Hacienda la Paloma — Restaurant in Village/Town of Mount Kisco

So I chose this place to celebrate my Mother's Day dinner. I had been there twice before for drinks and appetizers at the bar, but never for dinner. The restaurant has a nice ambiance and the food is mediocre.. but the deal breaker for me, is the hospitality and the service. I definitely would frequent and recommend a restaurant if these two factors are top notch'... if they are lacking in this area, I don't care how good the food is... an excellent dining experience are all these factors combined (food, service and hospitality) for me, at least. Well, today I arrived with my family for dinner. I did not request an outside table; however, the table that assigned to us was practically outside, so I asked if they had a table away from the elements (keep in mind, I had early dinner reservations, the place was practically empty)... the waiter offered a different table, when out of nowhere, an employee came rushing over, stepped in front of us and yelled that the said table was reserved for someone else. He continued in his tirade, calling attention to us, about how the table belonged to other people, as everyone looked at us as if were seating ourselves, when in fact we were led there by a waiter. I was so disturbed and embarrassed by the experience as we walked away and were led to a table in another room. I expressed to the host my discomfort with the whole experience, nevertheless, we moved on with trying to enjoy our dinner. While already seated, and having drinks, the Owner, then comes over and asks us to move to another table as the one we were assigned was already reserved. Again I was annoyed, but moved trying not to allow this to ruin my afternoon. So, they moved us to a table by the window, (which I was avoiding to begin with) the sun shining on us the e ntire time... had to move again as my family was with me, and didn't want to make this more uncomfortable for them.. so we dealt with the heat of the sun. Not the mention the wait staff, although polite, are poorly trained. I have dined in the finest of restaurant... this one is NOT by far one of them. However, if ever something like this occurs, the least they would do is either send a drink to the table or offer anything compensate for the inconvenience. AND it's not about a free drink...IT'S ABOUT HAVING GOOD BUSINESS SENSE. After expressing my concerns to the Owner, all this man said to me on the way out was, "I assure this will never happen again" as if we will be returning!! So...

So, this has to be the worst dining experience I have ever had. And the saddest part is that it was a special place for my girlfriend of 18 months and me, as it was where we had dinner on our first date. We have gone there a number of times since then, including our one year anniversary and Valentine’s Day. The food has always been very good…always met or exceeded our expectations. The service has always been lax and a point of contention, however. But never enough to keep us from going back. Until tonight. We had a great meal. But as always, we had to beg for service (mind you, we were the only people in the restaurant other than one couple in the bar area and another couple that had just been seated when we were leaving.) There were 5 servers standing around chatting with one another instead of attending to our needs as customers. Never asked if we needed our drinks refreshed. Had to flag a different waiter to bring us more chips and salsa. He was so put out you’d have thought the cost of the chips were coming out of his own pocket. The ONLY thing our actual server did was take our order and bring us a to-go box for us to pack up for ourselves. Never saw her for the hour in between. We even had to wait to get our bill. So she did not get much of a tip…but I didn’t leave nothing, which is what she deserved. We left the cash in the folder and headed out to the car. I’m about to back out and hear a knock on the passenger window. It’s the server. We thought we must have left something behind. But apparently, we didn’t leave ENOUGH behind. She came outside in 2 degree weather to chastise us for not leaving her at least a 15% tip. You’ve got to be freakin’ kidding me! I couldn’t get her to walk across the room to fill my water glass, but she came outside in arctic weather to complain about her tip. Well, I’m truly sad to say that we will NEVER go back there again. For a $3 differential in tip, they have now lost a couple that had faithfully (stupidly) given them our business over the past 18 months. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND YOU AVOID THIS RESTAURANT. If you must go, get the food...

Well even though a number of reviews were negative, I decided to give this a try. In the past, I remembered the food as good, the service definitely bad. I was pleasantly surprised at first by an attentive, polite bartender but it was 5pm on a Saturday so very quiet. I was surprised he did not know the menu. I ordered 2 items from the tapas menu & a frozen margarita. The drink was great. The food took forever to arrive. Nothing on the menu indicated the veggie quesadillas would have black beans but I didn't say anything & ate one despite the beans I did not want. But then, sHift change took place & the bartender who arrived must be one of the ones in the negative reviews. He was not pleasant, no pleasantries, did not check in on me & I had to flag him down to wrap my food. Repeat to the server the instructions he ignored on not wrapping the shredded lettuce Had I come with him there originally I would have left. I wrote negative comments on the back of the receipt & handed to the owner as I left. Who knows if he'll pay attention??

Then trying to get my car out was a nightmare. The valet was now busy. Had blocked me in. I couldn't leave the way you were supposed to as he had jammed cars in that exit. He told me to leave through the entrance but there was a line of cars waiting to get in. He yelled at me to pull back in to my space. Then he took the car blocking me & parked it. As I attempted to leave again, he came up to my car yelling at me that I should listen to him. Finally maneuvered out. Never...