LA UNO COCINA DE MAR — Restaurant in McAllen

So, my wife and I decided to go to La Uno for our anniversary dinner. I had heard good things about the food served. It is located on the north side of the expressway between McColl and 2nd st on the second floor. Upon entering I get the sense of a modern day, hip restaurant. Once seated, we start discussing the menu options. Then we notice no one has stopped by to take our drink order, time passes, then a lady comes by and puts three salsas in little jars and chips on the table. She poured some warm broth into little sipping cups for us to enjoy and we did. The salsas was really spicy, too hot for my wife, I like the heat. One was black, I assume it was a squid ink salsa we never could ask because we still had no server come by. We were able to wash down the chips with the broth. I noticed the silverware wrapped in a cheap thin napkin. If you are going to be an upscale place use linen, if not at least use a nice paper napkin, and not single ply like this one. Anyways, we waited and waited for someone to stop by, there were employees passing our table but none stopped by. I wanted to wave one down but I felt it would cause a negative start to our experience. Plus, as a customer in a restaurant you should not have to wave for service. I understand servers get busy but at least stop by and say "I'll be right with you", and acknowledge the presence of your guests. So we waited some more. Finally, I told my wife if we don't get a server in the next five minutes we are going to Pappadeuax's for our Anniversary. We ended up getting up and leaving. NO SERVICE!! Could not believe it. The hostess should be communicating with the servers to let them know they have guests seated. I have never had this experience before, the place is not that big and the manager who was there should have noticed. I was waiting for him to look my way so I could get his attention, didn't happen. I regret that I didn't get to try the food, and that's why there are no meal pictures included with the ones I did post....

The unique blend of menu items and lively atmosphere make this restaurant a refreshing place to eat at! However, beware... They've recently started charging for water.

From the moment you walk in, you get greeted with friendly staff and a beautiful dining area that consists of indoor and outdoor seating that blend together. I appreciate that while this feels like an upscale restaurant, you're still welcome to dress casually. They have a great music playlist and attentive staff that really make you feel comfortable.

The menu has a lot of variety. There's something for everyone! Whether you are feeling like eating something light or having something hearty, there's plenty of great options. This expands even further if you're a seafood lover. I was even impressed by their beef dishes. The ribeye tacos with bone marrow were rich and perfectly seasoned. They felt like some of the most flavorful tacos I've had. Their shrimp and salmon dishes are also great tasting. If you love great looking plates, this restaurant does a great job at making every plate picture-worthy. In addition to all this, you get complimentary soup and chips.

Pricing feels reasonable for what you get. There are quite a few dishes that are priced on the higher end, but you always get quality and generous portions. You can honestly get a good meal spending less than $30.

And now the scummy part. They recently started charging for water. $3.50 per Aquafina bottle. That's insane! At least give me higher quality water for that price. Even other places that charge for water give you a glass bottle. I find this diminishing and insulting. If they really needed that small amount of revenue, they should focus on menu items. I really hope they don't continue with this sort of predatory action.

Overall, great experience with great food that ended on a sour note after finding out that a plastic water bottle is worth...

The restaurant is clean and modern , nice setup and ambient ! It could have potential but the food is so disappointing. The chef is trying a fusion between Caribbean and Mexican and is just a mess ! Presentation looks great but the taste is bland , no flavor or the wrong mix of flavors ! On their defense I only tried the tostadas one of each and a taco with pulled pork and smoked fish , the most distasteful combination and very greasy , where you’d expect a grease taco to be delicious! Tostadas great presentation but with no taste or bad taste! I really wanted to like this restaurant but such a disappointment, left from there with a bad taste in my mouth and a feeling of money not well spent ! Also they can work on their waiter training , the waiter never came back to ask how the food is or if we need anything,the restaurant was not packed ,we had to raise our hand to get someone attention for anything we needed .Based on my experience if you look for fine dining I don’t recommend.SALOME ON MAIN , SALT and SANA FE definitely top notch , your money worth spending . Note to the chef : The fried chives or whatever is if that you top your tostadas with has an extremely bitter taste , impossible to enjoy and is applied generously too. Testing of the food before is sent out can go...