Macayo's Mexican Food — Restaurant in Phoenix

First off, I want to make it clear that this is probably only the 3rd really bad review I've given since 2010.... My neighbor gave some of us friends macayo's gift cards. Earlier in the week 4 of us decided to go use our gift cards on Friday night. I had never been to Macayos before, so I was very excited all week knowing that we were going. The hostesses and manager were super friendly as soon as we walked in. They all greeted us with hellos and smiles. The restaurant was super cute, too. Originally we were told Danielle was going to wait on us as we were being seated. But shortly after a male server appeared. He never introduced himself or explained if he was our server instead of Danielle. It was a little confusing. We couldn't tell if he was just getting us drinks or if he wanted to take our food order. His communication skills were lacking. I don't think he was to thrilled to be waiting on us. He looked very unhappy. Maybe he was just having a bad night (it happens) but I don't recall him ever smiling or saying anything friendly. He pretty much had attitude throughout the entire service. Unknowingly that everyone at the table had noticed throughout the meal attitude from the server at one point or another but none of ever said anything... We all have bad days, right!? But I assure you that from the very beginning, when some of us ordered water with lemons he sighed, I'm not sure why but all of us heard it(and he never brought the lemons until we asked for them later on). I can only speak for how he made me feel... I felt like we were annoying him by being there. We definitely didn't get service with a smile. I do want to make clear that the food was excellent, though. Our server, Cory never really came back to check on us after he brought us our meals. Our waters or pop never got filled nor did he ask if we needed anything (like napkins)....Or if our food was good or if we needed anything else. We also needed after dinner coffee and seperate bills since we all had gift cards and some of us were entitled to a Sr discount. But he didn't know this due to not checking on us. So all of this wasn't bad, right!?! Why did I only rate 2 stars and go on this huge rant? Well, it got worse. He brought us our seperate checks and they were all wrong. He said he'd fix them. He took them back to edit them. They were wrong again. He took them back to edit them again. They were wrong a third time. I finally wrote down on each check receipt what every person had and what the checks should look like but he still came back a fourth time with them wrong. Believe me his attitude towards us got worse and worse everytime. Did I mention that he never apologized once! But he sure wanted to argue and tell us how wrong we were. The last time he brought the checks out, they were right except for a whole main meal was missing off of a check and we didn't want to not pay for something.. We should of just let it be at that point. Being honest cost us another 20 mins. because the manager came over and said she'd edit our checks and ring us out on the register and take care of everything. She was really nice and professional. So the manager just had to add a meal to one check and we should of been ready to pay and go. Well,she(the manager) misunderstood and changed two of the checks by mistake and eventually took 3 times before she finally almost had it right and she gave up and basically told us to go. Did I mention that the 4 of us only had a beverage , a side and a main meal(nothing fancy or too difficult)? Getting our semi-correct checks took a ridiculous amount of time. It was all so much unnecessary confusion. I've never experienced anything like it. I do know that I won't ever go back to use the rest of my gift card. It's unfortunate because the...

Honestly, I used to love Macayo's. Their food is delicious. There enchilada sauce is amongst the best I've had. But this last trip was the pits.

We arrived, the place was half empty, yet we still waited 10 minutes to be seated because there wasn't a clean table in the joint. I don't know what the bussers were doing, but they weren't cleaning. We saw a table next to ours that was dirty when we arrived and still hadn't been cleaned by the time we finished our dinner and left.

My 3 year old daughter didn't get her drink for 10-15 minutes. Then they brought her a warm bottle of juice with no cup, no ice, and no straw. But the best drinking vessel for a toddler. We opened our menus and there was tons of food caked and smeared inside... The worst part was the food was right where I watched the host open the menu and drop in a promotional insert. It wasn't a quantity of food that one just misses if they're at least half way paying attention. So I went back up to the host stand to ask for a new menu, describing the situation. He handed me another menu, evidently without looking at it, because when I got back to our table, there was almost as much food caked in the new menu! I went up a third time to request a clean menu and insisted they check it. 3rd time is a charm...if you could say that.

Food came out incorrectly, my daughter's food came out wrong, but perhaps I shouldn't complain... She technically got a bigger portion for free... Just bitter that after all the issues up to this point, even her dinner was wrong. Service took a long time, even though the restaurant was slow... I don't think we'll be returning.... Honestly, this appears to me to be another restaurant whose standards fell just a couple months after the minimum wage increase.

It's a shame. My wife and I met at a Macayo's and had our rehearsal dinner at another one, but if this is the service we've come to expect, all the nostalgia in the world won't...

Most recent experiences: Have had some hiccups with pick ups, but that was largely the fault of the app and not this restaurant's fault or the staff. Furthermore, some of the employees are genuinely friendly and were working hard to get me my order as quick as they could. Thanks.

Edit to add: I went here again because I had a big order with a good tip. They were more on top of things and even friendly/professional. There was a bit of wait but I will give them a 2/5 for now and see how things go when and if I pick up from here again.

Old Review: Extremely rude and unfriendly employees, especially at the hostess station. If you ask for something very basic in a polite fashion, they will act like you asked them for their firstborn child.

I had no idea that it was that difficult to separate a fried ice cream from being grouped together with HOT ITEMS in a to-go order. Seems like a simple, logical request to me! Employee argued with me ("it's fine, it's in Styrofoam!"), acted put out by the request and that I asked again, and then finally complied and walked away without saying a word because she was clearly mad that I insisted the ice cream be separated from the HOT items. It might seem fine to you, but how do you know how long I have to drive with that item while it sits in a bag with HOT food (and why would you fight me on separating it, especially when I explain I have a cooler in my car with ice packs in it especially for just such an item!)?

Appalling service and a bad attitude that is truly uncalled for. It costs you nothing to be kind. I asked politely, so why...