Ted's Café Escondido — Restaurant in Norman

DO NOT EAT HERE IF YOU HAVE A FOOD ALLERGY AND ARE CONCERNED ABOUT NOT EATING PARTICULAR INGREDIENTS.

I told the server that I didn't eat animal products and asked for his recommendations, since I knew the rice was cooked in chicken stock and the fajita veggies in butter. The server, admittingly new, didn't have any recommendations, so I ordered a taco salad, no cheese, no sour cream, and no meat, add steamed veggies, extra black beans, and extra guac.

The first time the salad came out, it had sour cream and cheese on it. The second time it came out, it has cheese on top. The third time it came out, there weren't visible dairy products on it and I poked around. It looked okay.

A few bites in, I found there was chicken at the bottom and they used pinto beans, which likely were cooked in lard (which is why I ordered black beans).

My husband is a "relaxed" vegan and didn't say anything when his burrito he ordered sans cheese came out covered in cheese. He actually said he always orders the same thing and it always comes out covered in cheese even when he says "no cheese" and he never wants to bother sending it back.

I don't blame the server. From what I understand, there's a language barrier in the kitchen. Either way, it's near impossible to eat here without eating animal products -- and Mexican food is usually a safe option where I can easily sub things and make it work. I don't have a serious allergy, but I would be concerned for people who do and try to order something here without an allergen in it.

I haven't eaten chicken in years, but thanks Ted's for hiding some in the bottom of the THIRD salad that came out. Incredibly frustrated and won't go here again.

Edit: I would also like to note that the manager on staff that day came and apologised to me and told me it wasn't the server's fault, so this is something that was already brought to the restaurant's attention the day it happened. I'm not really sure what I could accomplish by speaking to the general manager at this point, as the reply below asks me to do. Management should communicate with the GM when something like this happens. It's not the customer's responsibility to tell the GM there's a serious concern in the kitchen re: communication. I just hope no one is negatively affected in the unfortunate case of a...

So first time going went with me and my wife The whole experience was outstanding . I believe I gave a five star review. Vowed to go back . It is a little pricey but it was worth it the first time This was my second visit . Not so great ! Took the family this time my wife and our 2 kids I wouldn't be so critical on some stuff but at the price you pay . I'm very critical of it all So upon arrival we are promptly seated no wait yayy . We are hungry !! After being seated a lady who introduced herself as our server came to the table . She asked if we would like tortillas and the set up . I responded yes everything. We ordered water as we always do . We don't go to restraunts to drink soda can do that at home .. It's also how we make sure the tip is decent if we get good service we like to pay for it . So the waitress got attitude and offended by me saying yes everything I guess not sure. But shortly after a waiter approached our table and says he will now be serving us and the waitress won't. Which even he felt awkward about it . But I was very glad and relieved . Cause the attitude she came to the table with . I probably would have requested another server .. Cause a rude server can really mess up the experience. Our new server was on point and was remenacent to my first experience at Ted's. But I always seem to have better luck with waiters they dint have as much attitude . Me and the wife did the pick 3 kids did the chimichanga dinner Kids and wife loved there food. Mine was cold tho my cheese enchilada cheese was merely melted .. Ordered the pork taco as one of my entrees got pork open faced taco shell with pork on top and cheese on it .. Not a taco . I know the waiter put it in right cause he repeated the order . But did I eat it yes cause I was just ready to go and didn't want to spoil the mood ..So I ate my cold cheese enchilada and the pork taco ish thing ..Would I try again I'm sure I would but not in a hurry after this experience. Cause if I'm paying that price my expectations are high and needs to be on point . But that set up is the bomb . Those tortillas man good stuff . But my...

I want to start this by saying that I have never written a review about bad service. I went to this establishment with my girlfriends to have dinner and we got sat with the server named Promise. I promise that she was not there to give good service. From the beginning of sitting down she was very rude. She got our drink order in and then came back one more time to check if we were ready. We ran low on multiple items... multiple times.... I (20yo) wanted the kids quesadilla and she said no to that and told me I would have to get the choose 1 and I said that was fine then she asked if rice and beans was okay and I said I didn't want it. Then she said it came with it anyway and I said "okay, give it to me then". Then when she went to grab our menus she snatched them out of our hands. You know, when someone goes to grab something out of your hands you can feel if they tug on it. She came back with our food. Then immediately asked what we wanted to do about the check... didn't even give us a chance to try the food before asking about the check. When we did the check my once kids quesadilla that turned into a choose 1 was 16$ when she said that it was a "small" quesadilla. Hense my confusion so I told her I had a question about the check and PROMISE thought that the best idea in this situation to argue with me. She did not understand the menu correctly. Thankfully management was very helpful with my question and let me know that Promise did indeed have an attitude problem. Promise sat in the corner with her coworkers pointing at our table and contuning her very bad attitude. Promise on her name tag said that she was a trainer and it makes me question if Ted's would really want an empolyee with such poor manners teaching others? She didn't just snatch the menu's she did it with the appetizer plates as well. I love ted's and have never had an issue with any order prior but this one experience with this server has lost my service. To anyone here writing a bad review because of Promise... I apologize because this was an all-time horrible experience. Management was...