Went to La Hacienda in Collierville last night, although it should have been on my reject-list for bad experiences in the past. But I had not been there in years, so I thought maybe they had improved.
NOT.
We (party of two) were seated with only three other tables filled in the dining room. It took 20 minutes to get our simple orders from time of order (slow for Mexican food), and we noticed others getting theirs first when they came in after us. The Collierville police who showed up after us, I can understand, but something was amiss with our order. Our food arrived cold. Not finding our waitress, I told a lady who I took to be the manager's wife. She seemed confused as to what I was complaining about, but quickly cleared our plates from the table and apologized, and then our waitress showed up seconds later with our bill!!! After I explained the situation to her, she walked over to the other waiters and the manager's wife waving her arms and throwing a fit. Our food came out minutes later hot this time, but I could tell by markings I made they just reheated it instead of making it fresh. It was alright, but the reheating made crusty clods out of the rice and dried out the quesadillas.
While we were choking this down, a waitress brought out a fajita dish to another table, which was not steaming as they normally do... it was SMOKING. Smoke comes from burnt food, folks. The greasy nasty smoke filled the dining room, casting a gray cloud between everyone, which lingered for remainder of our visit. People were rubbing their eyes and commenting on it all around us. We canceled our plans for the evening because we didn't want to be in public smelling like burnt rotting fajita meat. I had to send out my coat today for cleaning and toss our clothes in the washing machine last night to get the stench out.
I noticed others around us having issues with their dishes too, where some were sending them back. So, it wasn't just us.
Cleanliness was questionable. I had to ask for new salt/pepper shakers because they were so covered with crud, you could peel a clump off with your finger nail. I was brought new ones that were just as bad. The tables were dirty too and the benches full of crumbs.
I was shocked to read in the their menu that they charge for the chips and salsa after the first basket. I know of no other Mexican restaurant that charges for table chips. I thought that was pretty chintzy.
On the bright side the manager and his ""wife"" visited our table to apologize for the cold food, however, they did not offer a discount for the very bad experience. The waitress brought refill drinks in new glasses. The salsa was unusual and good – a very vegetable tasting mixture, not just tomato, jalapeno and salt. The red sauce was good because it didn't taste like drainage from a salt mine like most Mexican eateries.
I'd rate their food as fairly good. Selection was horrible for non-meat eaters, as most Mexican places have a ""vegetarian"" menu section, they did not. (And it wouldn't surprise me if they cook with lard because it smelled like it.) Service was extremely slow and inept. The dining room had its dirt/grime issues, but the cleanest bathroom I've ever seen. Prices were a buck higher on dinners than most places. I plan to never return, and I would recommend this place only to my enemies.
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