Mi Vallarta — Restaurant in South Elgin

Updated Mother's Day 2020: This restaurant really needs to do a better job organizing themselves when they are busy. When I called to put in our order at 2:30pm, they put me on hold for 20 minutes. They knew I was on the line because every once in a while they would give me a glimmer of hope and I would hear them. We finally were able to speak someone, we put in our order, and they said the earliest they could have it done was an hour. Fair enough. We did not mind waiting an hour to go and pick up our food. When my husband went to pick up our order, they made him wait another hour. There was no apology, no complimentary sides, or anything. When my husband brought the order home, we realized they changed the seafood without telling us. Our order was supposed to come with scallops and octopus, but they switched it out for prawns and imitation crab meat. Which, again we would not have minded, but they did not inform us. They also left out the garnishes. If your clients are paying $90 for a dish, don't jip them out of anything. Again, we enjoy the food, and want to continue ordering from local establishments. But, they need to do better for their patrons. You shouldn't say "your order will be done in an hour," and then make your patrons wait 2 hours without an apology, that is not good business.

We visited Mi Vallarta on Father's Day 2019 per my friend's recommendation. We got to the restaurant at around 1:45pm-2pm. It was evident from the moment we walked in that they were short staffed. We knew it could potentially be busy, but we have been to restaurants on both Mother's Day and Father's Day before. These restaurants had twice the amount of guests, and had no problem taking care of the huge crowds. They were very organized. Mi Vallarta, on the other hand, was very disorganized and did not treat their guests well. Our server was absolutely horrible. In the 2.5 hours we were there, he checked on us 1 time. Then, he tried to use the we are "really busy" excuse. There is a difference between being busy and blatantly ignoring your table. Additionally, multiple waiters would walk by us and also ignored us. If you want your establishment to be successful, everyone needs to work together. We were better attended by the bus boy and bus girl. These two were the only ones who seemed to actually be working. They are the saving grace of the establishment. We will say the food was really good. It is pricey, but tasty and they give you ample portions. It will be a while before we decide to go back because our first experience was...

My husband and I came here tonight around 7:40 PM. This is our 3rd time here. The food is good but the service is horrible. Everytime I come here the service gets worse and worse. I sat at the table with my husband. One waiter brought out the chips and ceviche. We sat for 20 minutes and noone asked us for our drinks or food order. The table next to us was a couple with their toddler. They were sat 5 minutes after us. Their drinks were ordered and their food arrived within those 20 minutes of us waiting. We walked out as soon as this happened. No one noticed or even cared. I tried calling several times to complain but they wont even pick up a phone call. It's probably because the music is so loud that you cant hear it ringing. I would say it's a race issue but my husband is mexican and I'm asian. We have come here when it's crazy busy. Tonight was not the case. There were only about 6-7 tables and 2 large groups were within those 6-7 tables. Mind you, they had already ordered and the other table had already ate. Maybe this place should hire more staff or people who can maintain working in a fast paced...

The food was good, but they try to steal from people by saying their system only allows them to charge a certain way. If you go in a group be careful because they ROB. I went with a group of 10 people and we all asked to be billed separately from the beginning and they still tried to charge us all together to get more money from taxes and tips very non-challantly. Expected us to split our bill amongst our group, basically deal with it and said that no one ever has a problem with doing it this way. They took $100 from me and tried to argue when I asked for my money back and even threatened to call the police. VERY UNPROFESSIONAL. Had 3 waiters and 2 managers trying to "sort" things out but were very argumentative and clueless. Told them to keep my money and I will never go there again or recommend it to anyone. There's way better seafood other places that will bill you the correct way and actually have good customer service. HORRIBLE EXPERIENCE...