Cielos — Restaurant in Tucson

Full disclosure this review is not about the food and drink offerings at this location. I have been there several times before and been very impressed with our meals. Last night was different. I attended a sponsored dinner with 16 people. We all arrived in about 15 min. The restaurant was expecting 12-14. The restaurant was only 1/4 full at the time. When we asked if the table could be made larger by moving any of the four adjacent empty tables over. The staff said this was not possible. I was in the group of two last arrivals. We were seated at one of those adjacent table but this was far enough away that we definitely were now not part of the group. The dinner’s organizer was not satisfied with this as the dinner was to include a presentation of information that complemented the course that the participants were involved in over this weekend. At every attempt to address our needs with the staff the sponsor was rebuffed. The only option the staff provided was adding more chairs to the already tight table. “Great!, accepted.” The participants made room. The two of us at the separate table were brought over and stood in the space created by our cohort for 5 min without chairs. The staff made no efforts to get us seated. It felt like they really were not expecting us to accept the offer to squeeze in. Finally our table sponsor got up and retrieved two chairs from the adjacent empty tables. Upon seating myself I heard the staff say behind me just a little louder than she probably thought, “ oh and now we are rearranging furniture “. This did not feel very welcoming from a person in the hospitality sector. 20min after our self seating the two participants last seated (myself and one other) had not been even greeted, no water, no drink orders. However during that time they took second drink orders from rest of table as well as appetizers order. I have never felt so invisible in my whole life. It is the first time in 15 years I (and my table mate) got up, thanked our host at the table and left. We went 2 doors down to Locale and had a wonderful experience. My understanding after we left the staff apologized to the table host and dessert was on the house. My experience though leaves me with this recommendation…Tucson is a foodie destination. Service is as much a part of the experience as the food itself…for my money, go...

We decided to give Cielos a try for Mother's Day. I had a party of five. Somehow, I was not aware that this was a buffet style dining prior to arrival and only became aware once we were seated. We read a make to order menu online. I'd considered leaving at that point but being that this was Mother's Day, I decided to give them a try since we liked the atmosphere and seating would be hard to come by elsewhere at that point.

Honestly, we should have just moved on. The food in all of our cases wasn't consistent with what we were expecting or what was researched. Basic buffet style beef, chicken and seafood that definitely had a picked over feel to it. There were some okay options, but not much variety. Some in our party selected the shrimp but had to pull the shells off themselves. The beef was way too raw for my taste, but to each their own. The overall food quality was poor. There were flies in the buffet area as well as in the indoor dining area, so that also took away from the experience. The dessert had a very "continental breakfast" feel to it. The high point was the drinks which were pretty good. I could go on about the lackluster meal but this is already becoming a long post.

My jaw almost hit the floor when I was presented with a $408 bill for my party of 5. It amounted to $58/head for the buffet. We had two alcoholic drinks and no one went back for seconds due to the options/condition of the buffet area. The 15% gratuity was included in the bill. That gratuity seemed a bit high to me given that this was buffet. I paid so as not to put any more of a damper on the evening, but to say that we were disappointed would be an understatement. I have no problem paying that and more for a good meal, but frankly this wasn't it. I feel like I was cheated on the deal.

Our server was pleasant enough, but he wasn't enough to offset the negatives. I think he could sense our dissatisfaction and we weren't there that long. At that point, I was resigned to getting out of there and addressing things with...

I do many Google reviews,, and I’m always reticent to Give an unfavorable one star review. But in this case, I feel compelled to To give an unfavorable a cool review for this restaurant. Number one, it was really that bad. Number two, I would’ve so appreciated avoiding a very negative experience at CLOS had I’ve seen My own review before making a reservation We Waited 47 minutes in a mostly empty restaurant. The server was nice and pleasant, but did not keep us apprised of this huge delay. I had to call over a hostess and tell her please send our Server over she’s been gone so long, either out of embarrassment or just a plain lack of skill or training in her Trade. The hostess made a careless big spill of water. That could happen to anyone, but the problem was she expressed no sorrow, nor even came back to clean it up. We had to do it ourselves. We were so looking forward to going to this restaurant for quite a while having high expectations. The restaurant was out of several items, again, forgivable, and understandable, except it just added to the badness of a horrible experience. When the food finally arrived, it was clear that the staff apparently forgot to cook one of the dishes. Three of the entrées were solidly cold, and burned. They were Inedible. When the waitress finally showed up again, she apologized after she heard our discontent, and offered to give a deep discount. I just looked at her in unbelief and said really? She subsequently came back and said we didn’t have to pay for anything. Did we want to order anything else. Absolutely not nor will he ever return. I hate to be cruel, but if we could give a zero star rating or a -4 star rating, that would be more appropriate. Wish I had better news.. Oh, by the way, we learned the manager was not there, so it certainly felt like while the cats away the mice were playing And not in a positive way for the diner. As I say, we will never go back, and I would simply say in closing ...