Jake King
Google
My family and I have been coming here since they were located in Old Town.
I also frequent their two other locations, one still in Old Town, the other in Encinitas.
Unfortunately, my family (and everyone I would bring here) will most likely never be back again to any of their restaurants after the latest experience, which sadly was the culmination of several mediocre to poor outings there.
I ordered take out today and was told it would be ready in 15 minutes. I arrived a few minutes beforehand to make sure I got the dinner as fresh as possible.
I was told they were just waiting on one out of the two items I ordered. Ok, cool, sounds great.
After 20 minutes of waiting, after a few unsolicited updates about a busy kitchen, and continuing to “wait on one dish,” I asked for the manager who said they would check on my order. I was told they were going to remake everything and it would take 2 minutes. They forgot about it, essentially.
After 5 or so more minutes of waiting, I asked for a refund as I didn’t want to wait any longer and was already well behind schedule.
The supervisor, Jacqueline, took about 5 minutes to refund my order, despite me saying I wanted to leave, seemingly just spitefully taking as much time as possible to delay even getting me my money back.
At no point did she offer anything, or even apologize, and when I asked why that was the case given the level of service, she just gave me a blank stare and said she was going to offer something, but I asked for a refund and now I’m out of luck.
She basically let me know that she could have done something (despite at no point offering), but is choosing not to despite wasting an hour of my time with waiting and 30 minutes of driving.
I doubt I’ll soon forget the glazed over, almost dead inside (you know that empty stare) look of contempt. It was as if there wasn’t a single strand of care about the situation in the slightest, with that type of response and behavior apparently normalized. It’s a rare thing to see that sort of detachment from any level of normal service industry empathy.
Mistakes happen, but utter disregard for an hour of a customer’s time is a clear sign that my 35+ year long relationship with this restaurant ownership group is over.
There’s no reason overpriced Mexican food is worth the bad attitude, terrible customer service, and cold entrees.
I’m tired of defending this place, the nostalgia from what it used to be is too worn out. It’s just not worth the nonsense to pay almost $50 for two undersized items sitting under a heat lamp for 20 minutes while they figure out what they’re doing for the better part of an hour.
All in all, one of the worst take out experiences imaginable. To leave without the food and without even an apology? It’s a joke.
I wouldn’t risk it if I were you, try something more authentic, or of better value, or really any place that values your service beyond giving you blank stares while metaphorically shrugging their shoulders at ruining your night, as if that’s just how things operate around there.
Receipt is attached to verify. The $5 tip on two items maybe wasn’t enough and offended their sensibilities with take-out tipping, who knows?
Goodbye Casa De Pico, you were sliding by on being mediocre, but mediocre with attitude and inconsiderate behavior just doesn’t cut it anymore!