Memo's Cocina & Tequila Bar — Restaurant in Turlock

I HAVE TO GIVE A HEADS UP THAT THIS IS A “KAREN” REVIEW

for background, i am also a waitress at a restaurant and know that big parties require a little more patience

so a group of 9 friends including myself came to Memos on Sunday at around 1:00pm to celebrate a friends birthday. we waited about an hour to be seated(no complaints about that since we understand that there are wait times) but from the get-go the service was below average. they brought out a round of water and their standard chips and salsa and left us there for about 15 minutes. When our waitress came, she took both our drink order and food order (from the many times we’ve come in the past, they always do drink orders first) and then food. We waited around 15 more minutes for our food to come out— it didn’t all come out at once so by the time everyone got their food, some of our food was cold. Also, the drinks arrived shortly after our food got there. We are our food and sat around for about and hour before our waitress came back out to remove some dishes from the table and we ordered a dessert for the birthday boy— 30 minutes passed and still no dessert, no drink refills or chance to order another round of drinks. Finally, a waiter came to a nearby table and we asked for our waitress and our dessert which finally came out around 10 minutes later. A friend asked to speak to a manager and the short blonde hostess was extremely rude and simply said they did not have one. So I went up to the front to ask if they had a person in charge to which another host/waitress said the manager would come in around 5 minutes. When he finally arrived he came to our table and i went outside to speak with him about our experience to which he said he would speak to our waiter about our experience since i know restaurants usually charge a gratuity for bigger parties which in our opinion she did not deserve (the restaurant was not even busy) . To my surprise, when I returned to our table, the waitress has dropped off our checks which included a 18% gratuity charge for doing absolutely nothing. Shortly after she came to pick up our tabs, before the manager could even do anything. Our waiter was a woman in her late 20s who is also a manager— which was a little disappointing since you’d think she’d provide better service. I am a frequent memos customer and drive 40 mins from merced for their food and drinks but unfortunately they have lost me as a customer and would advise you all to take your...

I was not impressed with the food and it seemed to me that they are really trying way too hard to be fancy but it's very see through and faux fancy.

The vertical chip holder with some super greasy chips was laughable as was the three way dip plate. The salsa tasted very much like tomato paste and had no soul whatsoever. I could seriously do without the black bean dip and the flavor less coleslaw. Nice light chips that aren't greasy and a thinner and very flavorful salsa are such an important part of a good Mexican food experience and I really cannot believe that they completely missed the mark on this.

The shrimp dish was pretty tasty but it was seriously lacking in quantity of shrimp. There was something odd about the shrimp besides their small size and lack of them that I couldn't quite pick out. Regardless, for a shrimp dish, it was extremely lacking on the supposed main ingredient. Arranging the rice in the shape of a pyramid does not make it taste better and the black beans only option is ridiculous. Neither the rice or the beans or tortillas seemed fresh at all. It feels like everything was previously frozen or the food was purchased wholesale and just heated and served.

The 'breaded pudding'...I thought it was a typo or possibly that they were once again trying to be 'fancy' with their take on bread pudding which just happens to be one of my most favorite deserts in the entire world. The 'bread' cubes seemed like they were something that you would buy at Walmart in the frozen food section....like french toast bites or something and the ice cream was not particularly high quality. Anyway it seemed like the 'bread' cubes were microwaved and haphazardly thrown in a bowl with some discount ice cream and served. I have never felt so insulted in my life when I saw what was supposed to be their take on my most favorite desert ever. It's an absolute disgrace.

I won't even comment on the billion kinds of tequila and other various alcohols they are serving for ridiculous sums of money. I will say that my long islands were tasty and potent.

I absolutely do not believe that real Mexican people have created the food here because if they did then it's a disgrace to their country and it's...

nd good service. I took my mom and brother out to dinner, again good food and good service.

I enjoyed the Mahi Mahi, the guacamole was amazing, drinks were always good. The food is 50/50, it can be good, bland, or cold.

Minus a star: food inconsistencies Sometimes it would be good, sometimes it would be bland, sometime the food is dry, or lacks sauce. Maybe presentation was sloppy during rush hours. The worst was when one of our friend's meal was cold (meant to be serve hot) while ours was okay.

I asked myself "how many rude interactions does it take for me to stop going"

Minus a star: lack of professional costumer service. 1.) I wanted to come here for my birthday before Covid, and asked for wait time for a party of 4, lady on the phone rudely said she can't give me on and said it's busy and hung up. I didn't go there for my bday. I don't think she is there anymore

Started going there for lunch after work, I sat myself. Waited 15mins for a menu (I timed it). I felt like the staff saw me as a person who won't tip and kinda ignored me.

Lastly. "It's kinda common sense right now to wait outside". Why thank you for that. As a nurse, I'm also in the whole "costumer service" business.

Common sense would be just letting me know after I place my to go order that "hey by the way our new policy is to wait outside in the rain for the food". I would respected that and called you from my car after my shift to check with you if I can get out and pick up my food. Common sense would be placing a sign outside saying "please wait outside and we will be happy to assist you" Not arrows and Xs on the floor with a sign that says "door dash order only"

Common sense would be having someone at the front of the house to assist 3 different parties and providing direction. We were in the lobby for 10 mins alone and confused on what to do.

Thank you for your service. Thank you for the common sense lesson. I been on the fence about this review and practicing empathy and forgiveness cause of the stress of working during covid. BUT I finished my shift on my feet the entire time for other people and was excited to eat my favorite meal. And your services gave me a...