Mamasita Bar & Grill — Restaurant in New York

To be honest - the food is great at Mamasita. If you do not care about other things, stop reading right here.

But as I very rarely give bad reviews, I have to do it this time. I was satisfied with the food, not so much with their business model.

I am a tax exemption card holder and I use it everywhere, sometimes having to explain to the owner what it is (which I do not mind). In NYC it is quite well known, with all the diplomats around. In Mamasita though I got a hard “No” - the owner said they have no option to remove the tax. I don’t really like to argue so I gave up, although it is the law to allow the customer to use his tax exemption status.

On top of what I had to pay there was already automatically added 20% tip. I don’t know if there was any information about it on the menu, could be - but the menu is only online so you can easily miss fine print. It is unusual to include gratuity in case of a group of just three persons.

Finally, when I swallowed all the unexpected expenses, there was an additional charge for paying with a credit card…

Altogether I paid 45$ more than I expected. It is a bit sad that it ended up this way, because I liked the food and could as well come back. But I will not.

EDIT:

The owner responded to this comment I appreciate it. It is always good to react to customer’s feedback. But in the reply it was implied that I do not realize what is the usual tip in NYC. I may not be a native New Yorker, but I have spent 7 years here and I know that the tip is up to me and I should decide how much I will give.

If the gratuity is included up front, it is not a voluntary tip, but a cover charge. Of course, the restaurant is allowed to add it to the check, but I have never experienced it in case of groups smaller than five people (three in this case). That is why I pointed that out, because other customers should now what to expect.

Likewise with the tax exemption - I realize that a small minority of customers use it, but this minority should now that they will not be able to do it at this restaurant. The tax exemption, by the way, is not a discount as it is does not take anything from the restaurant’s profits - according to federal and state law it allows the person not to pay...

Terrible food. I dont care if you have 40+ years doing this. IT IS NOT MEXICAN FOOD! the beans taste like it came straight out of a can. The Rice taste like cardboard rice, the fajitas had broccoli and mushrooms (where in Mexico does anyone recall having that in their Chicken Fajitas?) The drinks is just ice with pumped flavors (they charge a dollar extra for a flavored Margarita). He hires Mexican employees to make you believe its authentic. I dont care if your employees or chefs are from Mexico, it is disgusting food, I went because it was promoted as delicious and great price, the lies. PLEASE DONT GO THERE. If I can prevent others from going there I would stand infront of that restaurant and tell people its a scam. The tip was put without me saying yes or no to it, you should be responsible to pay your employees better than having your costumers pay them a wage. The owner is overbearing and gets too close to you, its disturbing. I have never written a bad review in my entire life, lets just say this place is worth the time I took to leave this honest review. Your responses are terrible, rather than making sure your costumers respectful reviews go noticed by you, you just say you have been doing it for 40+ years. I will make sure no one ever gets to go to your restaurant. He gave us a "Free" tres leche and lets just say even that was nasty, tasted like wet bread with regular milk and melted disgusting chocolate on top of it. THE BEST THING THERE WAS THE WATER and maybe the Guac if you add salt. I am not a scam based on your reply, I can make sure its known I went there and paid my $113.81 that zelled you. Like I said I will make sure your restaurant is known to be the worst in NYC. Social media is...

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