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| - I will not be returning to La Carnita.
I had been here two or three times before this visit, usually alone or with a friend. Having previously enjoyed the food, I brought a few more friends (a party of 5) to La Carnita on a Sunday to take advantage of the Sunday ribs special.
They don't take reservations for groups under 8. I knew it would be a long wait so I arrived a half hour early to put my name on the queue. They gave an estimate of 45 minutes. The estimated time was no problem, but it was a little off-putting to see multiple groups of two and three, who had arrived after us, go in first. But we understood -- managing seating can be a challenge. We didn't hassle the maitre d'(?) about the wait or about people going in front of us at all; having worked in retail and service, it's frustrating to have people get mad at you for things you can't really control.
We waited 45 minutes, an hour, an hour fifteen, and were finally seated after 90 minutes. A couple of my friends were already pretty pissed off by this point, but I placated them. We got a seat, right? Whatever. Food time.
We sat down, and as our server brought over water and explained the daily specials, he mentioned that the ribs had sold out AN HOUR AGO. This was the final straw. It boggles me that they didn't let us know about this earlier. We were waiting inside the entire time, right by the door, right beside the maitre d'. You would think that, after running out of the dish that everyone gets on Sundays, they would let the people waiting know. Nope. Absolutely ridiculous.
No matter how good the food is, this kind of ineptitude is irredeemable. And on that note, the food here isn't even all that. Besides the ribs, everything else is pretty lackluster. There are better tacos and ceviches at Seven Lives in Kensington, and at Tacos el Asador in Koreatown.
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