Coyote Steakhouse and Cantina

Nothing really spectacular about this place. Food is too low scale and isn’t inspired. Service is good. Prices are fair.

Came in for dinner. Ordered the 10oz chopped sirloin and the sirloin and shrimp. The bread that comes out before the meal was terrible. The bread is a fist sized roll with a knife to share it amongst the people at the table. Depressing. The bread was far too sweet, and served with sweet butter. Tried drowning it in some normal butter and black pepper but it was still no good. The salads were tiny and the ranch seems to be below par similar to a store bought bottle. Making homemade ranch isn’t rocket science, and is far better. When the entrees arrived, the rice with the chopped steak was dry. The baked potato was cold.
On the plus side, the shrimp was good and the sirloin steak was tender enough that it could be cut with a butter knife. A good cut of meat if you ask me, so I felt like I got my money’s worth with regard to the meat portion of the plate. The chopped sirloin was essentially a hamburger patty. What a shame to do to a piece of meat, but that’s beside the point.
Overall, the food was eh. The service was great though. I feel terribly bad for their servers. I can’t imagine they’re making enough money to survive with so few customers and so many corners being cut in the kitchen.

This is the first restaurant review I have ever written but our meals here were by far the worst meals we have ever had. I felt compelled to warn others to not waste their money. As we we were walking in, we asked the couple walking out how their meal was and they said not as good as usual. Well, that should have been our first clue. I asked about a few different items on the menu and the waitress highly recommended the filet mignon skewers. I ordered them medium well and when they came out, they were as almost completely raw and I am not exaggerating. The waitress was apologetic and sent them back. When they came back out they were cooked but the meat tasted horrible so I thought I would just eat the veggies and rice and those turned out to be inedible as well. My boyfriend ordered the sirloin ranchero medium well and based on the looks of it, most of it was medium rare at best. His fries and cole slaw were not good either. I feel sorry for the wait staff here because I heard more than one of them apologizing about the food. When my boyfriend asked if he could have both red and green chile on his steak ranchero she indicated that might not be possible although they did end up doing it. I also heard a lady ask for blue cheese crumbles on the side for her salad and that was an iffy as well. If this place lasts more than a year, I will be shocked. I know that I will not be back.

Ok so I was craving Texas Roadhouse and decided to stop here instead because it’s close to my house.
We were greeted and seated very promptly by the waitress who waited on us.
Our food came out very quickly. I was pleasantly surprised by this. Thats where the pleasantries end. My 7oz steak was full of gristle and fat. The garlic basil mash potatoes were like paste. My son got a burrito. Besides the fact that it was HUGE! It was dry, chile was flavorless and the tortilla was stale.
Our waitress was very attentive and sweet. There was one serving the tables behind us who was fake and overbearing. Extremely annoying.
Overall, we would never go back.

Friday, 7 Oct 2011, my wife and I stopped in for dinner. Wife’s steak was fine, mine was not. My food seemed as though it had been warmed up from a previous day or week. My onions and green peppers had been cooked, perhaps a week earlier. The service was extremely slow and painful to watch. Other tables had problems with their meals too, so many the manager gave them 10% off their meals, the same for me too. It’s a shame this place was so bad, because it looks so good from the street view. I highly recommend you just drive by and don’t stop at this joint.

My parents have been to this location before. My father’s military service organization has their executive board meetings here, as well.
My mother was not impressed by her first visit, but she gave it a second try. My sister, niece and I had our first visit tonight.
We will not be back again. (My father, however, will return.)
Four different people greeted us at the door, but they kept saying, «I’ll be right back.» It shouldn’t take that much effort to seat someone, right?
We were seated in the rear of the restaurant. I liked the comfortable chairs and the dark tables.
Our waitress came by to take our drink order and she didn’t return for about 10 minutes. She was going around to other tables in our area apologizing for mistakes in the kitchen. I heard that phrase repeated several times during our visit.
We placed our orders. My sister ordered an appetizer of fried mushrooms. My father ordered the ground sirloin. My mother and sister ordered rib eye and ribs. My niece got the ½ rack of ribs with baked beans and rice pilaf. I asked for the chicken fajitas. The waitress asked me if beans and rice were ok with that. I said that those would be fine. My father also asked to speak to the manager, so that he could set up another reservation for his military service organization meeting.
I went to the bathroom to wash my hands. There was no soap. At that point, a waiter walked in. I informed him that there was no soap. He walked over, pulled the lever, then rinsed his hands. I was surprised and horrified. I can’t imagine what he touched with his dirty hands. (I went back to the table and borrowed some hand sanitizer.)
The fried mushrooms arrived a few minutes later. I was surprised to see two little cups of ranch dressing, a handful of shredded lettuce and maybe 9 fried mushrooms, some large, some small. For the price, it wasn’t worth it.
We waited nearly 30 minutes for our food. Every few minutes, the waitress would come around and apologize for the wait and remind us of a mixup in the kitchen.
About 20 minutes into our wait, our waitress asked us if we wanted bread. I said that I did. That came out maybe 5 minutes later. (It was served warm, so I didn’t mind the wait.) The bread was sweeter than I expected, but it wasn’t bad.
The food finally arrived. My niece loved what she ordered. My dad ate the majority of his hamburger steak. The green chile that came with his meal was nice. It had a nice bite to it. My sister and mother’s food was less than worthy. The ribs were super fatty and the rib eye was flavorless. There was barbecue sauce on the table, but not everybody likes those flavors. A little salt goes a long way, when seasoning meat. The baked potato was not cooked all the way. My sister asked the waitress to bring another. It never came. My father reminded the waitress that he had asked to speak to the manager. «Oh yeah, I haven’t forgotten. There was a problem in the kitchen.» I was so tired of hearing about the kitchen.
The waitress told me that my dish didn’t come with beans and rice. I was surprised, but not upset about it. She did offer to get some for me, if I wanted. I didn’t want to ask her for it because I wasn’t sure she’d ever come back. My chicken was tender and perfectly cooked. Again, a little salt would go a long way, but the onions and peppers were cooked perfectly. I added some of my dad’s green chile and that made all the difference.
As we were finishing up our dinner, the manager came over to speak with my dad about the upcoming meeting.
When the waitress brought the bill, it wasn’t ours. It was about ½ of what we owed. My mother flagged her down and asked for the right bill. Again, more apologies. The manager came back at that point. My sister shared that she wouldn’t come back. He just apologized. I would have liked for him to ask how he could fix it or meet our expectations, but he just walked away.
It was a disappointing experience for me. I will not return.