Moe's Southwest Grill — Restaurant in Waltham

My wife has been a fan of Moe's for years and finally decided to take me there for lunch earlier today. I'm not opposed to trying out a new spot although I do remain cautious when it comes to chains.

We snagged a spot in their private lot in the back, walked around and right in and were welcomed to a "Welcome to Moe's" cheer, something that the staff does every single time someone walks in. Every. Single. Time.

I tried to decypher the menu but gave up and decided to get exactly what my fiancee got, which was a taco shell-less salad known as the 'Close Talker' with some beans and various toppings. Mine featured grilled steak, guacamole, grilled onions, black beans, cheese, olives, cilantro and vinaigrette. You get to customize it though and you can have it your way. She had hers with chicken and a Southwestern dressing.

The whole salad was put together quickly and featured romaine leafs. I wasn't a huge fan of seeing their staff but hot, black beans on a cold salad. You could see it cause the greens to wilt a bit. The steak was decently seasoned but was very dry. The only redeeming element in there was the guacamole which was awesome and the complimentary chips that you can get as you pay at the register.

The staff was very friendly and the entire ordering process was very quick. We also added 2 sodas from the Coca-Cola Freestyle machine and our total came to just under $23, which I thought was pretty steep.

The plus: An awesome salsa bar featuring 5-6 different takes on it including a very unique tapenade-like one Complimentary chips to go with their salsa bar Coca-Cola Freestyle machine Very clean bathrooms Friendly staff Private parking lot in rear Friendly staff and decent atmosphere No microwaves are used there A lot of their food and ingredients are prepped fresh, daily

The minus: Food average at best Seemed expensive Coca-Cola Freestyle machine out of all diet sodas while we were there - like seriously, there was the full calorie soda and seltzer only.

The menu itself has more than just salads though, and you can get burritos, tacos, quesadillas, nachos and even something known as 'Stacks' which is like a quesadilla-like pocket of cheese and sauce.

Personally, I'd much rather drive to Taqueria El Amigo which is only 1.4 miles from Moe's, as their food is much better however there is a place for both in Waltham and Moe's isn't necessarily a bad addition, especially since they are open until 10PM, which is much later than most places in the area. And they also do make an effort to try and prepare a lot of their stuff fresh, daily. I can appreciate it and would much rather have a Moe's than a McDonald's nearby but that being said, this just isn't really my cup of tea. Average it is, and...

Moe's sent me a birthday coupon for a free entree with drink purchase. We needed to go to Boston so on the way back we took a detour through Waltham so I could have my birthday dinner. Ordered our meals and went to the register. Gentleman (maybe mgr ?) at the register looked at the coupon and advised that he would have to ring my wife and I up separately in order to apply it, OK no problem. Then after my wife paid for hers he told me that he can't accept coupons on Mondays, Huh , What?? Did this policy go into effect in the 10 seconds ago? After standing there holding up the line for 10 minutes , he just said , sorry you have to pay for all of it and the coupon is not good. Bottom line is my "birthday" meal cost us well over $20 . Sleazy is being kind to this money grubbing weasel. Food was OK , about what you expect from Moe's but we will never visit another one, emails to corporate have gone into a black hole. Makes me wonder what happened to...

Very poor experience.

I asked for a vegetable they had very little of, the woman behind the counter put what was in the container in the order. I asked if there was any more she could get or make more of.

She distinctively told me no, there was no more.

As we made our way to the register another employee came out of the back carrying that exact vegetable! Having not paid for the meal yet I asked if she could add the vegetables to my container.

At which point she told me it would cost me more.

I asked if vegetables usually cost more in the meal

She told me they didn't, but because it would end up being a separate meal it would cost more. ( Despite it going into the same meal)

I smiled at her and told her to have a nice day leaving the unpaid...