El Agave Azul — Restaurant in Richmond

Oddly, very hot plate but room temperature food. Our whole party actually, for a large group we once brought. Have went multiple times to give benefit of doubt, and after expressing displeasures in very gentle ways. But no changes. The menu itself is very reasonably priced. But the actual food experience leaves much to still be desired. I’ve come with both large groups and much smaller intimate gatherings of 1-4 people. I’ve noticed with larger groups, we tend to get more expedited service and constant presence by staff - which is great by all means. However, when not in large groups, we’re afforded very little attention. These are not one-off experiences or anomalies. This has happened consistently. So I’m led to believe this partly driven by the assumption larger group equates to better tip if they feel well served. I get the idea of prioritizing larger parties when need be, and not for sake of just keeping them happy for a few bucks. I would assume in those situations(which I have experience in) it’s more so for reasons of maintaining order to avoid chaos with such large groups when other patrons are present. Yet, this doesn’t apply to my scenarios. Each time I was present with smaller party, there was no larger group nor was restaurant packed. Maybe 3-5 other small groups at most. And adequate number of staff. So being understaffed is not an issue. Which is something I recognize as a good point - this place has never been understaffed in all my multiple visits. Yet, the service was greatly lacking. The levels of attention afforded depending on party size is quite telling about how much our business is perceived to be valued. I tried to giving this establishment multiple opportunities to prove me wrong. So I’m unlikely to consider this a top choice for employee outings, or family gatherings. Clearly other reviews indicate people have a good experience, which is great. And I see the owner tends to pivot towards “analytical metrics” when attempting invalidate not so ideal reviews. Our community members are not statistical metrics, we are people who work hard to maintain the vibrancy of this community. I wish this establishment well in their endeavors, and I hope leadership makes efforts to be mindful of their language in how our community members are referred to as. The menu items have great potential, but could use some improvements in temperature category. Likewise, service and attention can make room for...

Food was good. The manager was terrible though. Made snarky comments like saying "we were going to charge more for kids" for a cleanup fee. Okay? There was only a few grains of rice on the table/ground. On top of that, as we were ready to go, the kids were running around and she grabbed one of them and yelled. I understand a restaurant isn't a playground, but this is not how you act in management and there's proper ways to go about it. Our waitress was great, but I feel for the staff that work for her because she seems like terrible person to work with in general. Overall if the experience with manager didn't happen, it'd be 4 stars.

Update to the reply from Owner I see why the manager is in place there when they have a passive aggressive owner. One of the children has autism, but I guess this establishment is unaware about how to deal with certain situations. Clearly they don't know how to accommodate people with disabilities. The manager wasn't bumped into and literally went out of her way to grab a child aggressively. We left soon after because she made everyone uncomfortable the whole time including this incident. There was no one else there besides one other table so she basically said to relax and buy drinks, but we paid our $300+ bill and left. Thank you to the owner for your thoughtful reply, but obviously customer service is not...

This is a neighborhood restaurant for me, and I have visited 5-6 times by now. I wanted to wait until the dust of the opening had settled to write a more objective review. El Agave is a spacious and more upscale restaurant than the mom-and-pop businesses you find on San Pablo Ave. This is what sets it apart. It has plenty of parking and a beautiful exterior. Inside you will see business people and patrons who enjoy a quiet lunch. I have visited El Agave Azul during lunch and at dinner, and during my last four visits two thirds of the seats have been empty. Since there is nothing wrong with the food (similar to the Chili's chain) or the service, I started to think of a potential reason and I found it in the prices, which are indeed higher than other similar restaurants. Los Moles, for example, offer regional fare but does not charge $15 for a burrito. Retirees and working families have their pick of more affordable places along San Pablo and have mostly stayed away. And that is a shame, because El Agave's corn soup and fajitas are delicious and the...