Estela's Mexican Restaurant - Tampa

I have eaten at this restaurant once a week for the past four weeks and in my experience any review complaining about the poor service does not adequately explain exactly how atrocious the service actually is. The good: The food is fantastic. Evenings, in particular when cooler weather is here, are a wonderful time to sit outside and enjoy the live music when it is available. I presume he is the Owner but the older gentleman who appears to do a little bit of everything is great. The bad: The service is atrocious. Of the four dining experiences so far only once did I have a server who appeared to have a basic understanding of what even an average level of service is and in all honesty he was above average. The other three dining experiences, and two of these occasions there were ten tables seated or less with at least four servers that I counted, were terrible. In each of the three referenced poor experiences each server apparently believes that once they drop off your chips, take your order and bring your food that they should never check on you again until you desperately flag them down or ask the manager or another server to find them for you after waiting twenty minutes for your check. No checking to see if you require a refill of drinks or chips or if your meal is good. You no longer exist once you receive your food. The food is wonderful and the atmosphere is nice but absolutely not worth dining in until they either find or train a waitstaff that understands the bare minimum of service that should be part of a dining experience. 2/5/24 Edit: I order food out weekly but dined in for the first time in two months. I don't know where they found him from but Leandro was our server and did a fantastic job. Hope the rest of the service staff can learn to match Leandro's quality and the great food.

Great tacos. Great drinks. No frills straight to the point solid food with plenty of options. Priced accordingly too.

Nice food selection, though I always seem to get the Diablo burrito. Drinks are excellent according to my friends, especially the skinny and spicy margaritas.

Food is good and love the location, but the service is poor. The last few times we’ve visited our server was not attentive and not very friendly. It will take a long time to get your food. I hope they fix their service because we used to enjoy eating here.

Try the green sauce with your chips. Seriously, addicting