Riviera Maya Taco & Tequila Bar — Restaurant in North Township

I first started coming to here about a year or two ago. I got Chicken nachos and a margarita and been in love ever since… That is, until this past Cinco de Mayo.

On cinco, I & a friend went a little after they opened and ordered our standard meal. Both ordering 1 small frozen margarita and chicken nachos. When our drinks first came, they weren’t made correctly (tasted like sweet and sour mix). After 7 minutes of not seeing our server, I went and flagged down another server and asked them if they could get our server for us. They asked what the issue was and we relayed the problem with our drinks. That server advised us to switch our margaritas to on the rocks instead. Although we never had an issue before, we decided to take their advice and switch to on the rocks.

While waiting for our new drinks, we can see the servers talking to each other & looking back at our table. I wont assume it was gossip, but it appeared to be so. We watched as the servers all tried our drinks (repeatedly) and drew the same conclusions as we did. One of them made eye contact with me and nodded. Around this time, our server came back and they were able to relay the issue to her.

Not long after, our food came to the table and immediately, we noticed there wasn’t any liquid cheese on our food but our server already left. We had to wait on our server to finish assisting another table before we could relay the issue. (I’m relaying this part so you all understand that our food was starting to cool down). When I told her we were missing the liquid cheese, she relayed it’d be an extra charge. I told her no, because it’s supposed to come with it and always came with it. Our server left to tell the kitchen and then came back 5 minutes later stating that she understands what I was saying and sees that the menu does say liquid cheese comes on it. We asked her about the cheese and she said it takes 10 minutes to make before she walked away.

10 minutes go by and our server comes back with 1 bowl of cheese for 2 orders of nachos. We asked her where the 2nd cheese is and she said that they put the cheese for both servings into one bowl. We asked if there’s anyway to split it or at least provide us with a spoon because we’re two separate people, two separate orders and we don’t have any silverware/spoons to split the cheese amongst ourselves. Not just that, but it’s been well over 20 minutes so now our food is cold. She goes to the kitchen and then comes back and tells us that if we ask for a second bowl, then there will be a charge.

At this time, she also brings a spoon and when i go to reach for it from her, she sets it down on the table. Not on a napkin, not in my outstretched hand, but on the dirty table. My friend does ask her for the second cheese at this point but I got turned off by the fact she ignored my hand, set the spoon down and pretty much walked off. My friend and I spoke for a moment before I got up and found another server and asked them to tell the kitchen to stop the 2nd cheese and to please just bring our server out to us.

I relayed to them that I have no problem paying for the drinks, though they still were not made correctly (didn’t drink them), but we weren’t paying for anything else. There was a bit more that happened that I glazed over but I’ve relayed the most important parts. But one thing I do want to mention is that at the end, we see all the servers going around talking to each other and passing the message along to other servers who were not assisting us before relaying to our server what the issue was.

It was as if they were treating us like tough customers when it wasn’t even like that. I’ve worked every position in a restaurant except GM so i know a bit about the stress of each position. I understand that you all may get difficult customers but this wasnt it. We weren’t yelling, we weren’t cussing, and I didn’t have an attitude even when we saw them gossiping.

All we ask for is consistent service & appropriate problem...

Meh. I don't have many positive things to say about this place. Been here 2 times, once with adults and once with my family. First, the margaritas were ridiculously small and underpoured. For $9 I'd expect it to take more than 5 minutes to appreciate the maybe 7 ounces of drink. I think its served in a 10oz glass that's filled to the rim with ice. There was no hint of tequila taste and very little lime. When the marg came I jokingly told the waiter to bring me another one in 5 minutes which he necessarily and promptly did. When my wife asked for another I asked for less ice and more marg. When the waiter returned the glass did have less ice but was only 3/4 full of marg. It was pretty ridiculous.

On to the food. I ordered chicken fajitas riviera style. Not sure what riviera style is but it must have been dry and flavorless. Then to top it all off, when we were waiting for our check the music got turned up to 11! We were sitting in the back room. It was ridiculously loud. Lasted for about 30 seconds and eventually came back down to a more reasonable but still loud level. Overall I wish them the best but my experience was less than ok. I will likely not return unless they start pouring better drinks.

EDIT: Against our better judgement we tried going back again on 11/06/2023, about 2 years after my original post. Granted, it was a Monday but the restaurant was pretty slow. My daughter and I both ordered burrito's. She had the shrimp and I had the steak. My steak burrito looked more like ground beef. The "bits" of steak were no larger than 1/8" square, very closely resembling ground beef. It just didn't taste good. No flavor. No passion. I did inform the waitress but that fell on deaf ears.

Again with the obnoxiously loud music. Yea, it was for a birthday party at the next table over. That group of people was very nice. The immediately left after the birthday celebration. Still, even without the birthday music the background music was still so loud I couldn't have a conversation with my family without raising my voice.

I understand the restaurant is under new management now which is why we went back. I really do hope for the best with this place. The food still needs improvement. The atmosphere needs improvement. The staff...

Calling it Mediocre would be kind. If we're celebrating the Mexican cuisine and culture then I think Mexico should take it back from this place.

We ordered two waters because we don't care for Pepsi products but then ordered that when the water barely had a chill and warmed quickly. But the service seemed to go downhill from there. We got a small bucket of chips but other tables got a full bowl. The second small bucket come with the cheese dip. Which come out with a cheese skin on it. This seemed to bother no one but us. True, the skin isn't going to hurt but suggests that it sat for a chunk of time or was not skimmed from the big pot.

Far be it from us to suggest bringing items from the appetizer menu out as an appetizer but things that are appetizers should come out before the main meal.

Speaking of which, some food (quesillas) weren't completely cooked since you could tell the cheese hadn't fully melted but, still, better than the main meal. The main course was warmed not hot as if it had sat there for a few minutes or more. I will give them credit for the steak, we paid $2 for that and you got steak. I'd say the right amount but I have been places that charge more and you have to wade through to find it.

The waitress was hard pressed to find. It took a good 20 minutes to get a $9 mayarita that was 75% ice and come in whiskey glass not a margarita glass. Maybe that's why it's a mayarita so you don't have expectations. The waitress showed up to check on that. Otherwise, we had to ask for everything we wanted after we placed the order.

The bill sure come on time and when the bill went away with the credit card it come back without it so make sure you check that. Now I don't think that's on purpose but since I nearly missed it myself, I thought I should mention it to others.

The manager did ask us about the meal and when we were lackluster in response, he was like good, good as if maybe he wasn't listening or doesn't know how to read a table.

In any case, the food was good but I expect it to be hot. Call it a quirk, I suppose. We're open to going back but I imagine...