Cilantro Fresh Mexican Grill — Restaurant in New Haven

FOOD ALLERGY!!!! Counter Person is Counterproductive. We frequent Cilantro. Always great food and Service. On 4/26/19, from, the small tablet w/Specials, my girlfriend placed her order with a counter person we are not familiar with. After a long pause, with a contorted facial expression, the counter girl, then proceeded to laugh at my girlfriend.?? Not, WITH her,. AT her!?? Then sniped at my girlfriend, who misspoke while ordering. We both stood awestruck. My GF owned it, and ironically, apologized for any confusion which was trivial. GF did her best to move on from the humiliation, so I ordered.. Went for food, not for insult or an argument. Paid for and even tipped with CC at counter, despite the mistreatment. (some know why)) Food arrived. Mine was great! Our preferred booth, is not well-lit, it took some time to notice her Steak Quesadilla Salad, was CHICKEN!!?? My solitary allergy, POULTRY! Girlfriend dislikes poultry, so, it's copesetic. We never order it. It took even more time for my GF to muster a return to the counter with their folly, after being insulted. My Girlfriend received even more friction from her while explaining the gravity of their mistake, delivered to our table. Without being overly-descript, my Allergic reactions are excruciating. Ruins my meal and that of those around me, it also robs me of the hours it takes to subside. That said, there is NEVER any confusion on our part when given multiple, animal protein options. We always sample and share each other's meals when out. For obvious reasons, we do not order Poultry. Fortunately, for all involved, I took notice of the chicken, and did not sample the dish placed at our table. Once the girl at the counter was done schooling us on order etiquette, and we were on track, we clearly ordered steak, fish and pork. The receipt only lists order total, not what ordered. I take issue with that, at ANY establishment. When my GF’s replacement arrived, I'm nearly done with mine. Meal ruined for GF, we needed a,To-Go-Lid for her late arrival. Which meant, yet another, trip to the dreaded counter. Once grill staff got her attention, they handed off a lid to her, now seated in corner of Kitchen area with hands out of view. (texting w/phone?? On break???) A similar complaint regarding "staff" using phone and lackluster Customer Service was mentioned in another, recent review. Your establishment is only as good as its weakest link, in that moment. Your counter person is that link and liability. Mistakes happen, although, many can be averted. Had she been less preoccupied on schooling us on the menu, and more preoccupied on being helpful in assisting customers with ordering, that which you sell, she might have even performed a read-back off the order. Instead of sending my Allergy to my table. We don't want anyone disciplined or dismissed. Solves nothing, makes it someone else's problem, when you kick the can down the road or they get defensive and leave. We educate, we encourage, we help them to become experts at their craft. that which they get paid for. Accountability, Simple We look before we leap,. PBA, is a neurological disorder, marked by emotional incontinence, which could explain, unprovoked laughter. If so afflicted, we are not without compassion. If not the case, One who lacks tolerance and patience, is in dire need of lessons in both humility and humanity, BEFORE working with the public. Humility first. Dumpster runs, polishing dishes, cookware, floors and toilets, BEFORE, they communicate with another customer. The phone, needs to be secured, till break. Then and only then, can you polish the humble human till humanity flows and customers flow in. I humbly paid $29.00, Pre-Tip for that experience.. Could have played out much differently. You were spared an E.D.visit, medical and legal fees which would make an the Ambulance ride look like an Uber fare. Our advice is both Free and Invaluable.. You're...

This place had been somewhat of an out of reach, bucket list type place for a long while. My wife often drives by here on her way to work, and she had noted on more than one occasion that she liked the look and curbside feel of the place. And we're both kind of self-admitted Mexican fan-boys. The problem is that I rarely leave my home town, and when I do...I do everything I can to get back to my town as soon as possible. So, sadly, it just never came together. And every time we mentioned it, I was afraid I was missing something special. As it turns out, I was.

As it turns out, this past weekend found me at the Southern Connecticut State University with my son and girlfriend and her sister for an admittance interview. We had been there most of the morning and didn't finish up until around 2, so, clearly, food was a priority. I hadn't even considered Cilantro and was pretty set on barbecue at House of Bones. As we were leaving, my son's girlfriends was like "oh, there's this awesome Mexican place right around the corner, you should try it." "Mexican" + "around the corner" = automatic!

Firstly, getting in to and out of the location can be challenging, especially during "busy-ish" hours. So I'm thinking some people might just pass it by without giving it a 2nd thought. If you're that person, give it a second thought. The interior of the place was clean and quiet, with just a few other late-lunchers seated as we walked in, and as we approached the counter...I was greeting by a large menu on the wall that read like a who's who of my digestive addiction list. Everything literally sounded amazing. I started easy with a taco combo plate with chicken and steak. My son decided to start with a hail mary and pull the trigger on the Carne Asada, and our lady friends went with Cali Burrito (in a bowl) and the Sweet Potato tacos.

The format of the place is awesome, like...my favorite type of format. Order at counter, get a number, sit down, number called, eat, leave. No messing around with table side service, and in and out and on your way much faster. Once your order is place, you're each handed a personal sized bag of tortilla chips and offered a kind of dipping sauce salad bar selection. I went with the "hot" salsa, and it was amazing. Chips were just about perfect as well, and to be 100% honest, this was my of my favorite parts of the meal.

We sat down with the chips and drinks and our number was called about 10 minutes later, no issues with the wait time. Visually, the food was amazing looking. It kind of reminded me of those fancy plates of Mexican food in California that I see on cooking and travel shows. But as we all know, looks can be deceiving...sometimes, now and again...just not in this case.

Everything was spot on. Meat was fresh and seasoned perfectly, toppings, rice, beans, it was all just about perfect. The thing that stood out most to me was that it didn't taste like "Mexican" food; that is, it didn't taste like that standard type of Mexican food you can find anywhere. Very unique seasonings and you can tell that there was much time and effort put in to the menu items. Luckily, the menu isn't huge (which is a good thing), and I should be able to hammer through the whole thing within a year. Given the variation of the 4 dishes we ordered though, I would say that it's safe to say that it's all good across the board.

This place is a must-try if you're in the area. We left super happy, and I couldn't wait to get home to tell my wife about the awesome Mexican restaurant I had discovered in New Haven. She was quick to remind me that we had talked about the place numerous times and that it was actually HER that discovered it. I was quick to tell her how nice her hair...

First time order, online. I got a Tinga Burrito for myself - No pinto beans - Add refried beans - Extra chicken. I also got a chicken quesadilla for my sister-in-law. My burrito came with pinto beans and no refried beans - contrary to my order, and what I would estimate to be