21 replies to this topic

[Tingting]

Hubby and I went to Sunrise for brekkies today. It will be the last time I go there. Yes, today is market day and yes, they were hopping, but they had ONE waiter for both sides of the restaurant plus the top. We watched as customers who had come in after us were served their meals. 45 minutes later I´d had it. The waiter barely noticed us. Fair enough, he was busy, but he managed to give everyone else their drinks in a timely fashion and that little bread basket (which we never saw). I had to wave my menu in the air to get him to take our order. Finally, we thought. Nope. We then watched meal after meal go to other tables that had come in after us. Hubby was never even offered a refill for his coffee and the waiter took nearly half an hour to give him the juice that was supposed to come with the meal. We made the mistake of sitting in the corner and we were treated as an afterthought.

Yes, the waiter was busy, but he managed to have time to chat with several tables...except ours. Hubby is more patient than I am, but after 45 minutes and no sign of food, I´d had it. I had to get up to get the waiter´s attention and told him to give me the bill for 2 juices and a coffee. Boy, he scrambled. He went to the cooks who looked lost (as in, "Order, what order?") and only then did they begin the meal! They obviously threw something together (which we saw them doing) as he came to me in less than 5 minutes and said "Are you sure you don´t want this?" as he held ONE plate in his hand. Really? You want to give me food that you scraped together and it´s not even the complete order? He told me that our two juices and one coffee was $45 pesos. I tossed a fifty on the table and left. I wouldn´t have left the extra $5 pesos, but I didn´t want to give up any change.

The location is convenient, the decor is cute, but the sour taste in my mouth isn´t going to go away for a very long time. FWIW, this isn´t the first time it´s been a problem, but it IS the last.

What´s really sad is that we´re both relatively easy when it comes to a meal. Just give us our drinks, check on us once in a while, serve food that is palatable, and we´ll tip very well.

[ericurmudgeon]

Too bad you had such an unpleasant experience. Hope it was just a one off. :-)

[gringal]

I had breakfast there today. It was a service disaster, similar to the one mentioned above.
Otherwise, the food was it's usual good fare.

I like this restaurant normally, and I will return.........but this surely was NOT their finest hour.

[Mainecoons]

Yes, Alvaro the main waiter is the guy who has the family illness. He wasn't there on Sunday and things were a little slower but not by much but we did get there before the after church rush. The breakfast was great and a real bargain as usual. One of the owners, the gal, was helping with waiting tables.

Don't give up on the place just yet.

[hensley]

Yes please give it another chance we eat there at least once a week and we were there today as well, it was slower service than normal. Alvaro the waiters wife, had her appendix burst and then they sliced her intestine during the surgery and almost lost her, so yes he has been with her during this very hard time for them. It was busier than normal today for a Wed.
Please be patient until he is back. Which will be tomorrow.

[artsnob]

I had a friend who was the breakfast group meeting there today...They got their food But 4 of them got sick when they got Home, so now they can't come to dinner tonite at Yves to see me off on my trip to Mex City tomorrow...

[PV Kids]

Wow!! How lucky was the OP?

[Tingting]

Wow!! How lucky was the OP?

TY, you just made me smile for the first time about this!

On a more serious note, it wasn´t that they were slow and in a crunch. We understood that. The problem was that we were ignored, others got their food, and our order was obviously lost and then they tried to give us scraps. If I´d been in their shoes, I´d have had the head cheese come talk to me, apologize and offer the drinks as a goodwill gesture, or SOMETHING, anything, but that didn´t happen. I really do like giving a place a 2nd chance when there´s a problem because I´ve been in business and know that most customers are very forgiving if you try to work with them.

But this wasn´t the first time, nor the second, nor the third. It was the worst, though. I´m not asking anyone to avoid the place if they´ve had good service, but there is no way I´ll ever go back.

[hensley]

I had a friend who was the breakfast group meeting there today...They got their food But 4 of them got sick when they got Home, so now they can't come to dinner tonite at Yves to see me off on my trip to Mex City tomorrow...

I was with that group and I ate and did not get sick and I had the same breakfast as 2 of them. My husband ate there also and he is fine.

Yes Tingting I agree you should not have had to pay anything.

[lakeheron]

I am so sorry to hear your story. We ate there this morning and service was very slow with Jessica, the owner, working as both chef and waitress. We've never gotten sick after eating there either. In general it is a welcoming staff and food that is low on quantity with okay quality but also the price is right. I couldn't believe how crowded it was for a Wednesday but there was a large group of people having a meeting at one table which probably slowed down food and service. Still you shouldn't have been ignored. Talk to Jessica. I know she cares.

[Jeanne B]

I don't understand why when one has poor service or food, they don't go to the owner to complain. the owner needs to know if things go array in their establishment. I have never had bad service or food at Sunrise and will continue to go there and yes I have been there during the Sunday crunch time, still good service.

[Tingting]

I don't understand why when one has poor service or food, they don't go to the owner to complain. the owner needs to know if things go array in their establishment. I have never had bad service or food at Sunrise and will continue to go there and yes I have been there during the Sunday crunch time, still good service.

And I don´t understand an owner who doesn´t have better control of his/her restaurant. If the owner is the slender woman who was standing behind the cash register THE ENTIRE TIME WE WERE THERE, then she was aware there was a problem and chose not to do anything.

As I have said before, this wasn´t the first time we´ve had bad service there, but we still gave them numerous chances. If your experiences have been good, wonderful, but ours wasn´t. It´s not my job to train the restaurant employees, nor to tell the owner how to run his/her business. Of course, you´re also assuming I know who the owner is. I don´t. And, to be honest, if I´d had to hunt him/her down to complain, well...that probably wouldn´t have been a very good idea.

I´ll stick with other restaurants that have proven to give excellent service and food and leave Sunrise to those who have had decent experiences or are willing to settle.

[HelperGuy]

Tingting: eaten there many times myself, and I agree with your summation. A restaurant is only in the business of being a restaurant.

[slainte39]

A restauranteur who has to be told by his patrons what he/she should be doing or is doing wrong, is not worth the bother, IMO.
Opening an eating establishment is not the same as starting an educational course with the learning graded along the way. The proprietor should have mastered that before opening. Fine tuning...maybe, but these are glaring malfunctions (this one and other threads) of what a good eating establishment should be. It amounts to paying the tuition (price of a meal), special tutoring (telling them what's wrong), and hoping the student graduates (that things will improve). Not professional....how many times would you return to...let's say, a doctor, if you felt the "service was poor" or a product or material used by him was of inferior quality.
The good and bad reports from various people (and sometimes the same people) of the same restaurant shows the number one villain on this matter, to be, INCONSISTENCY.

[Mainecoons]

Although we are blessed with a great variety of relatively cheap eateries in this area, inconsistency is the RULE not the EXCEPTION in my opinion. Also, many are called but few are chosen, the turnover in restaurants here is quite stunning, again IMO.

Sunrise is no exception to the rule. A couple of months back, they switched to a different kind of Chorizo that was truly awful. Our Sunday morning breakfast group let them know in no uncertain terms that it sucked. The bad stuff was gone very quickly and the good stuff returned.

Alvaro is back, the service was fine, the breakfast as usual was very good and very good value. I have found few places that know how to properly do "eggs over easy" and Sunrise does them week after week for me to perfection.



While

[BillinaBus]

We've had breakfast there a couple of times a week since they opened... probably 4 or 5 years I think (chemo brain leaves me confused on times) and it's true, when one of their waiters is 'out' for a while (especially Alvaro) they struggle with service at busy times.

Overall they have good cooks, a clean kitchen, a friendly attitude and give good value meals, the prices are low with mexican portions (on the small side). We try to avoid the times with big group meetings but I am sure we'll be having a couple of breakfasts a week there in the future.

[Spinner]

I have eaten there many times and have always had great service. The prices are scary low, so I know a lot of peole eat there for the price. And it's pretty decent for the low price.
All restaurants have good days and bad days. Every waiter or waitress is a person and they might be having a bad day. If you haven't owned or run a restaurant before, then you probable do not understand how complicated it can be. If someone receives bad service, then don't go back? Why do people have to tell the world that they had a bad experience. Let it go.
Go enjoy this incredible area. Find something nice to write about on the web board.

[Shira]

Many years ago, when my children were young, they complained if I called over the manager if we had had a problem either with the food or service. They thought it was terrible. I tried to explain to them that if nothing was said the managent would not know there was a problem and therefore would lose business since they had no chance to correct it.
My kids still thought it terrible until one evening I had spoken to a manager about something that had happened. He thanked me and told me he was happy I had spoken to him as so few people do They would leave, never to return and would tell other people how bad it was. Business was lost.
Conversely, I also called over managers when the service had been particularly good to commend the server or we recognized some new menu items we thought were a good addition to the menu or anything that was a very strong positive. Atta boys are always appreciated.

[jaykay]

The poster who said inconsistancy was a rule here is so right. A lot of us here have had the experience of recomending a place and having it turn out to be a disaster. It is OK to report a bad experience, especially bad service. If you don't get sick, then the quality of the food is a matter of opinion. But, there is another side to the question. How many times have you gone to a restaurant, had a very good dining experience and failed to post something on this board? Groups especially should review all group visits, good or bad, but it wouldn't hurt for all of us to give a good review if it is earned, at least once in a while. Then we could give the odd disaster it's proper weight. Was this normal for the place or was it unusual? Doing a post doesn't take all that long, and it helps us all.

[Ginger]

Excellent point, Jaykay. I, too have had great food there at breakfast time & I hope this was just a hiccup so I'll continue going there until I'm proven wrong. Sorry for the OP's experience but it hasn't been mine so far.