Tia Margarita — Restaurant in San Francisco

This use to be our all time Mexican restaurant since high school. We liked the atmosphere - vibrancy , décor and staff. We went last night to reminisce for that nostalgic feeling. The décor looks the same; vibrancy was still there and friendlessness of the staff remains the same. You still have to use a flashlight to read the menu. In the old days, we used the table candle to read.

The chips were super salty. It tasted like someone tossed it with a whole container of salt. I asked for non saltness chips and they said that was all they had. Too bad, I would have eaten more chips because the dip was well seasoned and flavors were balanced.

Food quality went down. It didn't have that oomph. All our entrees were drowned with melted cheese. You couldn't distinguish the entrees because melted cheese covered almost the entire plate except for the salad. I could only tell what I was eating by the shape of the entrée. Even the sauce of each entrée was dried up with the melted cheese. You know what happens when melted cheese cools down - it becomes hard, salty and tasteless. I had no idea if the entrée was good or not. You're just eating cheese.

I had the mango margarita that I enjoyed. It had an adequate amount of alcohol where you can taste it but at that price, I thought, it would have a little more alcohol so when the ice melted down, you would still taste the alcohol.

I was totally surprised with the bill. All meat entrees had a $3.00 surcharge, so if you had two meat enchiladas, it was $3.00 x 2 = $6.00. We had five entrees with meat, so $15 was added to our bill. Because I had a flavored margarita, $1 was charged. In total, I paid $16 more than what the menu read. I asked to see the menu and no where on the menu mentioned meat and flavored surcharges. I questioned the waiter and he said he forgot to let me know. So who's fault is this? The waiter wasn't going to take the blame. I find this totally deceptive. We shouldn't pay more than what's listed on the menu. It's fraud. This is the reasoning for my one star. They should actually be reported for...

I am a sf native and I have never been here. I loved the atmosphere. It was very busy because it was Cinco de Mayo. I got there and the hostess put me on the list for indoor dining. When she called me I went back however my husband was looking for parking. After she seated me she asked if my other party was here and when I said no he's parking she had an angry face like it was a problem. I did notice other tables were waiting for their party too so I don't know what the problem was. She didn't ask me before she sat me if my party was here so I didn't think to say anything or it was a problem. I didn't like how she acted. That being said the rest of the staff were absolutely awesome and they made us feel at home. The other gentleman seating people I think was either the manager or the owner and he was so nice. As far the food it all looked amazing except we ordered chicken, my husband ordered chicken tacos and I ordered chicken chimichanga and the chicken itself was not seasoned so it tasted a little bland. I was ok because i had guacamole and sour cream to make up for it but my husband did not enjoy so much. It wasn't awful just very bland. We probably wont go back for food but the bar area was fun and festive and the margaritas were so good. Also the prices were too much. They charged 2 extra dollars for Carne Asada. My husband ordered 2 tacos and it would have cost him 2.00 extra per taco. What?! the waitress said it's inflation. We could have gone to the mission and got tacos cheap and good but we just decided to stay. Most likely wont go back, wasn't any more special then other places in the mission for what...

If I could give this restaurant zero stars I would. Walked in and saw some family having dinner so we asked if we could all sit together because we had two 10 year old cousins that wanted to sit and eat with eachother and just felt very disrespected by the host/waiter man, they didn’t really want to sit us together because they had tables reserved but the entire place was empty!?! Like really every single reservation was for 4:30pm come on now. The issue was though that we had a stroller with. 4 month old baby and that was a big issue because we were blocking the way with our stroller apparently again the place was empty and for good reason the chips and salsa we were served were stale and not even authentic salsa tasted like it came from a smart and final brand can, for the two minutes we got to sit down at a table in the corner of the restaurant that table wiggled the entire time oh wait someone did help with the table so that’s where the one star comes in. And then the host/waiter man had to give attitude about the stroller in the empty restaurant. So my husband said we can just go somewhere else since we were such an inconvenience and the man yelled at us and said go on then get out! Having the two ten year old cousins crying because we had to leave, Glad I got to have dinner at a better restaurant with wonderful service not too far away they deserved the money wayyyy more...