On The Border Mexican Grill & Cantina — Restaurant in Concord

This review is for the restaurant located in Concord, NC, just outside the Concord Mills mall.

Arrived around 2 PM, which is a slow time between lunch and dinner. Greeted immediately and we asked to be seated outside on such a nice spring day. Once seated, it took a few minutes, but then Ricky came to our table, brought chips and salsa, and took our order. Very nice fellow that made you feel at ease. I'm not sure about this, but I think the chips are made right there in the restaurant. Absolutely amazing. I had seen on the company website that their salsa to go was their best seller, and now I know why. Our order consisted of Grande Fajita Nachos, El Gran Papi combo, and Border Queso Beef Enchiladas. Our food arrived promptly and it looked wonderful. Excellent presentation. You could tell that some effort had been made on this preparation, as opposed to just being thrown haphazardly onto a plate.

I patronize many Mexican restaurants in the area where I live. The food is ok, not bad, but I constantly complain about the lack of seasoning / flavor. Hands down, the food we got yesterday was the best meal we've had out, in years. Perfect seasoning, wonderful flavor and generous helpings. The nachos actually stole the show, as I can't recall any food being that delicious. The main courses were also extremely tasty. No complaints about the food whatsoever. It was magnificent.

Just FYI, I did not receive any compensation whatsoever for this review, nor do I know anyone who works at On The Border. Normally I don't leave extended reviews such as this, but it really was that good, and I felt compelled to share my experience. The only negative thing I can say about the entire visit is how the table legs almost prevented you from sitting down in the outside seating. Trivial. Easily worked around. I find it very surprising that this restaurant chain is having financial difficulty. I will be back soon. As an aside, I got a quart of salsa and chips to go. Tons of fresh chips with that awesome salsa. Given their generous portions we had to use 3 "to go" boxes to get all the leftovers home. Give...

Service & Food Going Downhill FAST. We have been going to On The Boarder in Concord Mills at least 2-4/month since moving here in January 2018. At first, this became our favorite restaurant, and it was not uncommon for us to visit twice a week. But in the past 2 months, both the service and the food have gone downhill steadily. The last two times we were there the rice was not hot/cold, the refried beans dried out (both indicating they sat for an extended period of time before our order was brought out to us). I like sour cream with my meal, and seems that they are quite adverse to giving up their sour cream! They started to charge for a small dollop, and then simply refused to bring it out with my order. Last visit (5 days ago) I asked for the sour cream when I ordered, and when my meal was delivered sans sour cream, I asked again. Never saw it. Whereas they used to keep the chips and salsa coming, the past few visits we had to ask for more. Beverages? Again, had to ask repeatedly in order to get one refill. Thing is the restaurant was NOT crowded by any stretch of the imagination, so that's not an excuse. The meal took a very long time to reach us (again, the meal indicated that it sat unserved for quite a while) and the portions seemed a tad bit smaller than when we first started visiting On The Border. The service and food has gone downhill so much these past 2 months that we have decided to give up on this restaurant - not worth wasting money on a sub-par meal. For a restaurant that was so great earlier this year, to see it go steadily downhill this summer and fall is sad. But in the words of the late George Harrison, All Good Things Shall Pass... RIP...

Just left this location and I can tell you there will be no coming back. I rarely eat out and when I do, I expect to be treated with at least the minimum respect. Sometimes people can act like they’re being genuinely nice, but you can’t fake an attitude. How we feel about the world eventually comes out of us. The young lady at the bar was not at all pleasant. I felt rushed from order to exit. She had quite the mouthful for her white patrons, never came back to me and asked if my food was ok or if I needed anything, I had to flag down one of the kitchen staff to get paid attention to. And after I had finished my meal, I sat patiently waiting for her to ask if I needed a to go container, didn’t happen. I had to ask. She passed me several times with my arms folded and didn’t say one word. Maybe she had a bad day, that would not be my problem. Don’t come to work to make a salary, we have enough of that happening in the world right now. Show up to give the customer an experience they can’t get at home. Pay attention to your guest! I didn’t feel welcomed from the moment I sat down. But I was hungry for this style of food, the only reason I stayed. And if you’re uncertain on how to make someone feel welcomed, take a training class. People need to learn how to be kind, it’s not being overly friendly, it’s simply making people feel comfortable enough to be in your establishment. I’ve been black all of my life, and I’ve never been wrong about my intuition of bigotry. Maybe she’s a racist maybe she was just having a bad day, either way, she needs to stay away from people, especially people of color. Not a very friendly place to eat, at least I’m never...