La Tapatia Mexican Restaurant and Bar — Restaurant in Leander

A year later, perhaps, maybe, the service had improved since they had lost so much business due to covid, but no. In fact, it got even worse. The same waitress is still there. We ordered tea, she didn't listen and brought water. I asked if we could please have our tea, and she brought it along with our chips and salsa. We ordered our dinner, and it was brought out by someone else. We never saw our waitress again. Like, never. We went up to the register to pay, and I told the young man how inattentive our waitress was. He said "I know, you're the third person to tell me that today". Great. So, I told him her tip was going to be reflective of her service. He told me to tip her zero, but I tipped $2. My total was $23, but today in looking at my statement, I see that she helped herself to a $9 tip. I'll be visiting and speaking with the manager. And ftr, the food quality has gone downhill.

This is a new review, after our visit on the week of Jan 13, 2020. I thought i was going to be a customer for life, but the service is getting worse. I don't think the wait staff gets it at all. It seems they are more interested in to go orders than the people that actually bothered to come in and eat. This last visit, we were seated, and the waitress brought over chips and water. My water cup had a crack in it, and leaked water all over the table. I found another waitress, and handed my cup to her, and explained the situation. She nodded as if she understood, but clearly she didn't because she turned and walked away. I didn't get a new cup of water, she didn't come to clean up the water that had leaked all over the table. I'm thankful for the napkin dispenser on the table. After cleaning up the water mess, I had to seek out another server and get a replacement water. At least 10 minutes went by. Our waitress was giggling and laughing with the bartender, and had forgotten all about taking our order. I went up to the bar and asked if we could please order food. She acted as if I had asked her to set herself on fire. The service has gone so downhill. We will not be returning. The food never disappoints. I usually order the carne asada steak with nopales. Their nopales are AMAZING. Cooked absolutely perfectly. The only complaint I have, is the service. When the restaurant is slow, we get great service. Come during dinner time though, and you're completely ignored. No tea/water refills, no one asking how our dinner is, etc. And it's hot. Like OMG turn on the ac hot. But, the food makes up...

We are only in this area a few more nights and we all got the taste for some great south of the border food. Don't get me wrong we all know there isn't any authentic "Mexican" food this far north of the border due to water differences and ingredient differences but we do expect the at least great service and a righteous meal....but tonight that's not what happened. We arrived around 6:40 p.m. and the restaurant was nearly empty so we grinned thinking we had it made..... again that's not what happened.... Our server seemed to be a new and inexperienced so we went slow and easy while ordering to make sure she got everything written down and then had her repeat the orders which she did so once again we thought we were good...... again that's not what happened....... We had a party of seven and the simple things should have been a glimpse of things to come... First she gave us a small ramekin of salsa along with a half basket of chips and as she was walking away we asked for another full basket of fresh chips and at least two more ramekins of salsa along with some cheese, beef and Guacamole dip.... She brought the salsa but no chips so we asked again for more she smiled and said ok.... the hot dip came and once again we had to remind her about the chips. She finally brought the chips along with the drink order and that was a fiasco...seven drink orders and only three were correct.... Our dinner order went in and she managed to get six of the seven right...... but...... she brought five of the seven dinners out ten minutes before coming with the remaining two.... By this time the restaurant had filled up nearly 80% so all the staff were running. Our friends that live here in Leander, Texas were apologetic for bringing everyone to this place swearing they've never had food service like this in all the meals they've eaten there. The food actually had a decent taste but due to all the troubles we went through we...

Prisoners in Huntsville eat better than this. Read on and be forewarned.

How to waste $19 on a simple meal: I ordered Pechuga Poblana w/mushrooms and shrimp, to go, on 1/2/23. Pechuga is usually a chicken breast with yummy additions stuffed in it or on top of it.

What they served up was the saddest excuse for chicken I’ve ever witnessed, topped with sautéed vegetables that never saw the glory of seasoning.

I thought the flat chicken was a tortilla at first. It was thin, dried cutlets that were tougher than beef jerky your Uber driver sat on for a road trip. See attached photos. This is not hyperbole.

Stay with me. It gets better.

2. I paid almost $5 for 4 pieces of grilled shrimp to go with the meal. Kitchen staff forgot the shrimp. Money wasted.

See the photo of the order slip so you can see where it was charged: all the kitchen had to do was go off the 3-item checklist.

3. Even the side vegetables (lettuce, tomato, avocado) tasted like what you’d get at Subway after it’s allowed to sit out all day. 🥵

Outcome: I couldn’t do anything about the terrible food, because I live 20-min away, and it was brought to me. It was too late by the time I received my prison meal.

Seriously, though. You have to be completely careless to mess up food this badly.

Lest you think I’m a bitter complainer, see my other reviews on Google for reference. They’re generally overwhelmingly positive and supportive.

I try to help businesses and shoppers out.

A business has to REALLY screw up royally for me to invest the time posting something negative.

And here we are… 🙄 🤦‍♂️ 🤢 🥵

If you’re in the Cedar Park/Leander area and you want Tex Mex, go to Jardin Corona. They will never insult you or your stomach the way this place did tonight…

Prepared for you by: “Give me...