Durango Cocina & Rooftop — Restaurant in Rancho Cucamonga

I posted more detailed review on Yelp

One star for the food and the Rooftop space. This place is not an upscale/fine dining restaurant. Even though, the menu price is ridiculously expensive same as fine dining prices.

DINING: Came here last Friday May 23rd for a birthday dinner. Luckily, I made a reservation a month before because the place was pack. My reservation was at 7:30 pm. I checked in around 7:35 pm because of the parking situation. Around 7:40 pm, I asked for how long till my group will be seated, if it's longer, we want to go to the bar and get a drink first. The host said, please give me a minute to figure out how long and I said cool. 7:45 pm she came back and said it's gonna be few minutes. Then my group proceeded to go to the bar to get a drink.

We were seated by 8:01, not bad, we wouldn't mind waiting because we got our drinks from the bar. We were seated in a semi private room with another party. We were a party of 5 we were able to seat comfortably, but the other party was party of 8 and there wasn't any space for them to get out. If someone wants to get out to go the restroom. someone on the edge has to get up, move the seat, and let the person go. (Fire hazard for sure).

So around 8:04, the server came by and took our order for the drinks. TELL ME WHY IT TOOK THEM 40 MINUTES TO GIVE OUR DRINKS. Our server came by 3 times to check on us during the 40 minutes and asked if we received the drinks or not. By this time, we were getting annoyed but we didn't want to ruin the vibe. The food came out before the drinks. When we got the drinks, they made a mistake on my drink. (I let it go cause I didn't care much at this point).

While we were eating, the food runner kept bringing more food to our table. We had to say no about 3 or 4 times that those aren't our food. We were almost done eating. (THEY NEED TO FIX THE SEATING CHART/SYSTEM/WHATEVER THEY NEED TO DO). The food was good especially the taquitos. The beans weren't that great, the caesar salad was mediocre (it's not a turn caesar dressing, it's more like a peanut sauce, and charred romaine not a cold sald. more like a warm sald).

So the check came, we just paid it cause we want to go to the Rooftop bar. The server didn't offer if we want any dessert (which is fine).

THE MANAGER: Then I talked to the manager (I forgot her name was), she was apologetic and I told her I don't want any comp on the food/drink but just want to let her know that the restaurant needs to fixed. I told her, we came here for a birthday dinner, and there wasn't any birthday celebration (YOU SHOULDN'T PUT IF WE CELEBRATE ANY SPECIAL OCCASION ON THE RESERVATION, IF YOU DON'T HAVE ANY BIRTHDAY ITEM THAT WE CAN PURCHASE) She offered to walked us to the Rooftop and in the elevator, she said "let me see what I can do" (that's usually a sign that you want to rectify the bad situation that we had).

We got to the Rooftop bar, we were waiting on here for a few minutes cause she was talking to the hosts. We decided to get a drink (again we don't care about any comp). The manager just left, completely left. If you said "let's see what I can do", that means you gonna fix it but not completely left us in the dry. The least she can do is to give the birthday girl a free drink for the bad experience.

THE ROOFTOP: The Rooftop bar is a vibe (We will go back for the Rooftop bar). The servers were attentive and the drinks were good. Now to the bad news, how is it you guys ran out of lime??? You couldn't go downstairs and grab more limes from the kitchen. If the kitchen ran out of lime, go to STATER BROS next door and buy more limes. SMH. Also, if you are trying to make this bar as the IT bar, please get a live dj or subscribed to a spotify premium. The music that was playing came from someone's spotify account. The music was all over the place and speaker volume was so soft, might as well don't...

We came here 2 days in a row, once for brunch and once for dinner. Just so happened that we had 2 events. The first visit was for father's day. The place is beautiful. My dad really wanted to come here because of the rooftop. When booking the reservation my husband thought we were going to be on the rooftop. But upon arrival we learned that the rooftop does not open until 12pm but that was not on their website nor were we told during booking. That was fine, we decided to eat then check out the rooftop after. Again the aesthetic is beautiful.

1st visit dining experience: we sat at our table for exactly 23 minutes before having to get up and find someone to greet us and give us water. Literally every table around us was being served but ours. As a former restaurant server, I understand sections. But it was like no one even saw us or stopped to mention "hey those people have been sitting there for a long time; is that my section? or let me see who's table that is" ... The manager came and apologized and took our order. She did not write anything down, which is fine, a member of our party said "how are you going to remember all that." She said she would. We sat waited for our drinks. First issue; one guest drink never came and again we had to find someone to ask them about it. It was forgotten. Then the food came out randomly (not together) and 4 of our 5 orders were wrong. Missing items and incorrect temp on the steaks. By the time we got our full orders some people were done eating. There was no one who ever came and was attentive to us. Our "server" came at the end to let us know the incorrect items were removed from our bill. But the experience left a lot to be desired. We went up to the roof top after and it was so insanely hot. No misters, or enough fans to make it bearable in the summer. There are built in heaters, but nothing for the hot weather. The poor workers are wearing pants and love sleeve shirts up there and its soooooo hot.

2nd visit we had dinner. The manager recognized us from the day before. The server was very attentive to begin with but feel off as the night went on. The food was good, only complaint is items were not consistent. We ordered albondigas and another couple, they were plated different and portions were not the same. Oh, and there are not enough chips for the guac, the guace was yummy but had more tomato and onion than avocado. Towards the middle of service our server all but disappear. We were there for a birthday, she dropped the check and walked away, didn't as us if we wanted dessert. So when the bill was dropped we asked about desert and she told us the kitchen is closed. Then she went and "asked" if we could order dessert and we were told we could only get churros. Not only was there no warning the kitchen was closing, why would the kitchen close with active diners, in the building. Again as a former restaurant employee I have never known a kitchen to close while people are dining before 10:00pm but if they did we told the guests that.

A note about the patio, it is not open all day. The menu is different and very limited. They should be advertised as 2...

Food is amazing! Not your typical Mexican restaurantDinner review** Every dish we ordered was a 5/5; a mouthful of distinct flavors that just leaves you wanting more. I was leary at first because I'm familiar with the state of Durango, Mexico where my family is from. I thought perhaps this was going to be another one of those run of the mill Mexican restaurants with your usual combo dishes which all taste similar but I was wrong; the chef has elevated it times 10. I can tell he poured his heart and soul into each dish to bring some of the simple ingredients like cactus and menonita cheese to life. Durango is a cattle state so there are hearty meat dishes on the menu like the carne asada which probably serves 2 people and my favorite the short rib. However the chef has also included fish dishes like ceviche to balance out the menu although not traditional to the state of Durango. The Yellowtail ceviche crudo was unreal, honestly such a stand out dish all in its own. Other must haves on the menu: Mennonite fried cheese balls, guacamole, trenza de chocolate and huitlacoche tacos. Cocktails try them all, they were all so good.

The decor of the restaurant gives resort-Joshua tree vibes. Beautiful all the way around plus the food, all your senses are activated. I loved the half moon seating as it's creates a more social ambiance. The service was good not yet great but I give them a pass since they have only been open about a month. Due to rain we were only able to take a peek at the roof top which I am sure will soon be a popular hang out. It's open from 4-Midnight (first come first serve seating) and it's separate from the restaurant which is on the first floor.

Lastly I'll say this, plan to spend a little more but it's totally worth it. It's not really for families with small children, no kids menu. I'd say it's a special place to dine for celebratory dinners, to impress a date or girls or guys night out especially since you can transition for more socializing upstairs.

For those already complaining about service, I'd say give it time. It's quickly becoming a popular place and things take time sort out. Long review but I'm so impressed and all my friends agreed this is...