El Toro Mexican Bar & Grill — Restaurant in Vandalia

On Saturday 3/1 my husband and I arrived at 5:40 pm. The restaurant was maybe at 25% capacity. We asked to sit at the bar. 25 minutes after placing our order the bar tender let us know our food would be out soon. It took 30 minutes to get our food (longer time than it takes to get food at a full capacity Mexican restaurant) Based on the interaction it seemed as if the bar tender forgot to put in our order. The food comes out and then the server bar tender disappears for 20 minutes. I ordered a taco salad that comes with chicken, shrimp, and steak. It only came with steak. But no one came around to check on us the rest of our time there. We had to go get our own to go boxes to be able to leave. When we go to the hostess stand to check out I ask to speak to the manager. I let him know what took place. He just stared at me and offered no apology. I said - so I just want you know the service we experienced and ask what he was going to do to make it right. He grabs a menu and tells me the steak salad that I received was the same price as what I was ordered. Acting as if that was all I cared about, the price was the same. No I wanted recognition that 1) my order was incorrect and then 2) maybe an apology for the poor service. As I am telling him I don’t care about the price, my order was incorrect, a waitress grabs a menu to check the prices and again proceeds to tell me the prices are the same that I am spending the same amount of money. No one wanting to accept that I received the incorrect order and subpar service. After a little back and forth the manager says he will take the meal off our bill. And then GRABS my to go box to keep. It was the most unprofessional encounter at a restaurant I have ever experienced. This restaurant does not care about the customer. They clearly just care about money, if their main argument was that the incorrect order I received was the same price as what I ordered, so I needed to pay and wasn’t owed anything. I won’t be going back and I will be urging others to not give this restaurant...

Went here for the first time around 6:30pm on a Thursday. I decided to sit at the bar. Might at least be able to get faster service from the bartender. I sit down at the 10 seat bar with only one other person there. The what appeared to be the door greeter & seater came right behind the bar & told me: “Thursday’s are our $1 beer with a dinner order”. Ok. Great. I’ll have a tall one! Thought this is gonna be good. 30 minutes later, no bartender was, or had been ever behind the bar. At least 20-25 used glasses & mugs piling up on the bar. & I’m done with my first $1 beer 20min ago?! I asked for hot salsa for the complimentary chips 3x from 3 different wait staff coming & going behind the bar without it ever coming. After sitting there for 35min, no chips, no salsa that I asked for, no beer, no bartender, & no order placed.. I decided to leave frustrated. I left $5 on the counter & a small piece of my mind with the unfortunate waitress that had to listen to my last thoughts of the place. Maybe just caught them on a bad day?, but it was My First & last experience. I Won’t be back!! I’m a small business owner in the same area & we’re all struggling for help. Which I completely understand if this is the case, but I think you’ve got have 3 positions filled to run a small restaurant. The wait staff, cooks, & a BAR KEEPER!! & if you don’t, then your customers are going to suffer through it. Just my...

Before I start this review, understand I work in food service so I understand the frustrations it can bring. I was polite, friendly and tipped for my take out. I get food here 2 times a week! That's a lot of business. I will NEVER be returning by the way I was treated. I wish I got her name. Short heavy set girl. Working on the floor Monday at 5:00 8/26/24. I ordered fried ice cream to go. Come to find out there was no cinnamon on my shell due to being out/ barely a scoop of icecream. No biggie. Happends I just wanted a refund due to not wanting my ice cream on a flavorless shell. She told me it's "too late you already ordered" so I asked her again. So you can't give me a refund? She replied no. Didn't say anything. Just went outside to call corporate... Then here she comes handing me money with the biggest eye roll ever. You know the look. Fake nice. All this over ICE CREAM. So embarrassing. Never been treated like a bug on the wall for kindly asking for a refund. I promise. I was VERY polite. Thank you for whoever took their time to read this. Go to englewood. Wayyyy better customer...