seafood lover, frequent diner, appreciate nice things, eating out weekly, into trying new things
Cons
Abusive management and owner
MAR
8
2008
As an educator, my patience threshold is very high, however, my six years of experience could not have prepared me for the awful experience I had at Zia's. When our food orders came, two out of the three were wrong. The vegetarian I was with had specified a vegeterian dish and it came with meat sauce, while my medium well steak came out hard and completely brown in the middle. It was hard to cut and very dry. The waiter took both dishes back and apologized for my steak being "overcooked." The waiter brought back new orders, however, after a couple of bites, I found that my steak was fully of sinewy gristle and fat throughout. I was having to take pieces out of my mouth that I could not eat, which repulsed me, especially at a restaurant that was supposed to be higher quality. When I told the waiter, a female manager named Jamie came back and was immediately hostile, accusing me of sending the two orders back on purpose, and said she would not discard the steak meal from my bill. I told her that I didn't eat it or enjoy it, and that I had sent it back twice because the order was wrong. She explained that sometimes medium rare meant well done (?). Long story short, I told her I was not paying for the steak and at that point, she threatened to call the police to come make me pay for my meal. I asked for her boss, and she called the owner of the restaurant and put me on the phone with him. The owner told me that my steak was fine (even though he hadn't been in the restaurant that night) and that he would call the cops if I didn't pay for my meal. He referred to me as "you people" and said he wouldn't let people like me get free food from him. I am a very responsible woman and have been to many restaurants internationally and locally. Nothing could have prepared me for this nightmare experience. My friends were mortified that they had taken me to this place where I was treated so badly. Believe me, avoid this experience at all costs.