5 Seasons Brewing The Prado

Our experience at the restaurant was not good. This was the first time we went to the restaurant and it will be the last time.

The two hostesses were clueless. Told us it would be a 20 minute wait. This surprised us because we saw a number of empty tables. Turned out to be 45 minutes. Totally unacceptable. It’s one thing if the restaurant is jammed and it’s hard to estimate time but it’s another when there are a lot of empty tables. Others after us were told 30-40 minute wait. And they didn’t even bother to apologize for the wait, offer us anything, or act like we were even there. We went to the desk twice to get a status report.

When we were seated, we realized there was a nice outdoor patio. The hostesses hadn’t bothered to ask us whether we wanted to sit in or outside. By this time, we didn’t want more delay in getting an outside table.

The table we had was wobbly but again we didn’t want delay in getting a new table.

We also noted there were at least 20 empty tables which makes the wait even more incomprehensible.

We then waited an unusual period for our food. We saw the server once during this period. He seemed to have too many tables, some inside and some outside.

When the food was served I didn’t get silverware, which one would think the server would have noted. When I asked for it, the person delivering the food took care of other things first so I got up and got silverware myself from an empty table.

The food was unexceptional. The shrimp salad that I had had limp lettuce, too much dressing (I should been asked what I wanted and whether I wanted it on the side), and the fried shrimp tasted like it came from a fast food seafood restaurant. My wife’s meal was also ordinary at best.

We didn’t get dessert because we couldn’t take more waiting.

To the manager’s credit, when seeing that we were not happy, came over, apologized and comped the meal. That was very professional but not enough for us to come back or say anything good about the restaurant to anyone else.

What surprises me is that the restaurant has been in business for a long time and should have its act together. What I saw was
poorly trained help, an amateur system, and a poor kitchen.

Westside location: The owner/chef tried charging $5 extra for a side of spinach for substituting the beans and rice. When I asked to speak to him, the server returned with a reduce price of $2.50. I asked to see the owner/chef again and the server returned with the $2.50 charge removed from the bill. I asked to see the owner/chef again but was told he was too swamped and covered in food. Funny thing is there was no wait and empty tables in the restaurant. Food quality was poor and small portions. The chef should go to Six Feet Under and learn how to make a fish taco. The tacos were practically empty, little inside the tortilla and nothing special re taste. Margarita was $10 for 4 oz - skinny glass filled with ice. Our waiter was kind enough to give us a "free drink or appetizer" card for the next visit. The only catch with the card is that you have to sit at the bar. Will not return.