El Cielo — Restaurant in Loveland

Met friends yesterday for our group birthday celebration. I have to say I have not been here in a very long time. A few years back it was our favorite Mexican place but the service got so bad ( front of house ) we just gave up after 4 back to back poor experiences. After discovering the place we wanted to try ,Durbar , was not open on Monday we group decided to go to El Cielo. We arrived at 11:45.

Our waitress was very good, just the perfect amount of friendly service to our table. Based on her I would try again. The restaurant was pretty dead for a lunch rush, never more the 5 tables.

The were a few food issues - the buffet was out of cheese enchiladas fairly early - one person in our party waited & asked repeatedly when a fresh pan would be coming out. It did take surprisingly long to arrive.

My friend just gave up with waiting , making herself a burrito wrapped in a flour tortilla that really did look stale it cracked instead of softly rolling into shape. I had the cheese enchiladas and frankly they weren't all that great - pretty typical, so I didn't think she was missing out ! The salsa bar is excellent, always very flavorful with a variety of heat levels. The lunch buffet is 8.99 which is fair for the amount & quality of the items on it. If they had more there, they could charge more - I ordered it mainly for self made nachos with lots of green chile and salsas. I'd like to see more items. Beans, sour cream, black olives, lime, other meats but ground beef...they could really make it nice not just okay. The star of the day was the friendly waitress & the salsas at...

Let's start out with when we were sat at the table. There was only 3 of us, and there was a man that came up and asked if it was just the 3 of us, said yes, he walked us over to a table threw 2 menus down on the table and walked away. It took about 15-20 minutes to get drinks. Never asked if we wanted refills, once the food came, there was never anyone that came by and asked if we needed anything. We had to request our check so we could leave. A man walked over with our tab, handed it to me and asked if he could take my card for payment. I literally got a brief glance of the tab and it was over $100. I thought that was a lot for 2 adults and I child, but I just thought I would look it over when he brought it back with my card and a receipt to sign. He came back with just a receipt to sign with the final amount and a place for a tip. My husband asked for broken down receipt so we could see the charges because it wasn't adding up. He paused for a few seconds, said he lost his train of thought and said he would be back. Brought back the itemized copy of what we ordered and there it was, they added 18% gratuity on an $80 check. If we wouldn't have asked for that back, we would have left a tip on top of that. I thought that was shady business to do. I have never seen an automatic gratuity on a table of 3 for $80. I have also never been to a restaurant where they ask for payment when they bring the check over and don't provide you a copy when they come back. All the waitresses were very nice, but make sure you check your receipt before leaving...

I don't often do pickup orders, but wanting to treat myself after an extremely difficult week I placed a pickup order for a bean burrito smothered with green chile, topped with cheese and a side of rice. The girl taking my order had a hard time understanding just bean, not bean and cheese, although I thought she understood after repeating "bean and cheese but cheese on top." I was told it would be ready in 5-10 minutes. The girl helping me could not tell me how long my order sat before I arrived. My drive took 15 minutes, of course it was cold by the time I got it home. It was a bean and cheese burrito with barely any green chile and the amount of cheese both in and on the burrito made the dish a gooey, greasy, flavorless mess. It was honestly disgusting but I was so hungry I ate it anyway in disbelief and anger that it cost $9. Since when does a smothered bean burrito and rice cost $9?? I was so upset, I called and spoke to a manager who did not want to listen to the issues with my order and experience. She offered me another burrito. I asked for a refund or a credit instead. She hastily obliged my refund and rudely ended the call. After being a patron for years I will no longer give them my business. No apologies and no time to hear me out. I don't think she has the level of professionalism expected of a manager. This place has gone so far downhill since the pandemic started. I would think they'd want to step it up a notch for the business they do get....