Monday, November 23, 2009

Soyla's Mexican Cuisine: Good food, Poor Service

Today I ate at Soyla's Mexican Cuisine. It's located at 555 S. Saginaw, in the Wade-Trim Building. It's located almost in the center of downtown and is a pretty reasonable walking distance for anyone in the downtown area. 


For $6.99 ( a recent price jump from $5.99) you can enjoy Soyla's lunch menu, from 11 am - 2 pmThere's about eight options that you can choose from and all of them are pretty standard, including tacos (yes, even fish), quesadillas and chimichangas. All lunch orders come with a side of refried beans and rice. They serve Coke products and a selection of imported, bottled sodas. They do not serve alcohol.




My experience today was not the greatest.
If you were following my Twitter feed you saw what happened. Basically, it took 35 minutes for me to receive my order.



I arrived to Soyla's at about 12:25 pm. I ordered a lunch combo of two hard, bean tacos with a side of rice and beans. The lunch combo also included a fountain drink.


Twenty minutes later my order arrived, but it was wrong. The waitress brought out bean burritos, instead of tacos. If I could see into the future I would have just kept the burritos, but I told the waitress it was the wrong order and she took it back. In the mean time, my friend was able to eat their meal in front of me. 


Ten minutes later the waitress brings another plate to the table. She brings two hard tacos, but they contain beef, and I do not eat ground beef. I told her this and she took the plate back. 


Finally, 35 minutes after I first ordered, my correct order was brought out to me. At this point I didn't have time to sit in the restaurant. My friend and I were already five minutes late to meet someone. I asked for a to-go box, and for the fountain drink to be taken off my bill since I never received that either. 



The waitress brought my bill and took a dollar off, plus gave me a free order of chips. The chips are excellent so I couldn't complain about that. 


I'm still upset about the service I received today. I saw two tables get their food before I did, even when they arrived 15 minutes after. 


When I go to a restaurant, and they get an order wrong, I expect it to be taken care of immediately. I had to sit in their restaurant for a half hour and watch my friend and those two other tables eat their food in front of me. At the same time, the waitress didn't even remember to bring me my fountain drink. 


I'm hoping that today was just an unfortunate situation. I really enjoyed the food (once I got it) and I love the chips because how crispy and deep fried they are. Soyla's seems to rely on their native, homemade meals, according to The Flint Journal, but let's hope they focus on their service a little bit more too. 

3 comments:

  1. I totally agree with you and this is not the sort of thing you can chalk up to them being new, since they have been open for several months.
    I also love their chips, would be seriously deferred from eating there again given the service you received.

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  2. Have you been there lately? A lot a people had similar reactions to the one you described and I think Soyla herself caught wind. I actually ate there yesterday for lunch and found it to be so nice that I came back again today! The menu has been reduced to just her tastiest options, still a nice selection though, and we were given quick, and very friendly service. The owner herself came out both days to check on us and make sure we were happy with our experience. All in all they have been open less than a year, and it looks like they are making big improvements and listening to customers. I will definetely be back more often, now that the food and service have been improved!

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  3. I went there at 7:45 pm Thursday and didn’t realize they closed at 8 pm. We were going to get take out and he lady at the front counter offered for us to stay or get take out. Some lady in the back who was skinny with black long hair looked right at us and said we close at 8pm. Then stomped off to the back kitchen. I’m never going there again. The food wasn’t even worth feeling like they don’t want my business.

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