El Maguey | Mexican Restaurant — Restaurant in Springfield

Sadly this is no longer our favorite place in Springfield for Mexican food or a place I would recommend, as I had done just not an hour before we went. Our last three experiences have been awful service wise. The first one was about a month ago, we had the tall lady waitress, she was too busy flirting with a table full of guys and we waited to the point we had to ask about our food. It had set so long under heat lamps that the cheese sauce on my burrito had a thickened backup and had a rubbery film on top. When I pointed it out, she offered to Microwave it... yes, microwave it. I insisted on a new burrito and after asking several times, we had another waiter help us. The second time we were in for lunch and had her again. We had to ask for drink refills and again our food took forever. We just chalked that up to her being a horrible waitress. By the way, she still works there. But, after tonight's experience we will NOT be back. The waiter carried our chip basket on top of a plate of food. It wasn't sitting to the side, it was literally on the food. We pointed this out stating that we wanted another plate of food, he argued stating he didn't have it on top of the food and that it was fine. Then he said it wasn't on top of the food it was in his other hand. We asked for the manager, he continued to argue and say he carried it in his other hand. The "other" hand was carrying the salsa (stupid idiot!) We had to ask him THREE times for a manager. As he walked off, he started laughing with another male waiter about the situation. That was it for us. We left, without paying for anything or eating the food we'd been served. Its sad that a place that once had good service and has always had good food has to hire idiots and lose long time customers that come at least once a month and a business office that places over $100 lunch order...

I cannot even give this restaurant one star. Don't get me wrong, we have never been disappointed with the food or even the prices. It is the service. We typically go out for Mexican food about once a week. We were getting a little tired of our previous choice, so we chose to try El Maguey a couple of months ago. Like I said, we really enjoy the food, so we continued to go back. Last night was the last night for us. The servers there are so very rude. They all sit in a back corner talking between serving their customers. Every single time we have been there, I have had to get up and walk over there and ask for chip, salsa, and drink refills. Last week, I decided to order just a single beef chimichanga. When the server brought out our food, she brought me a full meal, which included two chimichangas with all the works. I told her that I had only wanted the single chimichanga. She took the plate back and brought me out the single. You could tell that it was simply scraped off the original plate. Last night we went back... had the same server.... I told her I wanted "only a single beef chimichanga by itself." She brought me the full meal again. I politely said, "Honey, I only wanted the ONE chimichanga." I wouldn't have minded, and would have just left it alone, but there is about a $6 to $7 difference in price. When I pointed it out, she proceeded to lecture me on how I am not clear when I order. She even mentioned that she remembered me from last week when I didn't make it clear that time either. I don't know how to make it any clearer for them. Both of the main servers there (one male, one female) are extremely rude, apathetic, and make me feel guilty for coming in. Last night was the last straw. I will not be lectured by some lazy young lady who doesn't listen and pay attention to her customers. We will NOT...

Fairly good food, good service, and good decor.

The food was nothing mind-blowing, but it was still quite good, compared to a lot of other Mexican restaurants in town. The portions seemed a little smaller than their competition, such as La Hacienda just up the road, and the rice was far from impressive. Regardless, it was filling enough, especially with the fajita nachos as an appetizer, and the tacos were some of the best crunchy tacos I've found in Springfield (although nothing can beat the cantina style tacos from Don Toño up the road).

The service was nice enough, although they didn't seem to want to spread out the customers like most restaurants. They didn't check up particularly often, but I actually found that to be alright, as most restaurants overwhelm the customers to check up on them. They didn't immediately ask for drink or appetizer orders, which seemed weird, but they did come back after a few moments to take the orders.

The decor was pretty good. Most of the restaurant was very clean, although the layout of the building is a bit unintuitive, making the search for the bathroom like a 5 year long quest through a dark dungeon. Speaking of the bathrooms, they're nice looking, but in a bit of disrepair. Nothing terrible, and definitely not even a bad bathroom overall, but they could use a bit of TLC.

Honestly, I'm not sure why this place doesn't get more traffic. It might be a bit unusual to get to, as you have to either come in from behind or go through the Ichiban parking lot, and it may not look like a standard Mexican restaurant from the outside (it looks either like a pretentious American restaurant, or a rundown Italian restaurant), but I'd recommend giving this...