The Jalapeno Tree — Restaurant in Marshall

We were hungry for a dining experience! Not drive by or take out. So we had no option but to visit Marshall,Texas. I had heard some wonderful things about the Jalapeno Tree. It lived up to its reputation and then some. We were met at the door by a masked Hostess that took our phone number and asked us to remain in our vehicle until called. It was a short wait. The place is super cute and decorated in vivid colors. We were led to a table already set with paper menus very colorful and easy to interpret. At our table were 2 large bowls of crispy warm chips. There were a bowl of mild salsa (yay) and a creamy cheese and lime dip. My daughter ordered a big bowl of queso for the table. It came with freshly sliced pieces of Jalapeno. I thought oh no! So I took a very tentative bite. It was really good, but I did avoid the jalapenos. My oldest daughter ordered queasdas. She had tried them before and said they were awesome so my younger daughter tried them also. Rave reports from both of them! My picky granddaughter had found Mexican food Heaven! Build your own meal! The options were endless and for the first time of many restaurant meals, she ate it all! My other Granddaughter, Mexican food specialist ordered beans and rice , queso and crispy tacos. Which she made short work of. Well, I was busy surveying the many offerings while my companions finished a bowl of chips! Our waiter,Ralph, was helpful and had a wonderful presence. I ordered one of their speciality plates. The Tex Ritter! It came with beans and rice or a bowl of creamy chicken taco soup for a dollar. So I used that as my side and saved five dollars and he brought rice and beans for me to try. They had several specialty plates The Elvis,the John Wayne,the Clint Eastwood. Each offered different combinations of Mexican faire. The Elvis was larger portions! LOL. The Tex Ritter came with a cheese enchilada, a beef enchilada, and a chicken enchilada. And a beef tamale. With guacamole. The enchiladas themselves were light in texture and filled with a nice portion of filling. My only tiny suggestion. The chili sauce on the beef and cheese enchiladas was tasty but had big pieces of ground meat in it. I didn't care for it because to me it made the sauce thinner, but large not gigantic pieces of ground beef. The sour cream sauce was heavenly just the right consistancy. As I said the portions were generous. So my husband and Ihad supper from my leftovers. This was a pleasant unhurried meal. Be sure and ask for Ralph.He was really worth the tip I left. You must try their sweet tea, perfection! The service at times slowed a bit, but there were only two wait staff to cover the whole restaurant. I want to try their desserts next time. Their Soapapillas looked delicious, they also offered a brownie with strawberries or chocolate sauce, and another offering all looked fantastic! I am not a big Mexican food person, but this place could easily become a favorite to go place. It is down I-20 to US 59 take a right and it is one block up on the right! Wonderful...

All in all the facility as well as parking is in my mind more than sufficient for pretty much any type of vehicle ranging from a small car to a big pick up truck there’s room for you. As far as the inside, the floors have always appeared clean and maintained with the exception of random chips hitting the ground which happens LOL. The servers for the most part are always on top of it, as far as making sure your food is taken care of and refills with drinks and so forth. The one thing about the servers and A restaurant that we especially like is that they tend to stay pretty consistent as far as a low turnover rate on servers. Therefore you become familiar with the server(s) and they become familiar with you as well so they begin to know what you want which can be helpful at times if you come in with your children as we often do, or in a group and even just myself and my wife. Food consistency has always been spot on as I’ve often made the comment that there’s very few restaurant/establishments that you can go to and the food is consistently good, this is one of them! They have something for everyone so leaving their with an empty stomach is all on you! Lol. They even got a nice bar set up to where you can have a drink and watch games and or whatever else they may have on the television, or what you asked him to put on as well. Even with the Covid issue going on they have maintained the same cleanliness, the same great tasting food with polite servers that always adhere to safety protocols regarding masks and or gloves if so required. So if you’re just passing through or leave a round here, stop on in and enjoy the chips and hot sauce and lots of corn and flour tortillas! Pricing is also right on point compared to various other Establishments that serve similar food, in this case Mexican, Tex-Mex and even a cheeseburger if...

My husband and I stopped for a quick dinner, first time at this location, and I have to say it was our worst experience at a J-Tree. It’s getting 2 stars because it was actually very clean, but we couldn’t comprehend why everything took so long when there were hardly any people there when we sat down. We were seated immediately. Our server came and got our drink and appetizer order, then her trainee brought our drinks and tortillas. We waited about 10-15 minutes for our cup of queso, and reminded the waitress we ordered it. 10 minutes come around, she comes to take our order & says the queso is almost ready. We finally get our queso. The manager runs our food out to us, asks if we need anything, so I tell him a couple things & he leaves. My husband is almost done with his food & I still haven’t started due to the condiments I’m waiting on. We see the manager running around on the other side of the restaurant, condiments forgotten (I know it happens in the food industry, not a big deal). I finally flag down our waitress & ask her for the condiments & tortilla for my husband. 10 minutes later she brings them out, we eat & get ready for our check. After leaving both my husband and I feel sick to our stomachs, even though we had nothing similar to eat, which we both find odd.

I know the food industry (and others) are struggling to find help, but there weren’t enough cars in the parking lot to explain what the problem was this evening. They didn’t appear to be short-staffed, yet I felt like all of the staff was running around like crazy to help customers. We watched 2 tables leave after chips and drinks because of slow service. If they were short-staffed with kitchen workers, I understand, but...