Comments on: El Tesoro Opens Wednesday, Featured in Daily Candy

By: Paula

Paula — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 00:29:46 +0000

P.S. Honestly, if the hostess had just said, “We’re backed up in the kitchen and trying to give them a little break,” I bet I would have ordered another drink and waited twenty more minutes. The attitude just was the killer for me.

By: Paula

Paula — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 00:19:50 +0000

My husband and I just got back from trying to eat at Tesoro. When we arrived at about 7:10, we were told there would be a twenty minute wait. I was surprised at this since there were at least six tables sitting empty. But, we got drinks and chips at the bar, and figured they were reserved or something. Well, twenty minutes goes by, and no one is getting seated, even as more tables open up. At the thirty minute mark, I went to ask what gives. The hostess tells me that our table isn’t ready yet. I point out the six or more tables sitting empty. She starts with a whole song-and-dance about how they want to make sure we are getting good service, so they won’t seat us until the kitchen and staff are ready to take our orders. I point out that leaving us stranded at the bar isn’t “good service” either. She then starts getting defensive, and points out that she told us there would be a wait. I point out that was thirty minutes ago. She counters by telling me there are two groups ahead of us, so I observe that those folks haven’t gotten seated either. It goes back and forth like this a few more rounds. At this point, I was really quite irritated, so we paid for our drinks and chips and left. This was a really disappointing experience as we love Casita in East Atlanta, and the menu looked great. I understand that there are always kinks when a restaurant opens, but the attitude of the hostess was really quite infuriating. Also, if they are short of wait staff, why were there two hostesses standing around not doing anything? We may try again, but I doubt it will be soon.

By: Sheila

Sheila — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 01:10:26 +0000

Went to El Tesoro on day 2 for lunch. We were the only ones there but it was great. Looking forward to returning.. but we’re so busy visiting the other new restaurants in town, that it leaves little time– til this Friday!
Cakes and Ale and Calavino’s have been our other recent obsessions. C&As food and service were great– even though they were fairly packed on their 3rd day.
Calavino’s food, both brunch and dinner, was quite good, but they might want to fine tune their service. At dinner, we watched as several parties with reservations waited too many minutes to be seated even though tables were empty.

By: thebaron

thebaron — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 05:05:02 +0000

Went there tonight for dinner. The food was great. The service was nice. I love the house they have it in. My only complaint, really, was where we sat – near the fireplace at the entrance. They have 4 tables in that space, but I really think that’s a little tight… especially for my wide-load posterior.

I was surprised to find out they only opened yesterday. They seemed to have it more together than I’d expect for day #2. The place was packed for dinner service, too. Kitchen mighta been a little bit slow, but not noticably so.

Our waiter, Tim, was still a little new to the menu (it IS day 2, after all) but he handled himself well and got the answers we sought. He was a very nice guy and he was pretty attentive considering everything.

We had the empanadas – mighty tasty, not uber greasy, just good stuff. We got a 2nd order to go for later. We also each had the tacos grandé platter where you choose 4 tacos. Tres hongos: yummy, duck: good flavor but duck was a bit dry, chorizo/potato: interesting flavor (almost indian, lotsa cumin there) but a bit salty, spicy beef: not my favorite, pollo verde: probably one of the better ones. My wife tried the Danger Boy w/ tequila, cointreau, grand mariner, lime and OJ. The flavor was not good. Especially for $10.

Mad props to Tim – We didn’t say anything about it but he noticed as he walked by that the drink had not been finished and asked us about it. He talked to the manager to have it removed from the bill. While I’d expect a good waiter in an established business that was up and running to do that as a matter of course, for 2nd day mad house, I thought that was especially nice and thoughtful. They took it off the bill, which was nice, but they didn’t need to do that to make me happy or get me to come back. The food and service was plenty good enough.

So, they’re trying. I hope they make it. I’ll definitely be going back.

ps. One little bizarre item. Notice the chairs. I think they got them from an Asian fusion restaurant

By: altmod

altmod — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 23:42:58 +0000

My family went on opening night and it was very promising. While owned by the Casita Cantina folks, the food and atmosphere were both much better than the E. Atlanta joint. The street corn appetizer was very yummy, as was the queso fundido appetizer. The albondegas soup will be great for winter (although too salty it still was good and it is very hard to find around these parts). We also tried the casserole of beans, cheese, salsa and chips–not that interesting. My son got the kid’s bean empanada–fried goodness–very light and flaky for an empanada. There were serious service glitches but we expected that on the first night (for example all the folks who came in after us got their dinners before we got our appetizers and the server never cleared piled up dirty dishes). There were a bunch of people there (all rooms of the house had customers eating). We’ll definitely go back. It’s great timing for El Tesoro with Zocalo closed. It’s always exciting to have a new restaurant!