Boutique Style: Cherry #Barbiecore OOTD at What Once Was a Tampa Hot Spot For Mexican Food- Miguel's Mexican Seafood & Grill

 

Cherry crop sweater: Local Boutique, Joyful Notion

Skirt: Lulus Boutique

Heels: Jimmy Choo

LIPSTICK: MAC Brave Red

Miguel's Mexican Seafood & Grill

South Tampa

If you are familiar with South Tampa then you will know that Miguel's was once the place to be on Friday and Saturday night. I used to drive past this place everyday on my commute to work and see the cars lined up, I would see the line of people outside waiting to get inside and I would think, "Man. this place must be amazing because it is like this every night of the week". This was long before I even moved to the city, but you best believe, when I moved out here, Miguel's was my first stop. Well, years later and when I say years I am talking about like 20 this place has fallen so far from grace it is a shame.

I had been a long time customer of Miguel's (you can check my past blog posts). In theory they have awesome food. There really wasn't a place that was offering really high quality Mexican food that specialized in seafood back then and that is what they are known for. But I was coming here and I am a Celiac so a lot of the menu is off limits. I had some favorites which were the nachos, the tacos, and then later just grilled shrimp with rice and beans. It was actually after several times I had eaten here and gotten sick that I had stopped going because I was told repeatedly the nachos were gluten free and on my last visit the waiter we had and manager said emphatically they were not (dusted with wheat flour at the end of making) and that they were having some issues with people saying things were safe in regards to dietary restrictions when they were not. So I stopped going.

They used to have the best house and top shelf margaritas also, but this one was not good (watered down and I paid for top shelf with a shooter) and my glass was dirty.

Ok, so on this day, I actually tagged along with my husband and his friend because I wanted a taco salad. You would not believe how many places do not know what a taco salad is or sale it and if they do they put it in a fried tortilla bowl, but I will get into that in a minute. 

This whole lunch date was insane from start to finish. I was so irate with this lunch I couldn't even write about it because honestly, it makes me mad when I think about it especially knowing how great this restaurant once was.

So, instead of writing a long post I am going to give y'all some bullet points:

* waitress was super rude. She yelled at me repeatedly, said if I was gluten free to just get out the restaurant, leave, they don't want to cook anything GF and it isn't safe

* asked her to just ask the chef could I have a salad (taco salad), she continued to yell and was making a scene and people were turning around looking.

*silverware, dirty

*table dirty

* margarita glass dirty

*menu has gluten free items, but in one obscure section on one page of about 10 says, even the items with corn tortillas contain wheat flour in insanely small print. UNLESS YOU SEARCH FOR THIS LIKE I DID YOU WILL NOT SEE IT.

BELOW

THE ENTREE SERVED TO MY FRIEND WAS DEEP FRIED BACON WRAPPED SHRIMP COVERED IN BLONDE HAIR.

* when we pointed out the hair she laughed it off, did not comp this, did not send a manager over, she just dismissed it and said "lol, I will bring one without hair"

This is gluten free

 Details below:

So, this is not a menu item, there is a taco salad I believe, but it is in a fried tortilla and not on lettuce. I asked them to just give me what goes in a taco on a bed of lettuce because nothing was safe to eat. This was like pulling teeth to get the waiter to even ask the kitchen this and it was so simple. It was mediocre at best, obviously, I think anyone could make a better taco salad at home, but it wasn't over priced (about 12$) and it wasn't what I had intended to eat there, I actually wanted the enchiladas which were made with corn tortilla's, but once I saw the small print saying everything is dusted with wheat flour I had to rethink what my order was. I ate probably less than half and gave the rest to my husband because it wasn't great or good and the overall mood was just bad.

I basically concluded I was 100% right in staying away from this place after my last visit over 5 years ago when the manager told me point blank some of their staff was telling people anything as long as they ordered.

So, I told you this place was known for their Mexican seafood dishes, well my friend said this seafood chimichonga was absolutely amazing and that is actually why we were all here. Yea, after all that happened they still wanted to eat there, I honestly was over it and I did not eat this obviously because it was not gluten free, but I mean I get it I guess as a foodie. It is a behemoth of a meal and I am sure it tasted good. 

I was actually more taken aback by the fact that they served my friend food with legit deep fried hair in it and not just hair, but long hair that was wrapped all in the food and they just shrugged it off. No, I would have left right, but I piggy-backed into their lunch plans because I was in the mood to go out so it wasn't my call to leave. I am sure this waitress probably doesn't work there eat this point because it has been a couple of months, but legit the hate was real that day, she was only rude to me and the whole lunch pissed me the F off because she was just yelling at me for asking questions about what was on the menu, like who does that?

I am going to keep it 100% 

I know I am gluten free and I never just waltz into a place asking people to bend over backwards to make things for me. I am usually happy with a few options within reason (that is why I had the salad, that is why I have salads so often). But this woman was just raising her voice yelling at me and I was like, "If you are unsure if this is gluten free, can you just check with the Chef" and she is yelling "Why do I need to do that if I just told you I don't know, you need to just leave!"

FYI, many many of the reviews online are similar to my experience. It seems like they just outright have just started turning customers with any type of dietary restrictions medical or religious away. This is actually in line with the experience I had about 6 years ago when I spoke with management.

I hope Miguel's gets it together because that place was like the place I would tell people to check out if they were in town (15 to 10 years ago). I have taken people there in the past. It is a beautiful restaurant, I just really don't know what happened because their food is truly unique in the way they prepare the seafood! 

After seeing the neglect in cleaning while I was there I realize I have been better off. But that was my experience. Not all restaurant visits are going to be great and I go out a lot so I mean you can take it as you will. I will say many of my experiences are great some ok, but usually experiences like this are like 1 to 3% of my visits. I hate to share them, but I have to be honest about that especially when it is stuff like this.