Gringada Mexican Restaurant — Restaurant in Maryland

Discrimination?

I'm not one to complain; never do, in fact. This is the first time I have reviewed anything online. I tend to give people the benefit of the doubt, but my awful experience about 30 minutes ago at Gringada was undoubtedly intentional.

Showed up around 1 with my girlfriend for lunch, we are new to the area and wanted to try something new. Showed up and the place seemed nice. Got water, ordered food, ate chips, and eventually the food showed up. Thought it was strange that the waitress asked if everything was good before we ate, but didn't think anything of it.According to the menu, my order was a $13.00 plate of chicken with sauce and onions and white rice along with a salad, sounded delicious. First thing I noticed was a produce sticker on the peeled avocado (should have come off with the skin, somehow found its way back). Again, thought nothing of it until I noticed there was no dressing to be found anywhere. I ate a little rabbit food before trying the chicken, which was not bad, but did not come with cheese (which I asked for) or rice (which I thought maybe I misread until I checked as I was leaving). My girlfriend's food was ok, "bland" in her opinion, but edible. While we ate, we (still having our jackets on) noticed that our feet and our food were getting cold quickly, becoming more uncomfortable as time passed. Drinks empty and unable to stomach any more, We waited for the check until we couldn't stay any longer, and walked up to the register, where we (her only table) interrupted the waitress's 20 minute conversation with someone. We did get a "Thank you" as we left.

I can not imagine that we did anything to upset the staff of Gringada, but maybe the slur in their name has something to do with their service. We are a young (early 20s) white couple, kept to ourselves, and weren't dressed or acting in any way that would warrant disrespect.

I hope this was a one-time event and your experience at this restaurant is as great as others claim. If not, please share your experience so others don't have to until they improve their service. I can't imagine ever returning, but I hope things would be better if we ever were to.

Thanks for reading...

The food was average at best but the experience was awful. This business is in a financial bind and they made it painfully obvious. They will nickel and dime you wherever possible.

The "complementary" chips & dip literally came with 8 chips to split between 2 people. If you wanted any more it was extra. We ordered the fajitas for 2, which came with a huge portion of toppings. It honestly could have fed 3-4 people, which was good and the only reason this review has 2 stars instead of 1. The problem is it only came with 4 tortillas which wasn't nearly enough for what they gave us. We asked for. More tortillas and that charged us $2... and only gave us 2 EXTRA TORTILLAS.

Aside from the food, the atmosphere was just bad. Many of the light bulbs had been unscrewed making it dark, no music was playing, and heat was turned off so literally everyone in there kept their coats on. I'm assuming it was to save on electricity, but come on guys. There were random women all dressed up comings and going into the bathroom from the kitchen area with flatirons and makeup. According to the waitress there is no physical drink menu. You just have to ask and hope they have it.

Whole experience...

I went there for lunch on Christmas Eve. I was, unsurprisingly, their only customer.

The service was slow to bring out chips or take my drink order. I gave her the drink order and the food order (taco and 2 tamales.) I love tamales and have unsuccessfully searched the area for good tamales. After a while the waitress brought out my food, and asked me if everything was OK. I mentioned my drink. She had forgotten. Since everything was made to order, I didn't mind the wait, I would have liked to have my drink while waiting. The taco was the size of a Taco Bell taco. The shell seemed like it was out of a box. It was OK The tamales were large, but didn't look like they had been steamed in corn husks. (Perhaps, that is a regional technique.) The filling was chicken (I was not given a choice) It was a bit dry, but there was a sauce I could use. I've had tamales in San Antonio and even in the Dallas airport that were better.

The drink cost $2.50 and the server didn't check if I needed a refill. I really don't understand why the service was not more attentive since there was no one else in the dining room.

It wasn't a horrible meal, but I wouldn't recommend the...