Monterrey Cocina Mexicana — Restaurant in Midland

May 28th at 2:00 I drove up to Monterrey’s to eat by myself because I had called twice to put in an order and both times was placed on hold. One time almost 6 mins. So I just drove there anyway and there was no handicapped parking out of the 2 spots. I have always been told be the MPD if there is no parking available that I can make my own spot somewhere. So I parked in one of the 4 empty curbside parking spots at the front door and of course had my handicap placard. There was a line of seated people waiting when I walked in using my cane, & very slowly, because I can’t walk well at all. The man spoke up from the register while I was still at the doorway. Asked how many. I said just one. He told me there was a 15 min wait and I asked if I could just eat at the bar top. He told me well I had to move my car because that was for his curbside customers. I told him I had tried to be a customer by calling but since they never got back to me, I decided to come on up. I told him the MPD had always told me that I could make my own parking space if there were none available. He said well I couldn’t there because those were for his curbside customers. I said they are all empty and I can’t park anywhere else. He said well, you have to move. I said so you are kicking me out? He said Ma’am, those are for curbside you can not park there. I said well then I am going to leave you a very bad review saying you don’t a accommodate handicapped people and he said.. “awe now” while shaking his head. I loudly said then...while in tears and embarrassment... because of course everyone around us was listening and watching... “Well where the ** do you expect handicapped to park if you have more than 2?!?” He then said... “alright! Goodbye, I haven’t cussed at you”. So I turned around and left. Very embarrassed and very shocked that he would not a accommodate a handicapped person. That is against the law BTW

*I need to add that half way through this I asked for the manager. He said he was the manager. I asked for the owner. He said he was the owner. So I had no other choices but to leave my very first review ever and it is for my and my families favorite restaurant for 40 years. **He told my daughter that I just stood at the door. Yes, my back was hurting, I couldn’t walk nor stand well. If he had no seats I was going to leave. He is the one that yelled out to me where I was standing “How many?” He told my daughter (when she went up there to confront him) that he couldn’t let me park there just because I had a “tiny placard” in my car. ** I’m thinking of getting a lawyer. But I have for sure already reached out to the ADA to confer with them about this. *Handicapped should come before curbside parking spots. ** I have pictures of 4 EMPTY curbside spots and the the 2 full handicapped. So I will think about exploring this further since...

I honestly don’t think I’ve ever left a negative review for anything but I’ve also never had a dining experience like i had last night. My mom, aunt, and i sat at the bar. It was busy, so we came in patient. We got our drinks pretty quickly but hadn’t gotten any chips and salsa, and had to flag the bartender to take our order (honestly no big deal). After this, we had to ask for chips and salsa 2 more times. We waited and waited for our food and asked if the bartender could check on it. She came back and told us the kitchen was backed up so we politely asked if we could cancel our food order because we had somewhere to be at 7:30 and it was already 7:30. We had waited over an hour for food at that point. Then, who we assumed was a manager came over and very rudely told us that we couldn’t cancel our order. She said that we had been put in behind 30 other tickets and it’s “just how this works” and we’d have to wait our turn. She said it was literally on the grill and almost out anyway so we’d have to wait. The way she spoke to us was not professional at all and made us feel like it was our fault our food had taken over an hour. We waited an additional 30 minutes for HALF of the food to come out, then 10 minutes later another dish, then we had to ask for the final dish. We asked for boxes because like i said, we were running late, but we hadn’t been given silverware. The bartender watched as we boxed our food up with a straw before we finally asked for silverware and she gave us one set. This was truly a horrible dining experience and we felt that we were being held hostage for our food. If the food had already been on the grill when we asked to cancel the order. There’s no way it would’ve taken an additional 40 minutes. There were others at the bar that had sat down after we ordered and got their food way before us. We felt lied to, and honestly screwed over. We could’ve just csncelled the food, paid for our drinks, and gotten to our other thing on time. Instead we were made to pay for food we didn’t even want and couldn’t even eat. And everyone treated us like we were the villains. I work in the food industry and have for years so i understand how orders can be forgotten, and kitchens can get backed up. But i also understand how to talk to people and that was not it. Not once did anyone apologize for the wait or inconvenience. My mom has always been a fan of this restaurant and she said she’s not coming back after this. Its just a...

Overall, the food quality doesn't compare to some of my favorite restaurants, but neither do the prices. The service was very friendly, the wait times weren't long, and the environment is beautiful, making this a strong choice when looking for somewhere to enjoy a night out with the family.

My favorite item here is the chili con queso. I like it better here than any other restaurant I've been to in town, except maybe one! And the one I'm thinking of, a certain corn queso, is waaay more expensive than this one, but probably only a little bit better (in my opinion). This queso is mild, creamy, and even almost subtly sweet.

On the food, some of the items were a little greasy and didn't taste like they were cooked in the highest quality of oils, which is important to me in consideration of my own and my family's health.

I got a margarita cocktail and thought the mixer tasted terribly cheap. I couldn't taste the supposedly high quality tequila they advertised, which made me feel disappointed as the description made it sound like a quality margarita. I didn't try the other drinks on the menu even though they sounded good because I thought they might taste really cheap as well. The one I got didn't live up to its description and I couldn't tolerate more than a few sips.

That said, their drink menu lists quality tequilas and several options for customizing a drink. It looks convincing enough to make me consider that maybe I got a drink I didn't like by chance. Also we got some of their homemade lemonade, and it was delicious! Maybe they could throw some tequila in that and it would taste better.

So overall, friendly service, attractive restaurant, mediocre food and drinks, great prices, short wait times, and great queso and lemonade. It's a decent choice for a casual night out, especially when you're short on...