Jose’s Not Here

Was a nice restaurant. Nice setup. Another Mexican restaurant is opening up in the same location this October

Jose’s Not Here was an awesome restaurant, fantastic food, good service and great drinks. Sadly they have just recently closed their doors for good.
See news article below for details.
[Review #244] (Third Review of 2015)

Food was good. This is a really a bar with tables on one end for food. Menu is very small. Has some unusual options for a mexican restaurant. Our server Cortez was very nice. The food Was just ok. We did get lots of food and drink for the money we used a scout mob too.

I chose 3 stars because my family and I have eaten here twice in the last few months. We love the tacos. The shrimp are my favorite and my husband loves the pork belly tacos. My 5 year old daughter actually loves the fish and chips. The only disappointing thing about this restaurant is the hostess is very rude. She did not acknowledge us when we walked in. She grabbed menus and started heading towards a table without a word to our party. This was the 2^nd time this happened with her. The wait staff is a little better but they could really use some customer service training if they want to keep up with the local restaurants nearby. We love the food but the staff really need to learn that southern hospitality!

I came to this restaurant through Scout Mob. I was surprised to see that I had been there before. I like this place much better than the previous restaurant that occupied the space (Lime). I found the décor to be much better… and cleaner! It was bright enough that I could actually see what I was eating.
I liked the menu selection. It wasn’t overwhelming but enough to give a decent variety of options. I also found the food to be good. Our server was great and she offered to ask the chef to make some special modifications for us.
I will definitely be returning.

I’ve been here twice– both servers have been great, but the food had been lacking. (Side note– the hostess could stand to give a smile or two– she really doesn’t seem to have a preference of whether you are there or not). The drinks here are pretty good and on the strong side. I ordered the pork belly tacos but really what I received tonight was a taco full of fat. Had my friend not sent her first drink back, I would have sent my food back as well, but felt awkward about it so I ate half of one taco and picked apart the rest. It was literally a hunk of pork fat wrapped in a soft taco :(Not sure why the chef sent that out. The small amount of edible meat was overcooked and the sauce on top was über spicey. Love the overall ambiance, the patio, and the drinks… just disappointed with the food.

So tasty & yummy, Classy, clean restaurant with excellent service. GREAT salad!
So tasty & yummy, Classy, clean restaurant with service. GREAT salad!
So tasty & yummy, Classy, clean restaurant with excellent service. GREAT salid!
So tasty & yummy, Classy, clean restaurant with excellent service. GREAT salid!

I had the Chicken Fajitas and they were phenomenal. The peppers and onions were cooked to perfection and the seasoning on the chicken along with the charred pieces made for a delightful combo.
Although the salsa for the chips was a little runny, I would recommend to anyone looking for a TexMex style experience.

Can’t get enough of this place. I was surprised it didn’t seem to be catching on, but the last two times it has been much more crowded.
The margaritas are great. Cheese dip has been great all but once, not sure why it was different that day. I always get the fajitas. They are priced much better than any other restaurant and the portion is huge! I usually share one order and still have some left over.
This is a regular spot for my friends and I. We just can’t seem to get enough!

Never again! Service was abysmal; it took forever for our waitress to do anything. The food was also not good (disappointing since I liked the last Mexican restaurant in this space).
The chips, salsa and queso all lacked flavor and were nothing special. I had the chicken soup and chicken tostada and neither was very good. My husband liked the fajitas (which is the only reason I gave 2 stars), but I’m not willing to give this place another try.
The final bad thing is they did not honor the full scoutmob. We should have received close to the full $ 15 off our meal but only received $ 11.50. While normally I would say something, since service was so bad (see above) and we were sick of waiting, we just paid and left.

This is the 4^th Mexican restaurant we’ve tried since moving here in May. This is our favorite so far. We were there for lunch and had excellent service. Husband and I shared queso dip with chorizo which was good. He had the flaming tequila chicken fajitas and said they were the best he’s ever had. I had tacos-​one fish and one carne asada. Both were great. The food was super-​fresh, not over-​cooked and mushy, like some places we’ve tried. Prices were very reasonable. We’ll be back, for sure!

The service here is good… but the food is just OK. There are far better mexican restaurants than this one. The queso dip at Costco tastes better than this place. The prices are economical which is great if youre on a budget, but theyve go to increase the quality of the food. The chips were thick and stale… I dont think I will be back anytime soon.

So I guess I should’ve known the food would simply ok by the lack of customers at lunch time. My friend and I ordered the combo fajitas (steak & shrimp)…one word burnt!!! I had to pick through it to find edible pieces of steak, shrimp was ok. I also tried the queso… nothing special! Maybe Jose needs to come max because something is missing!

Queso was a little bland but the service was amazing. The tamarind margarita is amazing, so don’t skip it if you’re worried about not being familiar with the fruit: it is definitely a winner. We will be back to give the tacos and fajitas a try. Also, I wish the chips had a little lime and sea salt on them… But that’s just me!

I didn’t get a chance to try this place before the name change, was looking for a place to grab lunch and noticed they had a scoutmob. I had 2 tacos (shrimp and beef), and a margarona. Beef taco was good and the drink did the job. My bf had the shrimp enchiladas, and he enjoyed it. The chips were good but on the thick side, and the tiny bowl of salsa is a bit stingy, especially once you start drinking and waiting on your food. Overall, good food and drinks for a decent price and I love the patio area.

A solid addition to the Smyrna dining options. I evaluate Mexican restaurants first on their margaritas and these pass with flying colors. Our food was also tasty and came out quickly. Very kid friendly.

This is by far the best iteration of the texmex concept in this space. As we understand — the current owners are the same owners during the previous iterations. Alas, the menu consists of your typical texmex starting with great chips, salsa and margaritas. The taco offering is outstanding (try the fried pork belly taco). There are also some specialty plates that we are yet to try.
Pricing is also finally in-​line with its competition in the area (eg. Los Bravos — another neighborhood favorite). The restaurant is still very family friendly. Finally, I want to add that during both of our visits our server was an individual named Cortez. Cortez provided a super high level of service with a really great personable edge. He even shook our hands after we finished our meal.

I loved their obligatory cheeseburger, but w/​o the bacon! Awesome chicken and shrimp fajitas! I love their tortillas and it’s a great place to watch the World Cup games! Red sangria are amazing!

A welcome addition to West Village. Warm service, fresh and innovative twists on Mexican favorites, great ambiance and kid friendly. Not heavy on the cheese for once. Good-​bye La Paz, hello Jose! Jose? Jose, where are you?

Terrible service — our food came a full 20 minutes after we said we needed to leave to attend a meeting. It was good when we finally got to eat though.

Thought this place really hit the spot for Mexican. I ordered the Ahi Baja Tuna Salad and it was fresh and delicious. The margarita was good, although the limepocalypse may have contributed to it’s lack of lime-​iness. The best part was the service. Cortez was a fantastic server. The patio is lovely now that winter’s demise is upon us. Will be back.