Santa Fe Mexican Grill & Cantina — Restaurant in Seattle

I am updating my original review of Santa Fe Mexican Grill. We've been back a few times and feel things have really improved. The service has been excellent, the margaritas were much better and the food has been very good also. Nice to see they have improved over the years.

I had high hopes for this place because of other reviews. They didn't hold up. Starting with the chips and salsa things weren't going well. The chips were a bunch of broken pieces, although they did bring a new basket of warm ones when asked. The salsa tasted like doctored up tomato sauce. The large Cadillac margarita was potent, but overly sweet to both my husband and I. And no price was listed on the menu. My chimichanga was supposed to have been deep fried. If it was, it sat too long and tasted like a dry burrito. Lost all of it's crispyness. The chilie relleno was not any where near authentic. It tasted like it was wrapped in a tortilla and dipped in egg. The flavor was not great. My husband did like the tostada. Tasted fresh with a crisp tortilla. My daughter's huge chilie verda burrito seemed to be the best thing. It was extremely large and the verda and pork combo wasn't bad. This seems to be another Mexican restaurant that is selling quantity over quality. Maybe we ordered wrong or hit a bad night, but too many basic just really missed the mark. We aren't...

A billing problem this time. Charged $8.00 extra PER ENCHILADA for carne Azada when I thought I was getting shredded beef. This was not explained to me, so my lunch cost $46.00 instead of $32.00. A can of coke is $4.00. A bottle of Jarritos soft drink is $5.00. If I didn't have those, I should have been down to about $21.50. Again the upcharged was not explained to me. I called back next day (Friday 9/4) and asked for the manager. I was given to Carlos the "acting" manager and the same server who refused to take the unmentioned up charge off my bill. Did not want to spend another ten minutes why he should have removed it. Instead, I filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau. We'll see what happens. All that aside, the food is delicious here, albeit more expense than other Mexican restaurants I've been to (Gorditos, Taqueria Tequila) and the atmosphere is very nice. Roomy parking lot. Carlos, my server and bartender was nice also, just unyielding about removing the unmentioned upcharge. I didn't want to make a scene, so I paid the bill a left....

Yesterday was my first time. The food was good. But my visit was soured by the experience paying the bill. My group came during happy hour. We looked at the happy hour menu, saw margaritas for $8, and ordered those. When the bill came, they were full price (double!). I pointed out the mistake, whereupon the server explained that happy-hour margs are much smaller than the one he served me. He even went to the bar and brought me the glass to show me the difference in the regular versus happy-hour margaritas. If I wanted the happy hour margarita, I was supposed to have asked for a HAPPY HOUR margarita. So, the server blamed me for this situation instead of blaming himself or the restaurant for such an absurd protocol. Beware, folks. I don't plan to come back. But the food and the (full-size) marg...