Mama Por Dios - DTLA — Restaurant in Los Angeles

Id never be back. Idk if the waiter thought because we were POC we wouldn’t tip but we tip and tip well for great service. So we showed up with a party of 15 maybe more. we were put in a private room that turned into a hotbox. There was no AC in the building at all. While waiting for the rest of our party, we went to the bar to have a drink and noticed immediately it was hot. So the private room was really hot. They have an Ac unit the size of the one in my bedroom in the room to cool it off. It did nothing for the people sitting by the door. The food was OK. The lobster enchilada amazing but the lobster mac & cheese it was mid could’ve just passed on that. The waiter came and took our drink orders and did not come back until it was time to take our food order and then after he took our food order, we didn’t see him until the time for the check. so when the staff came out with all the food, they had no idea what belong to who. And because the menus in Spanish for some of the menu items. Some people didn’t know what exactly it was that they were trying to bring them. Normally, this is the part where the waiter comes and directs them to which person ordered which plate, but our waiter was nowhere to be found. When you arrive, they have you scan a QR code to pull up the menu on your phone. Check your receipt and your menu. The prices are not the same. I only gave it two stars because the lobster enchilada and the drinks were really good. But the service was trash side dishes were trash and the atmosphere is a party atmosphere so if you’re there to talk to somebody and have conversations or you know, talk to somebody, it’s not possible. To end the night they brought out the last two dishes after pretty much everybody was done eating and it was just a salad. The people who ordered the salad told him no thank you everybody’s already done eating we no longer want it. We’re just gonna go ahead and chalk it up to a lose. The waiter refused to remove the salad from the check and refused to take the salads back. Ultimately the manager had to be called about the situation. Before the salad came out, we brought it to the waiter attention. The salads were never brought out, and they were no longer desired. He came back with the salads. I wrote down my initial order and asked if the salad would come out before the food. The waiter said no, so I never ordered the salad. He brought a salad and I told him I never ordered it. He insisted I did and I replayed our conversation to him and told him I did not order it he tried to get me to take the salad. I was already done eating so why would I take the salad. If I didn’t have to tip 20% because of our party size I wouldn’t have. The service was not worth 20% of anything DO NOT EAT THE GARLIC MUSHROOMS...

We ended up having dinner here on Saturday because we could not make it to our original reservation at a different restaurant.

We were a party of 5 and we were seated outside on the patio. The table was meant to be for a party of 9 so the seating was weird as there was 4 empty seats..

Our server came out not long after and gave us water and time to look over the menu. The water comes bottled and it is about $7.50 per bottle - we got four.

We all ordered something different (food and drinks). Our drinks consisted of:

MAMAZITA - Tequila, raspberry, raspberry liqueur and lime juice. $21 COCO LOCO - Coconut water, coconut rum and pineapple juice. $21 LA CHURUMBELA - The 3 best selling margaritas: mango, tamarindo and strawberry. $20 AZULITO - Cucumber mix, blue Curaçao zero alcohol, lime juice, simple syrup, Sprite. $14

FOOD:

App: GUACAMOLE DE CHICHARRÓN

Entrees:

CAMARÓN CON PULPO - 22. Cooked shrimp, octopus, black sauce, cucumber, onion.

TACOS DORADOS - 28. Hard shell tacos stuffed with option of: Chicken and Cheese. Seasoned cabbage, pico de gallo, cream and cheese, beans.

CHICKEN IN THE BUSHES - 22. Tender, crispy chicken, Caesar Salad

Side of French Fries - $15

FILET MIGNON - 55. Wrapped in bacon 8oz. asparagus, mashed potato.

ENTRAÑA PRIME - 45. Skirt steak prime, roasted potatoes, quesadilla, pico de gallo, guacamole.

The guac came out not long after and it was fresh. It sadly had no flavor though and there was no salt nor pepper at our table to put some on. My filet mignon was delicious and cooked perfectly. It was seasoned well and paired great with the mashed potatoes and asparagus. The portions on the mashed potatoes and asparagus was sad though as I think only counted like 3 asparagus and like a drop of mashed potatoes. My sister had the entrada prime and she did not like it one bit. The meat had no flavor and it was chewy. The quesadillas were disappointing and just the whole plate is a pass.

The chicken salad was pretty good and my friend seemed to enjoy it. Same goes with the tacos dorados and ceviche that our other guests ate. Service could've been better but ehh it could've been that it was already later at night.

We...

Get ready for the circus. This is Los Angeles hype at its finest. My sister chose this location for her birthday celebration. She made reservations for 9:30pm. Initially, she was excited but she was not ready for the Los Angeles nightlife theatrics.

Despite our arriving on time, within minutes the "we want to look popular" show started. The bouncer told our family to move to the side "because VIP of 35 are coming" and we "will be trampled over."

Employees reminded us that, despite having a reservation, we would have to wait "because VIP pays a different amount of money and need the space." I was then directed to the $30 COSCO bottles in the cabinets that VIP probably $200 for.

I advocated for my sister and asked them for an explanation for the treatment. They informed me that they were very busy. After we were seated, the server wanted to serve alcohol first (as he was trained so that guest would not recognize the poor service). I informed him we wanted water, drink menus, and food menus. He ran away for about 30 minutes and returned to ask if we wanted drinks. I reminded him we did not have water served or drink menus. He ran away again and never returned. Instead, a new server arrived to inform us they were very busy and that the previous server needed help. He also apologized to the table next to us who also had not been served.

After a 3rd try at asking and 30 minutes, we were finally served water and provided menus. We eventually ordered drinks and food at the same time as we anticipated (since we then looked at reviews) that it would a while. The appetizers took another half hour to arrive and 1.5 hours into service, we're still waiting on food. The table next to us is still waiting on appetizers. But the shots are free flowing all night.

The owner needs to decide if they want to be a fine dining restaurant or a night club. The whole experience is pretentious and perfect for naive natives who know nothing about fine dining experience. Their aim is to get you drunk and overcharge for substandard food so that you don't...