Las Maracas — Restaurant in Westwego

I work service industry. I manage a restaurant in New Orleans. I don’t ever write a review even for a great experience, but I felt compelled to do so this time. I just moved to Westwego with my kids and they were craving Mexican. I saw this restaurant while moving and wanted to try it. I read the reviews before hand to make sure it was good. However the reviews did not match what we experienced. It was a Monday night, they were not busy. Plenty of empty tables. We waited a while to be seated first off, but it’s fine. Once we were seated everything just took forever. My kids and I literally had water or cold drinks. We did not get our drinks until after our appetizers. I had to ask our server for our drinks again for them to finally be brought out. I noticed another server had put in a bigger tables order before our server did so I assumed it would be a few minutes for our food, but their food came out fairly quickly. Then we waited and waited and waited. My kids were becoming very impatient and hungry. There was a drunk table in the same area as us yelling and cursing, but I tried to stay patient. I couple more tables had come in after we placed our entree orders. Still we waited. Finally I saw one of the tables that came in after we placed our order get their food before us. I stopped the other server and said “I hate to do this cause you aren’t our server, but can you check on our food. Your table got their food before we did and we were here first and I haven’t seen our server in 30 minutes.” Also at this point my kids were eating ice cubes out their cups because they needed refills. Our server and the other server come around the corner just a moment later with our food. Our server doesn’t say anything, just drops our food and leaves. Still couldn’t ask for refills. I had to wave him down at this point to ask for drinks for my kids which I hate doing but had no choice. Not long after we got our food I ask for the check, knowing this will be a process since everything else took forever. Of course I waited for the bill, but finally got it. I think the quickest he was with us was when I had the book open with cash and he came to grab it. I had to stop him to ask for change. Bill was $64, had $80 down. I tip 30%+ all the time and will still tip 20% with bad service, which I did, but was not tipping $16. The server says oh you need change and I said yes please, he then comes back plops the book on the table and says here and walks away. No thank you or have a good night or anything. This just was not a good experience especially for a restaurant that wasn’t busy. We interacted more with the other server than anything. I’ve never had such a bad experience the first time eating at any restaurant. Food was mediocre. Service was terrible. 0/10 would not recommend and will not...

So, this was my first visit to Las Maracas and it will definitely not be my last! The waitress, Alliyah, was amazing and very knowledgable. The food was really, really good. They have a very extensive menu. They also have a great lunch menu. Tuesdays is Taco Tuesday but it's probably very busy. The give salsa and chips as you wait for your food. The salsa is home made and starts out a little spicy but not overbearing. I had the soto and it was really good. The shrimp are huge, clean and deveined. Its a huge place for a party. They also have BOGO margaritas. You had use hats to take pictures with. If you don't want to sit at a table you can always use the bar. Manager was also very nice and there is plenty of parking. The dessert was really good but i found the coating on the fried ice cream to be a bit rubbery. Other than that, i highly recommend this play. Don't forget cinco de mayo may 5, they have a party for the whole...

Prompt greeting and seating. Distinct bleach smell walking in the door. Same throughout restaurant in the back room where we sat. I think 2pm must not be a good time to stop in. Stale chips and watery sauce on the table, had to ask twice for refill on empty tea. After food came. Ordered off of lunch menu. At 12.75 for the burrito plate, I expected a little more than a smallish burrito with food service guacamole and shredded lettuce. The shredded beef was good but the rice was old and I guess they didn't have beans left after lunch? I asked for the burrito wet, but the sauce was non-existent and seemed to be the same as the table salsa. The almost 50 dollar check after 20% tip for two lunch plates of standard fare and iced tea was not impressive. With as many Mexican cantina style restaurants around, I would expect a better experience to earn return customers. Staff was courteous and knowledgeable, but the overall experience...