El Refu — Restaurant in Texas

I want to let everyone know to STAY FAR AWAY from El Refu. There are plenty other places to eat in this big city. Avoid this one.

Poor management, rude employees and lax leadership is what will ultimately destroy this establishment, and what started out as a positive experience and a compliment ultimately completely deteriorated.

Being new to the area, I tried this food once and it was pretty good, the ambiance of the place seemed good, so on another day, I attempted to phone and place another order.

I encountered Samantha, who answered the phone, and had a really nasty attitude. When I asked about a menu item I ordered previously, and asked about getting a salad rather than beans/rice, Samantha got really rude, disrespectful, and treated me like I called for no other reason than to annoy Samantha. This isn't even remotely an exaggeration. This is how customers are treated at El Refu.

I decided, after dealing with Samantha, that I would NOT, in fact spend any more money here again. But I did want to reach out and let their management know that rude employees are literally running their customers away who had previously enjoyed their food.

I called and spoke to Angel, who claimed to be a manager. I shared with him my experience. He right away told me that it was a serious, ongoing problem with Samantha, who constantly creates customer service issues and is rude to guests, literally picks fights with customers. He asked more details, so I told him the full story, at which time I mentioned that with my last order, I ordered salad in place of beans and rice and got cheese added to my salad.

Angel suddenly put me on hold, and in a spectacular display of absolute incompetence and complete ignorance, came back to the phone...and wanted to discuss...are you ready for this?.....the cheese on my salad. Asked me why I had cheese on my salad, because cheese isn't supposed to come on the salads.

Was he serious? Was this really happening? Never mind that I PAID EXTRA for the cheese on my salad, and anything else I ordered...nope, the cheese became the sole focus. It no longer was a concern or an issue that Samantha treats customers with blatant, grotesque levels of disrespect, and like they are an inconvenience. Samantha was no longer the topic of discussion.

And this gross display of incompetence is why nothing was resolved on that call.

I DO NOT RECOMMEND ANYONE SPEND THEIR HARD-EARNED MONEY HERE. People work too hard for their money, and this city has far too many outstanding restaurants offering the same great food, but with competent management and leadership, and good customer service. An encounter here with Samantha or Angel will make you run for the hills and never look back at El Refu. And you shouldn't. Any decent establishment would not treat their customers, who keep their business open and afloat, like they are an inconvenience.

Life is too short. Find somewhere...

I’m sooo upset right now! I went to ElRefu Mexican restaurant to watch the game Friday 10/16/21. I was seated by the hostess. 15 min later I was approached by a staff member and was asked if I sat there on my own, I let him know that a hostess seated me. He then said it was strange that I was seated without a menu. I ordered six wings and one Margarita and watched the game while eating. While waiting on my check, a random employee who wasn’t my waitress approached me and asked if I was eating or drinking anything else. keep in mind, the restaurant was filled with Astros fans who were mostly Hispanic and in large groups. When I answered, she went directly to a police officer and advised him, he watched me for several minutes and then waited at the register to make sure I paid for my meal before leaving.

When I got my check from my waiter and paid, I kindly went up to the female employee and asked if she was the restaurant manager, she replied no. I asked why was I questioned about my meal, she stated that they were doing a sweep of the restaurant and the police officer sent her to me. I then went to the police officer to ask if there was a problem, he said if there was a problem he would have let me know. He was obviously caught off guard with my questions. At this point, I knew the waitress was lying but used the officer because of his authority.

I was profiled and this is unacceptable! No other patron was approached or questioned. I was the only one who fit their profile of a runner or because I was alone. I’m not saying race had anything to do with this but it makes me wonder. I spoke to the restaurant manager, he offered to comp my next meal but he never gave me his name or asked for mine, in fact, he didn’t even apologize for my experience This was my favorite Mexican restaurant but now I’m having second thoughts about going back. No one should be treated this way regardless of...

The food tasted good. That was the only part good.

The bartender, she was definitely off in left field, she spent more time worrying about having a fake smile on than listening and doing her job. She couldn't ever see an empty drink to refill, and didn't know how to put in an order.

We ordered 2 drinks, and 1 "El Refu Special" (the platter of fajitas, with diablos and quail)

We sat for 30 min, watched other people come and sit, be served, and we twiddled our thumbs.

We asked her, where's our food? (then she poked on the computer terminal entered it into the computer...) She didn't walk back with an "I'm sorry" or "let me help you".... no "offer something free"... just a "oh, it's going to be out soon." And then she went back to her braindead stare routine with a fake smile.

What a joke.

Then, they have the audacity on the bill to FORCIBLY INCLUDE a 15% tip on a 2-person party... They don't write it as "included" ... nor write in on the TIP LINE as "additional tip" .... This is ON TOP of the 3$ service charge to put my 80$ dinner on my debit card. Who the hell charges a 3$ fee for a debit card at a resturant? IT was added on the first ticket page (the recipt), not my debit recipt, or their debit reciept.... NOR was it even easy to see it as tabulated into the total.

It was just SHADY !!!

Good food or not... you lost me as a customer.

be careful guys, this place is absolutely not top service, forces tips, fees, and doesn't post it on the menu, the wall, the door, anywhere... They will not tell you anything .... they are NOT...