Tonight a good handful of us had a gathering of awesome at El Salto in Chesterton. Some of the fabulous people in attendance included @saan1911, @FoodieMamaNWI, @swedishpancake, @digitalbart, @TV_MA, @2ndwifeanne and other @grossbauer peeps. We arrived at 4:30 on a Thursday. KEEP THAT IN MIND. Not many people. We took our seats, ordered drinks (Blue Moon baby!) and waited.
And waited. And waited. Poor Sarah had ordered a bowl of guac and by the time our waitress decided to come back to take our food order (over an hour later, I kid you not), the much sought-after guacamole still had not come. We tried on several occasions to wave down our waitress and ask about its status. She ignored us. It was only when various people from our party physically got up to talk to the woman up front, who I later learned was the assistant manager, did our waitress come.
After dinner our waitress disappeared again, I guess having only asked two people at the very end of the table if they wanted dessert. She must have asked in a hushed whisper or leaned in really close to speak sweet nothings into Justin’s ear. No one else knew this had happened. Apparently the rest of us looked like we were so full of luke-warm, subpar Mexican food, but gosh darn it I wanted dessert.
So I looked for our waitress, who was nowhere to be seen. I got up on my chair to look, to flag her or anyone else down that would offer to take our order. By this time well over two hours had passed. After about five minutes of me and Robyn standing on chairs, the assistant manager came by again and got the waitress to come back and take our full dessert order.
Sarah then talked to the manager about our not-so-great service. He seemed apologetic, but who knows.
Why oh why do people like this place!? I’ll take El Charro in Valparaiso any day of the week. The food there is quite good (though Mi Ranchito still has the best Mexican food in NW Indiana, in my opinion), and the servers there are very attentive, even if you have large parties of ten. We would go there for work lunches all the time with ten people or more. You will not be ignored.
On a more positive note, I’ve found people in the area who have the word “fandom” in their vocabulary. Sorry that I’m not a part of yours! I’ve always went the obscure route, but that’s okay. I just like seeing people trip out a little when they hear I write fic. :)
I wanted to tweet this, but 140 characters was not enough! Shane and I went to El Salto one time after hearing so many rave about it. When I say one time, I don’t mean as in, “This one time…” I mean, “The one and ONLY time.” The service was slow on a night that was barely busy. The margarita was okay, as was the food, but if the food isn’t to die for… then the service needs to be better. We spent most of the meal with no food or drink in front of us, just staring at an empty table. I really don’t understand all the raves about El Salto, and I definitely agree that Mi Ranchito is hands down the best Mexican food–although El Taco Real in Hammond is pretty good, too!
So the bad service at El Salto is a constant then? I AM NOT ALONE! This makes me happy.
I went to El Taco Real and I don’t know if I just didn’t pick the right dish (I had chiles rellenos) but I was not very impressed, especially after all I hear from people are rave reviews. We did have an excellent pork appetizer though.
Mi Ranchito’s mini burritos are the best!
Tamales are the way to go. They’re the real kind, in the corn husk.
My favorite at Mi Ranchito is the chicken soup (I can never remember the name)… and of course, a margarita.
I remember at IUN there would be this woman there who would sell tamales like that on occasion. I think it was for a fundraiser. They were so good. If I go back to El Taco Real one day, I will give a tamale a try. I love ‘em.
Now I’m craving Mi Ranchito. Nice going!
We should go to Mi Ranchito when I am home for the reunion! Chimichangas Acapulco FTW! And those carrots. Yummm.
I LOVE those carrots, Adrienne. I’m in!
I’m pretty offended that the sidekick didn’t use his powers to get our dessert order too. Jerk face.
Geek love, btw. GEEK love.
GEEKS UNITE!
I will have to ask your sidekick tomorrow why he didn’t use his powers to send delicious sweets our way, or at the very least the waitress so she could take our orders for some.
Nichole,
So sorry you went through that! Both my mother and my unt owned restraraunts and I think that bad food and bad service are inexcusable. Even if it is simple as a burger, food you eat out should be well-prepared.
I’ve had similar experiences when eating out, also at places that are popular (or expensive). Last year for my birthday, we went to Giovanni’s in Munster. We’d been there before and it was okay. This time, it was a disaster: We weren’t give the table we had reserved, the food wasn;t that good and the service were awful. We have never gone back.
Sometimes the best thing to do is not go back and let people know about the bad service.
PS: I find El Taco Real hit or miss, but it sure is popular
I’ve never heard of Giovanni’s before. Do a lot of people like it or is it one of those expensive places people are forced to like because it’s expensive?
It floored me how crowded El Taco Real was when I went there. We had to wait an hour for a seat. I figured I was in for some really good food, but was disappointed when I got what I’d ordered. I’d like to try it again some day though. I just never really get out to Hammond much.
I think people like it – we have friend who rave about it. It is expensive enough to be Munster chic – Dinner for for 4 averages about $150. The atmosphere is what I’d call kind of kitsch Italian with trompe l’oeil all over. Place is always packed.
El Taco Real is really packed on the weekends and pretty busy through the week. I don’t go there often because if I am going to wait an hour for a seat, I want more atmosphere, LOL!
I think we’ve gone to El Salto’s twice since we moved here 5 years ago and the second time I wondered why we bothered to return. El Bracero in Michigan City is so much tastier and the waiters are great. Beyond great. Seriously, when one of our regular waiters there moved away, my daughter literally cried.
I need to go to Michigan City more often. Not only do they have Sahara, which is very tasty, they have a good Mexican restaurant that you enjoy!
It really says something when someone cries over a waiter moving away. He must have been really good!
She is only 8, so she cries over silly things alot of the time. But, yeah, he was definitely cry-worthy. :)
Hey!! Darnit! She barely took my order!! By the time I realized she was going to ditch us again, she was long gone! Besides, my ice cream was so melted by the time it got to me, that I might aswell have ordered a brownie with milk on it. HORRIBLE!!! And the brownie didn’t even taste fresh. KINDA HARD TO SCREW UP A BROWNIE DESSERT EL SALTO!!!
I’ve found that El Salto in Munster is light years better than the ones on Chesterton or Valpo. The food, service and ambience are way above par.
For the short time that I was there, I thought that it was some really bad service. At a restaurant, that is second only to the food. Bad service can make even the best food seem not worth it.
El Salto is decent, but not anything to go crazy over. I want to try that Mi Ranchito that you speak of. I can’t think of many Mexican joints that I really think are worth going to. La Cerreta is good (only been there once though) and El Taco Real has some amazing dishes (if you choose correctly) but other than that, I have not been very impressed.
I guess that El Charro has my vote also. Hacienda? It is so so.
Wow, too bad for El Salto. My family really enjoys the Valpo restaurant and we’ve tended to get real good service. But then we know the manager well and have been going for years. Wonder if everyone gets that kind of service?
Isn’t it sad that in the age of digital reputations, this post has been out there, commented liberally, and yet no one from the restaurant knows about it nor has commented to defend or apologize. Perhaps the real story …
Hah, I also have had terrible service there. I originally wanted to just place an order over the phone, and simply go pick it up. They had other plans! I called the place about four times before I just drove over there. There was nobody to be seen when I first showed up. Then some lady slowly walks out and was surprised to see me there. Oh well, like what you mentioned… I’ll just drive to Valpo and get me some Charro!