El Jardin Restaurant

The place opens at 11 my father, brother, and I go to eat lunch together at 11:20 and the door is still chained. we see the cook look up at us and then go back to prep. I believe if the cooks don’t care then the restaurant won’t succeed and to let 3 plates walk at lunch is showing the true colors of a lazy cook

We have eaten here at least 50 times over the past 30 years. Miguel, the owner always greets us with a smile. The restaurant is always clean, although there is only one bathroom that serves, ah, one. My favorite dish is the chicken tostada with beans and rice on the side. I’ve also had the crab enchiladas, cheese enchiladas, burritos, lately, as well. This is easily the best Mexican restaurant in town.

The best fajitas in town. They are grilled and come with the fixings of salsa, sour cream and guacamole. Rice and beans are also very good. Chips for nachos are handmade and are very delicious. The carnitas are good but not great. My wife did not like the sauce on them which taste like a chilli and lime sauce. She prefers the carnitas naked with no sauce. For myself I like the carnitas and the sauce. It also comes with great rice and beans. Service was good and we will be back to try this place again with a drink.

Great food and prices. Recommend the torta and steak nachos. The churro chimichanga was cool too.

This location is better then the Manteca location. The food is amazing and good portion.

Bad food, Bad managment, didn’t even come to the table after two seperate plates were sent back. Made an account just to rate how bad this place was. Btw it was not busy at all, only ones in here.

I am absolutely NEVER eating here again!
First, me and my 3 coworkers went to El Jardin for lunch. Our drinks were never filled. We were NEVER checked on. My co worker even had to stand up and grab boxes off of a stack so we could go back to work.
Second, when we get to the register we were told that there is a $ 13 minimum per credit card. I asked if it was posted, which it wasn’t. It was explained to me that groups could not break up their check without a $ 13 minimum. So then I asked if me and my co workers were supposed to come in and all sit at separate tables so we could individually pay for our lunches. I didn’t even get an answer.
Third, I absolutely LOVE El Jardins. They are
My favorite Mexican restaurants. The family that owns them is amazing. The service at the one is Oakdale is horrendous. Me, my co workers, and my friends will never eat here agin!

I love this place. The food is good, I like the big semi-​private booths. I live in Oakdale and have been here at least ten times, I have never had service issues like some other Unilocalers mention. I like that the owner is always there and it seems like a family run business. Authentic, not authentic, I don’t give a damn the food is good. Why is it that mexican cooks can’t add some flair to their food without criticism of it’s authenticity. I’m Italian, but I don’t go around town like a food critic scrutinizing pizza…

If you are Caucasian and don’t know what real authentic mexican food is, this is your spot. You get treated better then hispanic patrons. I can’t stand the green eyes piece of garbage manager. Food is garbage id rather eat spagetti o can food or even cat food. Taco bell is 5 stars compared to this dump. I hope they go out of business!

Nice, quiet, clean, friendly and the food was amazing! They had a booth big enough and private enough for our family of six. Not sure what the negative reviews about the manager are but we found him to be the complete opposite of those reviews. Maybe you caught him on an off night? He was extremely friendly and attentive and kind to our family tonight. Our drinks were made perfectly strong. No watered down drinks and the food was flavorful and hot and the portions are huge! Our waitress was friendly and fast and never left our children’s drinks empty. I know a lot of restaurants cringe at the thought of four little people coming into their restaurants but El Jardin treated them with the utmost kindness. We will definitely be going back! We’ve been to a few other Mexican restaurants in town but none of them hold a candle to El Jardin’s.

The owner is rude. the food is good. The staff seems lost sometimes. One time the cook wasn’t there. I placed an order then 15 min later I saw nobody cooking anything. I asked the girl is anyone making the food. ? She said the cook went out to deliver some food and I am not sure why he is not back yet. Lol really? , it’s a small town. I guess it’s ok. I just drank my beer and left.

This place was highly recommended to our party of five and we could not have been more disappointed. The service was not only slow but poor and the food luke warm and not that good. We read where the bean dip was famous and had been served to a previous president. It was cold and bland as was some type of chopped cabbage served along side of the salsa. It took over a half hour just to receive a glass of water. Once we did receive our entrees we never saw the waiter again and had to stop other waitstaff for anything we needed like more water. Never again.

Great location & building but horrid service. When being asked politely for some horchata, you’re going to have to further elaborate than responding with just a «no»
Tarnishes your business as I tell everyone from here on out how unsatisfying the service is here…

I had the steak fajitas and honestly, they were the best I have ever had. Very good chow!!!

Hands down the best Mexican restaurant in Oakdale ! The staff is great prompt fast and courteous the food is incredibly delicious and authentic their chicken enchiladas in red sauce is fantastic and my favorite, for seating they have nice private booths, and they also serve drinks and margarita, The only problem I have ever had is getting a seat in there, and even that is well worth the wait!

Really good, authentic Mexican food in a very nice, relaxed setting. Manager, Miguel, is always looking to take care of his customers and the food quality is outstanding. I have a customer who grew up in Mexico and now lives in L.A. He loves coming to visit at El Jardin Oakdale because he says he cannot find Mexican food like it anywhere in Los Angeles!

Really good food. Really good service. What more can you ask for?
And the desserts are the bomb. We were stuffed and still had two full container of left overs, but they sounded so good So we oredered the cheesecake chimichanga and the deep fried ice cream, for $ 7 we had all ate our share of the deep fried ice cream but then they came with the cheesecake chimichanga and it looked so good that even though we were full we still managed to get the chimichanga down.
Anyways like I said before good food, good service, can’t beat that.

Great place to eat. hospitalities awesome plenty of food at a good price always a treat to eat there

I love this place! I have been coming here for years and am always pleased when I leave. The owner Miguel is great and is also so friendly, and attentive. He makes sure that every customer leaves with a smile. If you are ever in the area I would definitely suggest stopping by for lunch or dinner

Never ever again.
We used to come to this restaurant all the time – on minimum days I would take my kids in and we’d order the steak nachos, and it was MORE than enough food for all 4 of us.
Service has been hit and miss at best. I think the owner, who is generally always there, figured out that when he sees us there isn’t going to be a big ticket so we aren’t that important. Once he even cut the nachos in HALF or more – leaving us to order another plate. He’s just rude on the whole.
Each time the service was bad, I told myself I wasn’t going back. It isn’t like there aren’t 27 other Mexican places in town. It was kind of a «thing» with my kids though, so we always try one more time. Never again.
Today, service was «do you need menus?» I asked the kids, «anything you want to look at?» No. «no thank you» made our order. Drinks were refilled by the owner’s daughter once – check was brought with our drink refills long before we were finished eating. I reached to pay it, even though we weren’t done, but she hadn’t brought a pen, so I asked for one. Simple as that. «Do you have a pen? I don’t have one on me.» She brings back the pen and THROWS it. Skips across the table. Seriously??? AND THEN??? I STILL left a tip… do not ask me why… Because I’m polite, I guess.
Seriously. I will never EVER give that family my business EVER again.
(Oh…AND my daughter came home and ran straight to the bathroom with diarrhea – she had a chicken tostada ala carte that made her sick.)
I’ll be seeing you at Café Bravo!