La Fogata Mexican Cuisine

Reviews 4

PA

paul ardoin

Like many below, I was shocked at the increased prices and managements willingness to fight with customers rather than try to correct mistakes. To owner: -Last night, I brought my visiting in-laws to your restaurant, which I had been to only once before, about a year earlier. -Service was very slow. We waited about 20-30 minutes for a table, but then the meal still took an additional 2.5 hours, in part because we had to wait a long time to place our order and in part because it took a very long time to receive the food. When it arrived, my chicken mole was badly overcooked (and the sauce was all sweetness, no flavor), but all the other food (except the queso fundido and the unseasoned guac made from unripe avocados) was pretty good. (I dont remember all the dishes. Someone had the Birria, which was good.) -While we were waiting for the table, my father-in-law ordered a pinot grigio from the bar. They said they were out of pinot grigio but could give him another white, like a chardonnay. They called it "white wine" on the bill and charged him $7. -When he ordered pinot grigio at our table, the waiter took the order and brought him a pinot grigio. No one mentioned anything about being out of pinot. Apparently that problem fixed itself somehow. In any case, we expected that the pinot cost, I dont know, within a few bucks of the $7 "white wine" and the $8 house margaritas. -At the end of the meal, the receipt listed three glasses of "pinot grigio" at a charge of $14 per glass--double the earlier charge and more money than Ive ever seen a glass of wine cost at a San Antonio restaurant when not ordered by brand and vintage off a menu. -Since he had three glasses, that meant $42. I complained to the waiter. The waiter went to someone who looked like a manager (I hope not the owner!), and I walked over to explain the situation. -The manager said the restaurant carries a house ($7) brand of every kind of wine (merlot, chardonnay, etc.) EXCEPT for pinot, which is $14. Thats maybe the weirdest thing Ive ever heard in a restaurant. I said you should tell the customer that when they order: "Just so you know, sir, we dont have a house of the pinot. Its 14 a glass. Is that okay?" for example. He said that would offend the customers. I said I was offended to get charged so much without being told. He explained that I must not understand that La Fogota is a nice, high quality restaurant. Perhaps I am not familiar with the fancy world, lol. (So much for not offending the customers?) The thing is, Ive had disappointing food before. (Ive eaten at La Frite days after getting back into town from business in the actual Belgium: Hows that for disappointing? lol) Ive had slow service before. Ive been overcharged before. Im not even that offended that the manager didnt try to make it right by knocking the price down to $7 each or knocking the cost of one off (both of which would have been far superior to leaving a customer unhappy, obviously). -The thing that baffles me to no end, though, is why this guy tried to explain to me that I just dont understand how things work because Im some savage whos never been to such a high-quality joint before. We werent quite within the glow of your neon strawberry daquiris sign when he said it, but we were in clear eyesight of your glass cabinet filled with La Fogata t-shirts, lol. I find your restaurant nice, some pretty fountains, etc., but the only thing more obnoxious than trying to talk to me like Im an old-timey boxcar hobo who just wandered into the Emma is trying to tell me you serve $14 glasses of pinot on a regular basis with no warning and nary a puzzled look from a customer. I hope this review gets to the owner. I hope the owner is not the one I met last night. And I hope the owner can explain to his staff that--when the table of five is about to drop $250 and asks about the price of three glasses of pinot--the play is not to insult a man in front of his wifes family, whom he dragged across town from the opposite side. The play is almost anything else, but its not that.

A

A Private User

Went here for the first time with my husband and some friends of our. The food was not bad, but it was not great or even above average, and certainly not worth the inflated prices. The chips were especially disappointing. They were not hot and crisp like you would expect fresh, homemade chips to me in an authentic Mexican restaurant, and they had no salt or seasoning and very little flavor. They tasted like something out of a plastic bag from the grocery store. The chile con queso was also an utter disappointment. It tasted exactly like a can of tomatoes with green chiles mixed with a block of Velveeta cheese and stuck in the microwave for a few seconds. Our meals were fairly good, although rather cold by the time we got them. I had the Un Poquito De Todo, which is basically a sampler platter with a little bit of everything: a taco, a flauta, a quesadilla, a tostada, beans, and rice. Everything except the quesadilla was good; the quesadilla, on the other hand, was absolutely drowning in grease and was sickening to eat as there was so much fat on it. The service was fair at best. Our server was a tad slow at taking our order, and although he did refill everyones drinks regularly, he never asked us how the meals were and did not offer us dessert before dropping off the check. All in all, I was rather disappointed and I will only go back if our friends invite us again. I have not been to many of the more upscale Mexican restaurants in San Antonio, but I have been to La Fonda on Main, which has much, much better food for comparable and even slightly less prices than La Fogata.

A

A Private User

This has been my favorite in S.A. for several years now, we get here maybe once a year. (out of towners). The crowd was huge (no big negative for me: the wait was reasonable considering).. Iced tea tasted like some kind of concoction from the deepest reaches of our militarys chemical weapons program. Just plain couldnt drink it, tried sugar, watering it down, etc, to no avail.. My wife ordered some chicken dish, listed in the menu as chicken breast with this or that done to it: the chicken thighs that she received were done accordingly. I, on the other hand, ordered my standard Tacos al Carbon. What I got was anything but what I expected: a teaspoon full of flavorless, unseasoned beef in a bed of refried beans, in a greasy taco shell, with a bunch of random soggy lettuce, avocado, etc.. I asked the waitress, "is this Tacos Al Carbon"? "Why yes, that is Tacos Al Carbon"... I begrudgingly ate my way through it, leaving the pasty rice untouched, The beans were OK. Not especially good, just OK. We got our bill, which proudly identified what I actually got as Tacos Norteno. Had a hard time getting my water glass full, too: which became important since the Tea was unusable except as a weapon of mass destruction.. I guess Im looking for a new favorite next year....

JE

Jeff Turpin

I have been to La Fogata a half-dozen times, and generally, the food is average to good, though a bit overpriced. Service is decent. The decor is wonderful if you love outdoor seating, seeing as there are multiple areas, and the indoor area is nice as well. Now, onto the food. I find the chips too thick and dry as well as the salsa mild, too cold in serving temperature, and rather unflavorful. The rice is above average and the beans are mediocre. The Queso Flameado uses only small bits of chorizo, a massive amount of mozzarella cheese (?? why an Italian cheese ??), and Bacardi 151. The end result is poorly executed with the unburned alcohol further ruining the taste (in addition to the non-Mexican cheese). The Pojo Loco is delicious - chicken thighs marinated al mojo de ajo and then cooked on charcoal. I also find the Carne Adobada delicious with its tango ancho chili sauce. The tacos and quesadillas are pretty standard. In short, La Fogata has a nice atmosphere and great maragritas, but the food is usually average, with a few standout dishes that make it worth coming to in the first place. My current top 5 Mexican/Tex-Mex restaurants remain: 1) Taqueria Datapoint, 2) Ajuua, 3) Guallijos, 4) Cascabel Mexican Patio, and 5) Los Barrios.