EL SITIO Mexican steakhouse + cantina — Restaurant in Olympia

This is NOT I repeat NOT a steakhouse. I honestly feel like they have bitten off more than they can chew no pun intended. I and my family which consists of 3 people went out for dinner after seeing that they had SELF proclaimed themselves as having the best Carne Asada in the UNITED STATES. My husband is of Latin decent and this really got our attention and said this sounds amazing let's try it out. PLEASE don't be fooled the food and I really hate to say this but it was DISGUSTING ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTING! WE ORDERED PARRADILLA $60.00 NO FLAVOR not even a full chicken breast it was sliced in half and pounded to oblivion, it was so dry and old tasting. The chorizo was cheap and gross, the short ribs weren't really short ribs well I guess they were or sorts like a Korean short rib no flavor greasy and DISGUSTING and same with the Carne Asada. Ok so here's what really took the cake listen to this one. ALWAYS LOOK AT YOUR BILL UNBELIEVABLE. First off they only serve titos which is fine so be prepared to pay top shelf not a biggie. I ordered 2 lightly dirty martinis they were ok very basic no olives even but fine did the job. Got the bill and seen a change for titos 2x 18.00 Up 2x 4.00 What the heck is up 4.00 x2 so called over the waitress. You ready?????? She told me if was because of the brine AKA olive juice??? I was like what I have never saw this before. So she got her manager and I asked for an explanation. The manager proceeded to say oh I am sorry my mistake I added vermouth? Did I ask for vermouth? You are charging 4.00 more per drink to add vermouth? What are you trying to do? Your food is DISGUSTING, YOUR DRINK WAS SUB PAR and now you want to rip me off???? Beware of this place very young owner which is great I am all about it but she has no idea what she is doing. This is honestly the first time I have really written this terrible of a review but I felt so strongly about how terrible eve6was about this place I was compelled to. There was honestly nothing good to day about this place besides the waitress was nice and yes I didn't stiff on the tip. She asked if she would get us a free 🍨 ummm no thanks not after that food. Bill was $135.00 fpr 3 people again 2 beers and 2 drinks daughters food off the kids menu. Champagne pricing on a malt liquor food menu. Ok since I can't respond to your comment I will make this lengthier. This truly does show your age and inexperience. We don't need a discount or anything for free I and my husband are quite educated and do very well. Secondly I didn't want to be rude I was willing to overlook the horrible food until I got the bill for the drink. I told you to your face last night everything that I said in this review. Also let's talk about your childish comment on locking of this fingers. May e if you provided adequate tableware I wouldn't have had to. And yes in fact I did eat some how do you think I k ow it was horrible. I tried a piece of everything except the chorizo. Put your big girl pants on amd realize that may e instead of poi.ting fingers and calling me a racist when I am WHITE and my husband and daughter is MEXICAN. May e you should have been there for the full context of the conversation and after what I said your waitress looked at me and said ha I love that! I was being cheeky. I fi d it funny that you needed to review the footage on the camera too much time on your hands. Also we were the ones that left the box of food outside on the stoop. Not even good enough for the perros. I will tell you I am a professional that does a majority of work I. Your area with clients and with the response you gave NO BUENO! SAYS THE GRINGO! As far as the tip goes I left 15.00 which was generous for what we got. I have an idea since that wasn't good enough take the 8.00 you ripped off from me that you wanted to refund me and give that to your waitress. See problem all fixed. Never throw around the word RACIST like it's nothing this is the US with a right to freedom of speech and if that makes me a RACIST wow...

I'll start with the positives first, because this lunch really did begin that way. El Sitio's menu stands apart from the usual Mexican fare, with tantalizing descriptions. Cochinita Pibil, which I ultimately decided to order, reads: "Awarded as one of the best dishes in the world. Pork marinated, wrapped in banana leaf and braised for 12 hours to perfection in annato paste, orange juice, and limes."

We started with Tuétanos Rostizatos (three fire roasted long bone marrow boats topped with cotija cheese and green onions). This was interesting and fun, although the char flavor was overpowering on a couple bites. Chips and salsa are not complimentary here, so we ordered this as well. The trio of sauces that accompanied this were flavorful. This, unfortunately, is where the positives stopped.

Lackluster service, if the restaurant is absolutely hopping, is one thing. When only two tables have diners seated, it isn't a tall order to expect a server to regularly survey the room, evem while doing other tasks. Our server regularly got caught up in....well, I don't know. She mostly avoided glancing over, which seems antithetical to being a server. She did come to the table to take our orders, so it didn't seem it would become an issue with much impact.

When meals came out, my Cochinita Pibil was a decent texture, but had none of the complex flavors the menu had suggested. The other entree, Shrimp Fajitas, was a much bigger disappointment. The shrimp was overcooked, chewy and dry. Nearly shrimp jerky. This is where customer service became the element which made this visit truly circle the drain.

First, we had to flag her from across the room (still only two tables with patrons) to get her to come over. There were no apologies, just an inquiry of what we'd like instead. She wasn't able to suggest any alternatives confidently, so those dishes were cleared from the table.

My order, the Cochinita Pibil, didn't live up to the description, but it was at least edible. However, my appetite eroded along with the abysmal customer service. We were ignored for the next 25 minutes. The server's avoidance was consistent at this point. No eye contact. No effort to even come close to our side of the room, not even to refill drinks. I don't think she even gave feedback to the cooks. This meal ended up with us feeling as if we were jerks for expecting all food to be edible.

The shrimp mishap could have been resolved if we'd had a server with even rudimentary customer service skills. Instead, she simply pretended we weren't there, until we grew so uncomfortable with being ignored that we approached the till. Still no eye contact, no inquiry about the rest of the meal, and no apologies. The food was not great, but the terrible service truly...

March 16, 2024 What a HORRIBLE dinner experience. The service was terrible, not once did a waiter/waitress ask us if we were ok, if we needed anything, if the food was good, not even to fill up our waters or ask if we needed another beverage. We had to order chips and salsa, separate ($5.00)and what came to the table was a handful of chips on a wooden board with a small cup of beans and a three small sauces (if you can call it that) one was orange water, one was something close to tzatziki sauce and the last was similar to chipotle. I assumed, when you order chips and salsa, that actual salsa would be what we received. But, we were wrong. No salsa to be found. And we ordered guacamole which was to be made table side. Not even a whole avocado was cubed and a tablespoon of tomatoes and cilantro, sprinkled salt on it and stirred.($12.00) Neither of the starters was worth the cost. I ordered chicken enchiladas which was cubed, extremely overcooked , dry , hard pieces of chicken. That was closer to eating chicken jerky inside of a tortilla. Dabbed with red sauce. I was so disappointed. I tried to eat it, but wasn't able to get passed a couple bites. I gave a bite to my dinner companion, Brian. It took him awhile to chew a single piece of chicken. It was terrible to say the least. He said it just tasted like burnt/charred chicken. Brian ordered 10 oz. Wagyu denver steak. Which came with a very small cup of beans(same size as the chips and no salsa appetizer) He ordered it to be cooked medium and it came well done withe the slightest slightest pink tinge. And had no seasoning, a 60.00 dollar steak that was not cooked right, and they didn't even put salt and pepper on it. And if they did. Brian said he couldn't taste it. What a difference salt makes... When Brian was done eating, the waitress finally came over and asked what was wrong, I told her and she thankfully took it off the bill. We were both extremely disappointed in this restaurant and when you pay over a hundred dollars for dinner. You should NOT go home hungry. TERRIBLE experience . We will NEVER go back, and we will let everyone we know, to not waste money or time in this...