Mamaveca Mexican and Peruvian Restaurant — Restaurant in Norman

It honestly pains me to write this review. In the past, my experiences coming here were positive, but I do not believe I will ever be back. My friends and I made a reservation at 6:45 pm for 8 people. This was on the Saturday where OU played Baylor and a few of us had major difficulty with traffic in Norman after the game. By 7 pm, 5 of my party of 8 were at the restaurant and management was already saying if the rest of our party did not show soon they would kick them out. Keep in mind that of those 5 people in my party 4 of them were minorities. I understand reservations can be inconvenient for restaurants, but 15 minutes past the reservation time is a bit dramatic to start threatening customers they’ll be kicked out. Maybe the manager was having a bad day, but it certainly does not look good that you treated these minorities like they were an inconvenience. When my wife and I arrived at 7:20 pm there were 8 open tables in the restaurant… We also called our friends at 7:10 pm at the restaurant to order for us so no one had to wait. All of us ordered meals, were out within two hours (not abnormal for a party of 8), and paid with no hesitation. We were celebrating my friends birthday, and brought cupcakes. The manager just glared at us without saying anything. If people cannot bring a desert in to your restaurant just say so, do not just glare at customers.

Let me say a few things. Our waitress was amazing and the food was good. Both the cooks and servers did a great job. This review is purely because of the manager. I worked in the service industry for 9 years as a bartender, server, and cook. I understand the strain of the industry. But it is my genuine belief that if my friends had not been minorities they would have been treated differently before I arrived. They were genuinely hurt from the experience and felt very disrespected. We were not an inconvenience, we were customers that deserved far more respect than management cared to give. We were respectful, paid for our meals, and did not hold up the table for long (even though your restaurant seemed like it had plenty of free space for other customers…). Furthermore, no apology was ever given. In the future, we will go to other local restaurants that know how to make their customers...

A very lackluster dining experience. Starting with the salsa served with the chips. No spice, mainly celantro. When we requested something hotter, we were brought Salsa Verde, which is too spicy for my wife. The queso was nothing more than melted Velveeta, and tasted as such. How about a little onion, pepper, maybe a little bacon grease. All it needed was a side of macaroni and my Grandson would have thought he was in heaven. I had the Ceviche Mixto. Loved it. The sweet yams were especially tasty. This is the only reason I give this restaurant two stars. We rarely saw our less-than-interested server, he was tipped well nonetheless. Now, onto my wife's meal: She ordered a chimichanga with fajita meat. She is not a tomato eater. The chimi was full of tomato and green peppers, something that in all of our years eating in Mexican restaurants we have never encountered before. Included with, was side of Con Carne. I could not decide whether it was Wolf's Brand, or, the chili that you get on your Coney. And, on top of that, the rice had peas and carrots in it. More Asian than Latin. My guess is that they ran out of the real rice and hit up a Chinese restaurant for their overflow. So, let's recap: 1. As my wife called it, Drinkable Salsa, 2. Cheese sauce minus Mac, 3. A "Thank God my wife is not allergic to tomatoes" chimichanga, 4. Carnival Con Carné, and 5. A very non-Spanish rice... I think two stars...

Everybody must order a meal. Doesn't matter whether you are hungry or not. My wife and I had bariatric surgery a few years ago, and as result, we usually split a meal and rarely finish that between the two of us. Well not here at Mamaveca. Oh, you want to split a meal? That's fine, but you're either going to order something additional for at least $6.50 or you're going to give them $6.50 for the pleasure of splitting a meal. It's an ill conceived policy because we will never be back and we can't be the only ones.

The service was mediocre. The table did not have silverware or napkins on it when we were seated and we couldn't get any brought out until after the meal came and we made an issue about whether we were expected to eat with our fingers.

The chips and salsa were pretty good. The queso was a little on the salty side. The relleno I was forced to order and didn't want or need, was pretty good. My wife said the seafood dish she and I had planned to split before being forced to buy the meal I didn't want, was pretty good. My foster son said his tacos were decent, but the beef was cold.

It's a shame we can't come back here. It really is a place we would probably enjoy and visit often. The margaritas look good too, but there was no way I was giving this place a penny more of my money than I had to, so alas, we...