Peppers New Mexican Cafe & Bar — Restaurant in Mesilla

My wife and I went to eat at Peppers. We spoke to one of the two young girls at the door who told us it would be a 20 minute wait which I said would be fine. After waiting for about 25 minutes I went up and inquired about how much longer which she replied that ther was only 1 couple before us and we would be seated. I said great and went back and waited again. After another 30 minutes, so now we've waited 55 minutes, I went and asked the same young girl how much longer and she said the she was just getting ready to seat us. I motioned for my wife and we followed the girl to the dinning room where we found 14 empty tables. I asked the girl why such a long wait with so many empty tables, to which she replied that the kitchen was small and having a hard time keeping up so they were trying to help by not seating patrons as fast.

My wife and I noticed that every other table received chips and salsa so we waited for ours which never came. But the waitress showed up and took our drink order and said someone would bring our chips out shortly. After a short wait she came back with our drinks and was ready to leave again when we let her know that we were ready to order. She took our order and left. A few minutes later she returned with our plates, I had ordered a burger, medium, and my wife had a Mexican plate, which looked really good. When I cut the burger in half it was really rare inside. I waited for the waitress to return and showed her the burger which she offered to take back to the kitchen and have redone. A couple of minutes later she returned with my plate but in noticed that it was the same burger still with the onion ring and tomato slice I had put on top and cut in half. I asked if she had simply put the whole plate in the microwave and she said the don't have a microwave. So I asked how they re-cooked my burger without removing it from the plate or even the bun, and she just stood there looking at us and didn't say anything.

At that point my wife and I had both had enough and said we just wanted to leave and the waitress walked away, I thought she was going to get a manager, but no, she came back with our bill, handed it to me and walked away again. We looked to see that the burger wasn't on the bill and looked for where to pay. We figured the it must not be the waitress because she just walked away, so with money and the bill in hand we headed for the bar to pay, where we were stopped by a male waiter and told that we must pay our waitress. So I went back to the table and asked another waitress to please get our waitress. When she came out, I asked why she walked away if she knew that we wanted to pay and leave, she said she didn't want to rush us. So I simply gave her the money and left. I was never asked if there was something they could do to make it right, did I want to speak to a manager, nothing, like this happens all the time and this is how we handle it.

We won't...

Arrived at 6:18 pm on September 1st and the manager (Aileen, I think was her name) immediately gave a bunch of attitude. She told me it was a 45 minute wait without asking if we have a reservation or our name. She very aggresive and hostile in both tone, demeanor, and word choice. I informed her we have a reservation and sat us soon thereafter, but was very bratty. While waiting to be seated, we heard her tell several other people waiting outrageous wait times. The wait times were outrageous because there were plenty of open tables, little to no other parties waiting and plenty of waitresses. It appears she was making an excuse for her poor management.

She was also trying to "train" what appears to be a new host. She was very hostile with him, demeaning him in front of customers. I felt bad for him cause it appeared he was really trying.

Finally sat down at apprapproximately 6:24 pm. Ordered our meals at approximately 10 minutes later. Food arrived around 7:35 pm. Interesting to note, I never once saw someone clearing tables after customers left. There were at least 5 dirty tables in the area around us.

Food was cold, lacked flavor, poorly presented and had small portions. I am not being hyperbolic when I say it was the worst New Mexican food I have ever had.

The waitress was very polite and attentive. Her name was Aaliyah. She was the only positive part of the dining experience. I felt bad for her because I am sure she was getting an earful from other customers. And she also has to worked with her rude, angry manager.

Finally, the failed to check me on the OpenTable app, and so it got reported that I missed the reservation. OpenTable said I risked having my account suspended. Thankfully I was able to fight it and prove that I was there by sharing a copy of my receipt. But still, this is the result of the manager not asking for the name of our reservation.

This could be the worst and most poorly managed restaurant...

From the hostess to our waiter horrible experience. I'm so embarrassed that I recommended this place to eat to my family visiting from out of town. We asked for a table in peppers and had to wait an 1 and a half when there was only 2 tables seated then the hostess sat us in the double Eagle side and forgot our high chairs.... we asked moved to peppers side and our waiter was just as bad... he took forever to come to the table and just for water another waitress actually checked in on us and she brought us some water... to take our order after sitting around for an hour wondering where our waiter was he finally came back and took it.. the food was okay but took forever to come out... I had to go find him to pay the bill and he was just hanging out in the kitchen... we never had a refill on drinks till we were leaving... I hope they can make a change in staff so no one else has this horrible experience... if I come back I probably will just sit bar they seemed a little...