Fonda San José — Restaurant in Chattanooga

I ate here on Tuesday evening around 7:30. The restaurant was pretty empty, but there were a few parties both inside, at the bar and out on the patio, so moderately busy.

The restaurant is well kept and the décor is nicely done. The waitress was friendly and promptly sat me.

I ordered the Shredded Beef Chimichanga for my entrée and finished the meal with the Fried Ice Cream.

The waitress brought out some fresh tortilla chips and what appeared to be a house made salsa. The chips were warm, thin, crispy and not too salty. This checks all my boxes for tortilla chips, so that was a pleasant surprise. The salsa was mild and didn't have any real heat to it, so it was a good house salsa that most people would like. Fresh ingredients like onion, tomato and cilantro were visible in the mixture.

Within 10-15 minutes my entrée arrived hot fresh and large! Checking all the boxes again. The Chimi was lightly crispy and filled with a beef and refried bean mixture. The refried beans were not overwhelming, tasted good and the shredded beef definitely was the primary component (check). It was smothered in a delicious cheese Queso and was accompanied by Spanish rice, Pico de Gallo, Guacamole, Lettuce and Sour Cream. The Spanish rice had bits of vegetables like peas and chopped up green beans and was pretty tasty. The Guac was flavored great and the Pico was good as well (are you seeing a trend here?).

The waitress was attentive and kept my soda filled.

Half way through the meal, I had to throw in the towel so that I had room for the Fried Ice Cream and guess what? I'm glad I did. This thing was huge! Definitely big enough for 2 people. The vanilla ice cream (which was covered in a delicious, crunchy topping) was smothered in whip cream with chocolate drizzled over the top and 2 cherries to top it off. Not to mention the churro bowl it was served in! ...Um Yummy...

All of this and a soda came to just under $27. Plus I have lunch...

me and my family came down to chattanooga for the day and we ended up craving authentic mexican food and this was the closest place so we came here. first downfall was the fact their “parking” literally only fit like 2-3 cars so we had to park further away and pay an extra $10. when we walked in the manager/owner was saying bye to the people walking out and telling them to come back soon, but when we walked in he just gave us a look and walked off ?? like okay. the restaurant was pretty dead on a sunday night only one other party was there, we got seated and it took a while for someone to come. when someone did come it was the manager/owner again and he just brought us out chips and salsa and didn’t acknowledge us whatsoever, no “hi” no “how are you” no nothing, all he did was drop the chips off and left. the service was already terrible especially being an owner you should acknowledge and care for people giving your company money but no he just didn’t care. when we got out order taken one of us got an horchata and it was super watered down for literally $7 it was crazy. two people in our party also ordered the birria quesadilla, it was the smallest thing EVER, no sides like rice or beans, or even a little salad , it was just a quesadilla that didn’t full them up at all, the worse part was that it was $15.50 EACH ONE. we also asked for some hot/spicy sauce for the chips and at every mexican restaurant ive went to it’s always complimentary because people typically like spicy ness with their food especially at a mexican restaurant, but we were charged $2 for it and it was just a small container. other than the fact the rice and steak were good, best believe we won’t be back service wasn’t good at all like our server never came and checked on us...

The "food" here is utter slop. If you're looking to NOT eat, dine at Fonda San Jose!

How was my meal?

The chicken I was served was incredibly tough and covered in raw onion and hard oily mushrooms. A pile of steamed mixed vegetables fresh out the microwave inexplicably ended up on my plate despite me not ordering it. The stench wafting off this "food" can only be described with one word: putrid.

How was the service?

We only had to wait 40 minutes in a nearly empty restaurant to receive our "food." Though the "food" went uneaten (because it was inedible), we still had the pleasure of paying full price.

How was the atmosphere?

I'm sure you can guess how it was by my description of the food and service.

Here's a list of things that would taste better than the "food" at Fonda San Jose

A can of cat food Broken glass Gum that's been scraped off the side walk A urinal cake The bitter flavor they put in computer duster to stop people from inhaling it Pink mold that grows in the shower A bowl of hair A Duracell AAA battery

I would literally rather starve than step foot in here one more time. I will pray to that the doors to Fonda San Jose close for good...