Zapien's Salsa Grill — Restaurant in Pico Rivera

Location: Decent, Parking: Decent, Service:Okay, Presentation: Nice, Busy: Kinda ( before lunch crowd), Established Clientele: Yes ( Some for years) , Overall: For me this was a first time try. For the person I was there with, this is one of her favorite Mexican restaurants when she is in Pico Riviera. She loves the mole here and was pushing pretty hard to stop by. The place was not as busy as I thought I felt maybe we were early before the lunch crowd. They did seat us pretty fast and gave us the usual chips and salsa. The chips had a bit of flavoring, which made them a bit better than many of the others. The salsa was decent and worked well with the chips. My requestor knew exactly what she wanted, and after a second, I wanted something with mole. Here is where there was a few minor hiccups. The dishes (I felt ) took a bit long for the number of people there. Many had their dishes, so the Delay was a question. Then they got my order wrong, which was also a bummer, but it was fixed pretty fast. The meal from my guest was great and she was a happy customer. I will admit the meal was good, but nothing really stood out. I ordered the 3 enchilada dish with 1 red, 1 green, and 1 mole. The red and the green almost tasted the same and did not have as much spice as I hoped to make them different. The Mole was nice and not very strong, which was okay for me and perfect for my guest. So would I go back. If I am in the area, sure, I would try it again. But to drive out to eat because it is a main mission? My guest, yes, me I have a few places closer that I would like to try again before I wish to fight the traffic to eat here. They have a strong client base, so they will be around for a long time. I give them...

Let's start with the owner: he gave me attitude when I asked where the restroom was, then the staff has to sneak water to the patrons because the owner doesn't like it when patrons ask for water with their other drinks and complains when you dont finish your free water. When he heard I asked for water he grabbed a water that some one already drank from, from an unbused table, and practically threw it at me. My party was shocked and said "this has to be a joke" the waitress quickly came, apologized and brought me fresh water behind his back. Then the staff made an excuse for his rudeness... We only stayed because we wanted to try this "delicious food" The food: yikes!! The menudo was watered down! (That's where all the water goes that he doesn't want to give out, I guess) the only good thing was the coffee and the serving staff was friendly. The prices are NOT worth it. My recommendation: Get a can of Juanitas menudo at home, a big jug of water, and you'll have a better meal, experience and save a ton of money. Never...

This place is HORRIBLE!!! NO JOKE! We made a reservation and then when we arrived we were told that they gave away our table. We waited almost 45 minutes to for another table to open up. I ordered the cocido which on the menu read “DAILY BOTTOMLESS SOUP” for $11.95. So I thought, okay well this might make up for it. It took them another 40 minutes for us to get our food because the server forgot to put our order in!!! Then when my soup came in it looked as if it was the last of they had, it was cold and flavorless! I ate half (Hey I was hungry), then asked if I could get another bowl that was hotter and fresher they said that the cocido wasn’t bottomless anymore. Even though… the menu read “DAILY BOTTOMLESS SOUP!!!” Not only that but they got my sisters order wrong, the server my dad like 20 minutes earlier than everyone, we had to constantly ask our server for drinks. It was just a bad experience all together. I won’t got there again. I swear, not a good...