El Molinito Restaurant — Restaurant in Oro Valley

Food has always been delicious. One star rating only for the service and recent experience with a "manager" at the Oro Valley location on 3/29/2024 during take out transaction. Ordered take out for 3 people, which included a cheese crisp w jalapeños, lettuce, chicken and sour cream, all items up charges. Total order about $75. Picked up order and brought to my car. Checked all orders to be sure they were correct before leaving. Noticed cheese crisp had only green chillies (not jalapeños) and no sour cream. None were included in separate containers for the crisp. Went back in the restaurant and shared with the woman at the counter, the missing items and asked if she would get them for me. She stated "I'll ask the kitchen". Comes back with no items in hand and states, "no, you have jalapeños on your cheese crisp". Reiterated, no jalapeños and no sour cream. Same woman stated "you need to bring the cheese crisp back so I can see it". Went out ot my car and returned with cheese crisp. Same woman walking around the restaurant, saw I returned at the front, but made no effort to come to back. Then asked another employee if I could speak to a manager. Same woman who told me to bring the cheese crisp back, returns to the front. I asked her if she was the manager and she replied "yes". I showed her the cheese crisp w the green chillis and she pointed to the multiple chillis, with her long fake dirty fingernails, extremely close to my food and states "those are jalapeños". I shared w her that I tasted them and I have jalapeños in a container for another order and these are defintiely green chillis. She continued to argue and not offer to give me the missing jalapeños and and sour cream that I paid for. At that point I told her I wanted an refund for the entire cheese crisp order along with a refund for the sour cream that I never received. She processed the refund. I shared with her that it would have been much easier for her to just give me the missing items, instead of having me retrieve the crisp from my car and arguing with me in front of the many custmers coming into the restaurant. She shrugged her shoulders. I shared with her that my family frequents this restaurant and we will no longer be returning due to how she treats customers. She stated "OK". Im pretty sure if I was treated this way, likely others have been or will experience the same negative service. Are the owners of El Molinito aware of customer interactions like this with a "manager", all because of missing jalapeños and sour cream? Perhaps, some education for your "manager" on the "Just Give Them the Pickle" customer service philosophy. I have to say, I have not experienced poor service previously at this location, but in lieu of this interaction my family and I will not...

It's unfortunate, I really wanted to like this place due to the hype online. Sadly though this fell far far from the hype.

My meal was "The Sampler" ( shredded beef taco, chicken chimichanga, beans , rice, green chilies. Strawberry margarita Iced tea Chips and salsa

First bad impression is the salsa and chips. A basic thing when it comes to Mexican restaurants. The salsas had no salt whatsoever. I had to add salt and pepper myself as well as a little lemon to make it decent. Frankly they tasted like they came out of a can and into the little bowls . The chips also did not have any salt at all either. Already went to a bad start when your customer has to fix your chips and salsa from being so bland .

The strawberry margarita was for a lack of better description. Harsh . It was pretty bitter and was very strong in the tequila they put. The mix also tasted as though it just came from a pre mix with a shot of tequila and 2/3 ice . I enjoy mine that have flavor from the strawberries and just a hint of the alcohol. This was mostly just the bite of the alcohol and barely strawberry.which yes for some that might be fine with so much ice and alcohol taste but not my cup of tea when it's very little ingredients and ice is the main filler .

The main dish itself, the taco was served on a bed of wet lettuce and rice which made the shell fall apart from how soggy it got. The beef filling itself was "alright" again lacked salt .

The chicken chimi was all tortilla and just a spit of filling. Nothing but a little roll of very chewy tortilla. The filling was good but you had to remove almost all the tortilla to taste it .

Beans were surprisingly good , nice flavor which was a nice little bit and frankly the only good part of this meal.

Rice, undercooked, again lacked salt.

The green chilies were horrific how bad they were . It had that out of a can extreme sour vinegar taste and i was a little shocked at how bad they were even when everything else was already iffy.

Also to top off all the food. It was all room temperature. Nothing was hot . Just "warm" . As though it had been sitting under the hot light that wasn't working properly for far too long .

Last is the service . Service lady was friendly but never once checked on us to see if we needed refills or anything else. We only saw her at the start and at the end of our meal. There was almost no one there and we still had to wait a pretty darn long time for our bill because no one ever checked on us .

I wouldn't recommend this place sadly . Only reason it isn't a 1 star review is because it wasn't horrible . Everything was just VERY "meh" And tasted like it's all out of a can and very lazy. I feel you essentially come here if you're drunk because you won't know...

Our family had the worst experience in the Oro Valley location this evening. The service started out great (server David is a sweet guy and he has served us before) but unfortunately things went downhill very quickly. We waited a very long time to be served our meals and when they arrived we had no silverware. The food arrived lukewarm at best but it took another 5 minutes to get us utensils so by then the food was cold. David tried very hard to make things right and I got a new plate that was hot and delicious. But, we never got water refills despite asking, staff were standing around talking and not paying any attention or offering to assist other servers who had busy sections and even the manager Obidio (not sure of the spelling) was standing and laughing with staff in the front of the restaurant. I observed staff casually drinking beverages and then placing them in plain view of customers just like their own living room. We asked to speak with Obidio and he was utterly useless beyond asking if the server brought out a hot plate. His supervisor, Sergio, came out (after we were told he wasn't there tonight) and was rude and disrespectful. He basically called our family "liars" and said he didn't understand why our food was cold. I calmly pointed out that he is the manager and runs a horrible restaurant. We then had to wait for the bill and despite Obidio saying he would comp one meal, the bill did not reflect that. When brought to the attention of Sergio he informed his server that if we didn't pay the bill that it would come out of his paycheck. I assured David this would not happen. How ridiculous and such deplorable management skills. How do people like this get jobs?

My husband and I placed a call to the owner, Wayne, and he never called back. It is clear that this restaurant business does not care about customer service.

I am so sad tonight as this truly was my favorite Mexican food restaurant but we will never return. This is the third bad experience we've had in as many visits. We went tonight with high hopes as two months ago we sent invitations to host our parents' 50th wedding anniversary dinner at this restaurant. After this awful experience, my sister and I will make alternate arrangements. That's 60 people that this restaurant will never...