La Fuente — Restaurant in Lee's Summit

Manger was UNBELIEVABLE!! HORRIBLE SERVICE! Mistakes happen...I get it. The thing is, what do you as the manager do when a mistake takes place? I want to preface this by saying we typically go to this restaurant 2x a month and spend roughly $80 each time we go. We typically enjoy it. This time was very different. We arrived at 5:45 and were seated immediately. At approximately 6:00 the waiter took our order. By 6:30 we still didn't have our food. During the 30 minutes our waiter didn't check on us once. We flagged down another waiter to go and get our waiter. He came over to our table and we asked about how much longer would it be for our food? He said, "did you all order?" We told him yes, you took our order. He checked his notepad and realized he had never put in our order. He turned (didn't say sorry) and walked directly to the register to input the order. Approximately 15 mins later our food came out...only problem, my order wasn't correct so I had to send it back. My husband had completely eaten his meal before my meal came back out the 2nd time. As we were now well over an hour, when it was brought back out I asked to speak to the manager and this is where it gets crazy. At this point we had been there for an hour when my meal was brought back out. I explained the situation to the Manager who asked what he could do. I told him I would like to not have to pay for my meal because my husband was completely done with his meal and mine had just been brought out and that we had been there for an hour as the server had never put in the order. He said, and I quote, "well if you don't want to pay for the meal then you aren't going to eat the meal." I asked him if he was kidding and he said, "No I am not kidding". What is wrong with people???? You made a mistake...fix it. Plain and simple. I told him fine, take the meal. He said he would go talk to the waiter to verify what I was saying. He came back a few minutes later to tell me he was not going to charge me for the meal. At that point I absolutely did not care. If he had just said from the beginning, "let me check on this" and then came back to offer his apologies I would have been fine. But because he said, "well if you don't want to pay for the meal then you aren't going to eat the meal" without even talking to the waiter first to verify what happened is unexcusable. That is not customer service. We will...

Several years ago (3-4), I happened upon this location in Lee's Summit and was "wowed" by the quality of the food and the friendliness of the staff. Significantly, this first visit occurred at around 2-3 pm a time that, in my many experiences, is notorious for indifferent service and poor quality food. As I left, I exclaimed to myself, "I can't wait to bring my wife here!" As she is an Hispanic/Latina woman, when I returned with her it was not without some apprehension due to her picky nature with food and her true appreciation of good, authentic Mexican food. She was thoroughly impressed!

Thus, when we saw that a La Fuente was going to open on 75th near Antioch literally across the street from where we attend church, we were excited to bring our friends there. That is until yesterday...

Briefly: The Horchata was watery (and was sent back by 5 people); the meat in my wife's carne asada had nearly zero flavor as it was unseasoned; my carnitas in the chimichanga that I ordered were also almost flavorless; the chimichanga was undercooked, even though I specifically asked for it to be cooked longer and even gave a visual example of the color I hoped it would be after frying (I mentioned my past "raw tortilla" experiences elsewhere with chimichangas); our friends' meals were the same - lacking in flavor and poorly cooked. When the waitress asked how our meals were - at the END of the meal, not after the first bite or two as I was taught as a waiter at Chili's - I spoke for all and expressed our great disappointment, especially in light of our prior excitement. She "apologized" and said she would let the owner know but truly offered excuses more than anything else. However, to our surprise, not one of us received a discount on our food nor did a manager take the time to visit our table. We all expected to pay something but FULL PRICE? And this at a new location.

I'd like to think that this will get into the hands of management and, in particular, ownership, but...

Order what isn't on the menu! Like the Banderas, then substitute cheese sauce for the default sauces. You'll get a Chili Relleno, enchilada, and chimichanga. That'll give you the cheese sauce for dipping your chips. Also order the Shrimp Cocktail, I get it without the jalapeños. It's big enough to be a meal when you consider you also get chips and salsa before your meal FOR FREE! The margaritas are the strongest you can find, so don't pass the opportunity to get the Blue Margarita! Amazing! The staff are for real, and not those fake wait staff you find elsewhere. Most all of the staff have worked there for years. I travel the world and have eaten at this restaurant for several years, and I always find that the quality of the food is above average nearly every time I eat there...which is once or...