Pepper's Cocina Mexicana — Restaurant in Florida

12-8-22: went here with a large party. I have personaly been here 2 times prior. First visit here was excellent. The food, service and prices where great! Second time the service was lacking, and the food didn't taste the same. This current visit the service was great. We had about 14 total in our party, unfortunately 4 of us has to sit at another table but it was close by. The prices here have gone up, but not like everywhere else. It has considerably gone above what other like restaurants have gone up. We order the large queso ($11), spicy sauce(Read on), soda ($3), and chicken fajitas ($17), my family is vegetarian but I am not. They accommodated and put the meat in another dish. Thank you! The portion for the fajitas was pretty small comparatively to the price and other like restaurants. I'm not just talking what on the skillet. I'm talking about the side salad, sour cream, beans and rice. It was pretty small. I wish I took a picture. We ordered one corn tortillas and one flour tortillas just to try them both out. The spicy sauce we got was ok. It has a kick, but not that spicy. The fajita onions and bell peppers was extra oily. And not enough pepper. The chicken that was on the side was ok. It was about 6oz. Overall the food was ok. We have had better locally, and cheaper. I keep bringing up the price because fajitas for one is $17 I think, and $30 for two. I think when inflation hit, these guys were shooting for the moon. Well after all said and done, we get the bill. I don't mind paying for stuff I get. But when I saw tomatillo for $4, I wondered what that was. Especially when I saw there was 2 of them so $8 total. He explained that it was for the spicy sauce salsa that we ordered. I was flabbergasted, as this is the only time in my history that we were ever charged for any spicy sauce in any restaurant. I have been to many all over the world. And for a place that is called peppers, it's just makes this situation funnier. Let's just say that per person $ spent was a lot higher than expected. The food was ok/good, but not that good IMO. I did add a picture of the receipt. Oh and 3% off of paid with cash. Is this place coronated by the king himself? What is with the "nickel and dime" of this place? Maybe the IRS needs to get involved as something...

Gave this place a try tonight & really wished we would’ve just gone with our first choice, but husband has been wanting to go, so we did. TERRIBLE!!! First, we stood at the front counter for ten minutes before anyone acknowledged us. Followed that up with Tristan being our server. Sweet kid, SLOW SERVICE!!!!! Sat at the table for another ten mins before he ever showed up to deliver the chips & salsa & take our drink order. With that being said, we went ahead & ordered everything all at once having the feeling it probably wasn’t going to be a good experience. Honestly, at that point we should’ve just left....We ordered two sprites, a margarita & a mojito. A few more minutes go by, the chips and salsa are gone, the two sprites we STILL didn’t have yet! I had to ask again for them, then, he was like, “Oh yeah, I’ll go get those.” At this point, I was about to lose my mind! Food- It showed up, & looked good (was nothing great), but I noticed that my shrimp tacos were on corn tortillas, instead of the flour that I asked for. I just ate them because I didn’t want to wait another 45 minutes. We were never given any extra napkins, no apologies for the wait, nothing. We said never again, but I see others who have had good experiences with other servers, so maybe we just got the wrong one. I will say the bar drinks were good, but the bartenders were aggravated with the guy on the end who literally stood there talking to a couple sitting at the bar the entire time we sat at our table. He was of no help to them as they were busting their butts working. I don’t work there and I wanted to say something to him! Management needs to make some adjustments. I think the bar visitors are well taken care of by the girls up there actually paying attention to their customers. Kudos to them! Just an FYI- the Fernandina Beach location is phenomenal. Fleming Island,...

Overall, in a month, I'll have forgotten this place and maybe reflect on my visit while at Salsa's. Overall low on the scale for mid tier Mexican restaurants, although they are trying to be a high end restaurant and it's not working. It's worth a try but not sure I would go back or make it a favorite.

Here's why...

I rate based on a couple things, the restaurant environment, food, and service. Based on these, it's easy to factor in cost, to get total value. It's not expensive, but for what you get, it is a bit over priced (low value and not worth the cost).

Food: food was ok, took a while with only two other customers in the restaurant. My food tool a while to come out after others were served, and the taco was basic, marginally better than taco Bell. Shells are pre made and don't hold up. Chicken was a bit chewy in the enchilada, but not the taco. Rice and beans is spread very thin, and no chip refills. A margarita runs $10-d20 and chilli relleno is $10 (salsas will add one for 2). Meh, not outstanding.

The service was ok, some mess-ups, but maybe new staff or something. Things seemed to take longer than expected, drinks were not filled often, and no chip refills. Not a big deal, but my daughter definitely wanted more chips. Overall forgettable.

The building was well done. It looks nice, and makes for some nice Instagram or Facebook pictures, but with lacking food and service, it takes away from the experience. The restaurant appears to be centered around the bar so I'm guessing they do well with drink sales or are catering to dinner and drinks.

The location is not well suited for what they are offering imo. With many other great options as close as a Ross the street, and island girl nextdoor competing with the bar offering, I would be surprised if they last another year. If the restaurant were located elsewhere, they might have a...