El Jimador Mexican Restaurant — Restaurant in Dahlonega

We’ve been regular customers at El Jimador for nearly a decade. While it’s always been a pretty basic, low-cost option—especially being close to the college—it’s been consistently decent, and we’ve dined in there countless times, sometimes even once a week. After our most recent experience, though, we won’t be going back.

We ordered takeout that included carne asada, Texana Loca, and a French fry meal for our child. The fry meal is listed as coming with bacon, cheese, and cut-up hot dog, but we substituted grilled chicken instead. When we got home—after driving 9 miles each way—the entire meal was completely smothered in jalapeños. It was so hot, even the adults wouldn’t touch it. This wasn’t mentioned anywhere, and it clearly wasn’t something we expected for a child.

My wife called the restaurant to explain what happened. At first, they were apologetic and said we could come back up and they’d make it right at no charge. She clearly stated we just wanted French fries, cheese, bacon, and grilled chicken—nothing else.

But when I got there, not only did they add sour cream—something she specifically said not to include—but they also charged me $20. When I questioned the sour cream and the charge, the employee insisted my wife never said that and claimed she never told us it would be free. It felt like she was calling my wife a liar.

We asked to speak to a manager, but were told there wasn’t one available. Then a staff member said, “I can be the manager,” and followed it up with, “What did you expect? You’re going to be charged either way.”

It was dismissive and unprofessional. The staff is mostly young college girls, and while that’s never been an issue for us, it’s clear the ownership or management isn’t providing any real oversight or training in customer service.

Had we been dining in, this would’ve been a simple fix. But the lack of accountability and poor treatment over a mistake they admitted to at first has cost them a loyal customer.

We won’t be returning, and I’d caution others—especially tourists or anyone ordering takeout—not to expect much if something goes wrong. El Jimador has become the kind of place that won’t stand behind their food or service once you walk...

The lady friend, her daughter, and I came here to eat. Right off the bat, there was a maintenance issue, as the light bulb over our head was out, and we had to address this to our waitress to seat us at another table rather than her take the initiative to seat us at a well-lit table and bring the issue up with management. Service was friendly, but seemed to be mildly disoriented, showing signs of stress that should be reserved for the kitchen where it can be appropriately addressed out in the dining area in front of customers which created a much-unneeded air of tension about the restaurant. Unfortunately, it seems the restaurant heavily prioritized physical attractiveness over good customer service, and I haven't even discussed the food yet. The lady and I ordered the fajita for two, and the refried beans had the consistency of oddly grainy water and the flavor profile of a single grain of salt. Unfortunately, the fajitas were prepared with grilled tomatoes that were far too sweat for the otherwise umami/salty flavor profile the rest of the dishes ingredients provided. And while these were the words of the young one (so take with a grain of salt), it seemed like the cheese quesadilla was prepared with too much butter. It's a shame, as my GF loved this restaurant, and seeing her disappointed also didn't help things, so unless some major changes occur, I'm afraid we won't be visiting this...

I got the carnitas dinner and it is always so good! My husband got the steak fajitas dinner and my daughter got the kids taco, rice and beans. Overall the food is always excellent. This is our 3rd time going to El Jimador since moving to Dahlonega. I had refrained previously from leaving a review because I wanted to give this place a chance with the staff/waitresses but the service is pretty bad. The waitress we had was Torial M per the receipt and she got snippy and an attitude when she hadn’t checked on us for a while and my husband was fed up. A. She didn’t give us a small bowl on the side like we’d asked for the large queso we got. B. We got no silverware or napkins. C. The menu was smeared with sticky queso and wasn’t wiped down. We got our food and still had no silverware or napkins, so we just sat there and waited. After 5 minutes I asked a different waitress for silverware and napkins. Never got the extra bowl we asked for either. We were checked on 2 times during the hour long dinner. She had another server bring us the check and we had zero interaction with her again. She was completely unprofessional and despite all of that my husband felt bad and said, “we don’t know what she has going on in her personal life.” We still left a small tip for the 5 minutes of her time she gave us. To management, get it together with your staff. The food is great but the service,...