El poblano Grill & Cantina — Restaurant in Springfield

Okay, look. I want to preface this review by stating that I was a server for almost ten years and have spent many years in the restaurant industry. I have seen and experienced some things, but my experience at El Poblano really takes the cake in terms of atrocity. I know mistakes happen and I'm very accepting of that. I don't make a scene and I'm endlessly polite. "Yes, please. Thank you, ma'am." and big smiles are what I live for. What I do not live for is experiences like the one I had today with my family.

We came in, all eight of us. The atmosphere was very much like most Mexican restaurants in the area. It was, at first, pleasant. It did take a little while before we had the opportunity to order our food, but that was fine. I get it, eight people is a lot of people and it can take some time for everyone in the kitchen and waitstaff to be prepared. We ordered food for six people. When the food came out, we were flabbergasted. Literally every plate that was served came out incorrectly. The kid's bean and cheese burrito was a burrito with only beef inside, topped with queso. One taco salad was missing the guac and the cheese sauce that were supposed to come with it. The beef taco salad was a chicken taco salad without the cheese sauce. Both salads were just meat and lettuce. That's it. The chimichanga with the rice subbed as beans came out with both rice and beans. The enchiladas came out with the wrong topping. I'm not one to complain, but this was all worth complaining about. One mistake is understandable, but for the entire table's order to be wrong is just... well, wrong.

We were able to get new salads, a new burrito, and revised sides for the chimichanga, but the bean and cheese burrito came out with beans only and, again, queso on top. The beef taco salad came back, again, as a chicken salad but, again, without the cheese sauce. So, the second time was wrong as well. The beef taco salad orderer requested a side of the cheese sauce to put on his salad, as it was supposed to have come with it. After asking three times for it, they came out with shredded cheese. Can you imagine? In addition to these mistakes- and this isn't necessarily on the staff- but the main courses were minuscule and the sides were massive. As though the large sides were supposed to compensate for the lack of main course.

So, we were tired of complaining. We hate being "those people". The manager (I assume) even stopped by to offer to remake the taco salad for a third time. We declined. I mean, we were all very hungry and just didn't want to have to keep playing at this. He said "okay, I will take care of this for you all, we have a lot of people in the kitchen right now". Having worked in restaurants, I'm actually not sure what he meant by the lots of people in the kitchen and what that was supposed to do with what happened, but I took "we will take care of this for you" as "we will be coming the taco salad/the mistakes".

We weren't instructed on what to do after finishing our meals, and after waiting about ten minutes for our check determined we would not get our check at the table, but have to pay up front. We got up, went to the counter, they presented the check, and we were charged for items we didn't order! All of us! Just ludicrous! We were done. We were done complaining, we just wanted to get out of there, so we didn't raise a stink, we paid, and we left.

You can guarantee we will not be returning. None of us. And I will warn people to stay away from this restaurant. We were thinking we were going to El Charro, but didn't realise they were replaced by this monstrosity, and we will never make that...

The good - nice atmosphere and comfortable seating. Great chips and salsa.

The bad - small portions, not so good sides, not so good service.

This is a well decorated Mexican restaurant with appropriate music, good seating and plenty of space - meaning s great atmosphere for an intimate meeting or socializing with a group.

The experience started well with near immediate seating at a pleasant booth. Luis greeted us with menus and took our drink orders. He was back in short time with large glasses of good sweet tea, a basket of fresh thin chips, and some great cold salsa.

She ordered the Pollo Feliz - chicken breast over grilled vegetables and cheese served with refried beans, rice, pico de gallo, guacamole and sour cream. I ordered the Bravo Chimichanga with chicken - deep fried flour tortilla wrapped pulled chicken with cheese served with refried beans, rice, pico de gallo, guacamole and sour cream. It didn't take long for the meals to be delivered - and that was the last time we saw Luis.

The food presented well on delivery but, unlike a majority of Mexican restaurants, it was small portions. Her chicken breast was about a quarter inch thick slice off a butterfly cut, grilled dry with little flavor. I tried it and found it a little tough prepared that way. She liked the grilled vegetables with cheese but the refried beans were different, and not in a good way. The rice too, was different. Like something from a Chinese restaurant and not like anything I've had in any Mexican establishment. My Chimichanga was small but tasted good. The thin smear of mystery beans and (Chinese?) rice didn't do much to complement it though. The Pico and guacamole were good.

Back to service. At about two minutes into the meal, someone other than Luis stopped by our table to check on us. That was last contact. Five minutes later my tea was empty. I wanted a refill. No one came by. We paid at the door on...

Ate here for lunch on a weekday. The place was clean-seating, walls and floors, the table, service ware were clean. I didn't use the bathroom so I can't comment on that. The menu has a couple of different soups on it, and a few pasta dishes. (The former El Charro at this same location did not have those options) My water was served in glass, not plastic. Water was not brought w lemon-so if you want that you need to ask. The salsa was kind of thin and had no onions in it that I could see-it was fairly pureed w little texture-it did have a good amount of cilantro in it, had black pepper in it-I could taste that and didn't care for it. The salsa was not hot at all. But lacked flavor other than cilantro and pepper. The chips are the really thin kind and were served hot, with no salt. I ordered a beef chimichanga and a taco and both had the same ground beef. The beans were really plain with no flavor really. The rice was not clumpy or mushy or over cooked. It didn't have any vegetables like some places have little pieces of onion, carrot or peas-nothing like that. Seemingly no spice or flavor really, very bland. I think the rice itself had a different taste than other rices I've had-reminded me of Basmati rice. The portion sizes are comparable to what El Charro had, the garnishes a tad smaller. The guacamole mine came with was just a small spoonful... the pico was good-lots of flavor w/o being hot. I ordered a chili relleno and it was so hot I couldn't eat it. I like a little heat but it was too much for me. I had to toss it. The sauce served over it is where the heat was (not the pepper) and it was also flavored w chipotle. If you don't like chipotle you may not like the food here, it seems to be in many of the dishes. Overall the meal wasn't bad, it just wasn't good, and I won't eat here again sadly. My go to for Mexican food will now be...