El Cotija Mexican restaurant — Restaurant in Warner Robins

Where do I begin? This place has fallen so bad! Actually... I think it was already bad to begin with.

Let me just point out the biggest flaw of this restaurant. The staff are just plain RUDE! I used to work in the restaurant for 3 years and not only that, I used to work at el cotija back when it was open at the Hartley Bridge location. And we were nothing compared to this location. I don't know who trains these people but all of them look like they're tired of that place..

We used to come all the time and this nasty lady that waited on us had the audacity to charge us the gratuity when all she did was roll her eyes at us the whole time. I made the manager take that out and we never saw her again.

Then when we came in like 2 months ago, everything was good until my brother asked for dessert and the ice cream was terrible. It was hard to chew, almost like they had made it the day before and served to us the next day.. And when we expressed our concerns to the waiter (not the manager which we should have done) the only thing he said was "ok" And walked away... Like are you being serious right now??

And the last strike was when we just went recently on 12/06/2020. It was a party of 9. And everything was so and so. The waiter was fairly new, I think, which I understand. Again I used to work in the restaurant industry. But he wasn't ever around when we needed something and somehow forgot some of the things we asked for such as extra tortillas. anyways.. When it was time to pay, I looked and double checked my ticket. I always do just to make sure they didn't charge me for anything extra I didn't order. The receipt showed that the gratuity was already included. I was a little irritated because I usually hate when waiters automatically put gratuity charge on a large party acting like we won't tip. We're not like the snobby customers that don't tip so that's out of question. What we WERE going to tip was $25 but I let the gratuity slide because it was just $17.60. I was like fine, if that's what you're comfortable getting, that's on YOU.

So my receipt showed the Total after the gratuity AND taxes was $122.20

So explain to me why when I received my bank statement, the transaction for my last & only visit of the month to El Cotija was $130.00

Where did the $7.80 came from??? So I called El Cotija ASAP and I asked to speak to manager. The girl was like ok and came back. I said I would like to speak to the manager and she said she was. That seemed fishy because it was the same voice that told me she was going to go get the manager.

But I continued to explain to her everything anyways... The only thing she told me was that they were going to take a look at it in the morning and give me a call within the next 2 days and possibly giving me a refund.

Cool.

Only that never happened and I actually waited a full week. Again, a big mistake on my part. So I decided, they really don't take me serious do they? So all it took was a 5 minute phone call to my bank saying I did NOT authorize the amount el cotija charged me and I have the actual receipt in my hand to prove it. So at the end of they day, I got my money back.

I was incredibly patient with them and they showed absolutely no concern. So this will more likely be the last time I go to that place. Especially now since I saw another review where there were roaches on their food.

So don't say I...

If I could give a zero I would! Disgusted by their service...called on Thursday 3/25 to make a reservation for 20 people on the dinner side. The lady I spoke to was extremely nice and helpful. Come Saturday 3/27 I called literally all afternoon to confirm reservation and was put on hold 5 times, total time on phone was 30 mins. Never did get in touch with anyone. It was busy tone the rest of the afternoon. I had a bad feeling going into there they weren't gonna have our reservation. And go figure, they didn't. They sat us on the bar side it was 85 degrees. So humid. Why continue to sit EVERYONE coming in the door on the same section with no air. Anyways, we sat there for almost 20 minutes and NOBODY approached up, brought chips, said hello, drinks, NOTHING. 100% ignored. Thankfully we found another local restaurant that would seat our party immediately so we left. I told the hostess I was disgusted by the lack of professionalism and she basically told me she could careless bc they were under staffed. She was beyond rude. If you were gonna be overwhelmed I should have got a call and i would have changed my plans. We love this restaurant and it's our go to. Food Is great, atmosphere on Saturdays are amazing with the drink specials but this place has gone down hill fast. So many memories here. But I won't be back. And I know you don't care because what's one customer. But word to the wise, don't plan anything here unless you...

It is rare that my family goes out to dinner so this evening was far from enjoyable. I was greeted at the door and wanted to sit outside. Told them 4 people in my party 2 adults and two children. Asked for a high chair. A few minutes later the manager came out with our menus and silverware and I told her where we would like to sit and she chunked the menus and silverware on a different table and huffed and puffed and walked away to get another table their drinks. I took the menus and silverware to my table and sat down. My children and husband joined me and we had 4 different servers who asked for our drink order??? We never got a high chair so I went inside to get it myself. I was quickly met with the manager and asked for a high chair and she huffed and puffed and left to go get it.I asked one of the servers for a different manager but I was told the other manager was too busy in the kitchen to help me. I ended up writing a complaint to the owner for the managers disrespectful rude attitude toward my family and I. The food was dry, meat was tough, and since when does Mexican rice have peas and carrots??? Got 3 shrimp in my 13$ meal and my daughter took two of them. Never received my side plate of vegetables.el cotija used to be so good. Like the best in Warner robins. I don't know what happened. Unfortunately I will not be back. I'll just go elsewhere so I can be treated...