Los Portales Mexican Restaurant — Restaurant in Virginia

I want to start by saying I have been in food service for 40 years and know all too well how difficult both operations and customers can be. I have eaten at this restaurant probably a half dozen times this past year and have enjoyed it every time. I really enjoy the food and service and absolutely love the rice. It is the best rice i have ever had in any Mexican restaurant in my 40+ years of eating out. I would love to have the recipe. Our server (Mariela) was very pleasant and did a great job getting our order, delivering our food and checking up on us. The tall guy making drinks for his customers was very pleasant and gave us a small taste of the remains of a mango margarita from the blender before he rinsed it, excellent touch letting us sample it knowing we may possibly buy one based on that gesture. I tried something new tonight, the burrito Colorado. I believe the quality, and taste was exactly as you intended, and for someone who loves the taste of chilis this is probably an excellent choice. I loved the first 3-4 bites then found it not to be something I would not order again, just not my personal favorite. The disappointment in our meal tonight came with my wife's dinner, she is a vegetarian and ordered the nachos supreme no meat. When it was delivered I could see she was disappointed. The nachos looked very pale. Many times when you order nachos the shredded cheese is melted under a broiler or in a hot oven and the chips are browned on the edges from the heat. The shredded cheese on hers was not completely melted and the garnish of tomatoes and lettuce was underwhelming. I then noticed that there was a considerable amount of "milky water" on the plate, this appeared to be from the lettuce , maybe they cut it and keep it in ice water to keep it crisp on the line. You could tilt the plate, as I did for a male server/manager, and it pooled on the plate. I have never ordered a plate of nachos anywhere that had "milky water, water from the lettuce mixed with the queso" on the plate. This made the chips soggy and the meal unpleasant. When our serve came to see if we wanted to go boxes, i showed her the pooled water too and surprisingly got the same message as I did from the male, "it is water from the lettuce." Needless to say we were very disappointed. Knowing how difficult it can be to get consistency from cooks and servers, we do not like making a scene, so we paid our bill, tipped and left sad that our excitement about dinner ended this way. I would definitely recommend eating here, i would not recommend getting the...

This is the second time we have been here. The first time, it was later in the eve and we were tired so I wrote off the meh food as being just that. Late and us tired. This time we tried in the morning. I ordered a Taco Salad (How can you mess that up?), the wife a Carne Asada Taco. After getting two sets of silverware because first one had paper stuck to it. Second set had red spices stuck to it. We got our order taken. So let me count the ways you can mess up a Taco Salad. First the shell was store bought. I looked it up while sitting there found the Exact same shells at Walmart. You can tell because they were shaped exactly and about two inches tall. No bubbles from the flower and oil none of that. Meh, ok... So the meat in the taco salad. I was surprised when I took a bite and WOW! I got a whole ball of undiluted taco spices! That wasn't as good as you might think. Next bite, just hamburger, no flavor at all. Two bites later and Blam! Another ball of spices. Then it became a game of what flavor do I get next? Good news is the sour cream is safe to eat. My wife's carne asada, was some of the best Memphis BBQ I have had next to Scoot's (BBQ joint down the street you would be better to go there btw). So add some pico . That burned every taste bud I had. The salsa which is store bought as well right from Costco I am sure, wasn't even that hot. They had some Smokey dark stuff which was good with the BBQ meat. Take your time with your drinks. You only get one for some reason. Refills where not a thing here either time. Anyway, long story short. Taco Bell is less then...

Where do I start with this...

1. Our server/hostess was unable to render anything resembling a smile during either interaction and was only seen smiling once while chatting up her boyfriend in the back (not an assumption, verified by the manager)
2. My meal sat under a heat lamp long enough to evaporate most of the sauces that were supposed to cover my burrito.
3. My daughter's "quesadilla" was a tortilla filled with chicken and cheese that had fully melted and was not even noticable due to the time under the heat lamp.
4. Our meal was delivered and that was the last we saw of our server until she came to pick up the check that we had to ask the manager for because our server never returned to the table
5. We made it through our meal with empty glasses as well

I spoke with one of the managers and she was extremely apologetic and even confirmed that we were not the first to complain about this server.

Needless to say, her tip was to learn to smile for her tables like she smiles for her boyfriend that took up so much of her attention.

3rd time in my adult life I have left zero tip - and I feel absolutely no shame I'm admitting it.

I would recommend taking the trip over to Newport News and checking out Los Paisas Locos - simply the best authentic Hispanic food around. No offense to the very kind manager who we hope will address the issue with her server, but I do not recommend Los Portales for a...