El Cabron Kitchen & Cantina — Restaurant in San Jose

A Disheartening Experience at El Cabron, San Jose

My husband and I were looking forward to date night at El Cabron in San Jose, this past Saturday. Our anticipation quickly turned to disappointment due to the lackluster service we received—or, more accurately, didn't receive.

Upon arriving a tad early for our 5:45 reservation, we found the restaurant surprisingly empty, operating at roughly 25% capacity. One would think the sparse crowd should have made for an attentive and welcoming service; however, the reality was the complete opposite. When we entered El Cabron, the hostess did not acknowledge our presence, prompting us to seat ourselves at the bar for a pre-meal drink. Despite the bar counter being nearly empty, there was one other couple seated there, the staff, seemed more interested in socializing among themselves than attending to guests.

We sat at the bar, unacknowledged, at 5:19 PM, even as other patrons who arrived after us were promptly greeted, offered drink menus, and attended to. It was bewildering and increasingly frustrating to be so blatantly ignored, especially when we had been eagerly anticipating trying their famed Suavecito drink and other specials like the molcajete and queso fundido, based on friends' and online recommendations.

After ten minutes, at 5:29PM of being treated as if we were invisible, we decided to leave and take our business elsewhere. It's disheartening to realize that despite coming with great enthusiasm and being ready to enjoy what we hoped would be a fantastic dining experience, we were denied even the most basic courtesy.

Our experience at El Cabron was not only a letdown but also a clear example of how not to treat patrons. We were well-dressed, in high spirits, and more than ready to engage positively with the staff and menu, yet we were made to feel unwelcome and ignored. It's unfortunate, but we cannot recommend a place that overlooks the fundamental principle of hospitality: acknowledging and welcoming...

Embarrassingly terrible service— don’t waste your time coming here. I had a reservation at 7:15. The place is full so they don’t have any tables. The girl told me she would move me to the front of the waiting list so I’m like, alright this is fine. 30 minutes pass. I’ve talked to her two more times, and she didn’t seem like she cared about my party at all. She’s seating multiple other parties, but still not seating me and my partner. The other girl at the front also appears to be seating other people. I went up and asked one more time and ask if there is any update and I was told there were still no tables, 30 minutes after my reservation. I wanted to call her out for lying to me and saying she “put my party at the front of the waiting list”, but decided it wasn’t worth it and left.

In short, go to Olla Cocina down the street. We were seated immediately with smiles and great customer service which felt so relieving after being treated so poorly. Although El Cabron looked fun and aesthetically pleasing, the service was legitimately embarrassing and I was very upset after feeling like I didn’t matter...

First time visiting. Went in Friday night 6/14 around 9:15 pm, party of two, no wait since we sat at the bar and there were open seats.

COCKTAILS - main purpose for stopping by

Suavecito - very good mezcal cocktail, would order again.

Suavecito with Jamaica (hibiscus) instead of guava- asked bartender to prepare it that way, not on the menu.

Paloma - good/ok

El Gringo Mazapán - nice, sweet, smooth, milky - would get it again

Mangonada - nice drink, sweet, would get it again

Oaxacan Old Fashion - strong, meant to sip it slowly, good if you like these type of drinks

FOOD Guacamole with shrimp and chips - good, but needed a bit more salt 6.5 out of 10 for the guac, 9 out 10 for the shrimp (definitely recommend to add shrimp to the guac).

SERVICE Attentive bartenders, often checking to see if we wanted more drinks even while being busy.

AMBIANCE Nice decor, busy, probably at over 85%-95% capacity. Music level appropriate/ medium high, but gets louder after 10:00 pm to hype up dancing, which was expected. Would definitely...