La Fortaleza Lodi — Restaurant in Lodi

I am SO annoyed. I emailed the Lodi restaurant location specifically about a dietary restriction to see if they could meet it. I received an email back from the CEO telling me that it could be done as long as I notify them prior to the reservation. I was originally so happy and so grateful for the response. I responded back to the email, confirming that I wanted to make the reservation along with the meal that I wanted so they would know days prior. I did not receive a response; days later I sent a second email still no response. I ended up having to call the location to make a reservation. Not once was I notified over email that if I made my small reservation that I would have to put down $50 so I ended up putting down $50. When I get there everyone is so unorganized and they did not have my dietary restriction in their notes and no print out but had other people’s print outs. I had to speak to more than one person about this issue until they were able to notice in their system. On top of that when I received my food, it was great besides the fact that they charged me $3 extra for my meal for mango, even though they did not give me mango. Of course I know it’s only $3 but I am annoyed because I let them know days prior. I confirmed on the phone multiple times and I confirmed in person multiple times this specific salad I wanted and the two additions of mango and chicken and I still got charged for something that they did not give me. I made them fix the check. I also think that if I’m telling you what I want days prior and confirming over the phone and in person, there’s no reason why there shouldn’t have been the addition of mango in my food when it was specifically on the note and in the system after 20 minutes of them getting themselves together, they eventually even confirmed my order with me before getting my other guests their food order. On top of that I had told them it was my cousin’s birthday, and I had to tell them multiple times to come saying happy birthday, even though they knew prior to. I specifically said I wanted them to sing happy birthday when we finished our meals so she wouldn’t suspect anything. I had to say something to 2 different people for them to finally saying happy birthday. When I finally get the receipt the $50 that I put down was not put towards my check when I specifically confirmed I wanted it towards my check. So on top of the error on the original receipt I didn’t get my $50 put towards my check. Since my sister ended up paying the bill, we didn’t notice that the $50 wasn’t added on until after we were home I called them multiple times about refunding my $50 and wondering why they didn’t put my $50 towards my bill and they have literally stolen $50 from me and I was told I would get a call from the manager and now it’s almost a week later and no call from the manager send a try to say I could use it for my next visit. It’s been since 11 days without my money. What makes them think after all, this makes me ever want to visit again I want my money back, because if not, I will take further action. This is unacceptable I shouldn’t have to wait almost a week for a callback on something they messed up. To also mention, it wasn’t even as busy as it gets so there was no reason for all...

I will start by saying this is one of my favorite places to go. Not to mention as an American Guerra dating a Mexican man i love it even more the atmosphere the culture everything! And I’m fluent in Spanish i love the music just everything…. But I’m not a fan of price gauging because it’s “simply not listed” and people just get the bill and shrug like oh well it’s what it is. I am sad to write what i am writing. I had an absolute amazing AMAZING AND I CANT STRESS ENOUGH how wonderful of a time we had celebrating my birthday last month in LODI. We had nacho appetizers (2) 4 orders of flautas and maybe 2 other dishes. A few sodas with refills 2 kids (virgin) pina coladas , I had “La Perrona “ which might i add took me all night to finish and was 40$ (😂) each of my friends had one margarita each in clay cups. However , if my boyfriend has to pay over 8-10$ let alone 20$* for a Modelo??? Come on guys secondly we ordered an airplane of shots , server says next one is on me , which i didn’t believe but whatever it was it was. We ended up ordering 3-4 airplanes with the notation 2 were on him one came we didn’t even ask for. In total i paid for 5. 5 full planes. NONE WERE ONE HIM. NONE. ! when all was said and done the bill was nearly 750$. Aside from all this food as always was great. I was with a crowd who enjoyed music folks and fun so Dj wasn’t too loud we had a blast like i stated previously and the intent was to go hard or go home. But it is true to rights that you really do have this issue in every place this way. All La Fortaleza’s similar to el chingon, and several others unless you ask you will get the largest and most expensive without warning and it will be outrageous and you won’t care to fight it because it’s Friday night. Truth be told my best friend assumed we were just getting jobs and washing dishes because NOONE would have looked at what we ordered and said 700$$$!!!!!!!! Maybe 400? Even 5? But 7??? Jesus Christ. The place sells itself. Aside from this i know our server doesn’t make the rules , but you guys are going to be in business with our without me. Because people may complain but they will still come back. I’m just sorry i won’t be back. It’s not worth half my mortgage to get drunk on a Friday night with my friends. CHEERS TO 36!...

Went to this place last night to celebrate my mom's birthday with a party of 8. The fact that we were sat down immediately on a Saturday night should've given me the indication this place was no good. Let me start by saying this place offers complimentary valet parking but it seemed like there was no other option to park your car yourself. Not everyone is a fan of trusting someone else with their car. I've previously been to the Garfield location numerous times and have had no issue with them but up until last night I realized this place is a franchise. Whoever owns this place is NOT mexican. Upon sitting down we were given prepackaged utensils to eat with, the type you get when you order take-out. I have seen this being common with covid, except the tables around us had metal forks and utensils. The drinks were extremely overpriced. There was a woman coming around taking pictures of the table and then selling them for $20 afterwards EACH. Not everyone is comfortable taking their pictures taken. As for the food, I ordered a queso-birria which was too greasy to pick up and dip in the birria sauce and the meat tasted off, it did not taste fresh. My husband ordered a chimichanga and the steak had no seasoning to it, it was very bland. He couldn't finish the whole plate. The place is actually very nice with two floors and decorated but it's a shame the food and service did not match. The waitress was hardly around. I asked her to bring an order of churros and to sing for my mom, but even that happened to take 15 minutes we were beginning to wonder if she had forgotten. The churros did not taste like true mexican churros they were extremely sweet and filled with an awful caramel filling. When we got the bill, they automatically placed an 18% gratuity tip which we felt 18% was too much for the lack of service, not to mention the plastic utensils they gave us. This was our first time there but needless to say, we will not be eating...