Zacatecas Cafe — Restaurant in Riverside

Very disappointed. I was craving menudo con pata this morning and found this restaurant online with reviews stating the menudo was "impressive", "the best" and "really good". I ordered menudo con pata and was told they didn't have pata. I asked why and she explained they don't have it anymore because people don't tend to order it and they do not want the waste. ( I can understand and appreciate that). I ordered the menudo anyway with my husband. I asked him on a scale from 1-5 what he thought. We both had come up with a 2 and by the time I was 1/2 through, I didn't want anymore. It lacked "that menudo taste" that I grew up with and what you get from the small mom and pop places. It tasted watery and like it was just made and boiled for less than an hour and served. I am sad i was so disappointed. I really wanted to like it. I left with my craving not satisfied. I do not know about their other food so I will not comment on that. The place was clean and roomy. The service was great. Our server was super attentive, professional and smiled. Will be going back to our local small hole in the wall...

Went for lunch with a co-worker for a special treat. Had been here previously and the wait was on the long side (25 minutes) but acceptable. Not this time. Food took 45 MINUTES to arrive after ordering and was delivered with a weak apology about there being a "large group" and that they just couldn't work us in. We only get an hour for lunch and we spent it all waiting for eats so we had to leave quickly and get the food to-go. I ended up eating a 25 dollar (with drink and good tip, it wasn't the waitresses fault) plate of Carne Asada from a styrofoam doggie bag in my cubicle with a cup of water (my drink was on the table back at the restaurant). We told the manager about it and he didn't care at all, blew us off, and offered nothing. We've been here twice now and the food is pricey and they clearly don't want to staff up enough to deal with lunch rush or figure out a way to process big groups that doesn't literally ruin other people's meals. They used to be good before they moved but now...

Why?I built restaurants, I train chef's,I cook,prep food,I know the ingredients that go in preparing Mexican,Italian,asain etc. In restaurants there's front of house(dining area,bar)and back of house(kitchen).I had to look for someone to be seated, I saw one person in the kitchen, it's 1240pm, there's 30 people seated,two waitress and one busser,runner not good if you expect your food fast or at least In 20 minutes I waited longer . Horchata amazing, tortillas chips and salsa amazing, fajitas so,so Seem like a twelve year prepare the plate, seemed like they didn't have time or knowledge on how to slice the green pepper and tomato, I had to moved the big chuck's of peppers to find the fajitas which were👍. Tortillas were amazing, rice was not even average, beans were average. Staff was polite, this place has potential,it needs more staff to deliver better food and service To much time waiting to be seated and getting food to tables. Especially at lunch. Zacatecas Cafe you...