Chilitos Restaurant — Restaurant in Las Cruces

I’d like to start by saying the food was delicious, totally worth every penny and every bite. The service however was bad to say the least. We arrived as a table of 3 and was served chips and salsa and told our waiter would be with us shortly. After about 15 minutes, nothing. Two tables arrived after us and were served chips & salsa, drinks, and even ordered their food prior to us remotely being acknowledged. I had to ask the servers who were tending the tables around us if we could order drinks at least while we were waiting, to which they responded they’d get our waitress. 10 more minutes went by and she comes for our drink order and never bothered to ask if we were ready to give our food order. I get up to go wash my hands and told my adult daughter to order our food when she gets back with the drinks. I come back, we have drinks and my daughter claims she dropped them off and said she’d be back when I came back from the restroom. 10 minutes later she comes back we order our food and by then we were out of salsa, so I ask for more. 15 minutes later she comes with our plates and by then I ask for refills on our drinks, remind her of the salsa I had previously asked for and ask for a third set of cutlery. She brings refills for my two kids, not for me, some salsa and forgets the cutlery, but leaves in a rush so I’m thinking she’s coming back. About 5 minutes goes by and she comes back to ask if everything is tasting ok, to which I respond I’d like a cutlery set. She brings it immediately, and I ask once again for a refill on my drink. By this time my kids are halfway done with their food and I finally dig into mine. About 10 minutes goes by and by then I pretty much finish my plate but run out of tea and wait for her to come by again. At this point I’m irritated and tell her that I’d really like a refill so I can finish my food. It took her at least another ten minutes to bring a tea, in a To-Go cup, apologizes and says she brought me a tea to take with me. I tell her I’d like to order a plate to go, I place that order and pour the To-Go tea into my own cup so I can finish my plate. Another 15 minutes or so go by, she brings my plate to go and offers to bring the check, to which I say yes, however I’d like to order sopapillas for dessert, she asks plain or with sugar, I say with sugar. A few minutes goes by, she brings the sopapillas and they are plain. No napkins no plates. I ask for plates and napkins and also for to go containers. She brings us plates, no napkins, and our to go containers. I finally pay, she informs me of the machines option for a Tip, I pay, leave her a tip and we leave. All of this to say it was a VERY long and a VERY frustrating experience because as someone who worked as a server around her age, the level of inattention, forgetfulness and lack of etiquette just amazed me. I have a rather large family (thankfully I didn’t have them ALL with me today) and never pay less than $100-200 per restaurant visit, so I tip very well everywhere I go and treat the wait staff with all the respect of the world because I know it isn’t an easy job and sometimes no matter what you do, you can’t please everyone, which is why I tip, no matter my experience. But this was ridiculous and I hope it is used as a learning experience for management and their staff because it wasn’t just her, the other servers and staff could have chipped in and at least let her know we were waiting from the beginning or helped her out if she was...

Edit....While I do generally love this place, after eating there 4+ times, I want to amend my review...

Third Review: This place is hit or miss and you never know which days will hit vs miss. On 07-17-20 I stopped there to order nachos for takeout. I told the girl instead of guacamole, I want a second dollop of sour cream. I took my order on takeout back to my hotel and placed it in the mini fridge to be eaten after a Friday night drinking session. When I opened the styrofom box to pop it into the microwave, what do I find? Guacamole, aka the devil's vomit. I don't know where the breakdown happens. I don't know if it is the order taker not listening, or the kitchen staff not paying attention. Also, half my order of chips for the nachos were the equivalent of crumbs. This place is so hit or miss. When they hit, the food is outstanding. When they miss, the food is worse than what you'd get at Taco Bell.

Second Review: Had the smothered burrito with pollo and the chicken was drier than a 007 martini.

First Review: Awhile back I had their shredded chicken burrito smothered in green chile and it was outstanding. Their nachos are killer. I've been in Las Cruces for just over two weeks (traveling for work) and I have eaten here at least 4 times. Edited.. this place is...

If you're going to eat at Chilitos, go to the one on Foothills! Do not go to the one on Valley! I had the taco plate several times at the one on Foothills, and it was always good. They gave me a choice of hard or soft shell, and they were large tacos, packed with meat, and very tasty! At the one on Valley they have the same menu, same prices, but they used the cheap hard shells that you would get at a fast food place, and literally a tiny piece of meat in each taco! When he dropped off my plate I looked at it and said "they're so small! The other Chilitos has very large tacos that have plenty of meat in them. These look so sad and pathetic." 😞 Then I asked for a glass of Chardonnay wine, but he said they didn't have any. All they had was Cabernet. I told him that I was very disappointed in my experience there and will never go back there again. I will just stick with the other Chilitos on Foothills. They ended up taking care of my tab, which I appreciated, but I still will never go back there again. Stick with Foothills Chilitos! They're great, and I have always had a good dining...