Garcia's Las Avenidas — Restaurant in Phoenix

Hello my Google Family and Friends! Me, my husband and Granddaughter visited Garcia's restaurant last Saturday the food was great, hats off to the cook Giovannie!

We used to eat here often but we stopped coming for a while because of a waitress by the name of Patricia she got upset when I confronted her about over charging us for extra soda's and extra orders that we didn't place, every visit would come out to 70.00 dollars for just the 2 of us. Then All of the sudden we started having a problem with Luis the cook who made it known that he was the Manager. These 2 would make us wait for about an hr or more for our food, as we did today!

When I asked her what was going on she said I call the manager, so guess who came out (Luis). He told me and my husband that he's the restaurant Manager and if we didn't like it we could leave and not to return, he said it very loudly ppl were just looking at us, we were so humiliated and embarrased that we paid without finishing our food and left. Yes he spoiled our appetite!... Upon leaving I did tell him that he couldn't do that! He said yes I can the owner is never here so im incharge! I told him I would be speaking to the owner, he said once again the owner is never here so I run the place. I then found out that the main MANAGER is Donna whom I spoke with about the incident. I guess he does run the place he's still there!

So we took the chance on returning today I ordered 3 carne asada tacos with fries, my husband ordered a shrimp burrito combination, and our Granddaughter ordered a kids Mac and cheese. I received cold tacos with torn corn tortillas extra greasy fries my husband received a chorizo con Huevo burrito and my granddaughters mac and chesse parts were cold and some parts were warm. When I asked the server who placed our order if she could please exchange the 3 corn tortillas in its place because the one's in my tacos couldn't be eaten, she said ok, but that's how they come. She brought me 3 more not fit to feed my dog. I then spoke to Melinda and explained to her the situatio, I did tell her that this is not exceptable and we do not come and eat for free we pay for what we order. (I believe that's her name) she was very professional and understanding she exchanged the tortillas, made my hubby's food and remaid my granddaughter's mac and chesse. She did say that she actually got upset with the cook she know's its not the 1st x this happens, and the next time to ask for her and she will make our food for us! I did add some pictures 1 of the photos is one of the reasons why we stoppped coming. The silver container was in our to go order a few months ago, it was supposed to be Jimmy Carne asada fries with easy sauce, that day we paid like 120.00 dollars for our order, that wasn't the only error the quesadilla was like eating cardboard, I asked for them to cook it in a little oil, it was drowning in it! When I called to let them know what took place I spoke to Ashley she placed me on hold while she spoke to guess who the kitchen Manager Luis, whom said that we didn't tell him it was suppose to have carne asada therefore he took the liberty of making it without it, but of course we were still charged 10.00 dollars for it. And by the way we could'nt had told him he didn't...

We are from out of town and went to Garcia's for dinner tonight (Sunday) because it was recommended by a couple friends. When we got there, it was about 7:30 pm and if we didn't have our GPS, we never would have found it because the sign is very poorly lit.

We were seated immediately and the first thing my boyfriend and I noticed was how filthy the restaurant was. There were chips/food all over the carpet (which was old, stained and grimy itself) and although our table had been wiped down, there were still straw wrappers and a crayon left from a previous party, chip crumbs all over the seats, and old, dried food stuck to the wall. The worst part was the smell... I could literally smell the dirt and grime - not pleasant at all.

On a positive note, our waitress was great and very friendly, but a little "forgetful" at times, which was forgivable considering that she was very busy with her section.

Regarding the food: The salsa was too tomato-y, almost as if it had been made with canned tomato sauce. By this point, I was really getting concerned since I didn't have a very positive impression of this restaurant by this point. However, much to my surprise, the food was really pretty good. I ordered a combo with a cheese enchilada and a bean tostada, and my boyfriend ordered combo #10 (chili rellano, taco and cheese enchilada). The food was hot (temperature-wise) when it was served and very tasty. The beans and rice were excellent, the ingredients were fresh, and the sauces were flavorful.

But would I recommend the restaurant? No. At least not until the manager/owner did a thorough, deep cleaning of the entire restaurant, replaced the carpets and scrubbed every inch of the place. If the front of the restaurant was allowed to be so dirty, I can only imagine how bad the kitchen is... the thought makes me shutter. It's too bad because it really could be an excellent restaurant but the filth is a...

This place ain't what it used to be! Just like the young family members who inherited Macayo's and Manuel's and ran them in the ground it is happening here too! They seem to quickly forget what's in a name with what it took to build the restaurants local reputation with blood, sweat and tears that the grandparents & parents poured into it over the decades just to have a kid or grandkid wash it ALL down the drain in just a few short years. Tonight's dinner involved a young waiter who thought that he was above writing our order down and then having the kitchen help mop up his mess at our expense. Then at the end of the meal we spoke with the grandson from the kitchen about the stinky mildew smelling synthetic fast food tortillas that he is now serving. The taco shells even appeared to be made of some sort of deep fried rice paste that was all blistered up and flaky? These kids are literally blind as to what got the restaurant off the ground in the first place. The sad part is that even if the order was written down in the first place it wouldn't of even have mattered anyway because nothing tasty was coming out of the kitchen anyway. Here's some useful information and only because I'm in my 60's, a native and have been eating your food since I was 10 yrs of age. Call Mama Lola's or La Canasta and get a real hand stretched flour tortilla with no preservatives along with a real stone ground white corn tortilla for your taco's, tostada's & chips. Get your name/reputation back and let the public now know that your values have changed and are now more consistent with what your family started decades ago with a sincere apology to your customer base for sliding backwards when you were running ignorant & blind for doing so. When all of that is sorted out then please reach out to me so that we can start making some good memories again and start adding you back to the list of...