On The Border Mexican Grill & Cantina

Reviews 4

LA

Larry Holmes

Christmas party planned here on a weeknight with advance reservations for 40 on the patio. Only 25 of us showed, but the staff and management still could not keep up and provide adequate service. One (REALLY?) waitress assigned to take care of all of us, with occasional “help” showing up to replenish drinks or ask if they could do anything else. But when asked about food they deferred every time to the waitress who just was not up to the task. I don’t know if she was incompetent, unintelligent, or untrained, but she was absolutely terribly disorganized and overwhelmed. Our party began at 7:00 and the patio was not set up. Once we got out there, we actually had to help her move tables together and get them properly cleaned. 45 minutes later and she’s still bringing drink orders and STARTING to take food orders. A half hour after that and food starts arriving. But none of the staff knows what food goes where, so they’re all screaming out at the same time what plates they have, hoping someone will hear them and wave a hand and let them know it’s their order. I ordered fajitas and got no tortillas. Once I finally got her attention and asked for them she disappeared, only to come back ten minutes later to tell us they were out of tortillas and making more. REALLY?!? You’re a freaking MEXICAN restaurant and you RAN OUT of tortillas? By the time she got tortillas to me the rest of my meal was cold and my wife, along with two others at our table, still did not have food (one of those folks ordered only a bowl of queso); their plates showed up just as I was finishing my plate. We had asked about their food THREE times, only to be told each time that it was on its way. Later in the evening guess what we found on a table in another part of the patio? The three plates of food we had been waiting on; apparently the staff brought them out and set them down and then forgot about them. Knuckleheads. The food itself was fine, even though mine was cold by the time I could eat it. It was the service, and the lackadaisical attitude about it, that was so frustrating. Personally, I think one server should be able to handle 5 tables, even if they’re all ordering at once, but maybe it was just too much for this poor girl. If so, management should have stepped in. The rest of the place was virtually empty, so I don’t understand why the shift manager didn’t send someone out to rescue her. I am usually a fairly big tipper (about 30% on average) but on our $31 tab I left $3. I really don’t care what the “reason” (aka “excuse”) was….poor service and no attempt to correct it deserves a low tip. And I won’t leave NO tip because it may appear as if it were forgotten, so a low tip sends the better message.

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Lynette Gonzales

As I sit here now on a Thursday evening at our table, the service is already becoming disappointing. We walk in having to wait 10 mins to be seated and keep in mind it is dead and lots of tables are available . Then we have to wait another 15 mins before our hostess comes to ask for our drinks. The manager in charge is walking around asking the other two tables near us constantly if they are ok only to ask us once during our whole visit. We get our kids drinks and my husband and I have to wait 10 mins for our drinks from the bar. So we sit here waiting 25 mins and we finally get to order our meals. Also our drinks are all empty, chips empty, and we are getting frustrated and just wanna walk out, but we stayed because our oldest daughter wanted to eat here. We finally get our refills for our kids and chips, but still no food. My husband and I are empty with our drinks at this point and ready for another. So I just told my husband to go get them from the bar because it would be quicker, and it was. So we are all good again with drinks and chips but still waiting on our food. The table beside us got their food before us and we ordered 15 mins before they did. I cant believe the service here and I cant blame the waitress entirely for she had started not to long ago. I blame the manager who was in charge for not being on top of it and helping her out. So we finally get our food and well I gotta say it was the worst. Nothing was good except their tortillas close to a authentic tortilla. Well we made the best out of our dinner tonight with each others conversation and being out as a family. We also promised each other to NEVER eat at "On the Border" again.

SC

Scott Trzebiatowski

My last visit here was about a year ago. Went there for dinner about 7:15. There was a wait for about 30-45 min. Thats no big deal as we were there for Hunter, a little boy who has Lukemia. 20% of the check was to go towards him to help with medical bills. There were a ton of people wearing a yellow ribbon for him, so I knew there would be a lot donated for him. About 7:40 a lot of people are coming out of the restaurant so I figured wed get seated soon. 10 min. later were not seated and go in to find out how much longer. (we were waiting outside) As we walk in we see at least 5 open tables. We are then told "the manager doesnt want to seat anyone for another hour." The hostess stated the manager gave no reason why nobody is to be seated. We ask speak to the manager but the manager wont come up front to talk to anyone. We were upset and at a loss for works. If you decide not to seat anyone, at least have the courtesy to let everyone thats waiting know about this decision. I guess all the people that came out, were waiting for a table and did not get to eat. There are way too many tex-mex restaurants in the area to ever to back to this particular or any On the Border for that matter. It is unbelievable how much money the restaurant lost out on because the manager turned everyone away. Let alone all the money that poor Hunter lost out on. The manager should be ashamed of themself.

SC

Scott Moore

Was seated me my son and 2 friends sat and waited for almost 20 minutes and I finally had to go ask the hostess where our swrver was so we could at least get something to drink finally a server shows takes our drink order comes back with drinks one bowl of chips and salsa now our group consisted of 3 adults and a 12 yr old boy and share a bowl of chips not gonna work. Placed our order an hour and a half goes by no food yet but we were continuously being pumped full of chips and salsa I went and got manager told him what was going on and that our dinner hasnt shown up and we were getting full waiting on it he said he was back there helping and he would check and that he told his wait staff they need to walk around and check tables and that if they need help to speak up. Now when we got there a total of 6 or 7 cars were in the parking lot not busy at all so there was no reason to me that it shouldve taken that long manager took off half our order but I will not be back