El Patron Grill Cantina - Riverview

Omg this restaurant is so delicious!! The empanadas were impressive. Went because a friend raved about the birria tacos, and they didn't disappoint. Really impressed with the food! The service was great. At the end of the meal our bill came in a cute treasure box. Can't wait to visit again.

I should have written this when the memory was fresh, but when my husband brought up the experience yesterday I knew I had to come tell you a quick tale of two Friday 's.Friday No. 1:In March '23, we visited this place because of the frozen margarita 's in the review pics. It was almost empty, but very loud and the employees were moving quickly. I think only one fair-skinned male spoke English; he did a great job training a newly immigrated employee and help him learn the English translations for our order. (He may have also been the bartender? There was an older gentleman serving as well, and he appeared to do a great job.Our tandem wait staff split off when a large order of Spanish speaking customers were set to come in, giving our trainee the opportunity to show his magic. He lit up, and it was nice to see. Our primary waiter took over, brought us drinks and food in great time, and then left us our check in a little treasure box. The Birria tacos were awesome, the drinks were perfect. We tipped on the card and in cash (since there were two waiters about a $40 tip.Great experience, happy to return every Friday for a recurring monthly engagement. Yay, tradition.Friday No. 2:In April '23, we returned to find only the older gentleman still serving, with a few new/different faces otherwise. A confident darker-skinned Latino came and took our order. He refused to make us frozen margaritas because it was a waste of our money and they didn 't have any liquor in them , told us to get this and not that because of some reason or another, and made fun of me for ordering the Birria tacos (I believe he called me a white girl? I am almost as dark as him. He then sang loudly as he slammed in and out of the kitchen doors for multiple songs. The birria was AWFUL and horribly greasy, the drinks were bad, and he kept staring at us the entire time as if we were going to dine and dash. Mind you, we are grown adults in business attire and we are all the same skin color... what in the world was his issue? He rushed us off even though the restaurant is empty, standing at the table after bringing the check until we gave him a card. He then stared at us from the register and I finally looked at him like, are you okay? He smirks and then brings us the bill with 20% added gratuity included.What a sad, foolish young man. We would have tipped you more even with your horrible service! Comparing the two bills, he also overcharged us for drinks and included an item we never ordered to pad the bill (hence why he refused to leave the bill on the table .As you can see, both Friday 's were $100 evenings with vastly different experiences. The owner really should do a better job checking in on employees, because if I had walked in on this employee at any point during the hour we were there (on a Friday night no less I would have promptly began the write-up process and planned for termination.Best of luck to anyone who eats here. If you can ask for the older gentleman with glasses he may be the only competent server available. Not sure about the cooks? Anyway, if you see a guy who looks black, ask him a question; if he has an accent go ahead and drive somewhere else. He 's about to ruin your night.Signed,An Afro Latina who can find literally thousands of other places to spend money and bless the employees while I 'm at it.

The place looked beautiful but it had a different Latin accent to it. Not Mexican vibes like other Mexican restaurants it was more bachata or like Rosalia type music. They had the tv on a corridos YouTube thing but they didn’t play that, they played RAUW or merengue or some other Latin music but definitely not Mexican. I feel like the staff there is also of a different latin but not Mexicans. They should have made it as a latin restaurant instead of advertising as Mexican restaurant and not even playing Mexican music. Food was okay, drinks were good, but it just didn’t sit right that they couldn’t even put Mexican music yet portray as a Mexican restaurant. Also for the whole thing $98

Second time here and both times the food was amazing. I cannot say enough about the spicy margaritas. Delicious! The second time we came, we ordered the Mocajete Al patron and it is amazing!

After reading reviews and always trying to support local my husband and I stopped in to try their food. The atmosphere would be wonderful if there were ceiling fans and the AC was on. It was very warm but the staff was not. There was no structure and after receiving one drink it took nearly 30 minutes for someone to come take our order. My husband asked for another beer when we ordered and never received it. The bar tender kept going to the table in front of us and sipping his own beer, and the staff was all over the place but not truly catering to their new patrons. Finally after an hour we decided to pay for our one drink each and leave. I wished we could have tried the food but the service was not good. Looks like a local hangout. We just weren’t made to feel like we were important.