Jose Pistola's — Restaurant in Philadelphia

Hi, my name is Joel Guerrero. I am the Patron Services Manager for a Muliti Million Dollar company. I deal daily with customer service and satisfaction. Tonight, I visited your Jose Pistola restaurant in Philadelphia. I want to start out with, I have heard great things about your place and many theatre friends recommend it to me. I decided to visit tonight with a party of 4 and could NOT believe the service and treatment I was given tonight. At first I was refused a table because we didn't order food at 11 PM at night, ok, so 3 of our 4 ordered food, since that is the only way to secure a table. We were graciously given a corner table and then treated horribly by YOUR pink haired waitress. She was rude, short and made it clear she did not want to serve my party of 4. Ok, we ate our delicious food and drank our drinks and went to leave, I did not tip your waitress due to her HORRIBLE service, and then was literally CHASED out of the restaurant by the waitress who yelled "don't let them in, they don't tip!!" I let that pass, but it doesn't end there. On my way home I was then verbally attacked by you "Manager" on a public bus. He had no reason or excuse to create a scene on a public ride, all while making it verbally clear he worked for your company! He laughed in my face and refused to hear my side, even though he was the one who initiated the conversation. I was verbally attacked and my personal character was horribly defamed. I work in the customer service industry and would NEVER let my staff get away with this. When I called your restaurant after the assault to get a name, the waitress who answered LITERALLY laughed in my face. Is this what you are ok running??? I look forward to hearing from...

I don’t like to leave bad reviews, especially because sometimes it might be a bad/off day. I had hopes for this place because of the reviews, but it was expensive and definitely not worth it. We came to dinner on a Friday and it wasn’t busy. Seated immediately and people seemed friendly. The food was horrible and on top of that, over-priced. It’s about $7 per taco. If you’re going to charge that much, please make the food good at least.

We got pico and chips, 2 different kinds of tacos, and fries. The pico was good (but that’s the only think that was good). The chips were stale and had no salt. The fries were terrible and over-cooked with no salt. And it’s hard to mess up fries, too.

The tacos… We asked the waitress what the short rib taco was— beef or pork. She said it was pork. When we got the taco, I realized it was not pork and my bf already had eaten one. We don’t eat beef for religious reasons, so this really upset me. I called the waitress over and had her check with the chef, and she apologized that it was beef. She offered to “get us something else” but we refused. And she ended up charging us for the beef taco. We didn’t even eat the other one because it was beef. The bhan mi taco seemed very interesting but it was flavorless at best. If you’re not sure what the ingredients in the food are, please go ask the chef. People have dietary restrictions for religious, personal, or medical reasons (allergies) and I think it’s extremely unprofessional.

The vibe is nice so that’s why I gave one star. I wouldn’t go back and I wouldn’t bring others here for food. Maybe for a drink and only that, but there are MUCH better places in the city for tacos that are also cheaper and have...

I've been here a few times, first time in my Elite days, so now with my oh-so-keen eye (jk obvi), here is my review.

Plus points any meat options can be replaced with soy chorizo. Not a lot of places do this, so this was nice! I wanted the ingredients of a lobster taco with soy but it was $18, and the waitress generously said that most of the price was the lobster so brought $ down for me. lots of taco, nacho, guac, burrito, etc options! But not TOO many. Traditional items, and also creative items like kimchee tacos and pistachio guac. Service Drinks aren't too pricey. $6 for traditional marg. Nice draft list. You'll be stuffed!

Negative points not a fan of the ambiance. It's trying to get that norlibs hipster feel, but its kinda weird and superrr squished. This place always feels packed. Bathroom on the 3rd floor and not clean. Maybe norlibs wood walls/tattered ground feel? Meh..... Keep a clean well lit stairwell if you're gonna make me walk 3 floors to a dirty bathroom. It's certainly not cheap. Two tacos for $15. Granted, it was delish and I was stuffed. The margs used to be fresh but last night it was def premade with lots of sour mix... UGH where can a chica just get a fresh...