EL CENTENARIO MEXICAN GRILL — Restaurant in Pennington Gap

Not a good experience considering that as a dinner party for my mother's 75th birthday, we went there as a informal dinner because this family has a multitude of small children and given them a choice they chose Mexican food (aldults had a formal dinner on Sunday) they were accommodating on arrival as we called ahead but still had insufficient seating for a large group which we made due with what was made available, initial greet for drinks,salsa,cheese dip was ok, few of our party we're known that they would arrive after main party was there, I guess the waiter boss seated us and did the initial order because after that no one came to us with menus I finally had to get up and got to kitchen area to get someone to bring us some menus, the rest of party arrived then and we're seated beside us and a waiter brought them menus and took their initial order when they received their drinks n dip their order was also taken for their meals, main group still hadn't received a follow up visit from head waiter or anybody, we flagged down several waiter's to no avail, still no follow up, second group then received their meals and first group still hadn't had order taken so finally we had to demand someone take our order which the second group waiter was also our waiter as it turned out, we stayed civil and respectful during the whole time then our waiter informed me that he would have taken our order but there was people talking (WHAAAT), I informed him that the ones we were talking to was the ones that you were taking a order from at the time, my sister brought a birthday cake for all the kids to sing Happy Birthday to great grand ma to after they had ate, during this time we stacked the dishes for them and passed out cake to ones that wanted some even other dinners were offered cake and some took some, my sis n I walked up front and asked the staff if they wanted some also and when we returned to our tables the cake was gone the same waiter that was so inept at his job threw the cake away, he didn't ask the others if we were done with it was keeping it or nothing they thought he was gonna slice some for staff since we asked if they would like sum so I give them a minus star...

I own a restaurant so I don't typically leave bad reviews bc I understand things happen sometimes and there are things out of your control however, we have been here twice now with very similar experiences both time. Very rude waiter. Orders were wrong and checks had wrong items on them. When asked to fix them we were told they didn't have time. My husband waited over 10 minutes with card and check in hand to pay at register. We were told by cashier very quickly as he ran past us that we needed to be prepared to pay when we were standing at the counter. We told him we are ready. He proceeded to check out customers sitting at the bar and when he finally came to us he was noticably annoyed and his tone was demanding and rude he said you must be prepared to pay when you're at the counter. My husband held his check and credit card higher and said we have been ready the whole time! When my sister-in-law was trying to pay after us they told her that she would have to wait because they had other customers to serve first. My mother-in-law ordered guacamole to add to her meal which clearly said $1.99 in menu but was charged $3.25. When we showed the waiter that the bill was wrong he said the guacamole has never been that cheap it's always been around $3.50. As we held the menu up and tried to show him where it's clearly said $1.99 he refused to look at menu and said he didn't have time to change it and walked away.

I understand being busy at times and having to rush around but the waiter would just walk away while we were in mid-sentence. We would just look at each other and wonder when he was coming back. When he finally came back we would begin ordering again and when we would get to a part where we asked a question he would just walk away. When he come back he would come to a different person and ask for their order avoiding the question. He did this multiple times and throughout the meal.

Overall, bad experience and we...

Service is AWFUL! Server is RUDE!! Avoid this place at all costs.

My family ate here a few weeks ago. Food was ok, and if I were basing this review only on the food I might eat here again.

When we arrived the server immediately asked if we wanted anything to drink. Our family are water drinkers, and I replied we'd just have water but the server really pressured us to order beverages. I asked if they had unsweetened ice-tea and his response was snarky and he acted like I was an idiot for not knowing they served coke products (how would I know???).

We came during lunch, so when placing the order I said that I'd like the carne asada lunch plate and the server very snidely said "we don't do lunch plates". I also asked nicely if he could put my rice and beans to the side (as I don't eat these items). They were served on my plate when the meal was brought.

When we placed the rest of the order, we asked the server to cancel one item and replace that item with another. The server did not write the order down. When the food was delivered to the table, both food items were sent. We tried to send back the food item we'd replaced but the server would not take it back, told us he knew what he heard, and that we would be paying for it. He also called me an unpleasant swear name in front of my grandchildren.

I approached the payment booth and once again said I'd like the item we'd canceled (an order of nachos, no cheese, only chicken) removed from the bill but the server refused to take it off. I said we'd be contacting the owner and letting him know about the poor service and he laughed at me and said "go ahead".

This turned what would have been a nice family lunch into a frustrating experience. My grandchildren were very upset with the servers treatment and actually said they were afraid of him.

If you're looking for a good family environment this is...