Session Taco - Streets of St. Charles — Restaurant in Saint Charles

My boyfriend and I have been loyal customers of Mission Taco for a long time, always enjoying your food on numerous visits. Unfortunately, during our visit on August 3rd in the evening, we had a disappointing experience. We ordered tacos we’ve enjoyed many times before, but this time they were so excessively spicy that they caused us physical pain and were truly inedible. We ordered 8 of the fried chicken tacos. We discarded our leftovers after trying to eat them after we left and we could not get through the spice.

We brought this to the attention of our server, Trina, who acknowledged that we were the third table to complain about the spice level that day. She mentioned the kitchen was being “heavy-handed.” Despite her awareness of the issue, Trina informed us that we could not exchange the tacos and that any replacements would be added to our bill. This was disheartening, as we simply wanted a replacement for the tacos we couldn’t eat. We immediately got up and left after paying the bill because we were so frustrated that we couldn’t eat our dinner.

When we called back later, we spoke to Taylor, the manager, who mentioned that half of our food had been eaten—a claim that is completely untrue, as I ate 1 taco and my boyfriend ate 1 and a half tacos. We tried to get through the spiciness and continued eating after a few bites to avoid being a nuisance/sending back our food before we realized that that was impossible. Taylor also asked if we had requested to speak to a manager at the time, which we hadn’t done, but we felt that Trina’s response should have been sufficient enough to not require management. Again, we wanted to avoid causing a scene or being a nuisance and feel that it was not our responsibility to involve management.

We truly value the positive experiences we’ve had at Mission Taco and hope this feedback can help improve future service. Given the circumstances and the amount we spent, we would appreciate a gesture of goodwill or compensation for this visit. We will not be returning to this location due to customer service concerns but may return to others in the future depending on the resolution of this issue. We are very disappointed and hope that this can be fixed in some way. We don’t get a lot of date nights and we’re really looking forward to your food which we really enjoy. I want to stress the physical discomfort that we were in after leaving. My face became flushed and we both got headaches and heartburn. And we unfortunately left hungry. These are the same tacos that we have ordered numerous times before and have never had an issue. I even confirmed with Trina that the recipe had not...

Not impressed at all. We had dinner there the other night. At first we were impressed with the social distancing and how they managed the customer flow. The food took longer than we would expect and the quality was mediocre. The margaritas were more like watered down lime juice. The real irritation came with the bill. They automatically added a 20% service charge. When we asked about it we were told by the waitress that was one half of it was to pay for their masks and she was not sure what the rest was for. There are many far better restaurants we support and none have ever hit us with a service charge for paying for the PPE equipment. We won't be back.

Update: The restaurant replied to my post with the following: "Hey Roger, thanks for coming by our place. We appreciate the support and the attention to detail regarding our new “Lite” concept.

I’m sorry about the timing and quality of your meal. We have taken great steps to improve the food service since re-opening, and we appreciate your feedback so we know what we need to work on. I’m not sure why the server was misinformed, but the 20% service charge goes entirely to the staff, and not for masks. The service charge seems to be implemented by many restaurants right now, and will not be permanent. I hope that you will come back sometime, however I understand if you’d prefer to wait until everything goes back to “normal”. Thanks again for the feedback.

Eliza"

I appreciate any restaurant who replies to reviews as at least it shows they are paying attention. However, we dine out a lot and this is the ONLY restaurant where we've seen an added charge. Plus, if they plan to add 20% to my bill for the staff, I think it's only fair to be notified of that in advance. Basically I view this as a 20% regardless of the quality of service or food that is presented. As much as I appreciate Eliza's reply, I still have a hard time considering the charge justified...

The "hostess" with dark hair was needlessly rude and inhospitable right from the outset. She definitely brought whatever bad day she was having with her to work. I went in and asked for a table. I was by myself. She told me in a rather blunt tone: "single people are only allowed to sit at the bar." The restaurant, despite being dinner time, was about 70% empty, with many open small and large tables. There was no line; it was not at all crowded. It was maybe a little after 7pm on March 17. When I said I did not want to sit at the bar, she curtly said she would not give me a table. As I was leaving, I mentioned I would write a review, and she responded" "you can't write a review about me, because you do not know my name." When I replied I knew the time, and the management would be able to tell who was the hostess at that time, she responded "why are you still talking." I left. I can see not giving a single person a large table in a busy restaurant, but the restaurant was only 30% full, not busy, with many open small tables. The hostess seemed irritated about something even before I walked through the door, and wanted to take her frustration out on a random customer, by being unreasonable and confrontational. She seemed very unaware that she works in the hospitality industry. I was going to try the place out myself, and then bring my kids. Needless to say, I will not be back, and I will steer my friends, colleagues and family, who go out to eat frequently, away from the joint. I can see why they were 70% empty during peak dinner time on a St Patrick's Day, as management does not seem to instill the value of hospitality in their employees. I went down the street to Firebirds, which was packed and festive, their staff, in contrast, were all very polite during my whole experience, and made sure I, as a single customer, had a...