Tenampa Mexican Restaurant

This place is funny, it is either jam packed or a ghost town. There is never enough servers in the place and the service reflects it.
If I were to rate this place solely based on food it would be 5 stars for sure, but the service and prices knock it down to a 3 star joint.
The food is amazing and will probably be the only reason you end up coming back to this place. The service is nonexistent and the prices are high for basic Mexican food.
Its a BYOB!

I ate here this evening and it was the oddest experience from start to finish. First I order what’s advertised as Mexican Coke on the menu and receive a can of Coca Cola. Not the end of the world but certainly not Mexican Coca Cola. Moving on, everyone else in my group orders unsweetened iced tea and they run out so refills could not be filled. Now to the food order… my brother orders and chimichanga and receives a burrito instead. I ordered a burrito with sauce on the side and I receive it covered in cream sauce. Here comes the weirdest part, the waitress asks if we need anything else and I said I would love some limes (certainly not an odd request). She returns with lemons and says, «the kitchen will not allow us to serve limes with anything else other than tacos». I thought it was ridiculous to answer me that so, I went further and said I still wanted limes and would be willing to pay if it’s extra. She returns and says they cannot sell me any and they will get mad if she does because she has gotten in trouble in the past for selling a customer limes.
Needless to say, I hope you read this and realize you just lost 4 local customers that will not be returning to your establishment. There’s plenty of much better Mexican restaurants around that serve to their customers needs!

Having lived in Toms River for a while now I have finally begun to understand that strip malls sometimes house some of the best restaurants in the area.
Having read a lot of mixed reviews on Unilocal about how Tenampa is pricey, we decided to check out their menu before we sat down to eat. Yes, Tenampa is little on the pricier side compared to the other Mexican restaurants in the area but if you can look past that you will absolutely love this place. Although family owned, Tenampa has more of a nicely decorated restaurant feel on the inside than your typical, quaint family owned joint. The interior walls are bright orange decorated with colorful sombreros. There are lots of table and the place is perfect for large groups.
Tenampa is a BYOB. They have Margarita and Piña Colada mixes so you can completer your Mexican food experience with more than just wine.
The chips and salsa for the table were standard but what I really loved were the bottles of hot sauces on the table to give the salsa the kick I felt it needed. I started with a bowl of chicken tortilla soup. The brothy soup was loaded with diced tender pieces of chicken and vegetables. For my entrée I got the soft chicken tacos. Boring, right? Wrong! What makes Tenampa’s tacos awesome is that you can pick any of their 7 (yes, 7) sauces with your entrée. I naturally went with the spiciest diabla sauce and loved it. If spicy is not your thing then I highly recommend the creamy chipotle sauce.
The portions are pretty decent but don’t forget no meal is complete without dessert. We shared the Mexican Churros, which was mentioned on their chalkboard with all of the day’s specials. The warm churros were filled with bavarian cream served with a side of ice cream. If you see the churros on the menu, get it.

Our favorite authentic Mexican. You can’t go wrong with the chimichanga or the tostadas. Simply delicious. Service is great. Always get the jalapeño sauce, it is a white sauce and it is not very hot. The desserts do not disappoint. Come hungry, we always leave with leftovers. The atmosphere is fun, the waiter decorates the place and does a great job.

This is the worst restaurant experience I have ever had. I sat myself, because they stood there looking at me instead of seating me. I ordered a bottle of water. They brought me chips & salsa, which I understand that’s courtesy, but I didn’t order it, more on this later… the chips were stale & the salsa was a cold sweet ketchup tasting salsa. I ordered nachos. They brought it out right away, which suggests pre made crap & a microwave… which I do not consider cooking. The nachos were terrible tasting, lukewarm w/​more cold pico on top… I took one bite & knew I couldn’t finish this. Couldn’t bring myself to eat another bite. I don’t normally ever walk out of a restaurant but this had to be done. The waiter asks me if everything was ok I said no, I put $ 3 on the table as a tip (not his fault), & walk out to my truck. The waiter runs up to my truck & says the manager wanted $ 2 more for the barely sipped. bottle of water. I go in to talk to the manager, he demands payment for the half drank water, & the meager chips & salsa that they brought out without even asking me. I told him the food was terrible, the chips stale, the salsa cold & he wants to take this waiters tip from him & charge me $ 2 more for water when I didn’t even eat the food… then another waitress was saying I ate chips so I had to pay. I cussed him out threw the $ 2 in The managers face & told him to go f*** himself. This has been the most unpleasant restraint experience I have, ever, ever had.

Excellent that’s all I have to say. Atmosphere, prices and food. Will definitely be back.

Very good food — includes your traditional Mexican restaurant fair but some surprising ones too involving fresh spinach and the like. Service is friendly. Only issue is the place is poorly lighted and has that smell and feel of old grease, so we usually end up with takeout. Slightly smaller portions of the same entrée are much better priced at lunch, so lunch is a better value.

I live in point pleasant and I drive out to this place all the time to eat best place around. The creamy chipotle sauce is amazing def recommend trying it. Also the Bueno vida burrito is amazing. I recommend it to all my friends if they are ever down in that area.

I felt the food was good but really pricey for what you get. It’s BYOB, and on a Friday night there was only 1 other table there. Considering theirs a lot of other Mexican restaurants in the area, I wont be back. I also called beforehand to see if they were BYOB, and the lady didn’t understand what I was talking about and put me on hold for 5 minutes before another guy answered my question right away.

WE LOVE this Mom and Pop Mexican restaurant. Not your typical place with standard fare. Always exciting specials created with love in the kitchen. BYOB which i love to save $$$. You can bring some tequilla or rum to spice up the virgin margaritas in a variety of flavors. If you love mexican food you will love this place. Been there 6 times in past year and the food is better and better each and every time. YOu will not be disappointed! Restaurant is well managed, clean and good attentive service and always will to give a good food suggestion.

Really amazing authentic Mexican food. They are pricey but you get what you pay for.

The best Mexican restaurant around. Their salsa is the best. Chicken tacos Mexicanos is awesome. Food is always consistently good. Restaurant is always clean. If you haven’t tried it but have tried others in the area, give this one a try.

The food here is great. Typical mexican menu but a little pricier than usual hence the 3 stars.

I decided to try the restaurant for lunch on a Friday about noonish. I was the only one the restaurant which kind of scared me a little. I decided to try anyway. I got the burrito and got the taco lunch to go for my son. The food is pretty good but it’s very pricey for Mexican food. I will definitely come back again but not on a regular basis because of the price, but I will return because of the taste

My husband and I love this place, we used to go to their location in Brick and we were sad to see it close. The drive to Toms River is worth it when we are craving good Mexican though!

Service was good– considering we were the only people in the place. The waitress didn’t tell us the specials, though, which I was bummed about because when I noticed them on the board, they looked good. Chips and salsa were decent. I ordered the chicken fajita salad: the dressing was good and the salad was decent, but small for $ 12.95.
My boyfriend ordered the chimichanga and burrito combo. Again, I thought the portion was small for $ 17.95– I’ve gone to other Mexican restaurants and have been charged the same for much bigger portions. That being said, I tasted his chimichanga and it was delicious. We shared fried ice cream at the end and it was just ok– I’ve had much better.

The food is good but way too expensive for mexican food. I don’t come here too often for that reason alone.

Great food, prices are decent and the atmosphere is nice. A gem within Toms River, NJ.

Been here several times and have never been disappointed! The food is the best around & I love that it’s BYOB!

This is my favorite Mexican restaurant around, and I’ve never had a bad experience here. When I want typical Mexican food, I usually get the Tamale, Enchilada, Taco combo because I can never decide what to get — (fyi –their beef tacos are made with shredded beef, not ground beef… MmMmMm). Their chicken tortilla soup is the best around — I love the slices of fresh avocado in it.
They have a really wide variety of Mexican dishes though — not just the typical taco, burrito, enchiladas, etc. They serve all kinds of dishes cooked Mexican style — steaks, shrimp, pastas etc. They always have interesting daily specials, too.
As for ambiance, the restaurant is a little small but the décor is very pretty, and I’ve gone there many times when they have someone playing guitar and/​or singing.
It’s not that the other Mexican restaurants in the area are bad (most are very good actually); it’s just that this place is so good I rarely want to go anywhere else.