Hacienda Mexican Restaurant — Restaurant in Long Beach

It all started with the GM Cheryl. On Saturday night we were trying to enjoy a good dinner when Cheryl ruined our whole experience of our favorite place to eat! Our party size was 9, mind you 5 adults, 7 yr old, 5, yr old, 3 year old and 9 months. (In a high chair). We understand with covid things are rough and rules and we don’t mind following rules. BUT, when Cheryl said we had to be split at two different tables we questioned why and she said because we have more than eight. We pointed out not far across from us was another table of 10. She said she was making her rounds to split up tables. (Witch she never did) we sat not far from the table of 10 people. When they sat us down they gave us these two table across from each other... one was a table of 8 and so was the other. So we all sat at the table of 8 with high chair.. that’s when she came over telling us we couldn’t sit like that and that’s when we questioned why and was very rude about it, when we told her we just did it last weekend and she said because if the health department walked in she would get in trouble... she told us to put the kids at the other table and it would be fine... she don’t know our child’s needs.. we have a BABY.. we didn’t even have a teen that could sit with the children. One of the children have a special needs issue and can’t be alone. (No it wasn’t far but we have kids that need extra care) that fact she made us feel like our kids didn’t mean anything to us was a problem! Just put the kids over there by themselves... people do it all the time... maybe they do but that’s not us we have issues with a couple of our kids that need special attention. The group of ten people were outside so we asked if we could sit outside so our family could be together the waitress told us not a problem and took us outside and then here comes Cheryl again telling the waitress nope it can’t happen so we still got split up! (As were sitting next to a group of ten people) I hate to think it’s a problem but my friend is black and she’s the one she came up to with all this issue... I hate to even think that could be the problem because I never think of things like that. We are all EQUAL, but that was our only difference in our group compared to the other group... I’m very disappointed this was the GM. Our waitress was AMAZING and I couldn’t thank her enough for what she did, but that GM was definitely the problem. If she was nice about it and not so rude to us the whole time it would have been great but she wasn’t. I hope you choose to find a better Mexican restaurant where you feel comfortable at and not a GM like this one!!!!!!

I tried to respond to comment and couldn’t, but I sent email back and havnt heard...

Haven't been here for years, and think it'll be even more years before I go back. It used to be wonderful every single time. This time it was absolutely disgusting, and my 6 year old and I both ended up sick and puking the rest of the night. Thankfully my 1 year old didn't touch hers or she probably would of been doing the same. At first the waitress seemed ok. When she took our order she acted like she could careless and just wanted us to be done ordering so she could move on. I ordered both my girls Mac and cheese and fries. The fries were hard and unedible, and cold. I got the original burrito combo with chicken. Normally it's moist and juicy and amazing. Not this time. It was so dry you couldn't eat it. It tasted off, the color was off. It was brown and pink and cold and dry. We got our food relatively quick too, so I'm not sure how it was so cold. The chili that came with it was also cold and looked old. My husband's beans that came with his were basically a small streak smeared on the plate, and crusty. The rice and chips and salsa were the only thing we really were able to eat. I complained and all the waitress said was 'ill have them take it off your order' and walked away. It was taken off and I was only charged for the rice and beans, but still. That was the main part of my meal. She didn't offer to fix it or offer to let me order something else, which I assumed was the normal protocol when an issue like this happened at a restaurant. I was completely polite about it all too. I still even tipped, just out of decency. It's very disappointing, because I loved this place. They weren't even busy either. If they were, then sure it'd be understandable.. but they weren't. Being kind and polite is also a good trait when you're waitressing. The only good part about the visit was the staff at the front. Hoping this was just a bad day, and not how the place always is. Regardless, I think I'll take my business to...

We arrived in Michigan City late on a Friday night. Our lodging was at a local AirBNB and we had driven through Chicago... So we were hungry and tired. Not being from around the area, we saw a sign for Hacienda and according to Google, they were still open. That's where we went.

We pulled into the parking lot, and it seemed pretty busy for almost 9pm. The exterior of the building looked impressive. Clean, well maintained, and there was enticing smells coming from the restaurant. The hostess sat us in a back area. I don't know if we hit the end of the Friday night rush and they hadn't had time to clean, but the floor was dirty. There was food and other items dropped on the floor still there.

My girlfriend ordered a Pina Colada, she was very pleased with it. When that was brought out Chips and Salsa were delivered to the table. This was rather disappointing. The chips tasted like some half stale, home made tortillas... minus the salt. The salsa, and I kid you not, had the consistency and flavor of pizza sauce. It's like they couldn't find salsa and just opened a can of pizza sauce as a stand by.

My girlfriend is Gluten sensitive. The waitress made some suggestions and she ended up getting a cheese quesadilla, but with corn tortillas. I had a shredded chicken burrito. After the salsa, I was not surprised with the entrees. Her quesadilla was like something a college student would make in the dorm, a corn tortilla, some shredded cheese, another corn tortilla... microwaved. My burrito, the chicken tasted like canned chicken. I'm not saying that's what it was... but it had that consistency and flavor. I had to ask for hot sauce, and then even the hot sauce they provided was still on the bland side.

The best thing about this place was service. Our waitress was fantastically friendly, attentive, and helpful. The rest just seemed lacking...