Alma — Restaurant in Los Angeles

Very expensive for what you get. Chips and salsa were solid. But they give you way too much salsa for the amount of chips you get. Then they charge you extra for more chips. So you end up saying no, and then they toss all this wonderful salsa. What a waste!

The most offensive item was the mixed fajitas for $45!!! That’s more than Javier’s, and a fraction of the joy. Described as “sizzling,” this chicken/beef combo hit our table on an ice cold, ceramic plate. No sizzle for miles. The best way to describe the fajitas were as if the Delta Lounge was celebrating cinco de mayo or something. Also no sour cream or guacamole on the side is another insult.

This place may be run by a restaurant group out of Mexico City. But they could spend 1-2 days in Houston to figure out a better fajita presentation.

That said, the corn tortillas were nice. Pliant. Flavorful. Thickish. However serving fajitas with small, street taco style corn tortillas didn’t feel right either. Flour all the way.

In general, this place could be totally passable if management spent five minutes hammering out very simple kinks.

Our cóctel de camarón came out half way through our fajitas. We’d forgotten we’d even ordered it. They were fine, I suppose. Tasted like shrimp in catsup sauce. Again, for what they’re charging, they should have a more refined tomato sauce.

When the queso fundido came out…which was solid, tho could’ve used some more garnish like cilantro and onions. They only provided the tiniest thimble of pico…they didn’t give us plates. So we made a mess over our table. Queso juices everywhere. Can you imagine the horror?

Water was also never refilled.

And after we ordered, we realized there was a whole OTHER list of tacos on the back side of the cocktail menu on the table. Which looked great! Prob would’ve ordered something else. Why not just have all the food on one menu? Revolutionary concept.

Anyway most of the time stuff like this doesn’t bother me. Dishes not coming in the right order. No plates. No water refill. But for what they’re charging, it’s insulting. I know we’re at the Grove. But come on. This place will be out of business by the end of the year if they don’t take things more seriously. You can feel no one is at the helm. A rudderless ship on a one-way course for Brokeville. Which is no where near Margaritaville.

Anyway, management if you’re reading this, drop me a note. You can hire me for consulting. We’ll turn this around in no time.

Oh lastly on the bill, they add a 4% service charge. Which is totally fine. But when they run your card, the pre selected tip amounts begin at 18% and go up to 22%. Which makes me think the restaurant is keeping all of that service charge. Which, if so, is Sketchville. Which is very close to Brokeville.

You guys are doing everything you can to let your customers know that you hate them and have nothing but contempt for them. Which is cool, so long as the food and service is incredible. But you’re just over charging for airport food and then nickel and diming on everything...

My partner and I went to have a drink and something to eat at Alma’s last Sunday. We decided on having our drinks first along with the house guacamole. We then proceeded on placing our drink orders. Our waitress brought us their chips and salsa. The salsa very very authentic and delicious. The chips that were brought with the salsa were too spicy . They were covered on one side with Chile powder. We asked for some water because they were that hot. We could not eat them and asked if they had some chips that were not covered with the Chile power. They gave us tostadas and we broke them into pieces in order to have them with their salsa and their guacamole. One drink took approximately 15 minutes to be brought out to us. Please keep in mind the restaurant was not very busy at that time. There were two bartenders and one of them was on their phone a lot. I waited another 5 minutes and asked when my drink would be coming. My waitress Carolina said she would go check. She returned and said the bartender couldn’t find the receipt containing our two drink orders. She apologized and told me the bartender would be making my drink and that the bar was very busy. Ten minutes later my drink arrives . My drink and my partners drink were delicious. My partner decides to have another drink and places the order with our waitress because we knew how long it took for the drink to be made. The waitress informs us that her shift had ended and a new waitress named Elisa would be serving us . I gave Carolina a nice tip because she did a great job. Elisa was another nice waitress. My partner decided to order another drink and we informed our waitress Elisa that the bar was very slow with making our drinks . She apologized and submitted my partners drink order . We waited approximately 15 minutes for my partners drink and told Elisa to cancel the drink . She apologized and went to the bartender and he apologized and told Elisa that he would make the drink immediately. We then placed our food order. Our taco orders came promptly. We ordered the fish tacos and fillet mignon tacos . The tacos were delicious. The tortillas were homemade along with the salsa. We loved the food, drinks and the waitresses but thought the bar service was terrible . I recommend that the owner work to find out what is happening with the drink orders being placed on the waitress/waiter computers traveling to the bar . You might want to have one dedicated bartender to reconcile the table drink orders and the drink orders being printed at the bar. I will return back to this restaurant because the food and table service was...

My young adult daughter was confronted in the bathroom by a unidentified male last night, the male walked into female bathroom and said “oh, I’m sorry I’m sorry , but then proceeded to block her from leaving bathroom. As she walked towards the door to exit the bathroom he grabbed her shoulder and she pushed his hand off and made him stumble enough for her to run. My daughter ran down the stairs/escalator to her table and told boyfriend what happened. A staff member came up to her ( who my daughter thought was a manager) and my daughter explained what happened. Boyfriend ran upstairs and saw the guy up in the janitors closet washing his hands. The staff member( aka hostess) already knew about this person and told my daughter that she knew who she was talking about. I spoke with the GM today, Adele who stated to me that my daughter told the staff member( that I’m being told was the hostess) that she “did not need the manager and she was ok” so, the hostess didn’t let the manager know that there was a guy that tried to attack a female? The GM told me that “yeah, the staffer noticed he appeared drunk or acting weird when he came into restaurant “ “but then he seemed ok…” This makes no sense. If they would have handled this guy in the beginning he wouldn’t have been there to traumatize my daughter after the fact. I asked the GM what her protocol was for this and she said that “She” would have called security or police. I informed her that there should be a protocol or process in place regardless of what my daughter said or didn’t say. My daughter was in SHOCk and it wasn’t until later in the evening that the circumstances hit her. The restaurant let this guy go with not even a call to the Grove security team.The GM completely dismissed my call and asked to speak with my daughter. The GM would not give me the name or phone number of her boss, she told me to go to their website- LOL. The GM had a sorry not sorry attitude- completely dismissive. I informed the GM that I am calling on her behalf and on behalf of other patrons that come into their restaurant. Everyone- This is a two level restaurant and the bathroom is located upstairs in a remote location. Do not go up there alone. My daughter said the upstairs was completely empty and creepy as you go toward bathroom. This happened quickly- Ladies please beware and consider...