaurant for lunch.

I had an horchata for drink and refilled it twice. I was charged the full price for a drink for the second refill - Pretty ridiculous. In addition, the drink is overpriced.

The waiter said it came with 2 refills when she gave me the second refill but that I needed tompay for that refill. Apparently the waiter doesn't understand that a refill doesn't include the initial drink.

Each person paid individually and the cashier denied us the 10% company discount because the first person that paid didn't ask for the discount. It was pretty obvious to the waiter from the beginning that we worked at the company close by. If they really wanted to give us the discount, they could have simply cancelled the transaction and start a new transaction with the discount or have a separate transaction per person.

The waiter negleted our table of about 10 people. However, at the time of payment, they included their mandatory 18% of tip that was never disclosed in the beginning. This is one of the highest group tip percentage I've seen, and their service didn't really merit that kind of a tip.

Their food is good, but next time I am going to suggest my company group to go somewhere else.

Response to owner's reply

I am downgrading the rating to one star for the false claim about co-workers not asking for the discount or not having their badge. For your information, all company workers have their badge on them during business hours as there is no way to get into the building without a badge. Each employee scans their badge to enter the building.

One co-worker 2 places ahead of me DID ask for the discount and the cashier denied it. I ask for the discount, showed my badge and was denied the discount.

Why wouldn't Amelia’s not honor the marketing discount for me? Being first or last in the line has NOTHING to do with honoring the discount.

I was informed about the 3rd glass charge, and I still paid the bill but that's not the point. If you think refill charge is common, I disagree. It might be common at your restaurant but not somewhere else. Unlimited refills is a U.S standard specially with the overpriced drink for rice milk with sugar.

It is interesting that you never address in your comment the following items:

Overpriced drink Poor customer service while still charging the 18% High mandatory 18% tip for groups above 8 when compared to other restaurants. You acknowledge not providing the discount for me, but give a bogus justification for denying it (me being last in line? - ridiculous, do I get an double discount for being first in line?).

I don't have a problem paying for the overpriced drink and the 18% tip as long as the value provided supports the price. In this case, it does not.

I don't know if you are the owner of this business, but if you're interested in retaining/growing/maintaining the customer base these are some items this place is lacking:

Accountability. Owning the mistakes/intention actions instead of lying about things like "None of them asked for the discount (which we have no problem giving)" Improving processes. I.e some plates were delivered and there were no silver plates for every body. My boss was told to wait until everybody was served to get the silver plates. This is simply something that should be setup first when customers arrive. Honoring discounts advertised to attract customers. Charge prices for value provided. It's difficult to justify 18% tip with that level of service or a ~$3 dollar with one refill. Doing a better job...

Where do I start? I typically don’t leave reviews but this was an OVERWHELMINGLY negative experience.

We recently moved to the Jones Farm neighborhood and have driven by it multiple times and was excited to have a place to go that’s walking distance from our home.

We went late afternoon on a weekday as we heard about their happy hour and thought it would be a good time to try a few different things that would be smaller portions.

This location is in a business park and is not the typical location but that didn’t bother us as we’ve been to some of the best restaurants that are in a similar Setup.

We walked in and there was maybe one other table occupied otherwise the place was empty and super quiet. We were seated promptly. There wasn’t music playing and it was really quiet. Kinda odd. There were 4 or 5 workers. A few were in the kitchen area which you can see from the dining room and 3 servers.

We wait… sitting at the table. One server was near the bar and the other 2 were walking around seemingly doing something but there wasn’t hardly anyone there…

We thought about leaving but we were really hoping this could be our new neighborhood spot. So we decided to stay.

After 10 minutes we were given chips and salsa and asked about drinks. We decided to just have water.

Let’s first start with the chips & salsa. Chips were fine. They were hot and salted right. The salsa was ABSOLUTELY CANNED. There is no doubt in my mind. There was no flavor other than tomato’s and heat. No substance. I have salsa of different varieties multiple times a week and I couldn’t believe this is what was being served. Normally salsa has multiple flavors going on with lime, cilantro, different peppers, onions, etc. Tomatoes have acid and the other ingredients serve as a reducer so it’s not so overwhelming. Probably the worst restaurant salsa I’ve ever had.

We ordered 6 different items. The chicken taquitos were hard. Like break your teeth hard. The chicken was dry. Like frozen taquitos from Winco dry. Burrito was sloppy and not balanced.

Don’t get me started on the refried beans… they serve it on a bamboo like plate and the beans are served cold.

We were never asked how we liked our food. Water never refilled once. We were out of water halfway through our meal.

I can understand if the place was full but there were more employees than customers and somehow we wait 10 minutes to get our chips & salsa, never asked if we wanted more water, etc.?

Just a really odd negative experience.

We’ve never had Mexican food this bad.

Taco Bell, Victoricos, or Del Taco is 10 minutes away and would be...

I want to start this review by saying how much I hope Amelia’s will change. I have been a Hillsboro resident for over half of my life, and have been going to the restaurant for over ten years.

Over the summer of 2024 I went about three times (which is a lot of eating out for my family), and on the last trip of the summer we were surprised at the end with a bill that did not match the prices on the menu. The food was more expensive than on the menu, and the drinks were more expensive. It took a bill that should have been 30-40 dollars up to about 50. I questioned the price, and the server was quick to change the bill. I just figured maybe they needed to change the menu, and as the food was still fine I brushed it off. Fast forward to January 2025, we go back, we order margaritas and two entrees, ask for chips and salsa, and are told that it’s now 5 dollars for unlimited chips and salsa (which of course, they’re allowed to charge), but also the margarita we ordered cost 17 on the menu, but we were charged 20.50 for the drink… the explanation was that they charge a 3.5% credit card fee (which if you’re a math person, know that doesn’t equal $3.50 extra cost).

I can’t necessarily speak on portion size either, but my meal felt way smaller than over the summer, even though it was more expensive.

Overall I’m really disappointed in the service. It feels a bit scammy to have the menu be one price, but charge something else. There was about a six month gap between my visits, and in my opinion thats plenty of time to update the menu.

I did ask the server about the discrepancy, and he was quick to credit me… but also pointed out that they have a small little placard about the credit card charge up front (which, in my opinion should be explained on the menu).

I will not be going back to Amelia’s, and I will no longer recommend it to anyone else.

If you are going to make changes, you need to be upfront with...