| rev:text
| - HORRIBLE experience last night!!!
I write this review very disappointed as El Zocalo has been a favorite of mine for the 5 years I have lived in AZ. So when my husband asked where I wanted to go for my birthday, I suggested this would be a great place for a group...WRONG!
First, they do NOT take reservations. My husband found this out when he called the Wednesday before to make reservations for our group of 18. He was told that although they do not take reservations, he was welcome to come by the restaurant 2 hours before the dinner on Saturday, and they would start setting up a space. However, last night he called before heading down there, and was told that he had been misinformed - they will only seat on a first come, first serve basis with the majority of your party present. This was fine at the time, as they assured us that they handle groups of this size with no problem every night. From the service we received, I find this hard to believe.
When we arrived, the patio was the only choice...again they assured us that they could sit us in front of misters and it would be quite pleasant...WRONG again! They sat us in a corner, as far away from any misters in sight as we could possibly be. Fine...as the sun went down it seemed cool enough so we overlooked it.
However, the waitstaff that were assigned to our table acted so completey overwhelmed by a group of our size I find it hard to believe they ever manage large groups well. Needless to say the rest of the evening was a mishap of errors. Two of our entrees didn't show up with the rest of the 16 - including mine. I had ordered the chicken enchiladas, and beef showed up - the waiter insisted that is what I had ordered and basically tried to force it upon me before accepting the mistake and admitting he had written it down wrong. And I had even had a fairly lengthy discussion with the waiter while ordering - not sure how he ended up writing it down completely incorrect. My entree finally showed up about 10 minutes after everyone had started eating - and it was subpar at that. I order the same thing every time, so I am familiar with the dish. However, it was obvious the kitchen had rushed it at the expense of quality. But at least I received mine - the other individual in our party still had to ask for his entree another 2 times before it finally showed up. And when the waiter plopped it down in front of him, he said "better late than never"...without any sort of apology. Nor did they make any attempt to discount those entrees...not only that, they even charged my husband for the "birthday" flan he had ordered. And throughout the dinner, the service was bad. We had to repeatedly ask to order more margaritas, etc...most restaurants can't wait to serve you alcohol as it increases the value of the bill.
So that wasn't the end of it...paying the bill was in itself a debacle. Of course, they did not make any attempt to split it and make it easier - although we had warned them that they would receive payments from multiple parties. As we were having a hard time totalling it all up, the waiter offered to try and help. However, when he took the final bill and brought it back, his "help" had resulted in a $45 increase! What the heck?! So that was really the last straw and I went to ask the manager. From my brief interaction with him, it is obvious that bad service trickles down from the top. When I tried to explain the situation of the magically increasing bill, he didn't even speak - just ripped the two unreconciled bills out of my hand and turned his back on me. Wow! FINALLY, afer ONE HOUR of trying to pay the bill, we were free! Longest birthday dinner EVER!!! And it was my birthday!
Still we never received any sort of apology, or attempt at making things better...shocking for having brought a party of 18 to their business. And to add insult to injury, my husband was up all night with food poisoining!!! He had ordered the shrimp relleno highly recommended by the waitstaff. Needless to say, it tasted good, but order at your own risk!!!
So, not quite sure what has happened at El Zocalo, but it was TERRIBLE. Again very disappointed at it was previously a restaurant I had highly recommended. Proceed at your own risk!!!
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