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Pancho's Restaurant


lakeside7

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This Sunday we went to Pancho's new place for lunch and had a nice meal,(a side business to his super market ,) interesting and varied menu good selection and very reasonable prices, I had some "Golden Berries" mixed in my generous salad and Lasagna   they are a small fruit that look like cherry tomatoes! , anyone else had some?

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I have been very disappointed with Pancho's.  I have had 3 meals there starting with their steak special and never got a really good one.  Service was only so-so.  May try again but there are a lot better options in Riberas.

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On 9/27/2020 at 10:44 PM, rafterbr said:

I have been very disappointed with Pancho's.  I have had 3 meals there starting with their steak special and never got a really good one.  Service was only so-so.  May try again but there are a lot better options in Riberas.

What other places in Riberas as would  you recommend 

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2 hours ago, lakeside7 said:

What other places in Riberas as would  you recommend 

My favorite restaurants are in Ajijic but in Riberas I think Mediteraneo Caffe e Cucina  and its made in restaurant pasta is best.  I enjoy going to Huerto Cafe and there is a mexican restaurant just east of Food Container with a lot of stainless steel equipment in it, I enjoy eating fish and chips there, it changed its name and I can't remember it right now.  The Food Container has some decent food but I can't stand the flies in fly season. Of course you have Mom's and several other small mexican places.  There is a new Indian and Cuban restaurant I haven't had a chance to eat at, but will as soon as we return from Oklahoma. 

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Out running errands this morning and decided to throw all caution to the winds by having breakfast at Pancho’s. It (and the store) were busy. Service was good. Protocols being followed.  I had the everything omelette which came with beans and a small fruit plate. It was excellent. It has been many months since I had eaten there and was pleased that everything seemed fine (at least for today).

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I also had terrible experience at Pancho's.  Was there one evening by myself and ordered a salad.  I was the only customer.  Salad never came.  After about thirty minutes, I just left.  Another time, I was there with friends for their steak dinner and it was terrible.

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1 hour ago, Panchos Deli Market said:

Hi amigos, maybe our haters are here too. Or maybe it's the friends of our competitor's wife, whatever. We invite you to know the best place is Chapala. If you find bad service or a bad food experience we give you 1,000 pesos in cash. With love PANCHO

Pancho's emporium is the single best thing that has happened in Lakeside in years.  Great food, great variety, great staff and a "go to necessity" for the best all round grocery and beverage selection anywhere.  He's put himself on the line and in difficult times he's doing all of us a service.  Yes, there are wrinkles along the way for any new business and not every day is filled with perfection........but take a good look.  Pancho's will, with very little doubt, be around a long, long time.....and he has a son who'll likely take over when Pancho gets a little tired!

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My wife and I eat out a lot and we are very particular. We want good and prompt service, good value and tasty well presented food. It is also nice to see the owner available 7 days a week...that is by his choice.

We eat with Pancho at least once a week and have not commented up to now because we wanted the negative comments to run their course. His grocery store is exceptional and the help....without exception is always welcoming.

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It's been several months since we ate there but the quality of the steaks was not good and the sides  were help yourself buffet style and cold and almost uneatable. As we were leaving, I noticed they were warming them up.  Another time we ate there we had to keep asking the waitress for things, such as drinks, cutlery, etc.  Pancho's is a long ways from being best in Riberas and certainly not best in Chapala.  We do buy things we cannot find in the store and appreciate this service.  I noticed when we went ,there were people enjoying the wine and drinks.  I know expats who have not liked his meals and not gone back and I also know expats who enjoy the meals and are regular customers.  Maybe things have changed since we last ate there, later I will sample the food again.  I was really disappointed with the steak as I like to eat one every week.

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7 hours ago, Panchos Deli Market said:

Hi amigos, maybe our haters are here too. Or maybe it's the friends of our competitor's wife, whatever. We invite you to know the best place is Chapala. If you find bad service or a bad food experience we give you 1,000 pesos in cash. With love PANCHO

When a business owner deals with negative comments by accusing those who have complained as being some sort of conspiracy by the competition, that doesn't say much for the business owner's professionalism, nor does saying you'll pay anyone who has a bad experience.

Know what a professional approach is? 

"I'm quite distressed to read that some of the posters here have said they had a bad experience at my restaurant. Please, if you ever experience poor food or service at my establishment, let me know right away, so I have a opportunity to get to the bottom of what might have happened, as it's of utmost importance to me to provide a consistent high quality product and service."

Defensiveness, accusations, and denial in response to customer complaints will cause me not to patronize a business just as much as poor quality product, service, or workmanship will. Whereas a business owner being open and responsive to complaints will often encourage me to give that business a second chance.

 

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8 hours ago, mudgirl said:

When a business owner deals with negative comments by accusing those who have complained as being some sort of conspiracy by the competition, that doesn't say much for the business owner's professionalism, nor does saying you'll pay anyone who has a bad experience.

Know what a professional approach is? 

"I'm quite distressed to read that some of the posters here have said they had a bad experience at my restaurant. Please, if you ever experience poor food or service at my establishment, let me know right away, so I have a opportunity to get to the bottom of what might have happened, as it's of utmost importance to me to provide a consistent high quality product and service."

Defensiveness, accusations, and denial in response to customer complaints will cause me not to patronize a business just as much as poor quality product, service, or workmanship will. Whereas a business owner being open and responsive to complaints will often encourage me to give that business a second chance.

 

Excellent response! A popular local business will no longer receive our business because the relatively new partner did not take a course in customer relations 101. We are what would be to them a prime consumer as we don't do restaurant,but cook at home. Some people just don't get it and no the new partner is not Mexican.

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There is a restaurant here in Sayulita, where I live, that I used to patronize a lot. I would also take my guests there and recommended it to friends. It's also mentioned in many of the Mexico guidebooks.

Then I got food poisoning there from a hamburger plate order one night. The next day, around 4:30-5:00PM, when I knew they'd be setting up for dinner, but not open for service yet, I went back and spoke to the owner. I took him aside, out of earshot of any of his employees (and there were no diners at all yet), and told him quite politely that I wanted him to know that I got food poisoning the night before, that the food tasted okay, and I didn't know if it was from the meat, whether they hadn't sterilized the raw veggies properly, or maybe one of his employees wasn't using safe practices. His response was to cross his arms over his chest and arrogantly state that it was "impossible" to get sick from a meal in his restaurant. 

I told him I absolutely did get sick from that, as the only other thing I had had to eat that day was a bowl of granola, fruit and yoghurt at home, which is my standard breakfast every day, at which he again stated that it was impossible. I then said I had just mistakenly thought that he would rather be informed, so he could find out what happened, rather than me telling everyone not to eat there, and walked out.

He knew I was a local, and I guess he thought he didn't need my business, that he makes enough money off the tourists. What he didn't know is that I am an upholsterer here and have about 100 clients, and that have told many of them about that experience, told all my friends, and warn all my guests not to eat there. So he lost way more than just my business.  And some of the people I told said "Oh, everyone gets sick there".

I also had a friend who got sick on a fish dinner there about a year later. I had never even told her of my experience there, but she did the exact same thing I had done- went up to talk to him the next day. (She was also a regular, and she knew for a fact it was the fish dinner, because someone she knew who had been at the next table, with 3 others, also had been having the fish dinner, and my friend had called them to see if they had felt ill after- all had gotten sick).

That restaurant owner did exactly the same thing to her that he did to me a year earlier- crossed his arms and said it was impossible to get sick eating at his place.

Had the owner responded to my letting him know by saying, "I'm so sorry, thank you for telling me, believe me, I'll get to the bottom of this", I would have given him another chance, and he wouldn't have lost all the business he did from me warning others not to eat there. But he would apparently rather be arrogant and stupid (any restauranteur who thinks it's "impossible" to get sick from eating in his restaurant is indeed stupid- such things can happen anywhere) 

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On 10/5/2020 at 8:41 AM, happyjillin said:

Excellent response! A popular local business will no longer receive our business because the relatively new partner did not take a course in customer relations 101. We are what would be to them a prime consumer as we don't do restaurant,but cook at home. Some people just don't get it and no the new partner is not Mexican.

Yes.  A great response.  Being open to improving versus defensiveness is professionalism.  Anything else is immature and amateurish.

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On 10/4/2020 at 3:35 PM, Panchos Deli Market said:

Hi amigos, maybe our haters are here too. Or maybe it's the friends of our competitor's wife, whatever. We invite you to know the best place is Chapala. If you find bad service or a bad food experience we give you 1,000 pesos in cash. With love PANCHO

Several months ago, I was talking with someone who trains and counsels restaurants.  One comment stuck with me and it applied to Pancho's.  You do not place cold items which need to remain cold next to hot items on a buffet and this was the case at Pancho's.

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Just now, Zeb said:

Several months ago, I was talking with someone who trains and counsels restaurants.  One comment stuck with me and it applied to Pancho's.  You do not place cold items which need to remain cold next to hot items on a buffet and this was the case at Pancho's.

Also, several months ago I was in the bakery section and told him that one of the signs on the bakery items (in French) was misspelled.  On another visit, I noticed it had not been corrected.

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7 minutes ago, Zeb said:

Also, several months ago I was in the bakery section and told him that one of the signs on the bakery items (in French) was misspelled.  On another visit, I noticed it had not been corrected.

Really? Not correcting the spelling of a word is an earth shattering offense? -SNORK!

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1 hour ago, Zeb said:

Yes.  A great response.  Being open to improving versus defensiveness is professionalism.  Anything else is immature and amateurish.

It was worse than that,the new partner choose to insult me via PM. Unfortunately the owner of the business of 30 years can not be reached via PM because the new partner now does all that.

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1 hour ago, happyjillin said:

Really? Not correcting the spelling of a word is an earth shattering offense? -SNORK!

No one said anything about it being earth shattering.  I mentioned it because it was a lack of response and correction to a simple item and it was not done.  It is a small thing, but the point is, along with the other things, it adds up.  I think the store is nice and the staff mostly helpful, but restaurant wise, it's disappointing.

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