Otro Cafe — Restaurant in Phoenix

James The Bartender I want to start by saying that I love this restaurant, I've been going to Otro Cafe for over a year and never had a bad experience until yesterday 7/30/2024. I've introduced this restaurant to many and recently a group of coworkers, loved it so much that we ended up going 3 times within that week. The first day being Tuesday 7/23/24 (group of 4). We came in and sat at the bar and James was our bartender, we had a great time, conversations with other customers and staff (it was happy hour, one of our friends speaks a bit louder than normal and laughs pretty loud). The new manager Lorenzo was great and we were attended well. James was happy as he got a pretty good tip. We came back on Thursday and sat at the bar (group of 3) had a different bartender (not loud) . Came back that Friday (group of 2 not loud ) sat at the bar and James was our bartender again. He was not so attentive that the manager had to step in to take our drink order, make our drinks, take our food order and bring it to us. James made 2 of our drinks each that night. We asked for the bill and he brought it to us, I noticed my drinks were not at the happy hour price so I asked James if the receipt was correct because it's double the happy hour price. James stated that the drinks we had were higher quality ingredients. Okay we paid and left. Now that brings us to yesterday 7/30/24. 4 of us walk in and go sit at the bar, no greeting, James goes straight into addressing us in an aggressive and loud manner enough for everyone to hear. He stated there were complaints about us being loud, which I can say the day it could've been a bit loud was Tuesday with our loud friend on a Taco Tuesday where the restaurant was full and loud due to all customers having their individual conversations. That being the case, why did James or management not address it at the time or the other 2 times we were there after? Every other time we were there we had our normal tone conversations. Then he brought up that I questioned my bill the Friday before. As if that upset him! Am I not allowed to question my bill if it seems off? the third thing he brought up was that we tipped him 10% on Friday!!! the day i questioned my bill. That was a shock to us. He stated that we have a problem with him when all we have done is be friendly. We are good tippers but Friday we tipped based on the service not the total which was $50 dollars each. James stated that he felt we have a problem with him based solely on Friday's tip. Tipping is at the discretion of the customer and not owed. James' entitlement and lack of respect yesterday was shocking. Never have we ever experienced this type of treatment. We went in happy ready to enjoy dinner and drinks and immediately were scolded, embarrassed, felt we were treated like children. James asked if we were good, I said I felt like we were in trouble. We all felt very uncomfortable so we left, Allowing employees to treat/talk to your paying and frequent recurrent customers this way is very disappointing. I have brought many new customers to this restaurant, speaking highly of it. Now there is a bad impression left on us and they refuse to return. I hope this does not go ignored as if James felt comfortable speaking to us this way, he will do it again as I am sure it won't be the last time he is not pleased with his tip. Another thing, He threatened to kick us out if we got loud WHAT!!? (can't laugh at happy hour) We are not crazy, disrespectful or erratic. We are all grown, have manners and work in the...

Pretty bummed to be writing this, but as this restaurant has risen in popularity, its overall experience has declined. My husband and I have loved Otro and have been regulars for almost 10 years. Unfortunately, with their new location that opened, a lot of the amazing staff went there, and it shows.

We went in on a weekend day expecting a wait, we're given a 25 minute wait time (said we were open to sit at the bar if it came up). We sat down on a bench right across from the front desk so we saw all that was going on and it was a whole lot of nothing. I've never seen such little urgency from an entire group of people during a busy Saturday morning rush. Our wait ended up being 50 minutes and we watched people from a party of 8 waiting for a table, go up to bar seats and order drinks and stand there taking up space they should not have been. Then other people came in after us and were sat at the bar. We literally heard the hostess ask people who just came in if they wanted to sit at the bar. It was blasphemous.

Once we sat down, it took us 10 minutes to be greeted by the most unfriendly server. I was surprised to see her as she used to be one of the hostesses (Hispanic, long brown ponytail). How she got promoted, I will never know. She was just as unfriendly at the front desk and she was to us as a server.

Since it took so long, we ordered everything. We even jokingly made a bet on the order of how everything would come out: Our guacamole appetizer Our meals Our drinks

I bet you see where this is going. It took 5 minutes to get chips with no salsa. Once the guacamole came out, we asked the friendlier food runner if we could get some salsa and plates. There was no apology on how long our drinks took and we were sitting at the booth that looked right at the drink well and the bartenders who also had no urgency. It seemed like the bartenders are also making non alcoholic drinks like hot tea?! Don't quote me on that, but there were a bunch of fancy kettles and drinks that didn't look alcoholic in the well that seemed to slow them down a lot, but man, drinks should never take that long, and bartenders shouldn't have to worry about making hot tea.

Our servers other tables were extremely neglected with empty iced teas and plates long sitting at the end of tables.

I wasn't even sure who the manager was that day, but whoever it was, either did not staff correctly, was not supporting their staff, or do not have enough staff in general.

Pretty disappointed in the overall decline in service here. The food is always amazing and has kept us coming back, but we may be avoiding the weekend crowd as they do not know how...

Delicious. Cute café style Mexican restaurant.

I like that the coffee shop Cafecito is built-in next door, the smell in the restaurant is wonderfully relaxing. It reminds me of traveling, a nice airport lounge, the noise level was quiet-moderate with the décor being darkly modern.

There was a small wait when I arrived, but that's okay, plenty of seating to wait. I originally came seeking to try the enchiladas but didn't realize they have different menus for lunch/dinner, so I ended up ordering the Huevos Rancheros with two over medium eggs on-top and xmas sauce (red and green sauce mixed). I also ordered a Shirley Temple, think sierra mist/7-up with grenadine, it was delicious. The Huevos Rancheros was perfect, the eggs were perfect, the layering and sauce was perfect, everything was perfect. The eggs were delicious, stuck out as being tastier than other eggs I've had in the valley, could have just been the combination of food.

During my visit on 5/12/2025 at around 12:30-1pm, a man was sat down in front of me at a small table with two chairs, the waiter said he would be with him momentarily. My waiter, whose name I don't remember, was very busy working his section. I guess this patron was unhappy by the short wait bestowed upon him, visibly upset by the waiter passing him by one extra time or two without a drink - this patron stood up and left in an upset manner. I just want to say, to my waiter, whose name I don't remember, man with a speech impediment, did nothing wrong. He was very aware of his surroundings, was very attentive/aware of the patrons in his section, and the bus-boy/barback was doing a great job getting waters out (or trying his best). That patron who left was disrespectful, could use a thing or two about patience.

Anyways, I loved the atmosphere, even the metal chair I sat in, I usually don't like hard seats but these had a slight curvature to them and were slightly more comfortable than usual hard chairs. They had booths as well, but overall it's a small establishment. There were two unisex single person restrooms, both accessible, although to be noted for wheelchair users - the bathroom requires going through some potentially tight turns in the back. The busier it is, the more difficult I would imagine it to navigate with a wheelchair in here. The restaurant itself is semi-accessible to wheelchair users, however I would call-ahead to reserve a table with room just to be on the safe side.

Overall, a great experience. Quality atmosphere with...