Macayo's Mexican Food — Restaurant in Scottsdale

It's a typical Saturday night, where most spend their time dining out. We decided to dine at Macayo's on Shea Blvd in Scottsdale. Generally, my reviews are focused on the entire dining experience: 1) atmosphere, 2) design and decor, 3) food, and 4) staff. Not this one. This review will only focus on the staff. We arrived after 5:00 p.m. standing behind a group of 4 and in front of a group 5. There was no greeter so we stood there for a few minutes with no acknowledgement at all. Then a man and what appeared to be a new hire, in training, approaches the check-in area. He informs the party of 4 that it would be a 20 minute wait. Next, it was our turn so we requested a table for two. He told us the same, "there is a 20 minute wait ..." We were willing to wait for our table but decided to take a seat at the bar and have a beverage while we wait. I ordered a frozen margarita and he had just water. The margarita was way too sweet but I enjoyed it with the complimentary chips and salsa. We're 20-25 minutes in and we're told that our table was ready. I close out my bill at the bar with a tip and walk to our booth. Again, we aren't acknowledged. No greeter or waiter. We entertained our utensils and napkins, no menus, for approximately 15 minutes when our waiter decided to greet us. He said, I will be right back. I said, "no worries." I could tell that they were understaffed. It appeared that some of the staff on hand were in training. I knew that restaurants were still recovering from the pandemic so I made a point to be patient. Our waiter, Blake returned with a smile and wonderful disposition. We ordered water and the spinach dip. We were still waiting on menus. He returned with our spinach dip and apologized for forgetting the water. "No worries", I said. At this point we are handed our menus. I ordered the Mex and Match (Tostada and Cheese Enchilada with a side of vegetables). He ordered the burrito. One hour passes by and we are still eating chips, salsa, dip and sipping the margarita. It dawned on me that nobody cares that we have been eating on chips and salsa from 5:35 pm to 6:35pm. It was cold and I was tired. I was ready to go home so I asked for the check so I could close my bill and find a restaurant that was ready to serve a hot meal. Instead of just handing me the bill for the food we had consumed: spinach dip!! I was handed a $60 bill for food that still wasn't prepared or delivered to our table. At this point our waiter was no longer in the picture. A young woman (teenager or in her twenties) approached our table with an attitude and asked "is there a problem?” She inquired as to why we didn't want to pay the $60 bill". I was infuriated and hangry and this point. I told her we would like to pay for the food the was delivered to the table - the spinach dip - and go home. She insisted with a series of questions. And explained that they would be more than happy to box up our food when it was ready. To which I responded unless she wanted to be added to the Google review the most appropriate thing to do is to provide our bill so we can leave and find somewhere to eat. Then she asked, "did you have a reservation?" To: Macayo's on Shea Blvd in Scottsdale "I hate to be the one that breaks this news to you. You are NOT a 5-star restaurant that requires a reservation." Much like the two other parties that arrived at about the same time, we had no reservation. We came to eat a meal. We didn't come to eat chips and salsa. We could of did that at home. That was distasteful in how your staff behaved after we so graciously waited for service. One star for the 1 food item that was served. Your spinach...

I could not have been more disappointed in my experience at Macayo's Mexican Food. I am from up north and was recently visiting Arizona. We went to this restaurant hoping to have some amazing Mexican food since it is hard to come by where we live. We were let down from start to finish.

When we arrived there was no one at the front desk area. This was around 5:00PM and the place was not busy. We stood there around three to five minutes and were starting to wonder if we should just seat ourselves when someone approached us to get us seated.

Our server seemed to not remember things very well. He forgot to bring us one drink we ordered. One dish we ordered was entirely wrong. He eventually brought out the dish with no sauce on it because he couldn't remember which sauce we ordered.

The food that was served was mediocre at best. One dish was a kids taco meal that was straight up missing one of the ingredients (beans). I had a burrito that was fine. It is easily something I would expect to have up north.

The worst though was the Fajita Quesadilla. One would normally think a quesadilla would be grilled tortillas with cheese and some ingredients in the middle. Forget that. I wish I took a picture to do this justice. This dish was several oil soaked tortillas with some meager pieces of meat and vegetables. Little to no cheese to be found. When I say oil soaked I mean they looked like they have been soaking in a vat of oil for about a week. It was disgusting. It was already apparent we were not going to have a good experience and we didn't want to make the waiter's life any more difficult so we just ate what we could.

We thought at least we could finish with some dessert. I was excited to have my kids try some real Mexican sopapillas. It was almost comical when the waiter told us they were out. A fitting end to this disaster.

On the way out there were several groups of people standing at the entrance waiting to be seated. They looked at us as we left like they wanted to ask us if they should just seat themselves.

I would strongly recommend anyone looking for a decent Mexican meal to avoid...

This will be my last visit to this location. Went in last night at 5:15 with a party of four. My date and I arrived first. We asked the hostess for a table, and she pointed to a booth being cleaned and said "They're just cleaning that table and you'll be seated." (We are the only people waiting). A lady walks in after us and asks for a table of 6. Her party walks in after her in two groups. The hostess sees the table is clean, grabs some menus and....walks the table of 6 back to our booth. She walks back to her stand, and just stands there, doing nothing. We are literally 10 feet away, directly in her line of sight. I walk up and ask "Are we going to be seated? That was supposed to be our booth?" She stares at me and says "It depends if there are any tables or booths available." I ask her "Do you remember me? We walked in before that group of 6, you told us the booth was being cleaned and we'd be seated, and then you sat that group of 6." She just stared at me. It was funny, and a bit sad, but oh well.

Then we were seated, told they've been out of green corn tamale bites for a few days (that's on the manager). Our waitress was the bartender, who did her best, but just had too much volume. We ordered 3 chimichangas, they all came out cooked completely differently, and the waitress never stopped by the rest of the meal. We were all out of water long before we were done eating. Food took about 25 minutes to come out.

Obvious lack of management at this restaurant, and the entire experience was bizarre. I write this review in the hopes that this Macayo's is closed up and gone from this location before 2024 is over, although I don't think my review is necessary for that to happen. Macayo's was once a great restaurant chain (the Mesa location is still solid) but this place needs to drastically change, or close, and the reviews...