El Guadalajara — Restaurant in North Bend

I usually love this place but my last visit was horrible. We had a large party and it was pretty busy but the service was just bad. It was my birthday so we invited the whole family. Everyone arrived as soon as they could but not everyone could make it at the same time. I showed up first in case we had anyone early then the rest filtered in for the next 45 min.

While ordering I instructed the lady that we would need to split the bill into several checks since we had several families present. She said she would do it at the register. This becomes a problem later.

They bring out two orders to different family members. They should be exactly the same but one has sour cream and guac the other has no toppings and is burned badly, the poppers we're solid carbon at this point. They explain it's a new cook. But why would you even bring out the bad one? Redo it, it looked like garbage, was missing items, and was literally burned. It wouldn't have been so bad if they didn't have a second one to compare. The second one actually looked and tasted phenomenal.

After an hour and a half I noticed everyone had gotten their food except me, even the late stragglers. We notified the staff and I watched a lady reach up and grab what appeared to be a plate off a shelf and bring me my food. It looked as if someone had set my food down, forgot it, then they brought it to me 10 minutes before we had to leave to a movie.

I eat what parts I can then proceed to the register. We have 15 minutes to make it to the movie due to "waiting" for my food. We get to the register to pay and the lady looks back at the orders coming out and says "it's going to be a minute."

I had to wait almost an hour and a half for my food I'm sure the other folks just ordering can wait for us to pay to get out of the way. Our party is so large it's blocking the hallway to the dinning area but there's no where for us to go since there are people waiting in the lobby to be seated. So we just stand there, in the way...

We wait until 5 minutes after the movie starts before we can pay (about 20 minutes). So the lady looks our way and says "okay" signaling us to approach. When my friend approaches to pay his portion she says "what drinks did everybody have?"

At this point I'm starting to lose my patiance. I was busy greeting my birthday guests and don't know what my wife and two sons ordered. Their now getting ready to go out in the car. I'm not going out to ask them so they had "water".

She then asks my friend to reorder his whole meal. With no notes about who ate what, we could have said anything.

He reorders his meal, tells her he's paying for my drink, and pays the tab. This becomes a problem later.

Everyone let's me go next since we're trying to make the last half of a movie at this point (we were actually only a few minutes late, but at the time it felt late). I approach the counter and she wakes me off, signalling for an older man to approach and pay his tab, then after him signals for an older lady to also pay hers! At this point I'm livid and before I explode a family member stepped between them and she points to me and says, he was next.

So approach and she says "what did you have to drink?" My top is about to blow. "No! No!" I shout pointing at my friend. "2 minutes ago that man paid for my drink." I told I had the taco salad (delicious, though late.) And she asks about the rest of my party. I don't know, they're not in here and I've been waiting to pay for 20 minutes crammed in an awkward hallway.

I guessed at the orders and paid my bill and left.

This place is usually great and has been the go-to for every family birthday for the last few years but we've decided to move forward in another direction from now on. This place is good but they need a bigger facility and more staff to help. Good luck to them but this was likely...

Honestly a great place. I feel they've gone down a bit in the quality of food. Not as fresh as it use to be but overall still good. My gf and I got The Supreme Nachos, a Chicken and Cheese Quesadilla, and a chimichanga. We also got deep fried I've cream. My gf loves the deep fried Ice cream I felt it needed to be left in a fryer a bit longer and that the shell it came in could be coated in cinnamon, but overall enjoyed it aswell. The nachos were a bit greasy but very tasty. I enjoyed the Chimichanga and the Quesadilla they were both cooked well. They re-did the whole place and it looks very nice. Plenty of space and great lighting. The service is awesome all the employees are very kind especially the owner. Overall a...

Just like all the other "Mexican" restaurants around, they don't actually use many Mexican ingredients in their cooking. Beans and tomatoes are about it.

Take their vegetable-based dishes. No corn, avocado, or chili peppers. Instead lots of random vegetables are used: broccoli, Zucchini, Yellow squash, and carrots are among the most prevalent vegetables used and it doesn't make sense (and the flavor falls flat). Their tortillas taste store bought when salt, flour, and water are readily available, too. It's a little sad.

Don't get me wrong, the food is great! The salsa needs a little bit of help (citrus!) but is tasty and unique. It's just American food wanting to be Mexican food and not hitting...