Gringos Locos SODO — Restaurant in Orlando

UPDATE AFTER 2nd VISIT: A group of 8 coworkers ordered a to-go order for a colleague’s birthday celebration. Knowing the restaurant is small and there wouldn’t be enough seating, we planned to eat at our office close-by. The service was horrific. After calling and placing the order without any issues, we arrived and still waited over an hour for our food. The servers were rude, offered no explanation and blamed us for how busy they were. Apparently a lot of large orders came in and instead of rising to the occasion and handling the busy day with a positive attitude, the staff treated us as if it was our fault. When pico was added to an order by mistake, they scraped it into the trash and almost dared us to ask for a new meal given the wait. They refused to answer the phone that was constantly ringing because they were already too busy (staff member literally yelled out to coworkers not to answer). They burned the chips on nacho plates for multiple people and picked off the burnt edges ( a lot of them, not a small amount) and served them anyway. Every staff member seemed confused and annoyed, as if they’d never worked in a restaurant before. That was just what customers could see. I never want to know what goes on in the kitchen. Make the trip to the downtown Gringos location until this one can get their act together. 4/20/18 ——-

I’m already a fan of Gringos Loco‘s, but often cannot visit due to my work schedule. Having this new location so close to my office is amazing! The food was wonderful. The hot sauces were perfect, the empanadas were super tasty, and the two different types of tacos I had were just as good as I remembered from their downtown location. Everyone I came with really enjoyed their meal. We showed up around 11:45 am and there was no line, but by the time we left the place was packed. Be sure to get there early, although the food is worth...

Bad first impression. Customer attention needs work. I entered the restaurant through the back door, where there's more parking, stood at the register for a few seconds... a girl slowly making food didn't say anything as more seconds went by... mind you, this is my first time here... so as I stood there like a dummy another worker softly said that the ordering is done on the other side.... really hard to tell when the printed out paper sign is all the way on the other side, and that being the only sign. (I saw other people do this as well). NOT ONLY was this a bad first impression, I went in when they opened @ 11:00am.. not earlier - to beat the lunch rush... and the food was not ready. I was asked if I wanted to wait about 5/10 minutes... I might as well since it will take about the same time to cross the street for something else (though I was really in the mood for Mexican).. so 15 minutes pass by.. and I'm still waiting. How is it that you say your "open" and don't have your stuff together... (the beans weren't ready, silly enough).

So when it was time to pay, I was hoping a manager, who noticed me waiting patiently, would give me a discount for their fault.. but nope.. I had to ask. I'm not one to be scared to ask questions, but why should I be placed in that situation. Any-who, expecting my over priced burrito (which doesn't include a small side of chips) to be AH-mazing, it was far from it. And how is that I have been waiting for beans from the kitchen & it isn't even Hot when I took a bite of the burrito. This is all just too silly.

Oh, and the cashier swiped my card like 4/5 times, saying the "machine is slow"... I'm going to check with my bank to make sure I didn't get charged for all those...

After hearing friends rave about other locations of this chain, I was excited to try the new one on Michigan street. And was sadly disappointed. The food was TERRIBLE. Like just bad. I was the only customer in the restaurant when I ordered so there's really no excuse...

The first red flag was that something in the kitchen wasn't working so the food I came in to order wasn't available. So I picked tacos, enchiladas, and the amigo upgrade to go. I had to send the rice and bean bowl back for having the wrong beans. The only option I was given if I didn't want soda was sugar free lemonade - apparently this location doesn't "have tea." So I skipped the drink, but was still charged for it. I had to specifically ask for the happy hour chips and salsa after another some one mentioned it, apparently it's not an automatic thing.

I live 6 minutes away and opened my food right away and... the tacos were disgusting. They were soggy and swimming in hamburger grease. Which is all they tasted of - hamburger grease. They weren't edible. The chips were stale and the salsa tasted like straight tomato paste. The enchilada was ok - if you like having just green salsa for dinner (I couldn't find anything else in it under the lettuce and salsa.) All of the rice was crunchy and under cooked - I'm assuming based on the color they tried to season it, but it just tasted like plain, half cooked rice. Overall the food was bland, flavorless and poorly prepared.

I'm super disappointed, and feel like I wasted $20. You can get better tacos literally anywhere in Orlando, I wont' be back to Gringos Locos.

Oh! And if you have a low car, beware. There are giant speed bumps in their...