El Tio Tex-Mex Grill — Restaurant in Virginia

This was my 3rd visit to this location. The first 2x were great, good was delicious, service was fast and friendly. This visit, unfortunately, will be the reason I never return. First when we came in and were seated, it took about 10 minutes to get our drinks. We were the only ones in the dining room! Next, we order our meals. This is where it really got bad. I have a really bad allergy to peppers so my partner and I make sure to very careful about what we order. We receive our food and my partners food was not even hot anymore. We are a few bites into service and my partner all of a sudden starts coughing and sweating. He then proceeds to drink 3 out of 4 of our drinks at the table. During this situation we saw 3 different servers. Not one was helpful 😕 I got up to go to restroom and grabbed a menu on my way back. Could there have been something I missed? Sure enough not one thing on the ingredient list was spicy. I asked the server at my table and she just kept asking us if we wanted a box and kept trying to take things from our table. I then explained to her in Spanish the situation. She went and got yet again another server. I was then informed the dish has jalapeños. I asked why because it never said that on the menu and she just laughed it off. I was upset, so I went to personally talk to a manager, (I'm a manager) and let her know the situation and I explained how dangerous this could have been in regards to food allergies. You know she looked at me and was like "ok we will keep it in mind when we get updated menus" what a joke, a whole lawsuit...... I was in food service for 15 years and this is by far the most incompetent manager I've ever talked to. Yep never going back, and none of you should waste your time. I spent $75 for an almost trip to the ER and food that wasn't even...

I feel cheated by this place. I went in deliberately for happy hour as I was led to believe it was until 7 on reviews. I arrived about 6:15 and sat at a high top table with my companion. On the way in, we asked the hostess where we could get happy hour and she said anywhere at the bar or high tops. We were looking at the tabletop tent that had all of the happy hour specials. I asked some questions of the waitress. The whole time pointing to the happy hour menu. I asked if I could substitute the beef in one item of the sampler for chicken, she said yes. I also asked if I could get a skinny margarita on happy hour, she said no. So I decided to order the drink that was on happy hour instead. My companion ordered off the regular menu. When the check came, I asked why the items weren’t discounted. She said happy hour went to 6 only and we came in after that. There were MULTIPLE opportunities to tell us they were no longer on happy hour or make up for it. I would have made very different decisions had I known and I told her that and she just shrugged with no comment. This made for such a disappointing experience as her behavior was deliberate and there was no trying to make up for it. Horrible experience for a place where the service is...

THEY NEED TO RENAME THIS RESTAURANT FROM El tio to El Zero.

The queso is thinner than in the past. The tamal d'elote was tough and dry on one side and tasted like a prepackaged tamales I buy at the supermarket. The tortillas were not fresh and had sat under a heat lamp so long that the one against the foil was like cardboard.

The worst part was paying some 25 dollars for 5 small severely overcooked shrimp brochette that were so dry they were inedible. When I called to let them know I only got 5 shrimp and no Mexican butter I was told the portion was only 5 shrimp and the Mexican butter was drizzled over the shrimp and never on the side. I have ordered this dish many times and always gotten 6 shrimp and the butter in a side cup.

The prices at El Tio have gone up a lot. Fine, I don't mind paying for quality food but they are obviously bent on cheating their customers to maximize profits.

I am just astounded that I paid that much for what was certainly no more than 3 or 4 ounces of cover cooked shrimp, some vegetables beans and rice.

All the restaurant offered was that this is thecway the food has always been.

$42 total. I could have had a better meal from Taco Bell...