BelAir Cantina — Restaurant in Oak Creek

More Miss Than Hit. Decided to go to the BelAir Cantina on Sunday after some shopping. The reviews looked good and it was close by. My daughter and I were seated by a server and told the brunch was available or we could order off the menu. When the server for our table came to get our drink order she took the menus and said we had been given the wrong ones. Ok, no big deal. We got the new menus and discovered that the items we had wanted were not offered during brunch. She dropped off chips and three dipping sauces/salsas - salsa Verde, Roasted salsa & spicy Arbol. Only the salsa Verde had flavor. The roasted salsa was made up of charred bits of tomato skin and tasted more burnt than roasted. The spicy Arbol looked like pale tomato soup and tasted like it. Please do not label something as "spicy" if it has no flavor. Disappointing. We each ordered three tacos (of varying ingredients) with rice, black beans & pinto beans. The food came out very quickly and, besides the skin on top of the beans, looked very appetizing. Sadly, the food was not. I don't know how all the flavor can be sucked out of food but these folks have discovered the secret. The meats were dry & tasteless. The carnitas was chewy & and the only flavor was from the pico. The carne asada was dry and tasteless. The pollo verde suffered a similar fate as the carnitas - chewy, stringy bits of bland meat that we're overpowered by the condiments they came with. The slaw that came with the shrimp tasted raw and did not seem to be dressed with any citrus. Finally, the gringo was an unseasoned pile of ground beef. The rice, even though it looked as though it had been cooked with, carrots, corn, peas and seasoning managed to taste exactly like white rice and nothing else. The best part (part that had flavor) of the meal were the beans. The black beans were pureed baby food but had a nice flavor while the pinto beans had flavor and chunks of beans. Painted on some tables and tagged on the menu is the tagline "I'LL go if you go" and I understand now that this is either a dare or the most lackluster endorsement for a restaurant. I would not recommend this place unless you have been placed on a bland diet by your doctor.

They contact you and ask for more information but when you do the management does nothing. The managers customer service is terrible. Looks like they care...

Man... I used to love this place. They have good vegetarian options which are labeled on the menu, and the food is always tasty. Unfortunately my most recent visit was not so pleasant. Last weekend I went with a friend for a late lunch and ordered some usual favorites, including queso. I've eaten primarily vegetarian for almost 20 years, but I'm pragmatic about it and tend not to make a fuss, just sticking to the veg options on the menu. But imagine my surprise when I had eaten about half of my bowl of queso dip and found an enormous chunk of shredded pork in the bottom. It's not crazy to think that in a busy kitchen a hunk of pork might have fallen into the queso, but it's kind weird for no one to notice while ladeling it into the bowl. Still, it was kind of an ick factor, considering I'd never eat pork purposefully and I'd chosen my entire meal to avoid meat. I brought the situation to the attention of my server and she called the manager over right away. The manager asked if I would get sick from being exposed to meat, and I told her I probably wouldn't get sick but that I wasn't pleased with finding meat in a dish that was labeled as vegetarian. She apologized and... that was it. They didn't even offer to replace the dish. I had to flag down the server AGAIN and ask for a new bowl of queso. I didn't ask that they make a new "uncontaminated" batch of actually-vegetarian queso, I just wanted a fresh pour with no pork in it. When we got the bill they had comped our NA beverages, a total of $8. They didn't even remove the queso from the bill for the trouble. Which made me think that maybe I should have made more of a stink, I guess? I don't expect every restaurant to bend over backwards to accommodate all diets. But when you make a point on your menu to serve vegan and vegetarian dishes, and vegetarians dine there because they advertise those options, it would just be nice if they were... you know. Vegetarian. So, just a bummer of an experience.

Update: I emailed the manager as asked below and received no response...

The food is always mediocre, but the location works as a central location for girls dinners. Plus we like the patio.

As they brought food out, the waitress noticed I got the wrong food. She said keep it without charge and they'll bring out the right stuff shortly. No problem! It was a leisurely dinner.

They brought my correct order, but was charged for both. Waitress noticed us looking at the receipt and checked in. I said not a big deal, but I was charged for both. She ran off to fix it.

A few minutes later the manger owner came over yelling, literally raised voice, that I was rightfully charged for both as the wrong order was still on my plate. I hadn't even gotten a word out! I said not to worry about it, mistakes happen ( not worth the escalation). He continues yelling on this patio. Demanded I take food out of my to-go box.. We couldn't even get a word in without being spoken over, when we were trying to say forget it. My entire table and the waitress were all physically uncomfortable with how quickly and independently he escalated.

It felt very unsafe.

As soon as he stormed off swearing, the waitress said it was her fault and she didn't know she was supposed to take the food away. I certainly wasn't going to throw her under the bus. I seriously worry about the wait staff if this is how customers are treated for passively raising a very common and fixable situation. We tipped and ran out of there.

That manager's reaction was far beyond what the situation called for. Wait staff shouldn't be brought to tears over a simple mistake. Customers shouldn't be yelled at, nor should they pay for food they didn't want or order.

There are many safer, tastier options all...