Guadalajara's Grill & Tequila Bar — Restaurant in Tucson

OMG, I have never seen a more poorly run restaurant in all my years. And I'm 62 years old. When we arrive we ask for a table for two. The host said there weren't unavailable and it would be about a 20 minute wait, so we said fine well can we wait at the bar? He said Yes of course however we would not be able to order food or appetizers there, we could only get chips and salsa. Who said that would be fine and headed to the bar. Once we sat down we noticed the rest of the bar all were being served food and/or appetizers. We thought "what gives"? Well okay, whatever we'll figure it out. The one nice thing about this place is that a very nice young lady came around with a cart with all of the ingredients for the salsa and she mixed it up fresh right there in front of us. So we were able to customize our salsa to our taste, that was wonderful. But that's where the wonderful ends. We waited a full 10 minutes before the bartender ever came to take our drink order. We watched as she went around the entire bar and cashed people out, filled reorders, and help the other bartender get supplies, and did a couple of dishes before she came around to take our order. A couple had come in just after us and sat next to us waiting for their table as well. She finally came around to take our drink order then took the drink order to the couple next to us. We had a simple soda pop and a draft beer. The couple next to us ordered what appeared to be margaritas. She chose to make the mixed drinks first before she made ours.Okay That's irritating. Another 10 minutes rolled off before she came back around and we asked if we would be able to order our food here and she said yes no problem. When we explained that the host had told us we could not she said well I don't know then I'll have to check. Which means it was clearly customary to be able to order food at the bar and yet for some reason the host didn't want us to do that. So she won't ran off to ask after she stopped to help the other bartender set up some more supplies, and then never came back around with the answer. As we're sitting there we're looking around and see that the entire row of two seaters was completely empty. Plus there were two cables behind us that were empty. And yet there was no place for us to sit to order food? If all that wasn't bad enough when the host finally came around 30 minutes later to give us a table he said we would have to cash out at the bar first as there was no way to transfer the ticket. I guess this place is living in the 19th century, because every restaurant I have been to in my 62 years was able to transfer a ticket from the bar to the table. When we told him that we weren't happy with that he was clearly irritated. It would seem that what was convenient for us meant absolutely nothing to this guy. Let me explain, I was over the road truck driver for 10 years, I've been to restaurants from Bangor Maine to Tallahassee Florida, and from Trenton New Jersey to Bellingham Washington, and everything in between. I have never been to a restaurant that was more of a nightmare to be at then this one. I do not understand why all the good reviews came from unless of course they're paying for them. And I suspect that is the case. We paid our bar tab, got up, and walked out! That is the second time I will ever visit that restaurant, first and last....

The positive points: the chips with the table side salsa and guacamole were really nice and helped for a while with the wait for the food, and the server with the salsa cart was very responsive when we asked for water and more chips. We thought for a while that she was our actual waitress. When we got our drinks and food, there were a few errors, but the food itself was all very good (Plato Bandera, fish tacos, kids quesadilla combo, two California burritos, and a Chile relleno combo). The decorations are nice, and there's an outdoor seating area that looked nice.

The negatives: it was oddly warm, which wasn't a huge issue. It was not very full at all, but the service was some of the worst I've ever had anywhere. We had to try to flag the waitress down (once we figured out who our actual waitress even was) and prompt her for basic things (Could we order? Could we have our empty water glasses refilled? Will the food be coming soon? Could we get the bill?). A couple things she didn't write down then would forget and have to come back and ask what they were again. We were laughing because we'd originally come here after leaving two other restaurants down the street that told us it would be an hour and half wait, and we were too impatient and hungry to wait, but we would have gotten our food around the same time if we'd stayed at the first restaurant. By the time we did get the food, a couple plates weren't hot to the touch anymore, and there were a few errors with the food itself. The kids meal we ordered with a quesadilla and rice and beans had fries instead of rice and beans. The California burritos (meat, fries, cheese, pico de gallo, guacamole, and sour cream in a tortilla) didn't have pico de gallo, guacamole, or sour cream. Literally half the ingredients of the burritos were missing. Those mistakes were quickly and easily resolved though.

We left our leftovers because we didn't want to stay any longer for boxes (saying a lot for cheap fat people who usually never waste food). We were there for a birthday, but we didn't even attempt to see if there was a special ritual or a dessert menu because we'd been there so long already, which kind of sucked for a...

We were a party of 2. We were told when we arrived it would be a 25 minute wait. So we asked if we could wait at the bar. The Host said we could, but we could NOT order food or appetizers. So we said, okay. And went to the bar. We saw the whole row of 2 seater booths empty. And several empty tables. We waited over 10 minutes just to order our drinks. Then we were appalled when the bartender served the couple that came in after us. Once she finally came to us, we asked why every other patron at the bar had food. After we were told we couldn't.....she didn't know. Said she would ask. Then never did. The Host finally came to get us for a table, and told us we would have to cash out, as they couldn't transfer our bar tab to the table. Incredible. Incompetence from start to finish. We're never coming back. The final insult was that the bartender did not give us the correct change. She completely disregarded the coins she was supposed to tender. We questioned the change she gave us, and she looked astonished that we questioned the amount we received. And while we certainly won't miss the small change, the absolute arrogant entitled attitude was beyond belief. As we're leaving the couple beside us who came in after us told the bartender that they wanted to order food, and she asked if they had told the host. They said that they had and he said that they could sit there and order at the bar. We still do not understand why he told everyone else at the bar. They could order food but told us that we could not Never coming here again. We left...