Jalapeños Fairhaven — Restaurant in Bellingham

I have been to the location right down on the water below the Whatcom Museum a few times over my lifetime and never had any complaints. Decent food and attentive staff. Been around Bham long enough to remember the old Shrimp Shack that was almost exactly across the street? It reminds me of that place. A little run down but not decrepit. A simple menu offering exactly what you'd expect for an area with a sizable Hispanic population. The portions are big, and the prices are definitely reasonable. Wide open dining area with everything on display. Just like a hole in the wall diner I'm willing to bet their grill and stove top has absorbed so much flavor over the years that if they upgrade their cooking surfaces their regulars would have trouble recognizing the taste. Kind of just realized I got stuck reviewing the wrong location. It's cool though. I can use it for comparison. The location in Fairhaven is different in many ways. Small, intimate setting with mood lighting. New location that must have been remodeled recently with everything shiny and new looking. When I glanced at the menu I was shocked by the prices, then figured it was because of the location. Downtown, old town Fairhaven. It's a special occasion I told myself, and my stomach told me to shut up and order. While I appreciate the unique character of the old location, I downright respect the reality of the new one. Maybe the prices are due to higher rent but I don't think so. What I do think is that it reflects the quality of the food. I've eaten a lot of Mexican food in my life and that meal stands out, not because of some gimmick or a single item that carried the weight of the rest. My chile verde was awesome, period. My best and oldest friend was there that night, and knowing him the way I do, given a choice he would have voted for eating at Taco Bell. I expected him to politely eat a small amount of something basic and wait for the rest of us to finish. I was half right. Apparently the quesadilla he started with picqued his interest and he set out to investigate further. Hearing a man who puts ketchup on his steaks and counts mayonnaise as his favorite condiment exclaim loudly after finishing his meal that "this was f*ing gooooood" is all the proof I need that my assessment was accurate to the extreme. Sorry about the novella but I just had to share the surprise and enjoyment I felt that night. I will...

My sister and I noticed the sign on the street (picture included) and decided that street tacos for $2 ea. is a good deal, so we decided to stop in at the Jalapeños restaurant to get 2 street tacos. We told the hostess that we were there for the $2 tacos. She then started yelling at the waiter on the stairs, asking for 2 menus for the “$2 Taco Tuesday”, he did not understand, so she repeated herself several times, yelling, until he finally understood and grabbed the menus. We then followed him up the stairs to our table. Looking at the “$2 Taco Tuesday” menu, the only info about the street taco choices was their title, and the fact that they used corn tortillas. We decided on one taco called Carne Asada and another chicken taco. We chose the Carne Asada since it was the only taco title that was described in their regular menu, under tacos, which indicated that the Carne Asada tacos included: “3 corn tacos filled with grilled steak, onions, cilantro, fresh lime and guacamole”. We knew, obviously, that we would be getting a street version of this taco, and that it would be just one taco for the $2. When we asked for what brand of root beer they had, Barq's or Mug, they had no clue. They came back with our “street tacos” on a single plate (they could have at least given us 2 plates), and instead of getting anything even close to a street taco or what was described under the same title “Carne Asada taco” in their regular menu, we got two mini, and I mean mini, flat and soggy, corn tortillas stacked on top of each other with just a spoonful of meat on top. My sister with her spoonful of beef (w/ a nice size hair she pulled off of it), and me with my spoonful of chicken. We both felt completely ripped off, as well as insulted. I would not have even payed 50 cents for their version of a street taco as it only included a spoonful of meat. We had to add salsa to them just to make them worth eating. This is completely false advertising and a total joke. Basically, it is an easy way for them to steal $2 from you on Tuesdays. Also, not once did our waitress ask if we needed a refill of our drink, so I had to get up and go grab someone’s attention who finally...

Every time I've visited this Jalapenos I've been disappointed no wonder I've avoided it so many times. While the other downtown Jalapenos gets 5 stars and is always outstanding, not once disappointing me over 10x. This one once again let me down. At first we started to feel like they didn't want anymore customers. I had to call the server Bianca to bring my beer and gf's margarita. The chips were ok but the salsa runny. Unlike the downtown Jalapenos. They brought us a 2nd batch of chips, they were stale and the salsa even runnier and lacking basic salsa veggies. My gf agreed. Later a new table in the front corner was complaining about the stale chips among themselves. I ordered steak fajitas which came sizzling and wonderful. They weren't very seasoned but pretty good - B+ rating. Finally, the server was taking the dishes and picked up the hot sauce cap from the floor, which (my bad) I hadn't noticed had fallen down, but what was gross and disgusting is she put it right on the bottle and back where they all go (Not even washing or even looking at it). Honestly, I told her I thought I saw a hair shine on it by the lighting and she checked and asked me if I was drunk. Both my gf and I were totally surprised by her attitude. I think the management might want to help this server become more customer friendly and less disgusting in the treatment of the condiments. I'd give this place a 2 star rating but I feel I owe it to the co. as a whole since the downtown Jalapenos is always outstanding and I don't want to tarnish them. I'm afraid I'm going to have to stick to the downtown Jalapenos in the future even though they are out of my way. It's well...