Being Ignored Never Cost So Much Before! (Chiquito)

Member Name: chugglebunny

Product:	Chiquito
Date:	23/06/09 (119 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: The food is a usual standard

Disadvantages: Service

The well known Mexican Bar/Grill restaurant franchise "Chiquitos" has a quite newly opened branch in the Galleria shopping centre in Hatfield.

Having been open now for about 6 months, and after a few dining experiences there, I will review this specific branch.

Where is it?
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Located just off Junction 3 of the A1M the Galleria shopping centre has 2 sides, one that leads straight into the retail side of the centre and another that has 2 entrances from the 2 car parks that lead you past the cinema end of the centre. From this side with the 2 entrances, Chiquitos is located directly in front of you whichever side you enter from, on the ground floor.

Layout / Design
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In keeping with the same branding as all other Chiquitos I have been in. The Restaurant has a warm feeling in it, with soft but warm lighting and lots of red, yellows and browns in its colour schemes to keep with the "Mexican" feel and also to make the place inviting.

The Hatfield branch actually has a small outside seating area, which is in the covered walkway of the Galleria. So no threat of the elements affecting your meal and it also is in the area away from all of the shops, which I think is a plus, as I hate eating with lots of people walking past every second.

The actual inside of the restaurant has a mixture of large booths, 4 person tables and 2 person tables. Obviously these can and are moved together to accommodate larger parties of guests.

I like the balance Chiquitos have between being overly tacky (Like most TGI Fridays) and being inviting and fun. They do put things on the walls in TGI Friday style, but not overcrowded and most of these items are inoffensive such as mirrors and paintings. Better than half a Mustang through the wall anyway!

The Food / Price
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Chiquitos as I mentioned is a "Latin / Mexican" diner and serves a good variety of foods, from burgers, sandwiches, fajitas, burritos, steaks, chicken, to salads, pastas, wraps and rice dishes.

Price wise the usual sort of range applies. For a starter it is around £4 - £5 as are desserts and mains will range from £8 - £12 depending on what you're ordering. So it is reasonable for most dishes and I think the food is worth the money.

My Experience
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Now as a rule, I have always enjoyed any trips to Chiquitos I have had in the past. The branch in Leicester Square and my other local in Watford are both excellently well run and I have been several times to both without fault.

Unfortunately I cannot say the same for the Hatfield location. On the few occasions I have been here, I have had very mixed views. Ranging from my first visit when it first opened, this was pleasant to my most recent visit last week; which was awful.

Upon arriving my fiancé and I waited at the entrance where you are asked to wait before being seated. We were greeted a few moments later by a lady who took us to a 4 person table just tucked in the corner behind a nice big screen. This screen was between us and our view of the pickup station for the food, so I understand this must be here to give us a little privacy while we eat.

To sum up we had a very bad experience; we were given menus and left for over 15 minutes before our waitress asked for our drinks order. We asked to order our food at the same time as obviously we had been left long enough to make up our minds and as the restaurant was pretty busy at this point, we thought it best to get our orders in.

Our starters arrived and my other half's was wrong, we had to wait too long in my opinion to catch someone's attention, as neither our waitress nor anyone else was anywhere to be seen or found. When we managed to grab someone we explained that the food was wrong and the waitress simply took it away without saying a word. At this point I knew I wasn't tipping. Manners are something I think vital in everyone; she should have apologised and proceeded to say something along the lines of "I'll bring the correct dish straight over for you" etc but nothing. She headed off and seemed to forget we existed. I grabbed her attention again about 5 minutes later to ask if the correct starter was coming to be told "Yes, it's coming" in a tone that was rude as if I should have known this obvious fact by her lack of telling us.

The starter eventually arrived as did our mains. The food was very nice and cooked well and presented well. I had BBQ chicken and ribs with fries and my other half had a burger and fries. These were both very nice, although again my other half had not received the bacon he had asked for on his. We did not bring this up as we knew it would take way too long to correct.

I managed to grab another waiter's attention to ask for another drink, which came out I believe just as we were paying to leave.

The side of nachos we ordered to share did not come out with the mains as we asked, but about 15 minutes later when we were practically done eating, I had asked 5 minutes before hand that they were coming and not forgotten, but the lovely polite waitress (yeah, right!) again assured me that "yes they are".

When they did arrive, they were practically cold and we didn't eat many at all.

Our plates were cleared in record slow time and after requesting the bill, we settled in for a ten minute wait. When the bill arrived we had been charged for the incorrect starter which the waitress had noted was not to be charged, but as her colleague was using the machine, she had to hand write it on as she could not reprint the bill. She also couldn't manage, with or without the aid of a calculator, to write the correct total on, instead asking us to subtract the £4.45 from the total for the wrong starter and tell her how much to charge us...oh dear.

I paid with my bright pink credit card, which came out of my pink purse which was on the table in front of me, which in turn came from my pink bag which I had sitting on my lap as she came back to take the money, now I am not one to usually pick at people personally, but it did worry me slightly when she asked whose the card was. Gobsmacked I took the pay machine off the poor girl who must have been having one hell of a day and entered my pin. She then proceeded to offer my fiancé the receipt...oh dear oh dear oh dear.

We left without leaving a tip and I do not plan on returning. Although the food was up to the usual high standards that most Chiquito's branches have, the service was such a letdown that I don't think I could stomach a return visit.

During our dinner we were ignored, but then others seemed to be just as ignored as we noticed a few other guests complain, which only adds to the confusion that all the staff looked really busy, and there were at least 6 or 7 frequenting our area, then why were they not on top of things? And more importantly, why hadn't they been trained (or brought up with manors) to simply apologise for the delays and assure the customers that their food was coming etc.

I will happily not go back to this branch but would to different ones, as I think this is isolated to the lack of customer service in this particular restaurant. Taking just under 2 hours for 2 people to have a starter and main with awful service is not something I like paying for. So in future, I'll be heading to the Watford one if I really fancy it and advise anyone in the Hatfield area to avoid this one!

Thanks for reading :)

Summary: One to avoid!