On The Border Mexican Grill & Cantina

Went here with some good friends for a birthday celebration and was impressed by the excellent lighting. I could see every detail of my fajitas thanks in large part to hundreds of exposed light bulbs in this establishment. I enjoy a good exposed light bulb from time to time and on the border definitely delivers.
The tables are a good size too. We ordered several orders of fajitas and were able to eat comfortably. Something other restaurants might consider, I’m looking at you lil caesars…
Food was good.
I was also delighted by the low cost of the dessert, just zero dollars if you order on your birthday.
Overall it was a great experience but was a little difficult to locate as it did not show up on my map.

Don’t go on a Sunday evening. The restaurant was VERY dirty which would be fine if they were busy, but there were only about 9 tables of people. Really. Then not only was the restaurant dirty, our glasses were dirty, and our waiter wasn’t in the best mood.
The food however was excellent.
Maybe it was just an off night for them.

I am disappoint.
It seems like the staff is lost in the sauce. They’re not all on the same page and no single one knows more than the next, it seems. Seating was like watching her try to do Calculus on the fly… 4 adults, 1 child, 1 high-​chair. Guess that’s why she’s a server, yeah?
Short and concise without table talk leaves a poor impression of uncaring and apathy, at best. No silverware was given and I had to get up to get it myself … After our food was delivered.
The salsa is way too hot for kids, spicy for adults who might prefer mild, I’d guess.
When everything was brought out for the adults, we waited almost another 7 – 10 minutes for our kids: 2 & 1. Difficult and not kid-​friendly, obviously.
I had the «brisket» tacos, which was more fried onions than brisket, hence the quotations. For what was there, the flavor was on point, but left me wanting a bit more for the price.
Meh… Back to Taco Bell, I guess.

Wow amazing. Chips and salsa were great I had the three cheese fajita burrito. Best tex mex food ever. For dessert we had the Khalua chocolate ice cream. Absolutely amazing. Chelsea did an amazing job as our server. And great Mexican atmosphere. Very good size portions for the money. Restaurant was clean.

Service was decent, but slow. I think my biggest complaint is the stupid sizzle plate. My food came out having caught fire and tasted like I licked a chimney. $ 13 wasted and I still have to find dinner.

Surprisingly good brunch on Sat & Sun, 10a-​2p. $ 2 Mimosas (good) and $ 3 Bloody Marys (really good), and the sweet cream pancakes are ridiculously good. We had 2 fairly chaotic tables (1 adult table, 1 w/​4 boys), and our server Annastasia was fantastic. We’ll definitely be back.

We love the weekend brunch. My daughter and I started going about 3 months ago, and now we go almost every sunday… delicious and different. Try the breakfast tacos with a mimosa… my favorite

Four of us sat at a bar table for about 30 seconds until we noticed that condensation from pipes on the ceiling drip on to the table and you, periodically. We asked about it, and the waiter said, «Ya, it’s been that way for years. It’s our own personal rainforest.» So we moved tables to where we might get dripped on, but at least not our food. I realize this must be a big and likely expensive problem to fix, but how can you expect people to be ok with their table being dripped on?
Then, the lemon wedge garnish being served with an IPA sealed the deal that we needed to have our next drink down the road.

I came here with my mil after a rousing time at the Sprint store. I found it odd that the servers were all male but it brought out my inner cougar for a hot second. Hey boo, heyyyy!!!
Anyhoo, the food was as expected. My focus is really on the service. There was a miscommunication about who was our server so we didn’t get our drink order taken for awhile. That’s okay though. While listening to the tables around me, it appears that there was a few tables that had been overlooked. I’m still kind of okay with that because it was the lunch hour. My biggest concern is there was a lack of communication between the staff. One server started yelling at another server to work his own table. It just seemed to be a bit chaotic even for a lunch time meal. It made me unhappy. It actually frustrated me because the server that was yelled at seemed to be new and confused.
Again, nothing wrong with the food. It was the same as I would have expected OTB to be. The atmosphere, however, was enough to make me hesitate to go back here. I wouldn’t be opposed if a group was meeting here but if someone suggested here, I’d probably throw out a few different places in an attempt to avoid it.

We came in a party of 7 for Cinco de Mayo as this Mexican restaurant had a no wait time to be seated. Our group sat down fairly quickly and immediately started looking around for drink specials. You would think that on Cinco de Mayo, there would be posters, signs. Something… Posting the drink specials. Nope. When our waiter arrived, 10 minutes later, we asked, and she began taking out a little sheet from her order pad. She drew out a long breath and recited all specials, very quickly, in that one breath. $ 4 margarita, you say? $.50 extra for fruit? Ok, I’ll have a mango, frozen please! Much like what Ann posted below, I was expecting at least a large pint size for my drink. Nope. It came in a dinky, clear, small plastic cup – equivalent to the size of a well drink, probably half the size of a Dixie beer cup. Once I took a sip, I realized the entire drink was blended with margarita mix, and margarita mix mostly – I could taste only a hint of tequila. I ordered a second, regular lime, frozen margarita, no salt, and it arrived with salt on the rim. For the entrée I chose the chicken fajitas, black beans, with guac. I’ll give it to On The Border, probably the best soft tortillas I’ve eaten in a chain – soft and thick, chewy and filling. The rice was nearly not edible, it tasted like straight up salt and seasoning. I asked for no cheese, as I have a milk allergy and did not come prepared with my lactose pills, and they put cheese on my beans!!! What kind of a Mexican restaurant puts cheese on their beans?! To top it all off, after receiving the bill, they charged me $ 1.10 extra, on top of the $ 4 because I asked for a fruit margarita. UGH.

I’m going to start with the positives first:
Our server was fast and friendly. He kept water refilled and checked in fairly regularly.
Ok, now for the negatives:
I ordered the skinny margarita without knowing the price. In hindsight, not a good move. After drinking it, I would have guessed it was a $ 3 – 4 drink. Why? It was served in a small glass (not even a margarita glass) that was jam-​packed with ice and there was almost nothing in there to drink and pretty much zero alcohol. After zipping through my first one in about 10 minutes, not because I’m a lush, but because there was so very little to drink in my measly little glass, when our server asked if I wanted a refill, I agreed. My bad for sure! I should have tried something else. When the bill came, I noted that I paid almost 15 bucks for two of the most pathetic margaritas ever. What a colossal rip-​off!
For my dinner, I ordered the mango chicken salad. If you’re ever tempted to do this, don’t! It’s a huge plate of chopped romaine lettuce with a few tiny bits of mealy tomato, some bits of jicama and some bits of dried out over-​cooked flavorless chicken. Yep, that’s all there is to the salad. There is zero mango. Yeah, the dressing is supposed to be mango dressing, but there wasn’t even a tiny hint of mango flavor in the dressing and in fact, it was the most bland salad dressing I’ve ever had. I left about ²⁄₃ of my salad on my plate because it really wasn’t fit for human consumption.
I have to say that I had not eaten at On the Border for many years mainly because I remembered their food to be bland and boring. I didn’t choose this restaurant and likely would not choose it again based on this experience. If someone suggested it again, I would likely offer up a different, tastier suggestion.

What makes this location great are the people; friendly, personable and always energetic. The food is consistently good and they are always coming up with something fun! Great job on the remodel as well!

Not bad but not good. Salsa was not bad fairly normal. But long wait on service. Food was cold. Found a hair on my plate, manager was cery friendly and helpful. Server spilled salsa on me as well. Ugh. Good lunch though. And the beer was nice and cold.

Went on a Friday night, they were busy but the service was still amazing and the food was excellent. Had the firecracker jalapeños and brisket tacos both which were cooked excellently and had wonderful flavor, the jalapeños were a little too spicy for some at my table but everyone agreed they were wonderful. As for the brisket taco they weren’t too dry or too wet, they were a good balance in between and the sauce added to the flavor rather than overpowering it. Definitely better quality than I was expecting at a Mexican restaurant and even better than some BBQ places I’ve been too. The price also wasn’t too bad, about $ 10 per person and everyone felt full afterwards with a little left over for a snack some other day. The servers were also very good at their job, they talked just enough to get our order and make us feel welcome without talking too much and feeling like a nuisance. They were fast with the order and kept our drinks and chips full. They had a very good organization and were fully prepared not to let service drop during the busy hours.

Love this place. Great food, great location. Sometimes u get a «bad egg» as far as servers go, too talkative or too slow. But all in all it’s superb and is a favorite.

Yummy-​yummy. Deep fried avocados; fat cooked in more fat, are you kidding me? I died and went to quadruple bypass heaven. The tortilla soup is phenom’, and the spinach quesadillas are to die for. Of course I enjoyed the mojito, but you can’t screw up liquor in my world.
As a bonus, the server was a cutie pie. Shawn, or Sean, or some such. I did not check the spelling of his name, I just know that I wanted to put him in my pocket and take him home with me. However, my husband would not have approved, and there may also be some laws regarding stealing people as well, I’ll get back to you on that.
I digress, eat here.

As far as chain restaurants go, this place is phenominal. Their salsa is homemade and sooo good. I practically always get the chicken fajitas. The chicken is unbelievably tender every time. I dont know how they do it but its awesome. Also the guacamole is excellent. Their Borderita is exactly what a margarita should be. On the rocks, its hands down my favorite margarita of any chain restaurant. Of course you can find some great margaritas at local hole in the wall places, but I love that any city I go to, I can count on a Borderita to be perfect. Really you cant go wrong with anything at OTB.

Delicious guacamole, good service, half price margaritas, can’t beat it!

I am not a huge fan of chain restaurants but On The Border is an exception.
It isn’t trying to be authentic but serves some good, filling Tex Mex food. I haven’t had a bad entrée at any of the locations. It seems there are plenty of choices for everyone.
I went to this location for lunch with co-​workers. There were 7 of us and we were promptly seated in the bar area. The person who seated us turned out to be our server as well. She was awesome. She was efficient with drink, salsa and chip refills. A huge, huge plus all our orders came out correct and fast.
I’m happy to add On The Border to my lunchtime list.

I like this location because it has a sun room. Not an outdoor patio, but a nice room with lots of windows (which can be opened). It still has tv and all amenities of indoors except this room is cooled by fans and the breeze. I’m sure that’s why it seems to be not as crowded in this section.
I’ve called in an order for sopapillas recently and that whole transaction went smoothly from the phone call to the pick up. I’ve had a few meals here and the servers are nice and accommodating. The food isn’t really my bag. I really only care for On the Borders desserts and drink menu. (Try the Watermelon Margarita and Turtle Empanadas!)
It’s located in close proximity to the movie theater and is a good place to throw back some margaritas while waiting for a show to start.