Panxa Cocina — Restaurant in Long Beach

It's unfortunate when the actions of a restaurant's management and its employees leave a stain on an establishment's reputation. Even more so when it is associated with the talented Chef Arthur Gonzalez. Once regulars and unabashedly recommending the restaurant to everyone we know, we will never return or recommend the place again. Sure everyone will move on; they will continue to make money, the unprofessional manager, Tom O'Brien, will continue to be employed, and the quality of the food preparation will still be good with occasional slips into the "I've had better at Taco Bell".

We were regulars and to put it into perspective, 2 to 3 times a week at $70 to $100 per visit, roughly $8,000 to $10,000 per year since they opened just over 5 years ago, and that doesn't even include the group celebrations we had there. We know how good the food and drinks can be even if you only judge based on our frequency. So we have come to expect a certain level of quality with them, so when something comes out wrong (i.e. cold and overcooked shrimp, overcooked steak, onion in a pitcher of Margaritas, wrong pitcher of Margaritas made and sent to the table, different protein than was ordered) we send it back as most people I know would. It never seemed like it was an issue, even when it was the waitstaff's error. And for those skeptics, it was never missing more than a bite or so and they always corrected it.

Now if you based it on the most recent visit and the response from the management, don't send anything back. Be a good guest and eat what you are served regardless of the quality. If you do send something back, as we did that night and at the urging of Jess the bartender (a chayote squash salad with 3 cold, overcooked shrimp for $16), then be prepared for their manager Tom O'Brien, to berate you, raise his voice at you, belittle you, and embarrass you in front of the staff, his "buddies" sitting at the end of the bar, and the other patrons. For those of you like me, in direct response to the manager's blatant aggression, instinctively and admittedly my demeanor changed to defense mode of myself and my spouse, more than likely my tone and volume raised to match his. After making sure we paid $100, yes $100, for a meal that only one of us had and 2 drinks from a pitcher of margaritas we didn't finish, we left quite abruptly with the exterior gate slamming behind me. Sure we spoke to his manager and explained the disrespect, the offensiveness, and the embarrassment that we both endured. She provided the standard lip service and said she will handle it and even told us "I'm sorry you felt that way" (which we all know is not an actual apology) and then did nothing.

I have been very careful to remove all emotion when writing this. I'm sure someone will attempt to provide "alternative facts" or describe an alternate reality around the situation hoping to deflect, place the blame or give a "good" reason or excuse for what happened.

All that being said, at the end of the day, any number of different people, scenarios, details or points of views can be interchanged... However, the fact of the matter remains... the entire situation would have been avoided had any modicum of common decency or professionalism been displayed by...

I want to start off by thanking my server Christina. A true professional, she knew the menu front to back , she new all the ingredients and she made my wife and fell at home, thank you Christina.

I’m giving 5 stars for the overall hospitality and food quality and uniqueness, I did have some minor issues with two of my dishes , but it was all cancelled out by the others. I had such a great time and I can’t wait to return.

This is what I ordered :

Chips and dips - $12 – Comes with hatch green chile salsa, Guacamole, black bean puree, and House chips. Nice starter, really gets you in the mood for south western adventure your mouth is about to take.

Duck Carnitas - $16 – Duck leg slow cooked to perfection might have been braised, not sure but the meat just fell off the bone, salsa macha, chimayo chilaquiles, and pickled onions. This was hands down my favorite dish of the night. Everything went together so well, and the chiaquiles weren’t soggy !! that’s a big deal for me.

Green Chile Cornbread - $12 – Made with Hatch chile, and topped with whipped honey butter and honey. This was good but you need to eat it right away, which I did not do, by the time I got to it was hard as a rock. I did still eat it and it was great. I really loved the charred edges the most.

Charred Purple Cabbage - $15 – Made with mixed greens, oregano vinaigrette, roasted tomato, goat cheese, apples and topped with a quarter cut of charred purple cabbage. So many amazing flavors, my only problem with this dish was that it was very hard to eat, I tried to cut the charred cabbage and proceeded to flick salad all over the table. But overall a very good salad.

Caramelized Corn - $9 – Corn, Morita Aioli,  lime,  Cotija, Paprika . Classic and creamy, spicy and sweet.

Mushroom Mole Enchiladas - $18 – Grilled garlic mushrooms, Queso Qaxaca, mole, Sesame Seeds, Radish. Very smooth and rich flavor from the mole, I always love a good mole.

And lastly I got the dinner special, braised lamb shank in a birria consommé with rice to sop up all that tangy, smoky, juice, A true treat. I’m sure I am missing a bunch of ingredients and my description does not do this...

We came to try this place out on a recommendation. First off they are dog friendly which is awesome. The outdoor seating is right off the sidewalk in the street and enclosed by a wall. It does have covering for shade but a lot of dogs walk by so it is a little bit of a distraction. We had the pozole and the fried bread taco. The pozole had a good taste and lots of chicken. The amount of hominy inside of the posole was very minimal and we did suggest that they put it even ratio to make it more appealing. The taco is good although it was a little bit different. I would consider it more of a tostada on the fried bread. The bread itself is good, it has a char and it's a little doughy kind of like pita bread but it is very good. For me personally it could have had a little more flavor but it was still good. We ordered the peach dessert on recommendation of the server and that was great. The only complaint I really have is it took a long time waiting for the dessert because the kitchen lost our ticket. And the in-between checkups seem to be a little lengthy. The server was very nice and pleasant. She did offer a free appetizer card for the next time that we come. I thought that was nice although you never know when the people will be back or if they can come back at all. I think a better compliment would have been to offer the free dessert or something of the nature. All in all I think we'll be back to give them another try. There were some things on the menu that looked...