Laredo DC Restaurant — Restaurant in Washington

The food and drinks were good, nothing to say here. Their fajitas are delightful and the margaritas tasty. However, the service we received on our most recent (and most likely last) visit was unacceptable. Our waiter brought food and drinks when required, that wasn't the issue. It was the disturbing and frankly disrespectful way in which he interacted with us that makes me give such a long and low review, something I do not do lightly.

We had been to the restaurant once before, and already his behavior had been less than professional. We wrote it off then, chalking it up to a rough-around-the-edges waiter having a go at his clients. No big deal, especially since another staff member was surreptitiously reassigned to our table. He was both supremely curteous and highly professional, just like all other staff members we have interacted with.

This time around we chose to bring a few friends to celebrate a new job. We were again assigned the same waiter. Immediately, he recognized us, and again singled out my partner for what at first seemed like casual banter. Nevertheless, he did not stop there. I'm not sure if he felt comfortable with us because we spoke to him in Spanish, but he belittled her, accusing her of being a drunk, which was not the case. At no point during that dinner were any of us exhibiting any drunken or intoxicated behavior. We were never asked to leave by any other staff member or manager. Quite the contrary, we may have stayed too long.

Since we were with friends, we again tried laughing it off, but still the comments continued. When we asked for a final round of drinks, he again directed his attention towards my partner, again bringing up her supposed inebriated state. He was behaving in such a familiar and persistent that my partner politely asked him to tone it down and to keep things civil. His reply was both unprofessional and unexpected. Instead of apologizing to the customer, he doubled-down, complaining that we were accusing him of bullying (which in our opinion was in fact an accurate description of his behavior). Nevertheless, not wanting to create or attract undue attention, we refrained from pressing the matter much further. Frankly, I thought things would end there.

I'm not sure why he did this, but he then asked each of us for our names. Uneasy, we nevertheless gave them in order, until now he landed on one of our female friends. As a reminder, only two of us spoke Spanish (my partner and I). When he heard her name, he burst out laughing. He then used a derogatory and sexist version of her name, all while laughing at her. She, of course, did not fully understand, although by then we all sensed there was tension in the air. Suffice to say we quickly asked for the check after that and gladly left the restaurant.

Laredo is our local cantina, and is supposed to be a place to share and enjoy with family and friends. I do not want to diminish the entire place, which is, beyond our unfortunate incident, a great place to eat out. Nevertheless, this kind of unprofessional, rude, and frankly sexist behavior from one staff member has tarnished our view of the establishment. Is it because we spoke Spanish and my partner is a woman that he allowed himself to act in such a disrespectful way ? Were we being punished for being overly polite and not wanting to cause a scene ? Who knows. Sadly enough, we will likely not be...

GAYS STAY AWAY!!! I normally do not go to straight bars/clubs in DC because many of my experiences have been negative. I decided to stop by Alero for a quick drink, ordered a non alcoholic beverage from the bar when someone from management told the bartender to not serve me. I then got approached by a security guard, a waiter as well as the manager and told to put on my jacket or else I will get kicked out. There was this huge commotion apparently over my tank top. I asked them to show me where the dress code sign is, they did and the sign said the following "No white T's, white tank tops, boots, sweats, baggy clothes, no visible underwear etc." Clearly I can tell what kind of crowd they were initially trying to keep out, but that's another matter. No where on the sign does it specify for only men/women. That night there were two other women wearing a white tank top, two with sweat pants, another girl with short denim shorts and flip flops. I refused to get dressed until they approached the other inappropriately dressed patrons and told them the same thing. The manager got so irate he began to yell, curse and even threaten to have me arrested. It got so bad I pulled out my phone and began recording the incident. He told me that it's different, and he can list 1,000 reasons why they (women) can dress like that, yet he couldn't mention one when I asked him too. The whole thing seems a bit sexist and homophobic. It got worse...he then says "We have plenty of gay employees" (its like a racist person saying they have plenty of black friends. Just stop, your not helping your case out)

I'm all about fairness. Rules are rules, I wouldn't even have been upset if the sign said "this only applies to men" but it didn't. Then to get attacked from someone from management when all I wanted was a soda is beyond upsetting. I just find it odd that a lot of straight establishments allow women to wear anything they want, literally ANYTHING yet if a man wears a tank top, or God forbid shorts in the summer time we get denied and told we have to cover up. Don't get me wrong I love when women wear these types of things but I would just like a bit fairness across the board, its 2014...

This was my second time here and I was pretty disappointed after a magnificent first time. Don't get me wrong, the food was really flavorful, but there were several of hiccups along the way.

We started with the vegan tamales. Laredo is an early adopter in using non-dairy cheese in Mexican food, and sure enough the tamales had mozzarella melted into a red sauce on top, which was wonderful. However the filling seemed like it was the frozen veggie medley, so it was wasn't very hearty or substantive; each bite was a mix of just corn meal and peas/carrots/green beans. I wouldn't order again.

For the entree we shared a Hawaiian fajita platter. Now the fajitas here are a must order if you are getting vegan food. They bring them out on the hot and sizzling cast iron platter, Laredo chefs know how to season the tofu and veggies to make them really flavorful, and it comes with the works: rice, beans, cheese, guac, pico. The problem was it came with three small tortillas. Given the heaping mounds of delicious fajita filling (stuffed in a pineapple half) and accoutrements, three tortillas was enough for about half of the meal. This felt super stingy and how obviously not conducive to sharing the large dish. When I asked for more tortillas, they promptly brought them out but had the gall to charge extra. Sigh.

This was a three star experience, but given that I've been here before and it was fantastic, it averages out to four stars for me. I was bummed the server was indifferent when we told them they got the order wrong ("I'll look into that" and then never came back). But last time our server Juan absolutely killed; friendly, helpful, funny. It was cool sitting in the Frida room in back, and I like that they have outdoor seating. Very grateful that they have a vegan menu and I will...