Vallarta — Restaurant in San Leandro

1st time here. Place was clean and decorations were nice. Parking sucked but not the fault of the establishment. Had high expectations based on reviews but was sadly disappointed, not by the food, but by the service. Food is ABSOLUTELY amazing but it was ruined by the horrible service. I feel bad for the cooks and everyone behind the scene working their butts off doing a good job, to have the face of the establishment ruin the final product. I understand trying to have a good time at work and having a shot or drink while you work. Make it as fun as you can but dang, don't make your customers suffer too much because of it. To their credit, service started off strong. We were sat down quickly with drinks and food ordered quickly. Food came relatively quick as well. That's where it went down hill. We were never visited again. We had to get up multiple times to find our waitress and ask for help. We asked our waitress couple times for something we needed, she never came back with what we asked, so we had to ask other waiters and waitresses for help. I honestly think we could have probably walked out without paying while our waitress got drunk and socialized with what looked like co-workers or regulars at the bar. Where was management? Hopefully, not the one guy in a yellow shirt also taking shots...lol i only assume him cause he was the only person not wearing a black shirt but in all honesty, looked to be as if there were no management at all. I wouldn't of not paid, but even getting the check was like pulling teeth, taking multiple trips to bar asking a few different people for the check. The waitress asked how was everything, i told her the truth, that food was great but it took forever to get anything cause no one visited our table. Then she blamed it on the cooks in the back saying there was one one guy cooking. Uh, that wasn't the problem... I finally got the total, $81 & change, I handed the waitress $100 and walked out. Even through all that, I still left a 25% tip cause everything was good but service. I felt bad that bussers and cooks who wouldn't get anything if I didn't tip. Really bummed that I won't be coming here again or recommending this place. Maybe I'll try this place again if I here management decides to show up...

Before, the restaurant was satisfactory in multiple areas such as service, food quality, and price. However, our recent Father's Day outing served as proof of this restaurant's decline (further exacerbated due to the COVID-19 pandemic).

We waited an hour for our table and 40 to 50 minutes for our food, which was understandable. The restaurant was full, and it was on Father's day, so we were patient. However, it was the cluelessness of the waitress that was the most distressing. In one particular instance, she was bringing my youngest son's food and approached our table, only for her to return back to the kitchen without a word. 20 or so minutes later, she brought the exact same plate she had when she returned to the kitchen with, now with the food being cold.

My eldest son brought this to her attention for her only to reply: "we are just really busy" without offering any productive options such as heating up the food. Extremely disappointed with the service in relation to how much we payed.

*Keep in mind, not all of the waiters and waitresses were as bad, but there needs to be a consistent quality and competence for all staff

Overall, the food was decent, but messing up our order and serving it cold without proper reason is unacceptable for any restaurant. We as customers pay a good amount of money and we expect the experience to be at par.

Until the owners commit themselves to running a proper restaurant, I recommend finding a...

Update as of 7/25/2025 - Time for an update of my review since it has been sooo long. We came in after a hiatus of a couple years. The original family has sold to another, and we were skeptical as most people would be of new ownership. We came in pretty early on a week night and were immediately greeted and walked to our booth. The decor is pretty much the same, and the booths are newer and cleaner. The new owner/manager was working on some lighting at that time. The menu is the same with lots of traditional Mexican faire. It was always good food and plentiful in the past. They have kept that alive! YAY. . . We both ordered the Texas chimichanga... word of warning... IT's gigantic! And, during the week they 'currently' have 2 for 1 cocktails. Not only are the cocktails potent, but also still reasonably priced. We were happy to see they have retained the charm and friendly service of this little establishment that rocks the town. NOTE - Park on the street as their lot is 'tricky' at best and there are...