Felipe's Mexican Taqueria — Restaurant in Naples

Because of COVID, I am weary of eating out and when I do, I will only do so if outdoor seating is provided. At lunchtime on Christmas Eve, I sat at the bar and asked the woman bartender for a Corona Light. She said she'd be back in a minute, but....you guessed it, she never returned, I guess she was too busy texting on her phone and talking to her two girlfriends in the kitchen, to which I had a clear view. I then "flagged" down another woman and asked for a bowl of soup, a side of hot salsa and a beer. At this point, the bartender (Carlos) told the server that he'd get the beer. When I asked him for a cocktail napkin, he said it was too windy to give me a napkin. I told him I would place my keys on the napkin to prevent it from flying away and once again, asked nicely for a napkin. My soup arrived, but NO napkin, NO utensils and NO salsa. I asked Carlos for the salsa and he told me I would have to go inside to get my own salsa. I told him the server had said nothing about my having to get my own salsa. He begrudgingly retrieved the salsa and quite angrily slammed it down on the counter in front of me. Not once did anyone ask me if I was enjoying my meal and not once was I greeted with a "hello, welcome to Felipe's." Later, while eating my soup, I noticed that Carlos wasn't wearing a mask while he was inside the restaurant. When he came outside to the outdoor bar, he was also NOT wearing a mask. When I requested my bill, I asked that he wear a mask to which he replied (and I quote): "I don't have to wear a mask when I'm on this side of the bar." THAT IS ABSOLUTELY NOT TRUE! Masks are required in the City and County of Naples by employees, employers and customers. When the bill was finally delivered, I paid in cash and asked for change. The bill was $14.41 - - I gave him $15.00 He then proceeded to yell from the inside bar toward the outside bar asking if I wanted change. Obviously after having to endure the wrath of an angry employee, the last thing I was going to do was tip him. He came out to the bar and handed me a $1 bill asking me for the $.41 I told him I did not have change. He then gave me the $1 bill and turned to the person next to me (who happens to be an acquaintance of mine) and said something rude about my not giving him change. I told the other customer that the service had been sub-par and that the bartender's attitude and behavior was unacceptable. The customer agreed that the bartender had been quite rude. I will never go back to this restaurant. It is paramount businesses treat their customers with respect and kindness - - now more than ever! When an owner replies to a review with a negative comments, such as: "Still at it huh? Yelp wasn't enough. Good riddance." it further supports my initial review that the total lack of respect for one's customers trickles down...

I have to say that I was not impressed, let alone satisfied with much there. Me and my girlfriend decided to try them out on our day off since we heard they had a decent happy hour for drinks. We started off with two margaritas and the Felipe's Special, which is a "large" basket of chips (rather small) and three 4oz plastic containers of salsa, queso and guacamole. The margaritas tasted basically like watered down sour mix with a splash of tequila. The salsa was essentially mashed up tomatoes and water. The guacamole was extremely bland with almost no flavor, not to mention the already small portion you receive had a massive chuck of avocado that was about half the container. The queso was the only decent thing out of the entire "Special". We then got another round of drinks before ordering food. I decided to try the Mojito since I didn't not enjoy the margarita. The Mojito I was given was about 3/4 ice, mint leaves and lime wedges with about 5 or 6 sips of liquid which was over poweringly strong with lime. We then moved on to order tacos for our meal. My girl chose 2 tacos and myself 3. She got the Tinga chicken and Al Pastor. Myself, I got the Tinga chicken, Carnitas and Chorizo. Overall the flavor wasn't bad but there was grease and oil just oozing out and dripping down our hands to the point where I needed an entire napkin for each taco's mess. After that was over, we decided to get one more round of drinks before we left since there was a new bartender now and we thought maybe they would make better drinks. The bartender had asked is if we each wanted another drink and we said yes. I got another Mojito and my girl another Margarita. He only brought out my Mojito and then asked my girl again if she wanted another drink (which he had already asked and just never gotten). There was something about my Mojito that was WAY OFF but I just couldn't put my finger on it. My girl's margarita was not all that bad. So this tells me there is absolutely no standard or consistency in their drinks so it's luck of the draw who will make you a decent drink. With all that said, I will NEVER be coming back and I will NEVER even speak the name of the restaurant to anyone to even spark their interest in going there. I was a kitchen manager at a Mexican cantina for a year and know what these items SHOULD be and I was severly disappointed! Not to mention we were 2 of about 8 people in the entire place so I can't even begin to credit them by passing it off as "oh well the place is busy so..." The only way I would ever set foot in that place again is if I was already a few drinks in and I did not have to pay...

Update: I was reached out to by the restaurant after leaving this review and being told that they couldn’t give a refund because it had been 30 days (see photo attached) and their POS doesn’t allow refunds after that date. In the email, the policy had now changed to 90 days, which gave them 3 months to make things right. Both myself and my sister had to follow up with them to try and come to a solution and/or common ground. I was also told that my review is considered hate speech and that’s I’m not welcomed back at any of their restaurants. If you look at my profile, I am very honest and upfront with the reviews I leave for businesses. Regardless of the customer service, our food was completely subpar and I stand by that!

Original Review: If i could give this place zero stars, I would! Truly an awful experience. We ordered takeout and the food was ice cold, they forgot an entire steak that we ordered, we had to ask for alcohol to be added to our margaritas, the list goes on. Not to mention the food was subpar, there was no flavor whatsoever, I’m not sure who is keeping this place in business. Anyways, the restaurant being empty during dinner hours should have been a sign for us to turn around and go somewhere else. With all that being said, we contacted the restaurant because of our less than ideal experience and we were told that we would be fully refunded for the amount we paid. It took months of following up just to be told that they could no longer refund us and that they gave us a gift card for the amount we spent instead. That gift card is of no use for use as we don’t live in Naples nor will we ever return to this establishment. Wish businesses at least followed through with what they promise to the customers. They had many times to make this right and fell short. Do...