Kalaveras — Restaurant in Montebello

It’s really hard to understand how an establishment like this remains open. Hands down I experienced the worst customer service in my life at Kalaveras. My family and I attempted to have a great night out but that attempt was blocked by Kalaveras.

Alfredo (waiter) needs to be trained on how to serve customers. He was not attentive and overall had a very smug attitude. At one point I asked Alfredo for something and he just walked away. The environment was loud so I gave him the benefit of the doubt that maybe he didn’t hear me. I can understand that. One thing I found weird was that the staff was carrying tables over our heads and rearranging their furniture on a Saturday night. It was definitely a hazard and made us feel uncomfortable. It felt like an unorganized family party.

Our group ordered a couple of pitchers of beer while we were deciding what to eat. We asked Alfredo for another pitcher of beer and instead he brought us our check. (WHAT?!) We informed him that we were not done but he told us we were drinking too slow and that we had not ordered food. (We were trying to order more drinks and about to order dinner for our entire party but they wouldn’t let us!) 🤔 We were so blindsided and confused!

We requested to speak with a man who were informed was the owner. He asked us to give him a minute to look into it and instead of coming back to us, he sent another guy (a Manager named Erwin) to talk to us. Erwin told us that their computer’s algorithm said we were pacing too slow with our drinks and we would have to leave. He said that there was a fight on and there were 80 people outside. I looked outside and maybe saw 4 or 5?

Never in my life has a restaurant tried to control the speed in which I eat or drink. I was so embarrassed for them.

We expressed our disappointment with how the waiter had disrespected us and Erwin just continued to defend the waiter and their restaurant’s system. Erwin said that we needed to compromise with them and meet them in the middle. That made me extremely frustrated because we were doing nothing but trying to spend more money at their establishment. We asked what a compromise would be and Erwin said that compromising would mean we could continue to stay there. Most places would be welcoming their customers in with open arms!

I requested to speak with the owner again. The owner had no customer service skills. When I asked what could be done he replied “let me ask my brother” and walked away. Who is his brother and why would you say that to a customer in a place you own?! This added to the embarrassment. After a few minutes I saw the owner from across the room, walked towards him and he actually walked into the back. Eventually, Erwin came up to our table and reiterated the same thing as before. We were baffled at the lack of customer service this place had.

Overall, this was a shining example for a training video on how not to run a restaurant. I thought we were being filmed for that or maybe an episode of “Punk’D”. Wow, what a night!...

Kalaveras is a fairly large, family-owned/operated “chain” of restaurants throughout SoCal; you’ve probably seen one or two in your travels. It’s a “modern Mexican” restaurant in design and food offerings.

The food at Kalaveras isn’t bad - in fact, my girlfriend said their Albondigas Soup might be the best she’s ever had. However, it feels like Kalaveras tries too hard to be “fancy” and somewhat froo-froo with their offerings, much in the same way as the Javier’s chain.

In our opinion, Mexican food just needs to be freakin’ good - it doesn’t need to get lost in fancy presentation. And that’s kind of the downside to Kalaveras.

We ordered the soup, several Asada Tacos, and Taquitos Dorados (some chicken, some potato). The taquitos were okay - but the dye-colored tortilla wraps are off-putting, and my girlfriend says it messes with the taste, which I agree with. My asada tacos were good and the presentation was great (dunno why the photo I took of that isn’t showing up in my images for this review when selecting which to upload - weird), but the marinade used kinda dulled the taste for me.

Kalaveras is an upscale, “hip” and “fancy” place - and the prices reflect that, unfortunately. This is kinda a one-and-done situation unless there aren’t any other options nearby and you’re craving Mexican food. Like I said, it’s not BAD - it’s just too fancy for its own good and the higher prices detract from what could be an amazing go-to for Mexican cuisine.

Restaurants often trip over themselves when trying to be something they’re not - or shouldn’t be. A great Mexican place should be warm and welcoming, nicely decorated, and the flavor explosion of the food should be the focus, even if it’s a burrito lying on a plate with hot refried beans and rice swamping together into melted goodness. Food over fancy, in our opinion.

Kalaveras is trying too hard...

We have been coming to this place for lunch for the past 25 years. Ever since this same place was known as La Costa. I'm aware that most likely management and/or ownership changes have occurred hence the change of name. Three coworkers and myself went for lunch last Friday March 10, we asked for ONE order of mixed fajitas and ONE order of taquitos dorados. Just entrees, plus a total of 6 Cadillacs and 2 Margaritas. We requested the waiter to put 1800 tequila instead of the Jimador. When the bill was given to us, we had the unpleasant surprise that it totaled $270.61. $270.61 for two entrees, 6 Cadillacs and 2 Margaritas? This included a 18% service charge as the tip was not included. What a rip off!!! When we asked the waiter as to why the bill was so high - he stated that since we upgraded it to 1800 instead of the Jimador - that is why the bill was high. Also he stated that according to the restaurant - the 18% service charge was if there were more than 6 guests or if the bill ran more than $200.00. So regardless of our group being only four persons- as our bill was $211.00 they had automatically included the 18% service charge. I might be mistaken, but since when does a surcharge apply if your bill runs higher than $200.00??? With this practice, instead of encouraging the customers to consume more - they are forcing the customers about watching what they order so they won't be ripped off with the 18% surcharge if the bill runs higher than $200.00 In a nutshell. Expensive drinks, expensive entrees, a mystery surcharge for spending more than $200.00. Go somewhere else if you can. We DEFINITELY ARE...