Doña Leti’s — Restaurant in Houston

"Disappointing Customer Service, horrible parking and a Lack of Accountability"

Some friends and I recently visited Dona Leti's (Washington Ave. location) on 9/21/2024 late afternoon and unfortunately, our experience was far from satisfactory. Despite having a reservation, we were kept waiting for over 2 hours. We were told the wait would be about an hour and we agreed. After an hour I politely asked for an update, the manager(named Deven) kept saying there are 4 parties before you. By this time it was going on over an hour. So we continued to wait and by that time it had been way too long! So I asked the manager again how much longer and one of the owners(her name started with a "K" but cannot remember the full name) was standing with her and they kept looking at an iPad. Then the owner says we cannot seat a party of 5 at this time??? So I turned to the manager and asked "you could not have told us some 2 1/2 hours ago you could not seat us"? You just sat a party of 30???? She did not even look us in the eye, she kept staring at the owner whose name started with a "K'. Rather than offering a solution the owner attempted to shift the blame onto me and my party for the delay. She spoke to us in the most unprofessional manner! We told her we would sit at the bar and she said she would not allow that because we would be upset and mistreat her bartenders??? You all lied about the wait and then said you could not seat us!!! Yes we were already upset but it was not the bartenders fault! It was the person who told us it would be an hour wait! We just wanted to order some food because we had been dealing with this for more than 2 hours. She kept on and on and we could not believe an owner would talk like this to customers. The restaurant dropped the ball! My party and I are all educated professionals and we were trying to handle the situation as such but there was no way we would patronize a restaurant when one of the "so called" owners was speaking to us in that manner.

So it seems as if they were taking everyone from a waitlist(we did not no existed because it was or first time) and seating them and having the people who walked in wait for hours. We walked out. This kind of treatment is completely unacceptable for any restaurant.

While I understand that busy nights happen, how a restaurant handles those situations speaks volumes about their commitment to their guests. Instead of being helped, we were made to feel as though our concerns were invalid.

To be clear, the food may very well be good( we do not know), but customer service is a crucial part of the dining experience, and this establishment failed in that regard. I hope the management takes feedback like this seriously and works on improving how they address delays and treat their customers moving forward. I will try the other location because I will never go back to this one.

Until then, I cannot recommend this restaurant to others who expect to be treated with respect and...

This was my first time going to this place I didn’t know what to expect. So when I got the menu the waitress melissa was trying to help me decide what I wanted. I know I don’t eat burritos or Tortillas, fajita bread. I know I’m not a fan of steak or beans. I was in the mood for just a What’s in the inside of a fajita (Minus the fajita tortilla that comes with it my apologies whatever it’s called). I explained to Melissa the waitress that I was looking to get shrimp, chicken, sautéed onions, rice, guacamole, and pica. I asked her what dish would that be close to? She recommended a dish and showed it to me and told me what it was. However, the person that I came with, she recommended the bowl because the bowl comes with everything I asked for (not in a fajita/Tortilla) When the food came out by another waitress. It didn’t look like what I remember discussing. I told her it didn’t look like my order yet she sat the plate down and walked away. Not knowing what It was I thought to myself, but maybe this is what I ordered. Again, this is my first time here this is why I asked the waitress.. I cut into the food and I seen steak, which is something I’m not too fond of eating and beans which I do not eat at all. Seconds later, our regular waitress Melissa comes out with the other orders and handed me a bowl with everything I asked for. I explain to her that another waitress came out and gave me this meal (the one I cut into). Even tho I explained to her I didn’t think it was my order. The waitress said she had to go get her Supervisor because I already cut into. The supervisor came out and what started as a decent conversation. Ended going back and fourth. However, the supervisor told me because I already touched it, and because waitress that brought the food out did not understand me because she doesn’t speak English, I had to pay for it. I became irate and I did get a little loud, but I was upset because If you knew she didn’t speak English why would you hold me accountable for paying for this meal if I told her I didn’t think it was mines to begin with. Yes, I take responsibility for Cutting through it but I cut through it to see what it was Needless to say after going back-and-forth the Supervisor, removed it off of my bill and she had a stank attitude about it which was fine but what’s right is right. I even said I will pay for the burrito, even though I didn’t ask for it and even though I don’t eat steak or beans, but I wanted them to acknowledge their mistake also. I still ended up tipping my waiter Melissa and I even ordered some chips and salsa to go. But I ended up leaving before they brought it out. Drinks were good as well. I’m not a mean or disrespectful person and I take full responsibility only for cutting into it, but that was not just my fault. How the...

TOWING although I don't have a issue with dona leti's i'm writing this to let people know to be careful with parking here. I asked them for help to get camera footage of where I was parked because I parked in front of that first row of cars because I had to go order and I didn't even know Dona leti's did valet because that Was my first time there. But they told me that their cameras don't span out that far which I don't understand why they wouldn't since I was on their side of the parking lot and that Denny's had the contract with the tow people. I put in a to go order for this restaurant yesterday, January 28 and it said it would be ready for an hour from now and I showed up to the restaurant an hour and 15 minutes later so I expected my food to be ready. It wasn't so I waited. Maybe about five minutes. My food was ready. I come outside. My car was gone, mind you I had my hazards on. I had random people in the parking lot from denny's & dona leti's tell me that he took my car & i shouldnt have gotten towed because i wasnt gone that long but even if I knew that this restaurant had valet parking why would I give valet parking for a to go order? That doesn't make sense. I wish when I went in there my food was ready, but I get it. It was a busy Sunday afternoon but it wasn't and I paid the price for them not having my food ready. Don't even ask Denny's for help. That location is terrible customer service I told them that y'all needed to call the tow people, so my car could be given back to me because all the signs say do not park on Denny's side of the parking lot. that's all it says! it doesn't say you can't park on Dona leti's with your hazards on. It doesn't say any of that!! so for me to get towed and I wasn't even on denny's side pissed me off. & the food that I had ordered from dona leti's I threw it away. $24 down the drain didn't even get to experience the food because my day was ruined. I lost $298 and none of these restaurants would help me so just beware do the valet parking even if you're getting a to go order. which is so stupid!! I really don't want this situation that I went through yesterday to happen to anybody else because in the world that we live in nobody has $298 to just throw...