El Torito Mexican Restaurant & Bar

It was good food, prices seemed to have increased.  Go with the 10 off 30 coupons in the mail, then its worth it.

Taco Tuesday it's what it's about! Fresh flavorful tacos and equally yummy Margaritas!

I have twins, so it's always great when we get little birthday freebie meals. They're 4 now, so I know the drill: call the restaurant that I plan to go to, tell them I received an email regarding free bday meals for the little ones, ask if it'll be okay to use them, ask if there are any stipulations or regulations, and make sure it's approved by the manager if the host doesn't know.

After getting all my information, and getting an approval, I still want to make sure everything is okie dokie. We get there and I ask the host when we walk in if we can use the email, she says sure. We get seated (my two kids, two other paying adults, and myself), and I ask our server if these are valid, as I hand her the printout. She checks with her manager, who must have been a different one than the one that assured me I could use them about less than an hour before, and now they're saying that I cannot because it's one coupon per table.

I guess that makes sense, but then how would I have used the second "coupon" that printed out right along with the first one in the same friggin' email? Oh, and did I mention that a couple years earlier, I had my own bday Sunday brunch with 20 other people at the El Torito in Westminster and the manager was kind enough to let us use two $5 coupons, even though we were also at the same table? I guess it depends on how much money you'll make off the group? Was I supposed to have one of my friends take one of my kids to the next table over in order to get his bday meal free? Or was I supposed to take two separate trips, one day with one kid, and the next day with the other?

Whatever, at this point, my kids were starving, and I had two other people with me, and at least one of the meals was free. Food was good (you get one star for that), service was ok, I wasn't even indifferent to our server, I just accepted what she told me the manager said, it wasn't even her fault, but her service really wasn't that great, so my tip reflected that.

We get home and I decide to call El Torito customer service, to NOT lodge a complaint, but to ask what I should do in the future in order to be able to use both coupons that are sent to me in one email. I get a person who logs my information and tells me that someone with get back to me soon. Yeah...that was 3 months ago. Your customer service sucks, both at the restaurant level and the corporate level.

I know that one person doesn't make any difference to a national chain, but I have a big mouth, and, no, I don't hold grudges, I just remember the truth, forever. Guess we'll just be eating at Acapulco or Chevy's from now on :)