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DISASTER DINNER, LA MISSION


Halfglass

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Let me start by saying that this review is based on not only my experience, but by the ten other people who attended this disaster of a dinner.

A group of eleven people in all who had a prior reservations  for dinner on Friday at La mission. .

Out of the eleven five of us ordered the rib eye steak.  Some ordering it medium rare, others medium-well.

First the steaks came out and not two of them looked alike. I looked at the steak that was delivered next to me and it looked nothing like a rib eye.

Mine came and it looked like some sort of sirloin. Not sure.  Two of the party had to send their steaks back because they were almost raw.   

My steak was so tuff that I had trouble cutting it with the steak knife that was given to us for that effort.

After two bites I decided that this meal was a disaster.  I opted to take the steak home and give it to my dogs.  My mistake was not to send it back and order something else. I did mention it to our server.

Out of the five of us four took their steaks home to feed the dogs.

That sucks! We could have gone almost anyplace else and had a decent meal for half the price.

When we complained the waiter told us that they had a new meat supplier and that was the problem.

Let me say that they would have been better off if they said that the steaks that they had were not up to their standards and maybe we would consider ordering something else.

Better way to handle your customers.

Then to top it off the waiter approached one of the couples and complained to him that he was only leaving a 10% tip.

That coustmer went and complained to the person who was in charge and told her he was not coming back.  

By the way the service was terrible. Salads came out wrong; identical deserts came out 15 minutes apart.

After spending good money we left feeling that we had got screwed!
Not one of the eleven people who went there is considering going back anytime soon.

Too many other GOOD places to dine.

Me, probably never!

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You wrote me an email last week and I responded to it, which I will write my response to your complaint. I do not know how to paste and copy so I am rewriting the email I sent to you last Friday.

"I am so disheartened to read your letter. I am home recuperating from a heart attack, so I was not there last evening. My wife explained your complaint to me. First the waiter was way out of line and will be dealt with today. As to your meals I believe 6 of you ordered rib eyes and 4  of you were not happy with them. We receive our rib eyes and 2 other cuts of FRESH beef plus 3 cuts of frozen USDA Choice every Thursday from Carne Sonora in Guad. The rib eye was fresh and after you complained and offering you to make you all new steaks or another menu item, you all refused The kitchen then prepared a rib eye and was tasted by 2 chefs and my wife and found nothing wrong. Again we couldn't taste yours as no one wanted it returned.

As a charity our reputation is very important to us as without the support of folks like you and your friends it would not be possible to do all we do for the less fortunate. All our profits go to help the poor and we have never nor will we take one centavo for ourselves. I am also taking the liberty of forwarding and email I recd. this morning from one of the volunteers on behalf of the people we help. We ask you to give us another chance to show you what we can do and know that your entire evening will be on the house. Again so sorry for your experience and hope you will give us that chance.

Here is the email I recd. from our volunteer, it came to me like a card.

Just wanted to let you know that the people from La Hacienda asked me about you , as always, and asked me to make sure to tell you how thankful for all of your help and support and especially that everybody there wishes you a quick recovery and that they hope to see you again soon

Take care and best wishes from Sally and me too.

Sincerely Alejandro

PS We have not changed our meat supplier and would love to know which waiter said that.

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Hoal Alejandro,

I do not recall the waiter offering us another steak or meal exchange. if it were so I would have opted to change my meal in a second. I will check with the other people involved and see if they were given that option.

We have dined there in the past and had a good experience.

 

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We ate at La Mision Friday evening, both ordering prime rib.  It was excellent.  Not too much fat but still very tender. Large portions so we had lunch the following day. Salad & baked potato very nice.  Well presented.  Service excellent.  Meal & wine prices reasonable.   Huge desert on the house as it was a birthday.  THANK YOU.  We shall return.

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Please note: I have written over 25 reviews on tripadvisor and this is the first NEGATIVE review I have written. 
 
I am 63 years old. My wife and I travel extensively.  I always tip appropriately when the service, food and overall dining experience is exceptional.  In all my travels and dinning I have NEVER EVER had a waiter tell me that I had not tipped enough.......until this evening. We were dining with 8 of our friends. Of the ten of us, SIX of us had terrible dinners.  Several of the group said they would never return.  The dinner was literally inedible.   We did not have a very good evening but I chose to tip anyway, however it was not the usual 15 percent.   The waiter had the audacity to bring back my change and tell me that I had left only 10 percent!!  REALLY???
 
A TIP is EXTRA.  It is used to convey to the wait staff and management that a job was well done and that the evening was over and above what was expected.   We paid more than enough for our disappointing meal.   Everyone needs to rethink this "TIP THING" .  It is not automatic and should not be automatic, but rather an opportunity for the patron to show appreciation for a wonderful experience.
THIS WAS NOT A WONDERFUL DINING EXPERIENCE!!!!!!
 
Suffice to say we will not be returning to La Mision!!!!!  No one in the group of 10 will be returning.  Fortunately the Ajijic Chapala area has hundreds of places to eat. My humble recommendation is to try ALL other restaurants in the area before venturing to La Mision.  
 
Sadly this is my first negative review.  I don´t feel good about it however I do feel it is an opportunity to save others from such a negative experience!
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Well, your effort was not wasted....we were considering giving them a chance even though some people had suggested it was going to be a hit or miss situation...where your money would be gone either way....now we will save ourselves the spin of the wheel and certainly not go there. Thank you for your great review.

 

Fred Habacht

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Sorry, La Mision, but I was in the original party also.  Mine was one of the raw steaks that had to be sent back and were returned to us in not much better condition.  The baked potatoes were like rocks.  No, we were never offered any options of changing the meal or other compensation we would have done that immediately, you need to talk to your help about making up stories like that to tell you. 

The best tasting part of the meal was the dessert of hot apple strudel with ice cream.  But we were disappointed that when only two of us ordered it, they came out of the kitchen 15 minutes apart!

It isn't like they didn't know we were coming, we made reservations far in advance.

There was no exaggeration in the original poster's comments, or Irish099's above.  That's the way it was.  And everyone's dogs were the only ones who made out.

 

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4 hours ago, barbara habacht said:

Well, your effort was not wasted....we were considering giving them a chance even though some people had suggested it was going to be a hit or miss situation...where your money would be gone either way....now we will save ourselves the spin of the wheel and certainly not go there. Thank you for your great review.

 

Fred Habacht

Seems that there is a 50/50% chance that you will have a good meal etc...given them a go and report back..we are holding our breath

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Again I am sorry for your experience, but more sorry that I was not there to handle the situation. I am still not there and just want to say had I been things would have been much different. First no one who wanted to take home a doggie bag would not have paid for their meal as I would kept the steaks as evidence to go back to Carne Sonora on Monday when we go to Guad for our weekly shopping. We didn't raise or butcher the beef they did and if it was bad it was there fault not yours or ours. Without the proof we would have not had a leg to stand on. They are one of the top purveyors of meat and we have been more then satisfied with them. We were originally introduced to them by one of the top chefs and were shown other vendors including those that provide Tango with its beef. We went with them because we could get USDA choice, and all their cuts delivered every Thursday and there other beef was feed lot beef from Sonora, plus they are about 5 blocks from Costco and we go there every Monday.

I understand your anger and want to make it right and our offer to you still stands. We had and incident a few months ago where the restaurant was full and this one party was not getting the service it deserved and were not happy campers. We apologized and asked them to please give us a second chance which they so kindly did and am so happy to report that they  have become one of our best customers and wrote about it on Trip Advisor.  

Unfortunately situations like this happen to every restaurant and the overwhelming majority will do whatever it takes to make it right. I am just sorry that it was you and I was not there.

We are not professional restauranters with years of experience, but people who everyday get up learn more and try to do the best job we can to provide you with a wonderful dining experience..... so we can accomplish our mission to help others.

I would be more then happy to talk with any of you face to face at your convenience.

Sincerely Michael

 

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What charity are you.  Or do you just make a contribution to charities when you can - or when you choose to.

I recall some saying that your restaurant offered training, etc for persons learning food service.  But, that was when the place first opened and there were others involved. 

Do you get some special tax treatment from governments of Chapala or Jalisco or Mexico -  like other charities do.

Are you volunteers. 

Tell us and show us about your charity and your mission.

 

 

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