La Condesa Eatery — Restaurant in Reno

I wanted to reach out directly to the restaurant to share feedback on a recent visit. Normally, I would prefer to contact a restaurant privately instead of leaving a public review, but there isn’t an email address listed on their website.

My husband and I dined at La Condesa last July and had a truly wonderful experience. The food was inventive and delicious, the cocktails were expertly made, and the overall atmosphere was lively and fun. We enjoyed it so much that we recommended it to several friends, and when some out-of-town guests came to visit recently, they were excited to try it.

Unfortunately, our return visit fell far short of expectations and left us genuinely disappointed. To start, it took about 10 minutes for our server to come by, and when she did, we had to request a drink menu. (It might be helpful to have the drink offerings printed on the back of the food menu.) We ordered drinks and some chips and salsa. Another staff member stopped by to check on us, which was appreciated, but our server’s visible reaction to that—an obvious glare—was awkward and uncomfortable to witness.

About 15 minutes after placing our drink order, I had to flag someone down to ask about it. Our server had disappeared entirely. She wasn’t working at other tables nearby, nor did she mention stepping away to take a break. When our drinks finally arrived, one of them—a guava mojito—was just a regular mojito. When we pointed it out, the person who brought the drinks said she’d bring some guava juice to add, but never returned. When our server finally reappeared, we mentioned it again, and she said she’d look into it. The guava juice never came.

We ordered food and waited—again, with long gaps in service. It had been about 40 minutes, and we hadn’t received the chips and salsa. I had to ask a busser for help locating our server. He was kind and apologetic, but clearly unsure of what was going on. He came back with chips but didn’t know where the salsa was. Eventually, our food arrived, along with two extra bowls of chips and some salsa, finally. Our server reappeared as well, though at that point, the inconsistency had already cast a shadow over the evening.

There was literally something wrong with everyone’s meal. I’m just going to bullet point it….

Rigatoni a la Vodka – Missing the burrata, which is a key component of the dish. Thai Chopped Salad (with steak) – The peanut salad dressing was not on the salad. Carbonara – The sauce was watery, bland, and excessive. It was more of a soup than a pasta dish. Korean BBQ Fried Rice – Lacked any recognizable Korean flavor and was incredibly bland.

At that point, we didn’t even feel like complaining—we just wanted to be done. While our server did offer a round of drinks on the house, which a couple of us accepted and appreciated, we were still charged for two orders of chips when we had only ordered one. I had to speak with the host to have them removed, which she did. I also asked her if something unusual was going on, because the night had been so different from our past visit. She mentioned that there were new chefs and bartenders in training, and that several tables arrived at once, which understandably caused some strain

I understand that restaurants can have off nights, and training new staff comes with growing pains. But the delays, confusion, and sheer number of mistakes—combined with a server who seemed to disappear at critical moments—resulted in an evening that was frustrating and disappointing, especially given how much we had talked up the place to our friends.

I'm sharing this feedback because we really enjoyed La Condesa and wanted to recreate that great experience for our friends. I hope this helps in some way and that future guests receive the same exceptional service and food we...

The basic purpose of a restaurant is to offer good food to hungry folks with a smile in a pleasant &clean environment. My 1st & last experience at this place was an EPIC fail. After circling the block several times looking for parking ( found one 2 blocks away) we arrived hungry & excited to try a new place,10min early for Sat 6pm resv, we were seated right near the entrance & served water. Checked out the menu and after 10min had decided what food to order(no drink order was EVER offered) went to use the lady's room to find the cheap toilet seat completely broken and basically just sitting on top, and was forced to "hover pee" how very classy!! Returned to our table and noticed a Nickle Back video playing on the monitors and had a laugh at their sad music choice.The place was only half full of patrons who most seemed to have finished their meals, a busy busser and several servers standing around, except for a pink haired one who passed right by our table multiple times doing her best to not make eye contact and COMPLETELY IGNORE us. We thought, be patient,she's busy and will eventually acknowledge us but no...in fact NO ONE ever did. We attempted to get anyone's attention as we watched new patrons get seated. I'm not sure how much time went by, but a couple near us had just been served their meals as we were seated had finished eating and were leaving. We then watched in disbelief as 2 new groups were seated and shortly after a sever came to take their drink/food orders. There comes a point when you realize you've been fooled into thinking a place is worth the hype. As we got up to leave,I remarked to the hostesses that I guess we were just ghosts and would spirit ourselves out. The stupid look on their faces did made me laugh tho. Finding another place on a Saturday night could have been challenging but we already knew the best taco place in town, MEXCAL, could accommodate us with AMAZING FOOD, reasonable prices and EXCELLENT FRIENDLY SERVICE! And they...

Our first impression walking through the front door was not good at all (hence 1-star for atmosphere). Blaring loud music and a wall full of TVs playing music videos made it more like a disco than a restaurant. Not sure what they're thinking there, but we would have walked out had the hostess not led us to a somewhat quieter adjoining room. That room opens to the courtyard in nicer weather, but on a cold night sitting next to a glass overhead door was uncomfortably cold. The room also has an inexplicable number of TVs on the wall, and the ambient noise from the all-hard surfaces interior made it hard to hold a conversation.

This restaurant describes its menu as "Delicious Food with a Twist", but we had two dishes that didn't stray from the norm: the fish tacos and vodka rigatoni. Both were fine, but $22 for three fish tacos and $26 for pasta in a vodka sauce is a bit pricey.

Our server promptly greeted us as soon as we sat down, obviously before we had a chance to read the menus, and she then returned just a minute or so after we said we'd need more time. Service during the meal, to refill water, etc.. was non-existent. Also.. no big deal, but since the reservation form on the website asked..I said it was my wife's birthday. There was no recognition of that...