Chunky Salsa — Restaurant in North Carolina

Have been here before, food was amazing. I suggested to the family and visitors we go here 6-13. On arrival very loud, seemed to be a lot of confusion. Server on last day of training needed to keep running back to ask basic questions and not helping the flow and business. Ordering, asked for a margarita - they had enough left for one. Ordering was tough, server does not know menu and very hard to understand her. Asked about street corn twice during ordering said would ask. Chips were good, salsa great. Very fresh. Learned table behind us of the 3 tables available had been waiting an hour. Two guys kept coming out apologizing about the time along with server. Customers coming in asking about their food giving names the location kept asking what did you order. Before the food started coming out like the table that waited an hour, was one at a time, food getting cold waiting politely for the rest. First was correct, the next two kitchen sink burrito one asked for no beans and in bowl, other no guac- brought out two burritos both wrong. Handed back, then surrounded by continued loudness of the appears manager and want to be manager apologizing, talking to other take out and door dash, couldn’t hear my family even talk. They brought out burrito - no guac yet had no beans. I told them don’t even bring my dish I’m past all the yelling, apologizing constantly and just a wreck of an experience, then the bowl came out. Mayer hugged and walked away. Half way through the bowl - family member did not like and realized that was my dish I said don’t bring and they did not get the burrito bowl. Never did hear on the street corn. They apologized loudly and to all of us 7x within 20 min. Door dash drivers frustrated as telling them long waits. Customers in and out, no parking and said we need our food, Constantly telling us doing the best they can with size of kitchen, if we could see only have two fryers and small kitchen doing best they can. If recorded would have gone viral on how not to run a business. Two fryers, cook the chips before peak hours to free up space. Make the whole location take out only- better for parking and better flow for food. Asked for a container for to go, didn’t ask anyone else if wanted one so she made multiple trips one by one. Location, led in this industry for over 30 years, this was top 5 worst I’ve ever seen. Can appreciate the wanting to do more business, yet you’re not ready to take care of just three tables. Staffing- of an issue, that’s not our emergency that’s yours. Training, your emergency as well. Good, spot on yet no leadership, departed business feels more like should have a few ez bake ovens from JCPenney. Kitchen size - not our issue. It’s up to you to give a good experience, food and value with atmosphere. So far just have food. Was hollered out wanting to expand, good idea yet you can’t keep serving like this, drop door dash, focus on what matters most. You’re not ready to handle volume. When possible mgr came back out I explained the issues, stopped me and explained not the experience they wanted to offer had to speak at top of voice, and said no charge. Was appreciative yet keep in mind, one got correct meal- quesadilla - the other was wrong, the other was wrong dish and one didn’t even eat there. It doesn’t get worse than that. It just doesn’t. Still topped server $20 yet really not a proper fit for her and the environment, need an actual server- yet only three tables. While the food is really good there that was the last time will be going and have shared the experience already. Take the comment as a gift and do something with it. It’s the comments of others that don’t speak up you should be worried about. There were other issues such as the dilapidated tables, chairs from garage sales and overall facility concern yet you’ve heard the just of the experience. Make a different selection for your meal...

Edit of the original post: The Restaurant doubled down on the rudeness under my sister's post and is accusing my post to be false??

This isn't review bombing. You were rude to both of us. It was a party of two. We both had bad expierences and therefore left reviews of our time. My display name is that of a cartoon character, I've had this account since middle school. Just because my name is not my real one does not mean that my review is also false.

We did not insult you, we said we were treated poorly and you're responding to reviews of your restaurant via edits. Your consistent bad behavior is the reason for a bad review. We were civil and fair in our reviews aswell. But an accusation of fake reviews, because a party of two disliked their service? Your continued response through the review system? Disrespectful and shameless.

Just because you do not get the review you want, does not mean it was necessarily in bad faith. Please learn how to handle the things you do not like in your life without being rude back. Have some manners before running a restaurant.

Good food does not negate customer service.

Original review below:

The worst service I've had in Ocean Isle and I was only there for 20 minutes.

I quite enjoy Chunky Salsa, as someone that's lived here my entire life, I like trying new places that haven't been here too long. Getting takeout the times I did, the atmosphere was nice, food was delicious. It was a nice place. I enjoyed it so much that I wanted to sit down and see what the dine in experience was like. Unfortunately, that experience is atrocious.

My sibling and I were prompted by the waitress for drinks, to which we asked for water. She told us she'd bring us Dasani. When asked if we'd be charged, she said yes. We asked for cups of water instead, she responded that they only serve bottled drinks. We skipped on the drinks. Not a minute later I asked the waitress if we could just get our food to go. She said she'd let us know, and then afterwards didn't come back to our table, didn't even look at us.

When we got our food we saw that the check was rung up as "Dine in" with a service fee to boot. My sister asked why were we being charged for dine in, when all that we did was sit down and order from a table? The waitress got very snippy, went back to the manager, to which he said something to the effect of "He wasn't going to budge". I stepped out and waited in the car while the management and waitress continued to be ugly to my sister.

All she did was ask why we were being charged something that we didn't receive, we even tipped, but the response we got was snappy, and harsh. The waitress said that the takeout and dine out prices are the same, and that it shouldn't matter what receipt we get. If that were the case, why not just void it and ring up the same meal for take out? Or explain in a nice, less condescending way? Having a bigger smile, and better manners than your waitress, being snapped at by them and still charged a service fee all under 20 minutes was not something I expected walking in.

It's a shame. I really enjoy their food but it's not worth eating for the attitude you'll get if you decide to even...

EDIT: I asked the restaurant to not respond to this review. Not only did they ignore it, they accused my party of review bombing and completely misread my review.

We didn't pay for bottled water, we tipped on top of the service fee. Please actually read a review before you respond, thank you.

Everything below is left unedited.

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I find most people are too harsh in their reviews. This is a spot with great food and service hours. I have been ordering takeout from here for a little over six months. Every time, it's been good. Not the best, but reasonable.

Today, I chose to dine in here with my sister. We were asked what we wanted to drink, and we were informed they only had bottled beverages. We settled on water but as the waitress was leaving, I thought to ask if it was free. We were informed it was not. It's fine if an establishment doesn't have access to tap water in a safe way. I'd prefer to be told, however, when there's an upcharge. The problem is we were not told and the waitress asked in an underhanded way. After we said we would not be drinking anything, the waitress lingered around, opened her mouth as if to speak, and shook her head. She did not say another word to us until checkout.

Once the both of us sat for 15 minutes, realized there would be no chips, water, or any accomodations for eating sit-down, we asked our waitress if we could get to-go instead. She did not answer until she came back with a check for dining in. This was ten minutes later.

On realizing we were charged a fee for eating dine-in, I asked for it to be removed as we'd not been served. Our waitress said she'd speak to her manager. This is a restaurant made mostly of plywood and separated by a curtain, so I heard the conversation: there's a sign on the door, all sales final, we need to charge x amount for rising food costs, etc.

Our waitress once again communicated nothing. She said dine-in was the same as to-go in fees. I asked her to void the order and ring it up as to-go, then. If it was the same price, it shouldn't have mattered. She refused. She ducked and avoided me for another five minutes before I told her I was going to pay. Once I did, taking a photo of my receipt, she snipped that, "the restaurant gives you a copy, you don't need to do that." Not abruptly rude, but snide and cruel after a long day.

I think it's ridiculous to ask to tip after not providing service. Simply saying, "sorry, our system doesn't allow that" would have gone a long way. I did still tip on top of the upcharges, but as a parting farewell. I'll be telling my friends and family to steer clear of Chunky Salsa. I do not want a response to this review from the restaurant.

TLDR; good food, especially by a bar or for a late night dive, terrible service, bad atmosphere, and snarky staff that will bad-mouth you when they think you aren't listening. Waitress straight-up ignored us until we were asked to tip for service we didn't receive. San Jose of Shallotte offers free chips and has a...