Jackson Heights Life

Ok, so I wanted to talk a little about my love/hate relationship with this restaurant. 

On the whole, I think the food is great.  We have people come from other neighborhoods to eat there and we find the portions (especially lunch) to be reasonable and good.  My wife and I frequented El Coyote about once a month for two years.

Ok, so let me flash forward to recent experiences, and why we don't go here anymore.  I'm curious if there is anyone else who has had similar issues.

A few months ago we sat at the bar and grabbed dinner.  I ordered a combo platter that had a taco and enchilada on it.  So, about a third way through the enchilada I realize there is no chicken, as ordered.  I inform the bartender (who was very nice) who showed me that she put in the order correctly and said the kitchen made a mistake.  She took away my entree and after five minutes returns with my food, telling me that management made the decision that I had already eaten TOO MUCH of the enchilada for it to be replaced.  I then asked to speak to the manager, and explained to the gentleman who made the decision that it took me about a third of the way through to realize there was no chicken.  Besides, that's not the point, I worked in the service industry before, and if the kitchen makes a mistake the restaurant deals with it.  I left embarrassed and angry and wrote about the issue to an email account listed on their website.  I never heard back.  Nice customer service!

So, my parents were in town and always being fond of the food asked to go there.  I sucked it up and went.  By this point we have a newborn, so my wife and mother stayed home and my father and I went out to eat and were going to bring back food for them.  The woman who took our order apparently was confused by the fact that we wanted two of the entrees to go, because after waiting about half an hour a gentleman (the same one I spoke to about the enchilada issue) came over and said he suspected there was a miscommunication with our order and retook it.  It was about an hour before we got our food.  Mind you there was about three other tables in the place. 

So, three strikes you're out right?  This time with the whole family we go to El Coyote (again, we REALLY like the food) and the service was once again the issue.  My mother had to ask for napkins four times, and we had to ask for our guacamole five times before it came.  My father's drink was made incorrectly, and when we were handed the bill it still had a check and money in it from (mind you about 60 dollars) from the last customers.  And our bill wasn't even in it!  At this point my parents tell me they never want to go back.  I might want to mention that it was the same gentleman as mentioned before who served us.

It's a shame when a place that has such good potential doesn't offer the service to follow through .  Refusing to correct a kitchen error is insulting and really bad business.  It's a shame because we were good customers here and were even thinking of doing events at the place, but based on our experiences over the past couple months we have to write it off. 

I hope the owners read this, and now that their service issues are being made public will work on making their restaurant better. 

oh we have the same issues as well. we go quite often and 2 out of three times have issues. Last time we were overcharged on our bill. You'd think after going so many times (regardless of Language barrier issues ) they would get your order right.

Oh, and far as my weirdest El Coyote experience, there was that time a couple years ago we brought our friend to the restaurant.  We got our chips and salsa, and my friend asked, "What is that?"  There was a small red oval on the side of the salsa plate.  Thinking it was just a piece of colored plastic I picked it up, and then realized it was a used cough drop! 

Now, in my mind I convinced myself that it somehow it fell into the wash with the plate and stuck to it, giving it that "used" appearance.  Needless to say I went downstairs to the bathroom to wash my hands!

Kinda funny in a gross way huh?

Dear Griswold,

You certainly have a good point.  Sure, there are sometimes i can go for a taco from a truck, and earlier this week i got enchiladas from Coatzingo, but my problem is that what i love best is tex mex or cali mex.  Kinda what i grew up on.  The only places i know in the hood that offer it are las margaritas and el coyote.  I was turned off to las margaritas when they wanted to charge me for a refill for the thimble full of salsa they give you with chips.  Plus i didnt think the food was all that.  I'm gonna say the closest good tex mex would be blue chip in sunnyside.  5 burro and Sgt. Garcias in forest hills aren't bad either.

But you are right, i should've stopped with the cough drop.  My wife and i still laugh over it.  Darn my love of sizzling fajitas!

Now if you know of a place in the hood for good tex mex, id love to know about it!

I like the place, we always enjoy the food, the service is okay, not perfect, but I don't get hung up on service too much in our 'hood, it's more about the food I think. My husband & I both agree, we have never eaten better, more flavorful salsa anywhere, and we've been to Mexico many times....

i'm not a fan of the place by any means, but you're gonna have to do a little better than that, "Carlos."

like translate what you're saying into rational terms.

random rants by people who register new accounts just to fling $%*$! just get tossed into the recycle bin.

so....care to explain?

I noticed "Carlos" opened a Yelp account to post the exact same review. I don't know if he's really mad at something that happened, or he's from a rival restaurant.
"Carlos"! We need more details!

For the record, I ate there once. It was ok. 3/5 stars.

taking post down