photographs provided by Terry Woodard and Barbara Standing

HHP Review: THE HAPPY MEXICAN (1 glass)

This report is going to be a little different because there are two sides to this story. Our June Happy Hour started out well enough out on the expanded patio on a sunny but not too hot Friday afternoon. The Patrol turnout grew steadily, adding tables as we went, until we had over a dozen. Although our waitress seemed a little particular about how we pulled tables together, we obliged her, assuming it was a ubiquitous “fire marshal” requirement to keep aisles clear. Several ordered beer ($3 domestic, $4.50 import) but most opted for the “top shelf” margarita special - the same price ($7.99) as normal but in one of those 27 oz. punch bowls during happy hour. Some ordered white cheese dip in addition to the gratis salsa and tortilla chips, both tasty and plentiful. We had heard that The Happy Mexican had had a spate of people on the patio hopping the iron fence and making away without paying, so we weren’t overly offended or suspicious when our waitress required credit cards up front. The margaritas were potent and the beers cold, but the wine choices were a little lacking; but, after all, it is a family-style Mexican restaurant. A few other tables were taken on the patio and some people at the bar inside but there wasn’t really what we’d call a bar scene. After a sufficient intake of tequila and Corona we got our tabs, added generous tips for having had to put up with us, and bade our adioses. At that point, with free chips and dip, refreshing beverages, and a convivial crowd, we were feeling pretty good about The Mexican, rating maybe 2.5 to 3 glasses.

Then, the morning after. I got an email from a Patrol couple who had examined their credit card receipt and were stunned to see that they had paid $72 for a cheese dip and 4 margaritas. I went to the Happy Mexican website and checked prices on the online menu but could not come up anywhere near the amount it should have been. I then emailed others and several responded with similar stories. Try as I did to make them so, the numbers just weren’t adding up, and no one had or even recalled what was on the itemized tabs. After a few calls to The Happy Mexican I finally found someone willing to help, and was able to get copies of the tabs. Now, to be fair, I have to confess that one of us, who had told me he had 4-5 beers, actually slammed down 8 in a couple of hours. You know who you are! With this information I was able to get close to calculating the bills, although some never did come out exact.

Here is what happened. First off, many of you may not know but Tennessee has a 15% Liquor-by-the-Drink tax. The vast majority of restaurants and bars have this tax already included in their menu prices. But not The Happy Mexican - they add the 15% on top of the sticker price - so, for example, the special margarita is not $7.99 but $9.19! And that is before sales taxes of 9.25%. So you are now at $9.93 (at least they don’t tax on tax). But that still didn’t add up. On top of all that, because we had more than 8 people an 18% gratuity was already included on our tabs. No one remembers whether that was a separate line item but what everyone remembers is that our waitress did not tell us that the tip was included - neither before nor after she realized that we all tipped on top of the tip. So, the person who had a single margarita added a second tip for a total of $13.37. For one drink! Six of us were aggrieved by the double tipping to the tune of $48.49, and on July 8 I wrote the owner asking for a house credit, that we would come back, use up, and undoubtedly spend 3 or 4 times that. As of this writing I have not received any response whatsoever, and do not now expect one. Although we were somewhat complicit by not auditing our tabs before paying, our Happy Mexican experience was not unique - on their Facebook page are numerous gripes about not understanding bills, overcharges, etc. They don’t seem to care about us or their other [former] customers, so we don’t care about going back - ever.

 *Although we are giving The Happy Mexican a single glass because of the free chips and dip, our rating comes with the condition of “NOT RECOMMENDED.”                      

      - Bill Denton