Time to cross Chevy's off the list!
My Mom's PEO Club (I don't know what PEO stands for - People Eating Oranges?) was doing a fundraiser at Chevy's tonight. Eat at the restaurant, raise money for whatever charity the PEO is currently working with. One of my favorite teachers from junior high, Mr. Ereno, was going to be there with his wife so I went along.
Unfortunately, the situation pretty much sucked. I wrote it up on Yelp.com, and since I'm too lazy to write about the misadventure AGAIN here's the C&P'd review:
I've eaten at this Chevy's many times over the years. When I was a kid I didn't care for Mexican food, but I loved watching the tortilla machine so I thought it a fun place. The older I got, the worse the food tasted, even though I began eating plenty of Mexican food at other locations. We came here less and less...last night was the first time I'd been at Chevy's in almost a year. It's going to be at least another year before I come back because the service was AWFUL.
We came as part of a fundraising group, but I guess Chevy's didn't expect our group to create a real increase in business because there seemed to be hardly any staff around. Several of the group's members decided they wanted to sit together, so we moved several tables together for easier conversation. It would have made us happiest of the servers treated us as separate tables, billed us individually, and if necessary served us at different times, but Chevy's insisted that we had to all be billed together. We agreed to do this, and it was a HUGE mistake.
Ordering took forever because several people had not arrived, and Chevy's didn't take our orders to the kitchen until every single person had ordered. Huge delay. After food preparation must have started, they held all the food until every entree was completed - end result? We get our dinners well over an hour after we ordered them. Worse? They managed to FORGET the orders of THREE PEOPLE. So those poor souls, who had already waited an hour to eat, had to keep on waiting for their food another 15-20 minutes. Several things that were ordered never made it to us; despite several requests for tortillas we never got them and my boyfriend's soda never materialized (although we were charged for it on the bill). It was really frustrating to see family after family that had sat down after us eat their dinners and desserts and LEAVE before we got anything besides baskets of chips.
We only had one server taking care of our table; since we were considered a large party I was REALLY surprised they didn't have two or more servers taking care of us, as was done at other restaurants I've visited recently. This server also had several other tables to take care of, and he was clearly flustered.
Food was disappointing. I thought I'd try the shrimp & crab quesadillas, and they tasted horrible. The food was lukewarm when it arrived and quickly turned cold. The man sitting across from me ordered a taco that came half-filled, so he requested that it be filled properly. It took twenty minutes for his food to come back, so I didn't bother with requesting my food reheated. I was STARVING after the hour wait, after all!
It was a totally crummy experience. If it weren't for the fundraising aspect, I would have walked out after waiting the first half hour. I'm completely burned off from Chevy's now. Chevy's didn't seem to have a clue what they were doing, and although I feel badly for the server, I was pretty pissed that we had to tip 18% because large parties have the gratuities worked into the bill.
If you HAVE to have Chevy's, go to a different location. The Almaden Expressway location needs to get its act together before it can have another dollar from me!
Unfortunately, the situation pretty much sucked. I wrote it up on Yelp.com, and since I'm too lazy to write about the misadventure AGAIN here's the C&P'd review:
I've eaten at this Chevy's many times over the years. When I was a kid I didn't care for Mexican food, but I loved watching the tortilla machine so I thought it a fun place. The older I got, the worse the food tasted, even though I began eating plenty of Mexican food at other locations. We came here less and less...last night was the first time I'd been at Chevy's in almost a year. It's going to be at least another year before I come back because the service was AWFUL.
We came as part of a fundraising group, but I guess Chevy's didn't expect our group to create a real increase in business because there seemed to be hardly any staff around. Several of the group's members decided they wanted to sit together, so we moved several tables together for easier conversation. It would have made us happiest of the servers treated us as separate tables, billed us individually, and if necessary served us at different times, but Chevy's insisted that we had to all be billed together. We agreed to do this, and it was a HUGE mistake.
Ordering took forever because several people had not arrived, and Chevy's didn't take our orders to the kitchen until every single person had ordered. Huge delay. After food preparation must have started, they held all the food until every entree was completed - end result? We get our dinners well over an hour after we ordered them. Worse? They managed to FORGET the orders of THREE PEOPLE. So those poor souls, who had already waited an hour to eat, had to keep on waiting for their food another 15-20 minutes. Several things that were ordered never made it to us; despite several requests for tortillas we never got them and my boyfriend's soda never materialized (although we were charged for it on the bill). It was really frustrating to see family after family that had sat down after us eat their dinners and desserts and LEAVE before we got anything besides baskets of chips.
We only had one server taking care of our table; since we were considered a large party I was REALLY surprised they didn't have two or more servers taking care of us, as was done at other restaurants I've visited recently. This server also had several other tables to take care of, and he was clearly flustered.
Food was disappointing. I thought I'd try the shrimp & crab quesadillas, and they tasted horrible. The food was lukewarm when it arrived and quickly turned cold. The man sitting across from me ordered a taco that came half-filled, so he requested that it be filled properly. It took twenty minutes for his food to come back, so I didn't bother with requesting my food reheated. I was STARVING after the hour wait, after all!
It was a totally crummy experience. If it weren't for the fundraising aspect, I would have walked out after waiting the first half hour. I'm completely burned off from Chevy's now. Chevy's didn't seem to have a clue what they were doing, and although I feel badly for the server, I was pretty pissed that we had to tip 18% because large parties have the gratuities worked into the bill.
If you HAVE to have Chevy's, go to a different location. The Almaden Expressway location needs to get its act together before it can have another dollar from me!