El Patio — Restaurant in Weatherford

I’ve been to El Patio about 6 times since I moved to Weatherford two years ago and today was the last. The server I got was the one I got the very first time I came in and her attitude was worse than the first time. That first experience is why I don’t go very often, especially since the food is pretty bland for a Mexican restaurant. The other times I’ve been the food is the same and the service was better, but this particular server solidified that I won’t be back. The first experience I had with her she was too bothered to get us refills on water or chips but was all smiles for the people at the other end of the bar. This time she had the same attitude but with the tables in the same section. She got us one refill on water and chips when she brought our food out and yanked our dishes around like she was annoyed we asked for more. She was back and forth with her other tables being nice and friendly but not with us. She never checked on us after we got our food and got mad when I asked for a replacement meal ToGo because my husband was finished eating by the time she came back. Had she just given a little more effort and tried to be kinda personable she would have gotten a larger tip, but instead she got 10% because that’s what she earned. We asked her what her deal was and she denied having an attitude with us and insisted she just had other work to do. This is the second time we’ve had this experience with her and her coworkers insisted she’s never had any complaints so maybe it’s personal? I honestly don’t know what her issue was, but I’ve worked restaurants, I get being busy, yet she didn’t communicate with us, and I’m not risking having her bad attitude ruin my experience again. Don’t come here if you want personal vendettas nobody explains and less than...

The food was amazing. Absolutely wonderful. My only complaint about food quality would be the complimentary chips being a bit too fried. A truly moot point.

The customer appreciation? Abysmal. Firstly, my party of six showed up 30 minutes before close. I understand that this is a bit off putting for the staff. I also understand that any business owner wants to sell as much product as possible. Purchasing 100$+ in entrees and beverages, sitting long enough to enjoy them, and having conversation along the way is what ANY paying customer expects, and deserves. If having customers in the diner after 10pm (close) is something the crew and manager does not desire, they should decide to close their doors at 9:30 instead.

At 9:52, two waitresses sat down at the table beside ours, and gave the ladies at my table a few glares periodically until 10.....At 10:00 sharp? - The lights changed from pleasantly dim to 100%, the festive music stopped, and the waitstaff began stacking chairs. Where did they begin loudly stacking chairs? The tables surrounding ours.

We received either a s**y look, or a passive aggressive comment from every FOH employee that night.

I've worked in food at every angle, and I absolutely abhor the treatment we got.

What makes it worse, is that my only avenue of recourse is through a manager that clearly perpetuated a hostile demeanour.

I would like to eat the food again, but I will not be a patron at an establishment that obviously doesn't want to earn any money past 9:30...

I was pretty excited to try this place.

We got there and started ordering drinks when they asked for our IDs. We gave them our IDs (we’re from Florida) and the waitress suspected one of them was fake - which is fine, better safe than sorry, I get it. She took it to her manager and he came back claiming it was fake. He asked if that person could provide a second one, but they didn’t. He said that he would have to call the cops to have them verify it. I calmly suggested that he could use my ID as a comparaison, but he interrupted me loudly and rudely “I’m not talking to you!”. The person with the “fake ID” then told him that if he had to have cops verify it, we’d be happy to.

I’m not sure if he tried to bluff us, but he left with a phone in his hand and came back 5 minutes later telling us that everything was fine and that he’d let us order drinks. No apologies, no explanation.

I get that this is a college town and that our IDs were out of state, but it does not justify the way we were treated. We were polite and cooperative.

We are visiting for 2 and half weeks and were planning on coming back multiple times, but after that, we won’t be coming back....