Fiesta Cantina — Restaurant in West Hollywood

The Comprehensive Karaoke Review

I have been here every Wednesday night (9:30-1:30) since karaoke restarted 6/2, as the first place in West Hollywood to do so during the pandemic. Therefore, last night was my 18th time here. I have experience at other locations (my voice is mediocre but it's made up for in "stage presence"). Currently the only other karaoke in West Hollywood that I know of is Hamburger Mary's, on Tuesday earlier in the night (7-10), which I have yet to attend but I will eventually. Hopefully more locations in WeHo will offer karaoke in the coming months. Why I have gone every week is because the show is run very well, so this review may be positively biased.

Karaoke is usually hosted by Alina Zayas and Ben Roman. Sometimes Ben is not here and the usual substitute is Ben Onyx Dowdy. All have great voices, but take care not to sing too frequently unless it's a slow night. The staff also sings. Although the staff is usually changing, frequent singers include Kyle, Odin (that might be spelled with an "e", idk), Kade, and Marco. They also sing quite well. A stellar regular is Dakota, who probably has been going here before the pandemic.

The night almost invariably begins with Ben singing "Faith" by George Michael. You sign up on slips of paper at a table in front of the hosts (do NOT put drinks on this table please), the music is unlimited, and you are given a small square stage. You may also request key changes. There are multiple screens from which to sing and from which the audience can follow along. Alina usually plays a song or a fragment thereof between singers. The prevailing genres are pop and R&B. A fair number of songs are also in Spanish, as the crowd is diverse and majority people of color. Rock and country are infrequently heard here. Most people are also young, so don't expect to hear old stuff such as from the Beatles, Elvis, or Sinatra. Also be mindful that there is a "tip and skip the line" policy, which has been a longstanding debate between KJs and karaoke junkies like me. Personally I disagree with this policy, but it usually has a low effect on distorting the rotation.

In general, the rotation is fair. The order in which people sign up is not necessarily the order people sing in, in order to prevent potential abrupt changes in genre. No KJ is completely unbiased; if you make an earnest effort to sing, stay the whole night, come often, and obviously tip (disclaimer: I don't always tip, but I usually do), you will be better known and can expect to sing more. I began on average 2 songs a night and now average 3 or 4 songs a night, though this obviously depends on how many people want to sing in a given night. Some singers stick to a few songs that they are most comfortable with. I usually vary my songs, but if you sing a song the KJ really likes, you may be asked to do it more often.

I hope to see you there. Let's keep this show running as long as possible...

Poor management with poor hospitality. Soap was not stocked in the bathroom.

I used to stop by occasionally in the past and recently went back. Understandable that times are tough and thus restaurants and bars need to be lean in their staffing in order to stay afloat, however when this causes customer dissatisfaction it is management's role to try to problem solve, especially when business is slow and every customer interaction is crucial to the continuation of revenues. After this past experience I will not return. It is honestly not my type of bar, but because it is in WeHo and due to their drink specials I used to stop by. In any other part of the city, I never would have stopped by, so from today being in WeHo will not be enough.

Here is what happened... My friends and I were seated at our table at 12:20am and our server didn't arrive until 12:33am. Happy Hour ends at 12:30am. When our server took our order we asked if we could still order with the Happy Hour special, she stated that it would up to the manager and took our order. 10 minutes later, our food arrived, and then 10 minutes after that our server came back to our table and stated that the manager did not approve the Happy Hour pricing for us and asked if we still wanted the drinks. Two out of the three of us declined (lost revenue for the restaurant). When she came back with the single drink, we decided to ask to speak with the manager. The more we thought about it, the more it didn't make sense that due to not being greeted or asked for our order after 13 minutes and thus missing Happy Hour was not our fault, it was a miss by the bar. We had tried to flag someone down the whole time.

20 minutes after we asked to speak with the manager, he finally came. We were able to calmly speak our mind and to his credit, the manager did hear us out. However, he said the system would no longer allow him to give Happy Hour pricing, understandable since it was nearly 45 minutes after the server took our order. He offered a shot of tequila (nice but if he was good he would have known that we had ordered whiskey and bourbon initially), so we declined and thanked him for listening. If he could offer shots of tequila, he also could have had us order a drink and then comped a drink. Just because you can't ring up under Happy Hour pricing doesn't mean that you can't comp a drink - evident by the offer of a tequila shot. He wasn't seeking to truly solve the problem and retain customers in a time when needed.

To top things off, once we realized who he was we remembered seeing him mingling on the patio when we came in. While his servers were overwhelmed with meeting the demand of the end of Happy Hour, instead of helping them out and pitching in, he was socializing. WeHo needs better and I'd rather support...

DO NOT LEAVE YOUR WALLET OUT AND ABOUT even while you’re ordering.

Tonight my wallet was STOLEN by someone who worked at this establishment. He brought us our food and put the tray over my wallet to where I wouldnt notice him snatching it from under the tray. Minutes later a charge was ran at the nearby pavilions, only reason I knew was because my phone told me a payment was declined via text. Went to pavilions In hopes to find my wallet. The security showed me who it was and it was the man who served me my food ON CAMERA. Went back to cantina and demanded to see the server and they denied that anyone by that description worked there. The manager insisted to keep his servers and bus boys “private” but also seemed to be a bit nervous and defensive. Anyways.. my wallet was never found and the manager insisted the man I described doesn’t work there. So be careful, apparently they have random people pretending to be servers and waiters that have access to the bar and food. If you ask me this who business is shady and I will never be back again. The Wallet also has a tracking system that leads back to the resturaunt so whenever they choose to finally be honest and give me back my wallet with all my cards and MILITARY ID; I’ll be here waiting to receive it. The security at pavilions told me to becareful because this place is NOTORIOUS for stealing wallets and doing exactly what they did to me tonight. I will be trying to get in contact with the owner very soon. Also a complaint with the BBB will be filed. This is not ok and it is definitely not alright. Who know how many people fell victim...