El Torito — Restaurant in Palmdale

Food was ok, but the service was very much to be desired. The server was not very attentive and usually disappeared for about 10 minutes at a time. I looked around to see if he was with another table, but he was only with us and a table in front of us. He would go to the back and be gone for extended periods. I feel as though the other table he served was receiving better service because he was very attentive to them. They seemed to be an older couple with a child. We were a younger couple with a child. Maybe we didn’t look like we had much to offer in terms of a tip? It also was not very busy from what I could tell. It was about 9pm and most patrons were at the bar. He took very long to take our orders. He did offer to refill our chips for the table side guacamole we had ordered, but that took another 10-15 minutes as we stared at our guac chipless. I’m not sure if the chips are made to order but that doesn’t seem to be a good business model. If the chips are easily accessible then it should not have taken so long. Once we tried the guac it was flavorless. Mind as well have given us the avocado. I asked our server for salt and lime about three times as he went off on an adventure of a lifetime because we waited probably 20-30 minutes for that to be resolved. We were actually able to order our food, receive it, begin eating and only after finally asking a third time for those condiments was he able to give me an answer which was 1. Sorry I’ve been looking for the salt shaker and 2. Oh I can’t find limes. Not that the restaurant was out of limes which would’ve made sense because of the guac, but just that he in his journey could not find any. I am pretty sure he just forgot about us a few times. Also we were never offered refills, and not given napkins. We asked for all those things in moments he would be magically appear. At one point I believe a manager asked how everything was and to my regret I told him we were ok. Our bill totaled $100 before a tip. The only redeeming factor in the restaurant that night was my wife enjoyed the fish tacos. Maybe coulda used some lime. We couldn’t finish our food at the restaurant however because of the service. We no longer wanted to experience subpar service so we took our food to go and ate in our hotel. We love family sit downs, but this was not the place for us. The...

My family and I just moved to the area, and decided to give this restaurant a try since we dined frequently at the one in Sherman Oaks, and we have traditionally liked their food and service. Unfortunately, our first experience at this particular restaurant was awful, for starters we weren't acknowledged when we walked in to the waiting area. One of us had to hunt down the hostess and let her know we had a reservation. Secondly, it took over 20min from the time we sat down at a table just to have someone come around and take our order for drinks. The person who ended up taking our order wasn't even the assigned waiter to our sitting area. We ordered an appetizer that never came, then one of us had to get up and complain to the manager that no one had come to take our food order, mind you this was 40min after we got to the restaurant. We finally got out order in, and as expected our food came very late and cold. Inspite all of it, Our waiter was nice and seemed genuinely apologetic. At the end of our dinner the manager did approach us and apologized for the bad experience, which I personally appreciated. My review is not geared to the employees, but to the management of this place. It seems that they're understaffed, and current employees look over worked and stressed. They try the best they can but I think that with better coordination and perhaps more employees the service can be improved. I don't think I'll be coming back soon, but maybe in the far future I'll give it...

There were some mistakes about pricing, such as kids eat for $1 on Wednesday's with any adult entree , which we had to correct the server on our check and forgetting to get my husband his ice tea.. the server was pretty cool and not rude but she could have been a bit more excited about serving people.. I know it was her first time working on the floor as a waitress but when I was waiting tables I always made sure to have a big bright smile and speak in a way that was very inviting.. I finished 1 of 3 of the tacos I got but immediately regretted it because I started to feel ill,albeit it was a certain. Ingredient that I'm not use to.. anyways, as we were paying for our check we noticed another waitress (blue hair) speaking to another coworker wearing a black pollo at the kitchen- as soon as she turned her back the other worker with the black polo shirt was flipping her off! And this wasn't a way that he was trying to hid it, he straight up raised his hand and flipped her off for a good minute! I was really surprised and felt uncomfortable.. I also realized that these actions didn't take place until the big boss walked away for a few moments.. We won't be going back because of the that, we have small children and to expose them to what is suppose to be a professional environment and turns out it's not- its just not ok with me...