El Jinete Mexican Restaurant Jefferson — Restaurant in Jefferson

I spontaneously stopped here at 6:35pm on a Sunday while traveling home. I was wanted t something to end and decided I wanted tacos but not from Taco Bell. I saw this restaurant on a the highway food sign.

Walking in, it said you can seat yourself. They have the list of daily specials posted as well. I was greeting after standing in the foyer area for a minute.

The cashier was very friendly. I was presented a menu. They also have quesabrilla tacos that isn’t listed on the menu. I ordered traditional asada tacos combo with rice and beans on flour tortillas. My order was placed at 6:43pm. I got it to go. I was told I could sit as it would be about 10 minutes. It looked pretty busy inside.

I got my food at 6:55pm but it was really ready several minutes before as I saw someone being it and another order and place it on a pick up area.

When I go to the car, I opened everything to check before leaving. I noticed they put the cilantro and onions in a container vs on the tacos. At first, I was confused but then I could see the reason for it. The rice and beans were together in another container. I was given chips and salsa.

I put the cilantro and onions on my tacos before heading the road. The asada was average. It was warm in temperature and didn’t give me the grilled steak taste that i love have had at Kroger places. The rice and beans was also average. I only ate about 5 chips because I wasnt that hungry and they weren’t the best.

My meal was $17 after tax, which I would say is average for 3 tacos, rice, and beans. It fulfilled my desire for tacos but not up to my...

My husband and I come here about once a week. Never had any issues with this place. However, the last three visits we've had the same female server. Don't know her name but she wears a hair net all the time. First time we had her she didn't right down our order came back to verify order twice, someone else brought our food out, she never checked on us, never refilled our drinks and we had to ask for our check up front. We left a reasonable tip because I use to do the same job and tried to understand she was new. The second visit, same thing she took forever to come to table, had to verify our order twice after not writing it down, and chose not to check on us after our order was brought to the table by another server. For this visit she received a low tip from us. Now this week again third times a charm right? I don't think so, we had a Male server start our drinks, however he did not continue waiting on us he sent the girl to the table, my husband and I were not pleased because again she did not write the order down, had to come back and verify twice what our order was, someone else brought our order out, she actually checked on us this go round and refilled drinks properly. However when we paid she brought back the wrong card to the table, thank God she didn't loose our card because it would have cost her. Again we left a poor tip for poor service. I've mentioned how bad her service was to the manager on the second visit. Next time we come in and she approaches our table we will be asking for someone else. Because this is not acceptable. Please do something about...

We have been coming to this location for years and travel 12 miles to this restaurant. Sadly last night was the last time. For the last couple times we have been there, we noticed the frozen margaritas are watered down lacking flavor so we have been asking for fresh limes to squeeze in it. My black beans were ice cold without the typical melted cheese on it which was taken back just to be warmed up in the microwave and thrown back on our table. My husband’s dish again lacked flavor and didn’t appear fresh. The food quality has gone downhill and it used to be very good. A few years ago, they changed their chicken and steak used for fajitas. The quality of their meat used to be fresh with decent chunks provided throughout. Now the steak and chicken are teeny tiny strips which tells me the meat is lower quality and maybe frozen so we stopped ordering fajitas. The icing on the cake was the peppermint candy on the way out the door which crumbled in my mouth telling me they are still cutting cost. I had to spit it out because it was disgusting and stale. This place is in a good location right off of I-85 who get plenty of customers. In my opinion, they are greedy and are taking advantage of the customers. When Covid hit, they shut the restaurant down for a couple months and renovated which told me they have funds. We have paid them a lot of money over the years along with their price increases and established a relationship with a wonderful waiter who...