El Tiempo Cantina — Restaurant in Houston

If I could rate this location zero stars, I would. My husband and I decided to go here on a double date night with another couple friend. Everything was fine when we were first sat but things quickly changed for the worse.

Our waiter was friendly when him and the bus boy brought us waters. My husband and I immediately ordered margaritas but the waiter's attitude quickly changed when the other couple we were with didn't immediately order another drink besides water (the woman is obviously pregnant and her husband wanted to look over the beer menu). It took us about 20 minutes to get our margaritas. Once our friend received his beer, he noticed the glass was dirty. Not to mention the waiter, Jose, walked off before our friend could ask about their non-alcoholic drink options.

It took about 30 minutes before we could even place our food order. We had to ask for salt and pepper at least 3 times and we were nearly halfway thru the meal before we even received it. The waiter looked at us like we were crazy when we asked for silverware.

We asked for our ticket several times and once we received it I noticed I was incorrectly charged. I ordered the Ranchera Chicken nachos ($12.99) but the ticket said Fajita Chicken nachos ($21.99). When I told Jose about the issue, he had the audacity to ask me "Well what did you eat?" I once again said "That's not what I ordered, I had the Ranchera Chicken." He kept trying to argue with me about what I actually ate. If he rang up the wrong order, or brought the wrong dish that's not my fault. I know what I ordered. When he brought the ticket back after correcting it he THREW the ticket down on the table at me. And completely ignored my husband who had his card in his hand ready to give to him. Never once apologized for the mistake.

At this point, we had been there for an hour and half and were so fed up with the disappointing service. My husband even caught our waiter and the busboy talking and complaining about us. While my husband paid I went to the hostess stand to talk to a manager. The manager got the GM and I explained how terrible our experience was. They decided to comp 50% of the food cost, which is generous and we do appreciate. The food is average. Not terrible, but surely not worth the outrageous charges. Even with the 50% comp, we still ended up spending $60 (and yes, we still tipped our terrible waiter!). The experience was embarrassing and...

When you go to an expensive restaurant, such as El Tiempo, you expect to have excellent service-specifically from your server/waiter.

In the very beginning I explain to our server/waiter Jose Cruz that it was my mother's 85th birthday. I pointed out to him all the presents that we had and I needed a place to put them I requested a small table and he was very hesitant as he was trying to explain to me that he needed them for other tables even though the restaurant was not busy at all! Instead he offered me one chair! Are you kidding me?! When he saw that I was a bit disappointed, that's when he grabbed a small table and set it up for me.

As for my meal, All I wanted was seasoned vegetables, double rice, and avocado slices. How do you mess that up? Well, our server Jose did just that. I didn't realize that their seasoned vegetables were mostly onions and bell peppers! Anyway, Jose forgot the asparagus, avocado slices, and the second portion of rice. I had to keep asking his supporting staff for help. When I asked for more vegetables all I got was a duplicate of the first plate which were more onions, bell peppers, and mushrooms. I like all that but I would like vegetables along with my spices. Apparently, he did not understand what I was requesting. one of the floor managers stepped in and helped out and she was great. Actually most of the supporting staff were wonderful. It was just our server who was very lackadaisical and far from giving excellent service. Maybe he's a nice guy, but he really needs to be retrained on how to give excellent service because he definitely did not do that today.

Apparently, he played the role of victim because I'm on my way out the managers we're unapologetic but rather gave me a lame goodbye as if they were waiting for to me leave.

Overall, the food is overpriced and the service was subpar today. I am very disappointed and it may be a very, very long time before I host a party at this restaurant--if I ever come...

Edited to Add (5 stars): Managers were extremely courteous and refunded our meal completely. I appreciate their value of customer service!! Means a lot. Maybe we will go back one day.

Original Review (1 star): Really really tasty. Unfortunately our waitress Ericka made this one of our most unpleasant restaurant experiences ever. We spent much of the time being ignored, and she was completely derisive toward our children, who were being unusually well behaved. Our salsa bowl spilled at one point, while she was refilling our waters, and she saw it, blamed my 4 year old daughter (“that was her”) and left. Did not return with extra napkins or anything. Then when we had finished eating, we sat for another 10 minutes awkwardly while she SAT at a nearby table shooting the breeze with some other patrons. We felt unwelcome and humiliated. I will say, all surrounding patrons seemed to be treated well by their servers. The food was delicious. And the managers listened to me afterward and were very sympathetic and apologetic. I don’t know how they plan to follow up with the waitress, but I hope she doesn’t lose them any more business. Our visit was memorable for all the wrong reasons and we regrettably...