La Tia and Panchos Cantina Grill

Reviews 4

CH

Chrissy Sommer

Had high hopes since I love Mexican but you read and decide. Last evening around 8pm we arrived at La Tia & Pancho. We had been there a few days prior during a music festival to get drinks and chips so we thought wed go back and try the food. Upon arriving at 8, I saw it was busy but we expected it to be since it was a Saturday evening during another festival. We were told to find a table and sit. We found one on the patio, sat and waited (and waited and waited and waited). 2 servers passed where we were sitting and didnt even give us a look. Finally when we were about to get up and leave one came over ... He took our drink and food order and left. Other people were coming and going -- getting their drinks, and chips and salsa. There we sat and again waited and waited and waited. 40+ min later I went over to the water who took our order and asked why we had not received even our drinks or chips and salsa as he had bought other tables their drinks and chips and they had arrived way after us. He said Oh I forgot you. I asked to see a manager since we had not received anything. I even mentioned cancelling our order since we had not received it. The owner came over and apologized. She asked what she could do to make it right. She said that our order had just come out but they brought it back to the kitchen since we canceled it. I said I had only mentioned cancelling and really wanted to see the manager first. She said she would go get our order so we decided to eat since it was ready. Note we still did not have drinks, utensils, or any chips and salsa. When it came out the items were soggy, The lettuce on my taco was if it was sitting under a warmer for a long time. It was awful but I was done with them and done complaining. We finally got our drinks and utensils and ate a little. Note even though they only charged us 50% for each item, my daughter said that she was not impressed and does not plan to return and I agree. At first we were trying to be patient since there was a festival going on, but when you see other tables getting their orders after arriving and we had Nothng, not even a water, you realize that we did not matter to them. We were not young or a large table so we were ignored. I hate to complain but I want others to know what we went through in case you are trying to determine if you should try them. I have read other reviews since and it appears that lack of service and food taste is common. It will be a long day before we return since even after we did finally get our food the quality was sub-par.

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Andie Lovins

The food and drinks were good, as well as our attentive waitress, but the wait time and initial interaction with the staff and clientele was not great. A specific group of people were acting very rowdy outside before being seated, and were permitted to yell obnoxiously without being told to stop. Also the hostess seemed to be confused about who was on the wait list to get a table and proceeded to call out the names of people who had long since left the restaurant. She also for some reason had a large cow bell that she would ring incessantly whenever calling a party to be seated, and at other unrelated times. It felt much like being a cow called in from pasture. Some of the decor and definitely the live music being played did not match the type of restaurant La Tia is...cowboy booted barstools and two old white men playing bad folk music doesnt exactly scream authentic Mexican restaurant. However the food was well cooked and the margaritas were tasty. I liked the selection of drink flavors and the variety of food options. I did find it odd that burgers and fries were being served on the menu and wondered what would posess someone to come to a Mexican restaurant to order standard Americana fare. Our waitress was very kind and swift, and we never had to ask for refills or for the check to be brought, even though the restaurant was packed with other people. She was on top of it! Whoever she is, she deserves a medal for waitressing. Overall, I felt there could have been more efficiency in the way the restaurant dealt with the customers and seating people. Despite it being a busy night, there really wasnt a need to wait for almost 2 hours for a table. Not saying you should kick out patrons, but perhaps establishing a time limit would be helpful for nights where you know there is a high volume of customers. Many people waiting in line left because they had been ignored or skipped over in the wait queue.

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Jacob wappelhorst

A good amount of the items listed in their menu have cilantro listed as an ingredient, so I had ordered some tacos that did not have cilantro listed. The tacos I got had as much cilantro as you would expect a taco would have lettuce. Pretty much a whole handful bunch of cilantro for the 5 tacos the menu described. I tried to explain to the owner and one of the bartenders that it was odd that it had so much cilantro since the menu did not mention it for how the menu described what I had ordered. The bartender seemed to understand what I was trying to explain, however the owner lady, who also was working the bar, was very rude and not co-operative. The owner, who earlier seemed nice, turned into a broken record that repeated that everything had cilantro in and was condescending about not liking the ingredient. Im just a regular guy so I dont know what cilantro looks like, so I try to power through a taco and added a ton of guacamole to get a different taste. Since I had eaten a couple they still charged for two tacos, which is fine, but do not expect anything from management to help with any messed up order. The owner lady was beyond rude, and tried to compare this cilantro to garlic. The worst part is she never let me explain the situation in a normal person manner. She was irrational and unreasonable. If anyone comes to this establishment and your food or drinks are not what you order, you should expect no one to fix it. Sometimes you cannot reason with unreasonable people, in this case the owner.

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Mitch Goldman

Im editing my review after trying this place for a second time. I will still hold that the food is pretty good, but once again the service was remarkably poor. The staff is very friendly, but that is not enough to combat tremendously long wait times for even water; 15+ minutes to get a drink. In earnest, if you do not mind waiting, then this place is fine! But refills are slow, ordering is slow, food is slow; the only thing that wasnt slow was receiving the check, which was brought out while we were still finishing our meal. All in all I cannot rate this at 3 stars because, to me, service is vital. Ive had poorer quantity food with better service, and Ive felt better giving those 3 stars than I have this one. It is a shame, because I know the staff means well. They need to reevaluate how they run things. The freshly made salsa IS delicious though.