Sad day at El Gallo... first time for us at the new location. I was so looking forward to it - I was a die hard fan at the old spot and couldn't WAIT to have a Naco Torta and some of their amazing ceviche and guac again. No one does carne asada like El Gallo Blanco (it's rumored the marinade has Coca Cola in it - the hint of sweetness is fantastic). But we had a deeply regrettable service experience and sadly, they're not doing the ceviche like they used to.
I should preface this by saying that the place was busy - it was lunch time on a Sunday and things were hopping (good to see). But there were a couple empty tables and the frenzied pace of the servers and bartender appeared to be the result of a poor strategy/training more so than truly being slammed.
Put our names in for a table and went to the bar to grab a drink while we waited. Bartender totally ignored us for a good ten minutes! Walked around to another spot to see if it was a visual problem and asked if we could order margaritas - she told us she was "40 drinks back" and refused to take our order! We waited for another 10 minutes and were able to secure seats at the bar when a few patrons vacated... but even THEN she would not take our order. No apologies - she was brusque, exasperated and rude, and busied herself with twelve things at all times, but none of them were seeing to her customers. She spent a lot of time gathering empties, stacking glasses, and replenishing items behind the bar when she could have been communicating, pouring drinks, and making guests feel welcome. She didn't appear to have any interest in the latter.
Finally got a waitress to help us, but she also came off as somewhat resentful that we were asking for food and drinks! It took her another 10 minutes after we spoke to her to come back and take the order, and we had to ask three times for water. (The bartender could have at least tossed a couple of waters down for us!) Our waitress ended up making our drinks herself; the bartender was still too busy cleaning off the counter to bother. Order was placed a good half-hour after we arrived. Unacceptable. And the attitude was worse.
I hope management realizes there's a problem with training and perhaps hiring strategies... this could be a favorite spot but not with these service issues.
Also - bring back the ceviche from the original menu - it was to die for! The new stuff is just OK.