El Taco Grande

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OPEN NOW - Closes at 10:00pm

We went here with friends of ours from the suburbs that told us that this place was 'kid friendly'. At first, it appeared that it was; as we approached the entrance a large family with three toddlers was exiting. When we got inside however, we got a completely different impression. There was a wait so we stood by the door and I approached the host because my friend had put our name in. I told him that we'd need a table that accommodated our stroller since our son had fallen asleep in there. The told me that strollers were not allowed in the restaurant. Incredulous I asked, "is there really no where in the restaurant, maybe in a corner, that you can put us?" Another man approached and said harshly, "fine, but you're going to have to wait longer because there are only two tables in the corner". I said, 'that's fine but if a corner table opens up you'll sit us there" to which he replied again, 'you're going to have to wait longer". At this point, fed up, and since I had scoped out the dining room before approaching the host and knew that they had two separate eating areas and thus (theoretically 8 corner tables) I replied harshly, "do you want me to walk you through the restaurant and point out to you the tables in the corner?". A third man (apparently named Carlos) chimed in at this point and said "Well you can't eat here honey". I'm hispanic so I'm highly attuned to the gender role differences and that machismo but that last comment drove me over the edge. I told him not to call me honey, that is was degrading to which he said, "have a good night" and I replied, "we will because we won't be eating here". I then proceeded to insult him in Spanish, and again in English, and left. Needless to say we will NEVER EVER attempt to eat here again. And if you have small kids or request that they might find mildly annoying I'm sure they'll treat you as badly as they treated us. In the hospitality business there is something called pragmatism that is REQUIRED so that even if you can't meet the customer's needs you can make them feel appreciated and like you are sorry and tried. This restaurant does not have a drop of it.

Love the food, and the see ice. The owners are first class people. Pick anything on the menu and you will not be disappointed.

Terrific Authentic Mexican Food Made From Scratch. It doen't get any better.