El Jefe — Restaurant in Pomona

Sorry, long post! Not sure where to start... this was the location for my sisters birthday celebration. We arrived around 6:30pm, waited at the bar for our tables to be set-up, there were about 15 of us. Drinks: I'm a wine drinker, so I called a couple of days prior to coming here, since we've never been here before, and asked if they had a drink list or wine list because I hadn't seen one on their website. The woman who answered the phone said they don't have a wine list and that they only sell beer, hard liquor and mixed drinks, then I proceeded to ask her if they had a corkage fee, she said she wasn't sure and would ask her manager, she put me on hold for a while, came back saying that her manager had stepped out and to try back in 15 minutes... I ended up calling later that day around 6pm, I spoke with someone else there and asked if they had a corkage fee, the man said that they didn't allow outside bottles, that I would need to purchase a glass of wine through them. I informed him of what the woman said earlier, and he said that they did have wine... he mentioned, Merlot, Pinot Noir, Cabernet, Chardonnay, he said they had several. Well great! While at the bar we ordered and paid for drinks. I asked for a glass of Pinot Noir... the bartender said they only had Merlot and Chardonnay. I requested the Merlot (didn't want to argue about their selection). Before getting my glass of wine, we were called to be seated. When I got the glass of wine, it came really cold... not common for a red wine, anyhoo, someone asked if the wine was good, and I informed them that it was too cold to tell, the person then replied that they thought it was strange that the bartender put the wine in a shaker with ice and shook it up. Um, what?! No, you don't do that. Food: We ordered our food. Looked like everyone got their food pretty much at the same time (this is a good thing) but, turns out that not every part of the meal came out together. For instance, the molcajetes came out, but they forgot the rice and beans that go with the plate. There were two order of this, and both didn't have it. One person received theirs later on, and the other person that hadn't received their sides, informed the server that they hadn't received theirs either... the server then comes around to where the person who hadn't received their sides, and took the molcajete away from them without asking... I couldn't believe it! You don't take away someone's food because you forgot to bring their sides, unless the guest is asking you to.. the person was literally eating the food from the molcajete and seemed to be enjoying it. Then about 8 minutes later, they brought out their food again, but no apologies. Now, for my order. I ordered the rolled taquitos (I'm a picky eater, but love rolled taquitos), this came with rice and beans, however, any restaurant I've ever gone to, and I order the rolled taquitos plate, comes with either guacamole or sour cream/crema or both... this had nothing but the lettuce on top. Disappointing! I'll stop here. I'm getting pretty tired of writing this review, still have more issues with this place that I won't share at this time. Oh, they won't split bills, not even in two. Not a huge problem, but it is an option that guests should have. So, in conclusion, I wouldn't recommend this place unless you're ok with mediocre service, overpriced drinks (horrible wine by the way), and bland food.. this is the gist of it. You're awesome if you actually finished reading this...

Very disappointed with the service! If that's what you want to call "it"! The management needs to educate their servers on how to make sure the customer is always satisfied. A happy customer is a "returning customer ". Our night started off when the server could have cared less about our table , compared to the larger party being serviced. Server took our order, which took forever to bring to our table, including requests for chips, drinks, forgotten items that were placed at the time our order was taken! Several attempts were made to remind server we were still missing items, server would say, "ok, ill get that for you right now ", would walk back inside, come back out and go in a different direction to another table! This happened for 2 hours! We understood, they were busy, but simple requests could have been handled immediately! Finally alerted management and told him we would rather get another server, because of the disregard for our orders/requests. Horrible decision was made by "Gilbert", he addressed the server and pointed us out, in turn the server got confrontational with us and made excuses for his forgetfulness. Gilbert handled the situation incorrectly, he should have told server he was going to help out by assigning another server to our table in order for server to focus on the bigger party being attended! Halfway thru our meal we were disgusted and lost our appetite, we didn't feel like completing our meals. At one point a simple order wasn't brought to our table for over 45-60mns, at that point our guest didn't feel like eating and the item was warm, not hot as expected! The only highlight of the night was when we had to ask the busboy for water, because the server was no where in sight! Server should always make it a habit to refill the drinks or at least do a walk-by to see if the customers needs anything! Server should be prepared with napkins,, utensils, etc, the customer should NOT have to do the servers job by alerting them to what is needed! I can honestly give "kudos" to the busboy who was able to get us water immediately!

Word of advice to the owner/management, you’re definitely under staffed!! Also, please hire EXPERIENCED SERVERS! These children are of no use for your business! They have no regard for superior customer service, because these children don't rely on a paycheck, they rely on mommy and daddy, so they don't care if they're fired! They don't live paycheck to paycheck! They should be worried during this pandemic! Not a lot of jobs out there! But again, they rely on mommy and daddy!

Now to the 2nd part of the night! The ambiance is excellent, however the music was so damn depressing! Same type of slow dragging Spanish music, over and over, it got OLD! it did not set the tone for the night or for the young crowd! You need to learn how to read your crowd! Change of music is everything, it sets the mood!

The horrible service and music did it for us! We ended up leaving, instead of staying and spending more time and money! I don't look forward to spending time there again, until the service is revamped! Stronger leadership is definitely needed! Motivation for these young kids is also needed! Final note, please fix the women's restroom, the seats have been broken for over a month and apparently the staff is afraid to alert anyone or they don't care its an inconvenience for...

First time here was for Sunday brunch with family.

Ambiance/location The restaurant is located in downtown Pomona with ample parking. Although there are signs for two-hour parking, we didn't experience any issues. The restaurant has a beautiful patio to dine 'al fresco.'

The restrooms were clean and properly maintained.

One strong recommendation to management; power wash the patio's concrete. Evidence of past spills is clearly evident and takes away from all of your hard work. Also, there are a few booths at the entrance that are torn. It wasn't the best 'look' as we entered the patio.

Another strong recommendation, the music in the patio area is too loud. We found ourselves having to raise our voices to hear one another; as did fellow diners. Although I'm not a fan of the current Mexican regional music, it was nice when the music changed to include other Spanish/Mexican artists.

Service Staff were incredibly busy, yet our waiter continued to touch base with us regularly. All staff were very friendly and professional... THANK YOU!

Food The food was just "okay." We weren't blown away by anything. In fact, we found that the eggs, enchiladas and chilaquiles were rather bland. The tacos and menudo were solid choices; but also these are items you typically adjust to your liking.

Surprisingly, the coffee was excellent!

Final thoughts Unfortunately, we didn't feel that the price to 'food tastiness' ratio was worth the brunch price. Perhaps it's better when you visit on a regular restaurant day (i.e. non brunch selection). To that end, we will return to give the restaurant another opportunity.

What makes this place great is the staff, clean restrooms and beautiful patio dining area (just needs a little power wash).

A couple of tweaks and you've got an even better place that will ensure your longevity and...