Cielito Lindo — Restaurant in Pigeon Forge

May 29, 2022 at 7:30 pm

Saw hostess and was told 15-20 min wait (was 25+). It was busy, but tables were open. Three people in front of us. Very tight inside. After waiting outside in the sun and heat b/c you couldn’t wait inside. My wife was even told after overheating she couldn’t stay in there. And they didn’t have any room. We were on a motorcycle so we were wearing jeans and a tee.

Hostess came and got us (never texted us even though they got our phone #, no name), but said we had to wait on menus.

Seated for almost 10 mins before menus were brought out as well as the water and chips/salsa. Water was all around the table. Told host and he pointed to wall A/C, but didn’t even try to clean up. It was leaking from a janitor closet behind me. And the A/C was clearly not working properly.

Only woman bussing tables (who also brought chips/salsa) was cleaning up two big tables. We had to wait for her to finish to get anything. She was clearly overwhelmed.

We ordered as soon as they came out with water which took longer than chips/salsa as to not cause further delay.

Saw another couple across the restaurant that almost finished their huge mixed drinks before their food came out. You could tell they were getting impatient by their body language.

Food arrived 15 mins after ordering. Also tops of tables were cut acrylic which made the plates slide around when trying to eat off them. I was unable to attached a video of me chasing my plate around the table trying to eat. I had to hold it down.

Observations. Inside/location is too small. Not enough wait staff, clearly overwhelmed and undertrained. Lack of concern with safety of customers allowing 1/4” water all over floor around my table. I was basically sitting in it. See pics.

From most Mexican restaurants I’ve been too and it’s a lot they are very efficient. You expect little wait and fast service from them. That’s the experience and expectation of what these restaurants are known for outside of fast food.

Understandably, it was Memorial Day weekend with a lot of tourists. However, with only a couple people wait, it should not have taken over 30 mins to wait, be seated and get a waitress. It was almost an hour by the time we waited and got our food. Whole experience was 1.5 hrs.

If they do provide better service at other times, then maybe visit outside of holidays and busy times. Food was 4...

I hate giving bad reviews but with this place, i have no choice. In most restaurants, i can find one or two things that are good; not so here unfortunately. Where to start. We're from Texas, the San Antonio area specifically. I travel all over for work and get to experience for from everywhere. I LOVE Mexican food. In most restaurants when the chips and salsa are brought out, the salsa is usually a pretty good indicator of things to come. This place brought out the salsa in a jar to be poured into small bowls. The salsa literally looked like watered down Louisiana hot sauce without the spice. To say it was horrible is an understatement. At a good restaurant, i usually can't stop eating the chips and salsa. Here it took about 4-6 chips; dinner. I still wanted chips so i ordered the queso lindo that comes with ground beef and pico de gallo. When they brought it out, i couldn't believe it, it was cold, and watered down too. Worst queso I've ever had.. took 4 chips and i was done. Wife and daughter tried it to and thought the same. We left 95% of it uneaten. Lastly, i ordered the mocajete for my wife and I. The daughter ordered cheese nachos. The mocajete comes with, steak, chicken, pork and shrimp. It too was barely edible. We left 65% of it uneaten. My daughter's nachos came out with white watered down cheese and AGAIN the cheese was cold. I asked if they could warm them up. They took them back and popped them in the microwave. The cheese came back watery and the chips stail. To top it all off, the waiter clearly didn't want to be there. Keeping my fingers crossed i didn't get food poisoning.. this was BY FAR the worst Mexican food I've ever had. I do not recommend this place at all. I have no idea where the good...

Lovely place with some really great highlights, but some key let downs.

Pros: Attentive and friendly staff who seated us quickly and served us with smiles and politeness the entire time. They were lovely. The vibe and decor are nice and bright. The chicken soup and salsa were so tasty! I'd have been happy just eating the chips and dip all night. It was lightly spiced and was perfectly seasoned. The menu has a good selection, I'm always a fan of a place with taquitos on the menu as it's not common where I'm from. Great location and easy to get to.

Cons: I hate to say it, but the marg was the worst drink I think I've ever had. I couldn't finish it, and that's saying something. It had a weird thickness to it and was evidently made with a hefty amount of artificial peach syrup which made it truly undrinkable. We tried quickly drinking half of it to avoid the taste and topped up the glass with water. With half the glass full of water it was the right viscosity, but obviously the taste wasn't great - still more drinkable than it came though. I'd recommend either changing the brand of fruit puree you use or using a third as much. The nachos would have been great, but unfortunately the white cheese sauce had the consistency of water. Since all the chips on the bottom were sat in it, they became a soggy mess within 5 minutes of them arriving on the table. If you swapped the thickness of the cheese with the marg and vice versa - it would have been perfect 🫣

I'd eat here again for the staff and to try the taquitos, and see if we just got unlucky with the food and margs...