Jardin Del Rey — Restaurant in Leander

We have been coming to this establishment since they first opened. We have always had great food and a great experience. But now it appears that the staff must cater to ignorance. We came in on a Saturday evening, hungry after a long day of working. My husband is a disabled combat veteran and we had our service dog in training with us (9 week old puppy). We sat outside, right by the exit. The staff asked for "service dog paperwork", which we do not have to provide (but we did anyway) and treads the line of an ADA violation. After getting through all of those hoops, the puppy was hot and wanted to sleep so we put him in our vehicle with the air conditoner on. Parked right next to where our table was. All was good. 40+ minutes go by. Our food comes. Not a minute later, my husband is approached by another waiter who asks my husband to turn our vehicle off due to complaints. We explain to him that our service animal is sleeping with the a/c on and that we cannot turn the vehicle off. He then asks my husband to move the vehicle. My husband explains how he is disabled and there were no handicapped spots available when we arrived so we are parked in the closet parking spot available to us. The waiter then directs my husband to move our vehicle to the now available handicap spot. So instead of asking the customer that complained about the vehicle that was running before they arrived and sat down, what else they could do to make their experience better, as in sitting them elsewhere (or telling them not to sit in the sun and complain about the heat) They decide to ask a disabled combat veteran to leave his family and full plate of food on the table to move his vehicle to appease...

Summary: Food 1 out of 5 Service 4 out of 5 Ambiance 2 out 5 Would go back 0 out 5 People who rated this place 1 out of 5

Details: Food - Salsa Verde tastes like it is out of a can, chicken enchiladas the meat didn't taste fresh and we picked bones out. Beef taco, only ate half because the meat tasted so old. Beans were not good, rice was dry and not good. Chips and Salsa that everyone raved about, below average to any bottom line chain Mexican restaurant.

Server - Attentive, didn't know what an Arnold Palmer was, didn't offer to find out. Everything else was fine, gave him 20%.

Ambiance - Building was old and not charming, fairly clean, cheesy seats.

If you are a foody or leave a small rural town more than once a week, I doubt you will like this place. I'm always looking for the cheap hidden gems, this isn't one of them. Unless this is your "night out" because you live in Leander or further out and have never eaten good Mexican food, your taste buds will not be liking this spot. I give the people that rated this a 1 for effort, since I'm sure they are rating it for what it is. I'm writing this for the people that live in the area that eat good food and are thinking about taking everyones advice because it is so highly rated. Be fore-warned, this area also has a Subway rated...

This location has gone downhill and we won't be returning. My husband and I grew up in this area and always loved coming to this location. Saturday evening we ordered curbside, got home (about 20 mins away) and then realized the chicken enchiladas blancas was made wrong. My husband called back and spoke to a woman who offered to remake it. He agreeded, but then called back quickly to ask for a refund since we lived so far away. When he called back he spoke to a man named OJ who told him they could not refund our card but to come in and he will give a cash refund. My husband told him it would be either the next day or so that we could come back by and then man said that was fine. Well, today's Tuesday and we came back to place a new order and instead of refunding us they could just comp the enchiladas we were going to place in the order. The woman working today called OJ to confirm, then OJ claimed to have no knowledge of the previous phone call (from three days before)and refused to help. The whole situation has left a terrible taste and we will be recommending to all our local friends and family to avoid...