De Leon's Taco & Bar #3 — Restaurant in Spokane

I love De Leon’s, so I am so sorry to have to leave this review, but I just had a truly poor experience here at the new south hill location. I’d like to have emailed my recommendations, but couldn’t find anything but a phone # online. I just moved back to the area from Mexico after being away for a while and have been on the hunt for some good, authentic tacos. I know this location is brand new, so I’m hoping some of these kinks will get worked out with time. The place was busy when we came but we were seated right away and given menus. After that it was like pulling teeth to get our server to come take our food or drink order. We waited around 15 minutes before we could get our server to come to our table, then waited another 10 minutes for the sever to bring over my draft beer that I’d seen just staring at me from the bar until it lost its head. :( After that, someone who looks like maybe he usually has another role at the restaurant but got pulled in last minute to help out brought us our food, and then finally utensils and napkins a bit after that. It was actually a cook who eventually came to check on us after a while - we only saw our server for about 60 seconds the whole time we were there. As for the food - the chips (which I usually love) were not good this time; there maybe was something wrong with this batch of masa because the only way I can describe them is that they tasted sort of like baking soda. The salsa that came with the chips was super watery - I tried to scoop some on the chips but you couldn’t actually get any on them because it was too watery. I ordered tacos - the pastor was a bit too bland and dry, the Carne asada tasted ok but looked and had the texture more of ground beef than what I’m used to for traditional carne asada. Finally, the chicken tinga was so sad! :( It was essentially just boiled shredded chicken with no perceivable tinga, which actually tasted sort of gross (imagine just plain pechuga de pollo in a tortilla!). I would have loved to have had some limón for my tacos (and chips), but got tired of looking to flag someone down to bring us any. There was also unfortunately a mix-up with a to-go order we made before we left, so I’m bummed to say that there was sadly nothing good about this visit. With better wait service/timing and tinga, it’ll already be leaps and bounds better. Again, I’m so sorry to leave this review porque les quiero tanto and I’m so glad De Leon’s is in Spokane, so I’m hoping someone sees this and looks into some of these issues. I hope to be able to come back confidently...

Food was great (taco sampler) but service was disappointing -- actually really bad. This was my first visit to this location, and there were only 3 servers for a full house on a Friday night. Arrived about 7:20 pm, took nearly 10 minutes to even be given eye contact and acknowledged while we waited by the "wait to be seated" sign -- and 2 different servers passed us at least 3-4 times. (We considered leaving but babysitter was on the clock and had already left another place because of there would be a 20 minute wait for a tablelo.) Here though, there were even 2 tables empty and clean. We got a sense of the service just noticng a family of 7 that had no menus yet; same server seated another family and, again, with no menus in hand, so had to make another trip -- inefficient, wasted time. Servers spent a lot of time in the kitchen. Maybe they were assisting the cooks? Finally, I walked over to the bar to get a couple menus to at least spend our time doing something. Finally was greeted and seated at a recently cleaned table. Brought chips and salsa, ordered Cadillac margarita (great!) but not offered water or provided napkins. Asked server for water when ordering food. He seemed surprised we didn't have any, yet he is who sat us. He passed us at least once more on the way to another table. Still no water, so I went to the bar to get glasses of water from bartender (very nice and promptly greeted me each time I approached the bar) Server didn't check back with us until nearly done with our food. He seemed timid and shy, so waiting tables doesn't seem like a good fit for his demeanor. Awkward experience. Servers didn't look out for each other's tables or the customers as a whole. No apology for the long wait at door or delay in water and receiving napkins. I have worked in the food service industry, so know that greeting and engaging customers is important. Did not feel welcomed or appreciated. We tipped for the food and cooks, and bar drink, not for the bad service. There are a lot of small locally-owned restaurants in Spokane, so we have many great options to choose from. Unfortunately, DeLeon's is...

Can't believe they call this Mexican food. I'll call it Semi American Mexican at best. Prices are Crazy🫨 For the little you get. Our Waitress was rude at the start ordered a drink and she brung the wrong drink and even said I thought I messed up before I bring it to u. Ok then come back and ask. And then I didn't get it to about 15 min later unexpecteptable! My plate of food was mediocre at best beans out of can. Barely any cheese at all. My wife's plate of tacos was an absolute joke. Looked like something my kid could do and better! Meat on tortillas and onions on top plain onions. I've eatin Mexican food all over the country including Mexico many times. Grew up in Mexican homes and they would be ashamed to say the least if they saw and ate it. It was a Ruddy joke. Only thing good was the guacamole it was good with good homemade chips. When they give you the free chips and salsa you don't get the good chips no not at all you get ones from a bag" 😔 and if you want more you have pay for it! That's crazy unexpecteptable never ever seen that 🥴 ever out of hundreds of restaurants. Word of advice serve the good homemade chips with the salsa that you give to customers when they set down at your table to show that you actually appreciate your valuable customers. Salsa wasn't to bad you could definitely taste the can taste a little. The price was Crazy expensive for the little we got and for those ridiculous prices I expect way better service and way better food. So I apsolutley will never go back "Period" a Big F+ from...