Dingo's

06/13/09

The Worst Service Ever

by PDXBeerBaron at Citysearch

I can honestly say this is the worst service I have ever received at a restaurant.

After arriving, my wife and I chose to sit outside. We were the first of six groups to show up and sit outside. After waiting at least 8 minutes, the server greeted us and took our order. The other tables started to fill up after we placed our order. My wife and I were hungry, so we ordered bean dip as an appetizer. This order was placed while we were the only people outside.

The server appeared to be busy so the wait time wasn't bothering us. Both my wife and I were servers when we were in college so we know what it's like to be in a busy restaurant that's short staffed.

I noticed that the other groups (three of which were bigger than the duo of my wife and I) were getting served before us. We were sitting right next to the door where the server was entering and exiting from. I smiled at her to get her attention and that did not work. She made eye contact with me several times and completely ignored me. I had an empty water glass at the end of the table and she would look at it and keep walking.

In total, for the 35+ minutes we were at this place, the server came over twice. She never brought our appetizer or food. She never offered a refill on my water.

I kept saying "she's busy, let's just wait" but when she brought out the order of the third table that ordered after us and then looked right at my wife and I and kept walking I had to leave.

Not once, did she say anything to the affect of "I'll be right with you", "we're really busy", "sorry for the wait" etc. It was like she wanted us to leave. It was a little bit weird actually.

I saw the reviews on this site (I was actually prompted to join to share this experience as it was that bad) and others that stated that this was a lesbian restaurant/bar. At the time I thought nothing of the fact that the groups getting served around me were all same gender couples/parties. Now reading other reviews and contrasting my experience there, I believe my wife and I were essentially discriminated against.

In short, stay away.

• Pros: None
• Cons: Many!

09/23/08

Drinking the main draw here

by cardiaca8 at Citysearch

Only good if you are a drinker. I got a taco and the chicken was cold, but for some reason the lettuce was hot. It gets really loud in the evening when alcohol seems to be the main draw here. A nightmare if you want to take your kids.

• Pros: drinkers seem to like it here
• Cons: food quality is abysmal

07/11/08

Terrible service, mediocre food

by mohewitt at Citysearch

This was the worst service!!! We visited the SW location. It was nearly empty. That should have been our first clue. We were not acknowledged for probably 10 minutes, not given a menu, water, or chips and salsa. We waited more than 45 minutes for our food. During this time, we had to go up to the bar to ask for more salsa and chips. During our long wait, we were never offered water refills. Another table had to go up and get their own salsa, too, and track the waiter down to get the check to pay. Another table returned their food, saying it was unacceptable. We were never given a reason for our wait or an apology. We will never return and urge others not to waste their time.

07/08/08

Militant Lesbian Burritos

by CherryDaniels at Citysearch

I seriously thought the service was a joke. I mean, I wanted to come up to the dude and say, "Really? Is this really how you serve customers?" Did the guy (or the waitress/bartender who sometimes "served" us) single us out for bad service? It may not be PC to say this, but being a straight couple must have earned us a demerit. Still, how could they have known? We weren't wearing rings, we weren't making out, or holding hands. Want a list of follies?

1. The waitress didn't clean our table when we first arrived, making us wait about 15 minutes until it was wiped off and we were given menus.

2. They got my choice of rice wrong.

3. They took our water away for a refill and didn't bring them back (uh, excuse me--we're eating hot food over here.)

4. When we cashed out, the waiter would not look at us as we paid and didn't ask how our meal was. (I almost felt like telling him anyway)

As we walked away, I was trying to convince Mrs. Daniels that the place used to be great. In fact, I used to eat there all the time when it first opened and it was tiny and had great $3 burritos. But obviously, things change and they've probably gone through an owner or management change or two since their early days.

The food? It was pretty good. Mediocre really. But man, the bad service, the attitude, and the not-caring really bothered me. Skip it.

• Cons: Everything

05/27/08

Would you pay $8 for a burrito full of canned refried beans?

by LBirdandVlad at Citysearch

I thought Dingo's was fresh Mexican food, or at least that's what their sign says. At first I was pleasantly surprised by their variety of vegetarian options but was sadly disappointed by my not authentic, not fresh, not tasty burrito. It was more like really bad filler. A friend ordered a shrimp tostada and it came with your choice of salad dressing?! I mean c'mon. Portland may be far from the border but do you really think blue cheese or thousand island goes on a tostada? If you think chef boyardee is good italian food then maybe you'll enjoy Dingos.

• Pros: service, margaritas
• Cons: horrible food

04/22/08

Not so good

by rosierosy at Citysearch

We decided to try Dingo's based on an ad in the Mercury - not a good idea. The staff was friendly enough, but the food was terrible. We each ordered wet bean and cheese burritos, one with red, one with verde sauce. The red sauce was more like very spicy ketchup and rice drowned out any other flavors. The green sauce was watery and had way too much lime. It also was overloaded with rice. They were both pretty inedible, but the verde one was by far the grossest. Both burritos were gigantic, and we thought we were getting a great deal, until we tasted them. I wouldn't go there again for burritos, but the drink list sounded good.

10/15/07

Don't get take-out

by pdxblzr at Citysearch

I called in an order on a Monday night thirty minutes prior to close. I ordered 3 things. I ordered a full order of the Nachos (because the half order advertised in the menu wasn't an option?). It supposedly included cheese, beans, olives and pico de gallo (sour cream, jalapenos, and salsa on the side). It only came with the chips, cheese and beans. I ordered the Lime Chicken Taco and received a Chicken Enchilada. The third order was a Grilled Shrimp Salad. The shrimp were few and far between, the mango salsa was chopped tomatoes, the jalapeno from the Nacho was instead put on the salad and overpowered the overall flavor of the salad. The chips included with the chips and salsa and the nachos tasted stale. I wouldn't recommend this restaurant to anyone. This was a wasted $25 dollar experience.

• Pros: Friendly Service
• Cons: Take-out Order Incorrectly Prepared

08/03/07

bad service

by daggerboy at Citysearch

We had gone here a few years ago and had decent food and decent service. we decided to go back last friday and had some of the worst service i have ever had in a restaurant. i had to get up to get sweetener for my wife's iced tea then i had to get up again to get some silverware. i never received a refill on my coke and then, when it came time to pay the bill, our waitress was no where to be found (we eventually found her in the back doing side work). i'm not asking to have a server treat me like a king but paying a little attention would be nice. both my wife and i have both served in restaurants so we both know it can be a tough job but come on....at least try and ACT like you care. as for the food, i had a steak quesadilla that was pretty good but because of the service, we are never going back.

07/02/07

Service is awful, food is bland, and they close way too early for hawtorne district

by jaja999 at Citysearch

Been here about 5 times usually to meet up with other people. Never because I want good food. Everytime I've been there the servers all act like they are the most misreble people on earth. I mean come on if you hate it so bad get another job. Even when you order a drink they act like you are putting them out of their way. Their food is not good and they seem to always either be closing or already closed. Last time I was there their power went out and both waitresses were running around in tears. They were acting like drama queens and it was quite annoying. Thought our drinks would be free because we all had debit cards but just our luck it came back on right before we were told to leave. Even when the power came back on (8pm) they told everyone to leave as if the world was coming to a end. So many other places to go. I'm done giving it chances.