La Canoa — Restaurant in Waukegan

As I walked in it was empty. I had to make a choice to either go left otlr right since there was no one at the front desk to greet me and guide me. I was there for a buissness meeting with a digital promoter. I have been at that location after 10pm which is a different atmosphere 🤔. Today June 24 2024 was my first time as a lunch guest. As I head to the direction of the tables, I only saw people dinning and no employees. A few seconds later I saw an employee coming from the corner of the hallway to greet me. I told her I was looking for someone I had a meeting with. I saw my buissness partner and I told the employee that there he was. She welcomed me in and she was kind. She had a well welcoming spirit so great work. I will post her name later since I forgot her name. As my buissness partner and I were greeting eachother, and catching up on lost time we ended up waiting for over 10 minutes to be greeted by an employee. We had to catch an employees attention in order to start the dining process. We introduced ourselves as she did also. We explained to her that we where their to audit the location and that so far my experience was awful. I was told that this place was well known for good service by my buissness partner as he does usual buissness at this location. I guess I had bad luck today. She automatically felt bad and apologized for the experience I was having. She said and I quote "there's no excuse for what you both are experiencing and I hope we can make it better from here on". I was moved by her response and her words made me feel better. We have to understand that I am choosing to invest in this place by giving my money to them. I expect a good service as they expect me to pay full price and give some tips for their services. Our servers name was Adriana. I asked Adriana what signature drinks this establishment can offer and she did pointed out two drinks. I asked her which one she likes and which one would she recommend. Without any hesitation, she pointed out an specific drink. I than took her choice and at the end I did not regret it. It was a well combined drink 🍸. I would definitely ask for that drink again. You can go to my Facebook page under AMISTADES BELLAS DE LAKE COUNTY 21+ for the videos and pictures of this drink I order. Adriana than ask if we were ready to order and we said no, we needed more time. As she brought our drinks out in a respectful timing under 5 minutes, I decided to stress test her. I told her that I was still hurt for the welcome experience and if they do this often. She responded with a no. She did mentioned that she was a little confused since my buissness partner is there often that she assumed he was waiting for Gama, the establishment manager as they have a mutual buissness meeting. I than pursue that topic and I asked her if this establishments regulars get forgotten. She replied by saying that that also is not an excuse for the delay. She respectfully took control by saying that regulars are as important as new visitor and everyone is treated equally. I told her that I'll look into that in the future as I would audit them again in a surprised visit. We than moved on with our order. I order a spicy chicken fajitas I believe that's what they called. I will double check this as I post the video of the order as it arrived to the table. From this point on, Adriana was amazing 👏 🙌. She regularly stopped by to check on us with a humble smile and a humble peaceful spirit. I did had another concern after my buissness partner and I finished our meals. We ended up closing the account and we decided to stay an hour longer after closing the bill. As my first time doing this audit at this location I didn't know what to expect. Part 2...

The food taste is great & the seasonings are fantastic.

But the service & my order is always wrong. I love to support this local favorite but it’s hard.

2021- March when my uncle ordered his meal which was pulpo a la brassa, no shrimp bc he’s allergic no onion. He received it w both items on it. When he first got it & we sent it back 2 min later they come back w the onions simply picked off & we knew it was the same bc the shrimp were still there.

2021- September my mom & I go share a seafood molcajete, they bring us one that’s mixed (seafood + meat) and we send it back they bring us a seafood one but something smelled fishy and most of the claims was still closed when I opened It was raw and cross contamination the whole dish. It’s wild bc we weren’t mad just concerned bc we’re both food safety certified by the state & understand that it’s not okay. The waitresses got mad and the manager agreed something wasn’t right but why get mad at me for trying to enjoy good food ?

2022 -today we went super excited it’s Ash Wednesday we’re ready for some yummy seafood bc flavor exceptional. We sit and the waitress “you know what you want?” Didn’t ask for drinks didn’t acknowledge when we arrived. We order seafood molcajete & 40 min later (which we didn’t mind) we get one w red meat. She says the kitchen made it wrong I mean we’re all human it’s just food it’a all good. But then she drops off the food and we don’t see her again. I ask the waiter from the table behind us for salsa and the table across from us for water.

Also I noticed they gave us salsa that they reused from a previous table you can tell it’s been reused bc the ceviche was really low with onions stuck and dried salsa stuck to the sides of the stainless steel cups. Please stop doing that it’s not up to code.

Im disappointed but not surprise

But 100/10 I recommend the pulpo 🐙 if they give you the...

If I could rate this place zero I would!! I waited 15 minutes to be greeted at the door and was told that there was a 20 minute wait. We then sat at the tables near the bar area and was told we needed to order from the bartender. The bartender then stopped another waiter to take our order. The waiter was very rude and we never saw her again the entire night. Everyone who was sitting at tables ordering food had complimentary chips. We did not receive any, our waiter was nowhere in sight so we asked another waiter. She did not speak english. She grab the security guard who then brought us chips and salsa. 20 minutes later our drinks came which tasted like syrup. 45 minutes later our waiter came with the food. My friend’s plate had multiple pieces of hair on it. My food was disgusting. I had the pineapple seafood. We asked at least 4 employees to speak with the manger. 30 minutes later the manager STILL didn’t come! We were ready to go so we waited for him at the door. HE NEVER CAME. So the bartender LOCKED us in the restaurant until we paid for a meal we DID NOT EAT. Just as I was going to call the police security unlocked the door and let us go. This was an AWFUL experience like nothing I have EVER experienced before. I will be filing a formal complaint with the police department for holding my friends and I against our will. I will also report this place to the better business bureau. I mean it was that bad!! We were the ONLY black customers in the restaurant and everyone else was being served. I will never be back to this restaurant ever again and will make sure everyone in the community knows how awful this restaurant treats customers who are not Latin Disgusting!!!...