Sunday, January 18, 2009

Tequila Sundown

In these days of 7.2 unemployment, and rising, I would think people would keep in mind that there is a difference in having a job and DOING your job. I mean, isn’t that the best way to KEEP your job? Ineptitude was on display for the wife and me at a grand opening of a new restaurant in the metropolis of Zebulon, NC last night for her birthday dinner. Tequila Sunrise Cantina fancies itself a Tex-Mex joint with daring recipes right off the grill. The interior vibe is one of a traditional Mexican restraint but unfortunately the menu didn’t match, at least for dinner anyway. We would have had to come lunch for that. So you’re Mex by day and Tex by night? Huh? “We are trying to appeal to the masses here”. But like Grace explained to their sales manager, “In this economy, you’re gonna get a lot more folks in here with 18 items on the menu at $6 a pop than you are with 8 items at $10-12 a pop”. “Good point, he says”. (And plus we’re talking about El ZebulOn here, one of the biggest influxes of illegal farmhands in the country!) We knew we were in trouble from the git-go though. We not only had our waitress, we had THREE others trying to claim our prize money. Here’s how it went down. Our first and final waitress came and took our drink order and left, meanwhile somebody else came and brought us chips and so-so salsa. Our waitress comes back and says “There’s only one Dos Equis Amber left”. “I’ll have a Tecate then, with a glass and lime please” She leaves again and someone else brings ANOTHER tray of chips and so-so salsa. So we’re sitting there with the table full of chips and salsa and someone ELSE we’d never seen before comes up and asks if everything is OK and I explain that ”we didn’t NEED two separate large trays of chips and salsa” and that he could take the last one brought to us away. He apologized and asked if we were ready to order. We said “sure” and then told him what we were having. He leaves and the one I call “our waitress” comes back with a glass full of Dos Equis amber and a bottle of Tecate, no limes. I reminded her about the limes and she fetches a couple of tiny slices on a napkin. “I asked for a glass also too please” “Oh yeah” and off she runs for that. Upon her return she asks “Are you guys ready to order?” “Uhhhhhh….I thought we just did, some dude came by and…” Fuck it, yeah here’s what we want. The menu was void of any vegetarian fare so I was “lucky” enough to find some seafood items as I still eat that. “A shrimp burrito and shrimp fajitas for her” I tell her. As we wait for our food, the aforementioned sales manager came by for our input and we pretty much ripped the place a new one for their “left hand not knowing what the right hand was doing” and crappy menu. He was a nice enough guy but seemed about as dumb as the rest of’m. The food was fine, although the ingredients in my shrimp burrito seemed to have been put in a blender first. It was about as big as a log for my woodstove for only $6 and the flavor wasn’t offensive, had a little kick to it actually which was OK by me. Grace’s fajitas looked good save for the fact that I’d never seen broccoli in the grilled veggie mix before. It must have been part of that “mass appeal” thing. Overall, from a scale of great to good to sucky to shitty, I’d still have to give Tequila Sunrise a shitty mark for the dining experience and what shitty experience would be complete without a hostess, slumped over, chin on hands not saying “Bye”, “Kiss my Ass!” or anything on your way out the door. At least, one of our EXTRA waiters followed us out to say “We’re sorry!”
Yep, you are.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

I think you can start writing restaurant reviews. I would know which places to avoid!

Anonymous said...

Rock Star,

I learned many important lessons while living "on the road", sleeping in motels and eating at restaurants 3 meals a day. One of those lessons is: Avoid Grand Openings at all costs.

Sorry Gracie had her b'day dinner affected by bad service. Hey, that provides a good reason for you two going out next weekend!

FB

Ace said...

Happy Birthday Grace!!!! :-)

Anonymous said...

well damn, seriously I mean dude have u ever tried opening up a restaurant I mean seriously it isn't easy. I mean we put everything into that damn restaurant and good help is hard to fucking find. I'm glad that the food wasn't horrible but we have a new wait staff and everything we have a great bartender , still and always great food, and awesome entertainment on Friday nights and I mean dude you see what happens when you google your own damn restaurant you find damn assholes who r unsensative when times a worst.

Anonymous said...

FYI....

Tequila Sunrise has come a long way!! We love them! As a family we visit them once a week and have what we claim as our "own personal table"! Hope you decide to give them another chance. The staff has changed and so has the menu! Come on....Grand Opening??? That's where you're supposed to get constructive feedback, not torn apart!

Hope you had a better birthday this year!

Anonymous said...

Hey looks like they're out of business now anyway! Premise has been taken over by Zebulon Town Center....so who knows