Matador West Seattle — Restaurant in Seattle

Final Update (6/5): I finally received a response from management, and although the initial reply lacked concrete follow-through, it opened the door for me to reach out directly.

After I followed up again, they acknowledged that the original resolution had fallen short and offered to send gift cards, along with a refund to the original payment method — a gesture I genuinely appreciate. It felt far more aligned with the situation and showed a sincere effort to make things right.

Although the process took more time and persistence than I would have liked, I’m grateful the issue was ultimately handled with professionalism and care.

I’m updating my rating from 1 to 4 stars to reflect how management ultimately responded.

Update (6/3): I emailed them on March 19 and followed up on April 4 after not receiving a response. I finally heard back on April 9, but the reply just asked which location my review referred to—even though that information was clearly stated in the original post. I responded with the same details and, unsurprisingly, never heard back again.

If you’re thinking of reaching out to them for help or a resolution, don’t waste your time. The invitation to “contact us directly” is just for show, they clearly aren’t interested in actually addressing customer concerns.

Original review (3/16): I rarely write reviews, and even more rarely do I write negative ones, but our experience at Matador West Seattle was so frustrating that I feel compelled to share.

We came in on a Sunday night for a simple meal—two orders of three tacos. The restaurant wasn’t busy, so we expected a reasonable wait. What we got instead was over an hour of sitting there, wondering if our food had been forgotten. Meanwhile, the table behind us, who arrived after we did, ordered both tacos and full entrees and received their meals almost immediately.

Our server never offered an explanation for the delay. In fact, they only acknowledged the situation with an apology once we were visibly annoyed.

When our food finally arrived, not only was it late, but it was also incorrect—we specifically asked for corn tortillas and received flour instead. After waiting that long, we weren’t about to send it back and wait even longer.

The restaurant’s attempt at making it right? They took $6.50 off the bill for a drink and handed us a $10 gift card—one that we couldn’t even use for that meal.

At that point, it wasn’t about the money; it was about the complete lack of care for our experience. If we had been told upfront about a delay, or if the server had checked in and communicated with us, it would have gone a long way. Instead, we were left feeling ignored and undervalued.

Needless to say, we won’t be...

As far as I am concerned, the quality of chips n salsa, quanto “pica” la salsa, whether or not they have fresh jalapeños or Serrano peppers in the kitchen, how authentic their meats are cooked and the quality of classics (like chilaquiles and tacos)… these things are the determinants of whether I return or not.

Atmosphere and price are secondary, to me.

Matador West Seattle scores very high during my Happy Hour visit.

The salsa was quite mild, but w a nice flavor. The street tacos (chicken) were perfect (and the happy hour price was top notch). They even gave me a lime for my Modelo Especial w/out having to ask for one.

Their spicy salsa was quite spicy (7 or 8, maybe), and the slight sweetness was provided by pineapple juice… unique and yummy. (Although, the “creamy” texture apparently comes from butter and I don’t have a clue who thought salsa needed creamy butter, but …whatever)

The service was TOP notch and the manager (owner?) who brought me my food was clearly well versed on the ingredients of each dish. Service people were friendly and present without being too present.

Their regular menu looks like it is worth a try, and given the quality of this Happy Hour visit, I’ll be back w friends!

Only amendment after reviewing the receipt (when I got home)… two charges for “medium”, $2.50 and $1.50, no idea what that could be for, unless it is for the spicy sauce and the chopped peppers. No problem paying for them, but it would have been nice to know beforehand.

Three months later: have returned many times and still love it, but their regular salsa definitely has a sweetness to it that I would prefer more if absent. ALSO, never once have the wait staff informed me of additional charges for asking for a jalapeño or extra hot sauce. To the question: do you have …? The answer is always: yes, I’ll get that for you. Excuse me, is there an extra charge for the jalapeño? Oh yes. This leads me to think that the wait staff is either trained to not inform clientele of extra charges, or they are trained poorly. Also…in what world does a jalapeño cost extra in a...

My fiancé and I went to the local Matador recently. We entered the place with masks on, sat at the table and removed them. Our waitress came over and asked for ID, while I was getting that she also said "when your not at your table and eating please wear your mask." This seems normal as most places want this if you use the restroom etc. Water came, we drank some, waitress came back for our drink order (we put our masks on as she approached because another place had asked this recently). I also sat in the booth towards the wall so I wasn't at the tables edge, to give her space. Before our drinks came, another female employee stormed over to the table visibly upset, raised her voice and went into a tirade about wearing a mask when not actively eating food like they said to! My fiancé had to finally ask her to stop. She stormed off back to a huddle of staff. I put it on, again I looked around, no one else was wearing a mask. The man across from me had been siting alone with a glass, no food, no mask, the couple across at the fire, same but had empty plates and were just sitting talking. This woman was shaking she was so angry. Again we hadn't been there 10 minutes. The drinks came quickly, they also brought the check with the drinks, we drank them and left. No one said a word. We won't be back, and please know as someone who lost their business during the pandemic, I support local businesses first, always and masks. I honestly don't know what happened and why they wanted us to leave so badly, we did, and...