San Jose’s Tacos & Tequila

We friends often go to this restaurant for lunch. They have a reasonably priced lunch menu with delicious selections. I would recommend to try the chori-​pollo, pollo sanjose and burrito sanjose for lunch.

I love what they have done with this place. The new décor is very nice and inviting. They consistantly serve the best mexican food i have had yet in raleigh. Much better than that other mexican place on the other side of brier creek. If you know a better one i would like to hear about it. Everything is always fresh and delicious. Ask for a side of their fresh made habenero sauce if you like it hot. Service is always friendly but can be inconsistant. Sometimes slow sometimes right on time. Everytime i come here though i am glad i came, and i will continue to come back. One additional note, the new Millionaire Margherita is kick ass!

My husband enjoyed this place and brought me here for lunch. The table side guacamole was so fresh and delicious. I didn’t know it was customary to tip the preparer seperate from the tip you pay with your bill.
I ordered lunch fajitas and it was very good. The menu had changed since my husband’s last visit. Our friend’s order was incorrect and our checks were incorrect but not a big deal. Overall, the service and food is good and they have a friendly staff. I will return.

Awesome bar and bartender (Miguel). You’ve got to order a Madre Mexican. Amazing drink not on the menu but available any night. Great food. The table-​side guacamole is like Mexican gold. First time here was Friday night. Came back Saturday it was so good. Recommend.

First visit tonight, a take-​out order and a beer at the bar. Very prompt and cordial greeting upon entering. I love the bar, very comfortable seating and atmosphere, good views of TV screens. The order for seafood chimis and steak quesadias arrived promptly. Everything was correct, hot and carefully packaged. Oh yes, and delicious! We will be back to dine in

I was surprised how blaned and tasteless the food was. I ordered the fish tacos which were dry and I mean dry dry dry. They tasted old like freezer burn. They were supposed to be topped with cabbage but were instead topped with shredded lettuce. The tamale I ordered was also dry and the sauce was flavorless. It was like eating play dough. I didn’t even mention it to our server because she obviously wasn’t «all there» and even placing the order was difficult. It’s disappointing how much money was put into the aesthetics of the restaurant but not the quality of the food. The only good thing about this visit was the salsa, the salsa is fresh and was delicious.

The only Mexican place I’ve been that prepared the guacamole right in front of my eyes. Strawberry Margarita is excellent. Service is good. I’m going back… soon.

The former El Dorado place has been San Jose’s for awhile now. Décor has not changed much since I was here last.
The enchiladas del puerto entrée was very rich… the sauce reminded me a little of lobster bisque. Rice was good.
The tableside guacamole was already expensive, but the tip jar was a bit over the top and awkward — we’re generally already tipping 20% on the bill, so adding another tip for the guacamole, by itself, doesn’t make sense.
In any event, the place is okay. The food is good, the Negra Modelo was good (and cold), the service was a bit slow trying to get refills or follow up, but it all worked out.
There are plenty of choices for Americanized Mexican in the area, and San Jose’s is pretty average for the triangle area, so if I’m here, and I’m in the mood for it, I’ll be back.

Sadly the only thing I would come back for is the margaritas. Cliff diver margarita was great, but everything else sucked.
Came here for lunch and did not offer any seafood items for lunch. I was told they could up charge me for fajitas which was perfectly okay. Five minutes later they come back and tell me the system won’t allow it? Now, I’m a server so to tell me you can’t up charge a simple request is bonkers.
Next, my mom orders a chimichanga, that’s extremely small, and doesn’t get beans and rice, and is told its one or the other.
My burrito comes out with the nacho sauce poured on it, which I did not think the burritos came with. Overall terrible experience. Won’t be returning.

We usually go here once every couple months since it’s close by our house and it’s a pretty decent mexican restaurant to hit. The inside is decorated in a southwestern feel and it’s a little nicer/​upscale than most of the other places out there. Pretty much all of the menu items I’ve tried are good/​great and the table-​side guacamole is very filling. I’d for sure recommend their burritos (San Jose in particular) if you are hungry. The price is a few dollars more than what you’d expect from a «cheaper» place but the quality makes up for it. Service is always decent and we have never end up feeling either neglected or bugged.

Awesome Mexican restaurant. Spinach enchilada was delicious and flavorful and they gave me two sauces to try with it. I definitely liked the green sauce better and was happy it wasn’t fluorescent green like the menu. Chile Relleno was good and the tomato sauce on it was wonderful. Service was fast and everything was great!

Went for my husbands birthday and the food was good and the restaurant was nice. Everyone enjoyed their meals and the staff was great when we asked them to switch tables and to bring avocado slices for our baby. They brought out a sombrero for my husband to wear while they sang happy birthday. We had a great experience and would recommend this place to any of our friends.

We stopped in for an early dinner and was surprised at how nice the place is. Seating was plenty and the service was good.
I ordered the carne asada and hubby ordered the shrimp salad. He liked his meal but I wasn’t impressed with my meal. I received a thin rib eye but I missed the typical skirt steak (my fav cut) that most Mexican restaurants serve I also didn’t like the jasmine rice (bland) or that they serve flour tortillas instead of the more traditional corn tortilla.
It seems this place is trying to attract a slightly more upscale crowd… but all I wanted was your typical Mexican food. I’m not writing this place off yet but I’ll definitely try a different dish and will find out if they have a happy hour.

Let me preface this by saying I just came from New York where the food is amazing. So nothing will ever quite compare. But the food here was such a disappointment. It was bland and bad. Ordered fish tacos and three big flour tortillas came in the plate but the piece of fried fish was very very small and over fried. This was worse than fast food.
I should have gone to Chipotle.

Good food nice drinks. San jose is our favorite local mexican place. Their food is amazing.

Went here with friends for a cinco de mayo party. The band was fun and the drinks were cheap, but the bar staff was awful! They could not keep up with the volume of people and one bartender appeared to be in her first shift EVER– bad idea on cinco de mayo at a Mexican restaurant. I cannot comment on the food other than it took over an hour to come and neither of my hungry friends ate their meals. We had a great time dancing though and I would go back if they had another band night.

I’m a frequent customer here and every time I go I take someone new and they just fall in love with this place. Staff is incredibly nice, the atmosphere is amazing. I love that the chair are made of old tequila barrels. And most importantly the food is amazing and cheap.
I have always ordered something different here and I have always left happy. They give you a healthy size portion of food. I don’t leave unsatisfied or feel like I’m exploding at the seams. If you have never had Vera Cruz tilapia, this is your chance.
Definitely order any one of their margaritas. You won’t regret it. It may be too sweet for some but it just makes it easier for me to finish haha. They also have lunch specials for about $ 6 – 9 that are amazing and a steal. Go visit them and see for yourself.

Pastor Fish Tacos are solid, best available around Brier Creek. House made sangria is also pretty good.

First time here. The food was good, but nothing special. Ordered the table side guacamole since it’s always fun watching them make it at other places. Guy comes back with a bowl of pre-​made qucamole and puts it down like we wouldn’t notice. I was very disappointed, b/​c I really like customizing it (more onions, less cilantro, etc.), but was unable to do so.
The waiter was also unable to answer basic questions about the menu, but I couldn’t tell if this was due to a language barrier or lack of knowledge.
The servings were small for the price, and the service was very slow. Also, my mango margarita was served in a cracked glass, which made me nervous.
For desert, we ordered Tres Leches and flan. He dropped off the flan and told us they were out of the Tres Leches, and then quickly walked away without asking if we wanted to try another dessert. He also failed to make eye contact with my partner the entire evening, which was odd and off-​putting.
Our main courses were good, and the chips and salsa were quite good, so kudos for that.

2.5 stars
We came here right before my flight out of RDU the day after halloween. We were quickly seated but the waiter took forever to take our order, unacceptable since we were in a hurry and there was only 3 other small parties in the restaurant. He apologized and fixed his service after we mentioned we were in a hurry. The chips and salsa were my favorite part about this place. The chips were so thick and crispy, the salsa could have been more chunky and spicier though.
My boyfriend ordered the chicken chimichangas, he was a little disappointed that they weren’t really chimichangas but more like fried enchiladas. I guess the taste was ok though. I ordered the seafood chimichangas and completely regretted it… almost felt sick and couldn’t eat the rest of the day. It tasted like they stuffed premade seafood spread from costco inside. The fishy taste was too overwhelming, we didn’t have time to say anything and receive another item so i just bit my tongue and stuck with it. I couldn’t even finish the first chimichanga… just ate the rice and beans that were also included on the plate. They also did not give me the sour cream that was supposed to be included.
Should have gone with something safer. If you do come here, DO NOT order anything with seafood, you will regret it and maybe get sick even. I was pretty disappointed with my experience here as the décor made me expect much more.