Plaza Azteca — Restaurant in Virginia

I'm writing this review because the response from the owner to my husbands review below was completely incorrect.

First let me start with saying that we sat down first as a table of 3 before two other large parties came in. Even though we ordered the fresh table side guacamole first; we were the last ones to receive it. Even though we ordered our food first; we were towards the last to receive it. My husband and daughters food came out and when I began to cut her chicken quesadilla which had tons of shredded chicken, barely any cheese and was soggy and falling apart I noticed a long strand of hair. When I showed the waiter he said, Oh, and asked if I wanted another one. I advised him that she would just share my plate instead. No manager came out to speak with us or apologize for the hair in the food. Next, the server brought me a salad when I said I wanted a rice bowl since I didn't know how to pronounce Oaxaca. When the hostess told the waiter that I spoke Spanish he started to change his attention and come over to ask us if we needed anything. When at the beginning of service we felt like he was rushing us, especially when he told my husband I brought you water since you didn't know what you wanted to drink. Mind you there was no list on the menu that showed what non-alcoholic drinks they had. Anyways, I wanted to make sure the bill was correct and they had the audacity to tell me that the small rice bowl with beans onions and green peppers was $18.50 and the chicken would be $6 additional. I told the waiter that the menu clearly states that the bowl comes with choice of protein and under the description in bold it lists the protein along with the price and the chicken was $18.50. I asked for the manager and the waiter came back and said okay it's okay as if they were doing me a favor. I paid and asked for the manager again, when he came out he informed me that he was busy in the back. The restaurant was barely occupied, it was Easter Sunday at 3:00pm so it definitely wasn't as busy as he proclaimed. After advising the manager of the experience he said okay I will talk to him and we left the establishment. There was never an apology for the mistakes, there was never a gift card offer provided to us and they did remove the quesadilla from our order because we didn't eat it due to the hair in it. Everything else was paid for. $70 for two mediocre meals and terrible service was definitely not worth it. As a Hispanic I was embarrassed that they called this authentic Mexican food. It's a shame. Never going to this...

I usually go to the Westchester location which is decent but tried this one because I had a $5 Kroger coupon. The first red flag is that the greeting and welcome was nonexistent. Hence, the seating process was pretty awkward. Our server seemed to be trying her best but was stretched a little thin.

The Food was ridiculously bad. I ordered the OMG Nachos. There was nothing "OMG" about them other than the fact that I exclaimed "OMG, where are the chips?" whilst digging into this lackluster plate of tiny bits of meat and a few soft jalepeno slices. This dish consisted of about 5 to 10 nacho chips. The flavor was pretty good but the portion was surprisingly minuscule! The menu listed this dish at 1,000 calories but those counting such figures needn't worry as it was a very meager portion. When one thinks of nachos, a big, bursting plate with many toppings comes to mind. This was anything but. Worst of all was the fish tacos. You can't mess up fish tacos but this restaurant failed miserably. My food must have been sitting in the window too long because it looked tired and lacked any good flavor. The fish was overfried and underneath that it was like tasteless rubber. When one thinks of fish tacos you imagine the slaw, the sauce, and all the toppings that go along with it. There was hardly anything to this meal but a piece of dark brown deep fried rubber on a plain tortilla. Sending back the food didn't help as I believe they just refried the already overfried fish resulting in an even more horrible taco.

As we left the restaurant, we noticed that there were multiple parties of huge tables (maybe 20+ people times 2) so it seems the kitchen was stretched a little thin. They were really busy but I guess the customers are wowed by the stupid robot and massive alcoholic drinks. I just wanted some decent tasting Mexican food but alas it was definitely not to...

No wait (we arrived after dinner hours-around 8:25 p.m. No reservation. Host: pleasant demeanor. Waiter: at table to take drink orders in less than five minutes. Only tap water, no bottled water. Orders taken timely. Food on table within 15 minutes (approximately). Food hot. Food: delicious. Note on seafood chimichanga: shrimp too salty. Add sour cream. No notes on the shrimp fajitas. Portion sizes: Good. I didn't bring home a doggie bag. But there was more than enough of the fajitas to box up. They provide chips & salsa. Drinks: (1) non-alcoholic Coco margarita-taste: excellent. Presentation: it looked and tasted like a non-alcoholic Pina colada (without the cherry). For the price ($15), the pineapple glass was a bit small. (2) cucumber jalapeño margarita-taste: good. Presentation: huge margarita 🍸 glass. ($18)Straw on top of glass covered in tajin (salty) but chewy similar to a Laffy taffy (sweet) and cold. My daughter liked it, and I did not. The drink had jalapeños & oranges in it. But it wasn't really that spicy. It had a ton of ice in it with little to no tequila. Having ice is fine if the ingredients are well proportional. If not, all you have is a watery mess by the time you finish.

Shout out: Jorge, who made us laugh and took time (a little too much time) to talk with us.

Summary: We sat outside, which is always a treat (weather permitting). Overall, it was a great experience. We will return. Watch the salt in the shrimp/seafood. Be sure to make drinks worth it in terms of taste & expectation.

Bit on the pricey side. I had a little bit of sticker shock. We only had 2 entrées, 1 alcohol drink and 1 non-alcoholic drink, and the tab came to $80. 00, 7.98 tax, $17.60...