La Ribera Mexican Restaurant

By any means this is not my first Mexican Cuisine experience. I have frequented Mexican restaurants all over the US and Cozumel. I love the food and normally I love the atmosphere. From the first moment I walked into this restaurant I felt the chill of not being particularly welcome. My wife and I could see all the vacant tables inside the restaurant from where we were standing and with no one in front of us it took them 5 minutes to figure out where we could sit. Following the "come on" statement we were led to what was probably the worst table in the building and had to request being seated somewhere else. After being seated again, someone finally came to the table to ask what we wanted to drink. While waiting for someone to come back and take our orders, we watched three other couples walk in. They were seated at much more accommodating and comfortable tables on the opposite side of the room. After seating the other folks, the person who seated them went into the kitchen and came back out with a gentlemen who sat directly behind me talking loudly in Spanish. He begin bumping the back of my seat till I decided to just sit up on the edge of my seat. At this point we had been sitting a good 10 minutes when the person who seated us walked over to take the orders of the folks that came in 5 and 10 minutes after us. That was enough for us and we excused ourselves. On the way out we noticed we were the only Black couple in the restaurant. At this point I really don't care what anyone may think about my implications here. This was an experience I had never encountered in a restaurant that was supposedly known for its atmosphere and food. Obviously, Black people are NOT welcome in a city that is half Black. The one sure thing about this experience is that I will NEVER recommend this restaurant to anyone and my wife and I will never be seen in there again.

I normally do not write negative reviews as my boyfriend and I are both servers and are very understanding when it comes to eating at restaurants, but there were just so many things that went wrong here. Our server did not introduce herself, cheese dip was forgotten and we received no apology for that, my meal was missing many things that were listed on the menu and a different server had to make multiple trips to bring me everything. Our salsa and waters sat empty for 10-15 minutes and our server was MIA while we watched other servers filling up salsa and drinks for all of their tables constantly. We were pleased with the food and thought it was very good until my boyfriend found what looked like a hair in his burrito. The manager claimed it was from the bag of rice, but it sure did look exactly like a hair, but who knows. They took the burrito off our bill, but we also noticed we were charged almost $2 per water and it was on the receipt as “bottled water.” Not sure if that’s standard here or if our server just charged us for no reason. We had high hopes for this place but unfortunately have no desire to return at all.

We used to frequent this place weekly and it was always good. Something has changed. The last several times, we have had problems when we ate there. The employees are not happy anymore. Today, I ordered the New Mexican Steak. When it was delivered, it was New Mexican Feast which is several dollars higher. When it was delivered, I told the waitress (different than the one who took our order) that I had ordered the Steak. No apologies. When we got the bill, we were billed for New Mexican Feast. Won't be going back anytime soon...

Food was bland with zero flavor. Cold chicken, and the waitress had dirt under her nails. It was disgusting. Other employees seen playing around and had their fingers and hands all in their faces. The tables were dirty and had residue on them. Out of all the mexican cuisines i’ve tried, Im disappointed. I will never return to this location. Just go to Plaza Azteca!

I eat from here pretty regularly whether it’s in the restaurant, take out or DoorDash but today when I DoorDashed my food there was a dead bug cooked in it. I am disgusted and after leaving me on hold for several minutes they only offered to replace my plate, if I brought it back to the restaurant. Wasn’t expecting a whole lot and I did not act rude about it but I did expect a manager to speak with me and attempt to make it right or at least sound sorry about the incident instead of only speaking to one girl. I do not plan on ever eating here again. I contacted DoorDash to get a refund but I am disappointed by La Ribera’s lack of professionalism and customers service on top of the nastiness that I was served.