Zapatas Mexican Kitchen — Restaurant in Violet Township

After failing to get into the super busy chicken spot across the street, my wife and I wandered across the street to try Zapatas for the first time. It was around 7pm on a Saturday and I could tell they were busy but they had a table available and seated us right away.

The restaurant is well lit and there was a friendly and festive buzz in the air. My wife and I often like to sit in the bar area and theirs looked nice but we opted for a table this time.

Service was very friendly and prompt. We were immediately greeted with chips and a tasty house made salsa. Within 5 minutes we had put in an order for a pitcher of margs and our dinner. I could tell our server was hustling -- she was effectively taking care of multiple tables, which is something I really appreciate on a busy Saturday.

The pitcher of Margarita came out pretty quickly. We ordered the Skinny Margarita from the menu because you know, New Year's Resolutions. This was the only slightly disappointing aspect of the evening. It was hard to rate the mix because it tasted very sweet -- way too much agave syrup in both of our estimations (in fairness we only put a splash in at home). I think I'd probably try another type of marg or a beer next time since the "skinny" version seemed to be loaded with sugar anyway.

Our dinner came out in what seemed like an instant (probably like 10-12 minutes between ordering and being served -- again impressive on a busy night). This is where Zapatas really shined, excellent dinner!

My wife ordered the Chicken Mexicali with extra chipotle sauce to add some spice. She said it was delicious and offered me a bite and I agreed. One of the things that's really neat about Zapatas is that they offer a wide variety of sides to order with your entee. My wife ordered something that was basically poblano peppers in queso. She wound up putting it on top of her entree which made it even more delicious.

I ordered "The Amigo" and was happily surprised at the massive portion of steak, chicken, chorizo, and onions that came out on the hot platter. It was served with tortillas and rice, and I opted for the charro beans (fantastic) and Chiles toreados as my sides. The steak and chicken chicken were well seasoned and well cooked. I appreciated that the ribeye fat was rendered very nicely. I will go back and likely order the same dish next time, the value was incredible. I've had similar dishes at other restaurants that were priced 50% higher and only half as tasty. There was easily enough food to take home leftovers and have another satisfying meal. Full marks on dinner from us!

Overall, we really enjoyed Zapatas. There aren't a ton of places we enjoy dining on this side of town, but we will definitely frequent Zapatas when we're on the mood...

I had the worst experience in a restaurant. The server that I had is what ruined my experience here. I will start off saying I have never had a server walk out of a restaurant after me because they didn't appreciate or approve of the tip that was given to them. This woman literally flagged me down as my family and I are leaving flashing our payment like "what is this?" I'm thinking I didn't pay enough for a moment but I know for sure I did and soon realized after she counted that she didn't like the $5 dollar tip I gave her on a 100 dollar bill. Maybe she didn't consider the fact that her service was terrible. My husband just had a heart attack and when we told her she laughed. Then a drink was accidentally spilled and she basically had my husband mop it up and put a wet floor sign down. He doesn't work there and he just had a heart attack, yet you let him do your job? Okay I still didn't complain. She wasn't knowledgeable about the menu, and she didn't check on us but one time besides taking our order. A male brought us food and chips and salsa and another female waitress checked on us, not her. She did not earn a tip by far but I still gave her one. We were nice to her, we complimented her hair just to be polite and yet we still got crappy service. Every time we needed her attention my husband had to get up and find her. Mind you, there were only 2 other tables in the restaurant with us and those table already were eating their food when we got there. There is no excuse for her behavior. Especially not following my family out of the restaurant berating us saying we didn't take care of her. YOU DIDNT TAKE CARE OF US. You ruined our experience and we never want to come back. If I could get my money back I would. The food was okay but we couldn't even focus on the food due to her attitude and service. I will be calling to speak to the manager as the manager was not even working that day so no one was there to supervise the situation or rectify...

Went here for with my partner for the first time this week with high hopes.

The hostess and a server just walking by greeted us very friendly upon arrival. The interior was very nice, too. We liked the atmosphere. The mexican-themed interior decorations, lighting and everything were very cool and nice. We got seated in a booth. The booth was clean and comfortable. Server that happened to greet us at the door was assigned to our table. He got our drink orders right away. Salsa and chips were served shortly after we got seated and that salsa was VERY good. Good spices and flavors. The menu was very extensive. There were a lot of items on the menu, which got us excited.

My partner ordered carnitas & I ordered the house grill special. Food was served relatively fast. Unfortunately after this point, everything quickly took downhill. A very steep downhill.

Both of our dishes were very bad. My dish was served with gross, soggy fried onions. Rice was drenched in oil. Steak was thin and not even warm. This cheese sauce that was supposed to be "drizzled" was just thrown over the top covering the entire dish... Just trying to describe this horrible food makes me want to vomit. I barely ate my dish. Then had to wait forever for our server to come check on us. The server looked at my barely-touched dish and asked if I wanted a box. I said no dragging the word "no". Even before I had a chance to comment on my dish, he went and got us the check, returned the check and that was it. He didn't even ask if there was any problem with the order/food....

This place has many good reviews and I was very disappointed at the quality of food & services received. I don't know if we were there at a bad time or what. Either stay away from the carnitas and the house grill special or go...