TQLAS — Restaurant in La Quinta

They are apparently going through a switch in their kitchen and their menu but we came in for my birthday dinner and it was not at all what we expected from all the reviews. Our first round of drinks seemed to take forever to get to us but when they did it was delicious. The cucumber marg was so different and really great. Luckily we had another waiter or bus person come check on us and they brought us more chips and salsa. The salsa was delicious as were the chips, but they were also super greasy which I didn't love. When we finally got to order we were told that despite not saying so on the menu, we could only order one type of taco for the 2 or 3 taco plate meal which was disappointing. Then my partner tried to order four different things and we were told none of them were on the menu because they were changing out their menus in a few days. The food was brought out reasonably quick but when it was brought out my mom's verde bowl was super cold and she didn't eat it because it tasted off. They did take it back to the kitchen and reheated it which I'm not sure if that's what they did or hopefully gave her new chicken but either way she didn't feel comfortable eating it. My al pastor tacos were decent but when were brought our second round of drinks they were horrible with way too much lime. They did apologize and told us that the bartender had to be sent home and they took the bad food and our three drinks off the bill so they did try to help the situation. But the damage was already done for us. I truly hope this was a one time thing. In case it's not, I wanted to share our story. The manager seemed to understand that they were in a rough patch switching menus, staff, and cooks. Maybe in a few months they'll have their new menu down and support the views golden reviews I...

My husbands 40th birthday was reserved at the restaurant for 11 people. The afternoon of the dinner 4 more people decided to join. As this was a milestone birthday my husbands friends wanted to join. It was very difficult to say no. The owner accommodated the first two but when we arrived with the second two it was an impossible task. As we looked around many chairs were available. Our group flew in from Austin and Sacramento and We were being transported there together. We arrive 10 minutes late but had someone check us in. When we were told our group could not be given two other chairs our friend went across to Fortun, which was exponentially busier and was able to find our huge group the most comfortable table in the middle of thier rush on the drop of a dime. As I work in the industry before we left I approached the Owner to thank her for “trying” and apologized for the inconvenience. With anger in her eyes and shaking she told me “ never make a reservation here again”. I’ve worked in hospitality for 25 years, from hostess, bartender, kitchen staff to owner operator… I have seen all types of difficult scenarios and have never told a guest that. I would definitely never turned a group of 15 people away… ever. But l would definitely never say something like that to a guest who was celebrating such a big event. These things happen in the restaurant industry, you don’t send people away with such harsh words or energy. Dee at Fortun received us as if we were in her home, we had amazing service and food and couldn’t have been more grateful for the unfortunate turn the evening took… that rejection gave us those most amazing experience for my husbands...

3 of my friends and I went to TQLAS for drinks and a bite to eat. Before we ordered food, we each took a sip of our margaritas. One friend ordered the cazuela tlaquepaque. The 3 of us who ordered margaritas all automatically had the same reaction. Puckered faces! These things were so sour, it was horrible. Talk about automatic heartburn! When we asked the bartender why we couldn't taste any tequila and why the mix was so sour, he didn't really give an explanation. He just offered some agave syrup to sweeten the mix and cut the sour. I reluctantly accepted. While I was waiting for the syrup, the friend who ordered the cazuela said he also couldn't taste the tequila and that it just tasted like watered-down Squirt. When it was clear we couldn't enjoy our drinks (I took two sips and couldn't take any more than that), we asked for a manager. A man who introduced himself as the owner came to our table. We told him our concerns, and he grabbed our menus from the table, started clearing the drinks, and said "Then Bye. You can leave". I was SHOCKED! He didn't even try to fix the situation or have his clearly untrained bartender re-make our drinks. He just told us to go. When we were walking out, he yelled after us, "Do you have any idea how many of these I sell every day? Over 1,000!" I told him :That's nice, but ours weren't good and you didn't even try to fix it". He yelled for us to leave again. LOUSY service, refusal to even address our concerns and try to save the sale, and lousy drinks means I will NOT be returning. ...