José's Blue Sombrero | Racine — Restaurant in Mount Pleasant

We just moved to town and have been looking for a good spot for tacos and margaritas. My wife found Jose's and saw that it had great reviews. We decided to head in on an early Friday night and give it a try.

The hostess stand was mayhem. Looking around the restaurant, it didn't make much sense because there weren't many people inside. It took a couple of minutes to be seated but eventually we were given a table. Of the dozens of tables, we were one of four tables with customers.

The first few minutes were actually very pleasant. We received complimentary chips and had our drink order taken. Within two minutes we had our drinks and our orders placed.

This is where it took a turn. After about ten minutes we noticed tables that had been seated a few minutes after us had their food and were eating. They all had a different waitress than us. That's when our waitress came out with plates for us. The only problem was it wasn't our order and she realized quickly it wasn't our food.

GHOSTED. For the next 20 minutes we didn't see her. No updates. No food. No other servers in sight. Everyone around us was eating and more tables were being seated. The table that came in five minutes after us were paying their bill before our order reached us.

Finally, she came out with our food along with a plate for a woman that had been there for ten minutes. No excuse other than, "Sorry, the kitchen was crazy."

The food was average. My wife enjoyed her shrimp fajitas and my chorizo and chicken tacos had no chorizo. I ate them because I was hungry but it is definitely not a dish I will get again if we ever go back.

Our waitress checked on us one more time before I asked for the check. She graciously gave us a cup of miniature cookies and took my card. But the damage to the experience was done and I, to my chagrin, had to stiff her on a tip. I'm no angel but I know how to tip. I feel as though if the service is deserving of a tip I will compensate that service well. There was nothing good about this service we had. Had she come to check on us or update us or apologize about the wait in between, I would have understood.

My wife and I took guesses as to what happened. Considering everyone got their food within ten minutes of them ordering and us waiting almost 30. She either gave our order away by mistake or she forgot to put it in. Either way, I would have understood given an update or explanation. With neither offered, I had nothing to offer her.

It will be a while before we consider coming back. We will be trying other restaurants in the area to find our place. Sorry for the length but I just had to vent on...

My group of friends (5 of us) have been coming to Jose's for happy hour for friend's birthdays, etc for several years. Every couple of months. Today was AWFUL. We generally order the same thing every time. I always get the beef nachos (happy hour) which are always made with delicious shredded beef. Today, i got a plate of ground beef nachos...hmmm, no choice noted on menu, always just stated as "BEEF", and these were on wimpy white corn tortilla chips (vs the chips they serve from the bar). The nachos had s liquidy pale "cheese" sauce and the entire thing was MUSHY, Tastless, and unappealing. One couple ALWAYS get the quesadillas, they usually get three on the happy hour plate, today it was TWO, my other friend gets the potato skins, just POTATO skins, with cheese/toppings, and always FOUR, today just THREE. We were all saying, "this isn't right". The potato skin person (who ordered them) said they were super bland, not the same, not good.

We noticed that, the USUALLY bustling bar area was empty aside from our group of five and a few people at the bar. Something has changed. I had them remove the Nachos from my bill, I only ate a few bites, NOT GOOD. We discussed our concerns with a kitchen manager. He told me several times, "ground beef is watery" REALLY? Not in my world...since when is ground beef WATERY? And he asked if I asked for SHREDDED BEEF. I told him that I never had to ask before...maybe the wait person asked me??I don't recall...either way, I didn't know I had a choice as no one told me I had a choice, thought I was getting what I always get.

We will not be back, as I said, we were fairly regular for the past 3 years, NO MORE. Service was poor, had to ask for the bill twice, while the waitress and bartender chatted (we had asked the waitress twice) and they WERE NOT BUSY at the time...just chatting(we had places to be) and finally the bartender came out and said (kind of in an accusitory way) "Well, I have to know who had what so I can charge you..."(NO KIDDING? new concept?). all in all poor service and poor food.

No more...

On Tuesday, May 6, 2025 my wife and I went to Jose's Blue Sombrero in Racine. We were seated right away and within a few minutes a server delivered a basket of chips and salsa. My wife and I immediately noted to each other that the server appeared to be having a bad day as the expression on her face conveyed negativity. The chips were fine but the salsa was bland. Moments later our waiter approached the table and asked if we wanted anything to drink. We ordered soft drinks and some hot salsa. The beverages arrived a few minutes later but the hot salsa did not. I immediately noticed a small pasty white substance in my soft drink. I examined the substance but could not make it out. A short time later the waiter returned, but I did not address the unknown substance in my drink. We ordered our dinner entrees. Sometime later we noticed a server deliver our entrees to a different table. The couple after examining the entrees told the server that was not their food order. The server returned to the kitchen with the entrees. A couple minutes later our waiter returned to our table with the same entrees previously delivered to our neighboring table. I asked the waiter why our entrees were delivered to a neighboring table. He did not have a clue. At this point, I asked for the check, paid the amount due and we left the restaurant leaving the entrees on the table. I subsequently spoke with the on-duty manager via telephone to vent my negative dining experience. The manager was pleasant and listened to my complaint. He assured me he would address my concerns. The manager asked me to come back to the restaurant to give them an opportunity to make things right. I appreciated the offer, but politely declined. In the scheme of it all, these incidents are minor, but when you couple them all together its simply not acceptable. I would not recommend Jose's Blue Sombrero located in Racine, as there are many other Mexican restaurants in close proximity to choose from that will provide excellent service, good food and...