El Maguey — Restaurant in Saint Joseph

This will be our last trip to El Maguey. The North Belt location employees are rude and confrontational. My wife ordered a chimichanga. It came out not prepared like a normal chimichanga you would expect at a basic Mexican restaurant. When she got it, she complained to the waiter. He said that’s how they fix them and the cheese sauce makes it soggy. She started to eat it and told me that it isn’t a chimichanga, which is basically a fried burrito. The hostess came to ask us if we wanted refills, we said no. Then the waiter came back to check on us again. My wife again complained that it was not fried at all. He chuckled and said that when we leave, take it up with the cashier. So, when I went to check out, I told her that my wife’s enchilada wasn’t fried. She said rudely to me that enchiladas aren’t fried. I said sorry, I misspoke - her chimichanga wasn’t fried or prepared properly. She then said, staring at me coldly, “well, when I came by your table you said everything was ok,” which is a misrepresentation of our interaction. I then asked her “did you seriously just respond to me that way?” Then she went on to explain that they fix their chimichangas the way my wife had it and argued with me. I said, “ok, I’m done - not going to argue with you.” I told her we will not be back, and did not tip.

Three major takeaways: They don’t know how to make a chimichanga. When confronted with a complaint, they immediately argue back in a way that is offensive and condescending. The hostess should not be allowed to interact with people and should probably be fired for treating a customer the way she did.

We will...

After our last visit, I had to change my rating from four stars to one, based on the following experience. My original review remains in the last paragraph.

We returned, again with a large group, and when the order arrived, all was well except the meal of one of my sons, which was not what he ordered. When he notified the server, the server rudely blamed my son, and insisted that he got what he ordered. Three of us heard him order correctly and told the server, who stormed back to the kitchen, returning with the order ticket. He kept pointing to the ticket as proof of what my boy ordered. At that time, I got involved, told the server that the ticket only proved that he wrote the order wrong, that he was making matters worse, and it would be reflected in his tip and that we would not return again. This was a very sad follow up from the earlier enjoyable visit.

We started with pretty great house margaritas, which were on special that day. Chips and salsa were very good, with an optional hot salsa as well. We were there with a party of 10, so I think the service and menu was put to a pretty good test. The servers were attentive and friendly, and everyone was happy with their meals. The portions are definitely large, and the quality was decent as well. We prefer a more authentic Mexican fare, but will...

Food was good, prices are average. Waitress was a sorry excuse of wait staff. Didn't listen and was more interested in talking to the table behind us about health shakes. Speaking of the atmosphere, the table behind my husband's side, two gentlemen decided to carry on about a lost house sale and complaining about the lost buyer at such a volume my husband and I could here all the sorted details. When I made a comment to my husband about wishing we could move one of the men made a snide comment about how we must not get out much. Then when I finally got my point across that their very loud conversation was on my last nerve, one of the guys thought that he would throw his weight around my speaking to Rafael and then telling his wife to, "shut the ** up" when she returned to the table and asked why he was so upset. The table behind my side were two loud, obnoxious college girls who were using profanity and the term "but like" repeatedly. I might come back, but...