On The Border Mexican Grill & Cantina

As a former OTB waitress I can be a bit picky towards service. Tonight however, it was comically bad and I wasn’t the only person at the table to notice.
Our server was a nice enough guy, but he seemed completely overwhelmed. He had our drinks out quickly, but afterwards we didn’t see him again for 20 minutes. We had another server stop by during this time to tell us he was making tortillas and would be with us ‘soon’. Since when do servers make tortillas?
And why couldn’t she have taken our order and simply put it in for him? Clearly he was in the weeds while she was standing there laughing with the hostess. I can say for a fact it would have taken her less than five minutes to do so. Hell, I was tempted to get up and do it myself! The lack of team work was truly incredible.
Instead, we got to watch a table that was sat in the same section after us get their food while our order had still not been taken. I would also like to mention the restaurant wasn’t busy at all. Plenty of empty tables and servers just standing around chatting, yet trying to get the attention of one was near impossible.
Once he finally did make it over, he actually said «did you need a few more minutes to decide?» I almost thought steam was going to come out of my husband’s head lol. He was starving and this was going on close to half an hour that we had been there without ordering.
We hadn’t gone to an On the Border in well over a year, but we like it because the food is consistently good (especially the chicken tortilla soup) and the prices are affordable. After last night though it will probably be a while before we return, at least to this location.

If I have to choose a chain, I do prefer On The Border. I am usually satisfied with their food, although I usually only visit when they have endless enchiladas, endless tacos or discounted tacos for National Taco Day. This location is growing on me. The service is better than it used to be and whomever is cooking the food knows how to hook it up. I prefer this location over the other Irving location

The bowls has really limp lettuce and not very good. Not to mention there was a cricket right near our table and when we tried to tell your server, she said oh ok and went about her work?
Horrible never coming back

Not sure why I still come to this establishment. ⁶⁄₁₆ I pick up a called in to go order. Three items one of which is missing, my fault for not checking. Call the restaurant back and the Manager Brian says he will send me some coupons for not getting my $ 9 guacamole. NEVER RECEIVED. Today I go back in for a second chance, Stand at the Togo bar, watch the bartender, make one drink, clean off a small area of his bar, and flirt with four young ladies at the bar. Seven minutes after first looking at the time an extremely pleasant young lady, Evelyn, asked if I had been helped. She takes my Oder, gets me a drink, and gathers my order, and the bartender still hasn’t even noticed I was standing there. I’m sure this bartender was trained by Brian as they seem to have the attitude toward customer service. Guess I’ll have to drive across town next time I want some OTB.

Eh, not fresh. I was so bummed that it wasn’t better, I mean the food was ok, but not fresh. It tasted like it was waiting to be served from a buffet, which would be fine if I was expecting food from a buffet. The service wasn’t great and had that smell of having been «cleaned» with fresh dirty water.

1 star, because they won’t let me do zero!
3 hours for a party of 8! Service was virtually non existent. Food was cold and tasted terrible. Meals came out in «Shifts». They weren’t even busy! A Thursday night at 8:00 PM! There are so many choices for Tex Mex, cross this one off your list. Absolutely horrible food and service.

Placed an order for 2 queso bowls online. Two. Bowls. Of. Queso. Easy as pie one would think. Came to pick up my order that was supposed to be ready at 11 and had to wait 20 minutes. For an order placed online at 10:30 am. FOR 2 BOWLS OF QUESO. The restaurant was empty as they had just opened. Couple that with the unfriendly bar staff & I’m just done. Will never utilize this location again.

My husband and I come to this OTB all the time and always enjoy our experience. We have always have good service and good food. We love the brunch offerings on the weekends from 10−2pm but also often get the lunch and dinner options as well. OTB is always adding new specials, has healthy options, and good happy hours. This really is a good spot near to us and nearby the mall with the AMC theater so it’s great for dinner before /​after a movie too!

There is one reason I come here, and one reason only…
FIRECRACKER STUFFED JALAPEÑOS!!!
There are 6, they come with salsa & ranch for dipping, and they are yummo! Share a basket or two of chips add a tasty beverage of the blended variety and well, happiness is achieved!
Fast & friendly service, great on water refills (I always drink 2 glasses of water for each adult beverage consumed) and they have awesome food! You can ask for a hotter salsa, there are TV’s to catch up on news, or watch whatever game my be on at the moment, and they have a variety of tasty drinks!
:)

I’ve been here a few times and I honestly don’t know why I talk myself into coming back. I enjoy giving people the benefit of the doubt, but I think I’m definitely never coming back.
1. I visited this place with my friend after we had both gotten off from a long day at work. There were several empty tables all around the restaurant, but we were sat outside next to the loudest most obnoxious group of people ever. My friend and I were shouting just to hear one another and we were sitting right in front of each other. We brought this up to our server hoping that he’d at the very least move us or ask the people to be a little quieter but nothing. I felt very much disrespected.
2. On a separate occasion, I got food poisoning. Enough said.
3. On a third occasion, the waitress made fun of me after the person I went with ordered a margarita. Let me preface this by saying I lthat I don’t drink. Yet she insisted on teasing me in front of everyone about how it was messed up to let her drink by herself. Then as she walked away she made some sort of hand gesture at my direction and laughed. That was not only rude and disrespectful, but it was simply unprofessional.
Never coming back here again, and this time I mean it.

Don’t even bother. Very sad. This place use to be the bombdiggity. If the bad service doesn’t keep you from going here, the stale taco shells might do it. Kept going back to giv them a chance. Even after new manager came in and said things would be better. Nope.

Brett was our server. He did an awesome job. I had the Texas cosmo and my friend had one of their specialty drink. The drinks were small but they were pretty strong. We had the spinach and mushroom quesadilla for appetizer. It was really good. I went for grilled chicken with tomatilla sauce, it was amazing. Our server Brett, made our dinner experience even better.

Eating here once was enough for me. You can eat great mexican food twice as good for half the price elsewhere. I honestly didn’t care about this place at all.

Great service and food was awesome. I think Brian (mgr) was great. He stopped by several times to check on my table. Awesome customer service. I will be back!

This is the best OTB I’ve ever been to. Let’s be honest, you know the good and the décor. It is the same as that other One you’ve been to before. If you’re considering going to this one then that one didn’t give you good poisoning. You’ll like this one better. The service is only so fast, what with the laws of physics still in place and all, but the service, and the fellow patrons even, will make it a welcoming atmosphere. Come in and enjoy a meal with no surprises. You’ll get exactly what you came for.

Not sure why I’m even bothering to review a chain that used to be part of the Brinker Empire of Mediocrity. I used to love this place when I was in high school. I don’t know if they got worse over the years or if I just started eating good authentic Tex-​Mex, but somewhere along the way, On The Border became the Olive Garden of Mexican restaurants. Nothing is just God awful, but it is all stunningly mediocre. I take that back — I actually have had a couple of miserable experiences there. I occasionally pop into the Knox location to meet friends for happy hour. Margaritas are pretty good, and the appetizers are passable. These days I wouldn’t venture past that section of the menu. If you choose to, you’ve been warned.

Our server (Stephanie?) was the BOMB. she upsold the margaritas and the food. Great service! Food was a bit garlicy but that added to more fun :)

Valentine’s Dinner was SUPER underwhelming! Ordered the new spinach mushroom quesadillas, avocado fries, and queso de espinaca. Avocado fries were AWESOME but the other two fell ridiculously short of expectations. Spinach and mushrooms could’ve been cooked & seasoned better for the quesadillas. The queso arrived so cold there was a film on top. When I informed the waist of this his response was «it’s hard to heat up all that cheese». Fourth time I’ve been here and all but once the service was TERRIBLE!!! Who is training these people? Save yourself the frustration and eat somewhere else.

Overall, service wains every times I go here. But, they have the best Salsa. Period.

The service was attentive and the restaurant/​bathroom was clean. I ordered the chicken taco salad and wasn’t impressed. It wasn’t bad — just not memorable. The chicken seemed to be pre-​cooked, diced to perfection– then tossed in McCormick seasoning sauce. Basically it tasted like something I could make at home.
pros: The margarita was delish and I enjoyed their spicy salsa. I’d definitely return for happy hour but not for dinner.