El Jinete - Oak Ridge's Mexican Restaurant — Restaurant in Oak Ridge

After reading all the glowing reviews here and on Facebook, plus seeing a full parking lot every time we passed by, we decided to give them a try. We went in around 6:30-7:00 pm on a Friday evening. Restaurant was busy, but we were able to be seated promptly. The atmosphere is very pleasant, but the lighting made it almost impossible to read the menu, I ended up using the glow from my cell phone to see the menu. Since it was fairly early on a weekend night, we expected everything to be "on point", and were extremely disappointed. Our beverage order was taken very quickly and we received our beverages and the complimentary chips and salsa. The chips must have been taken directly from a bag because instead of the fresh hot chips you get at other restaurants, these were cold. The salsa was mediocre. We both ordered chicken enchilada dishes, mine was served with a verde salsa, guacamole salad, and refried beans. Hubby got a ranchero sauce and he requested a double order of refried beans. Unfortunately, the guacamole salad was the highlight of the meal. Both sauces tasted "off", the beans were mediocre, and the chicken in the enchiladas appeared to have been cooked several hours earlier, it was dry and hard on the edges.

We had such high expectations, but we both stated that we never...

Update 5/12/25: Found a new favorite on the menu, Poblanos Real, with cheese sauce instead of ranchero. Oh my, so delicious. Talk about a bargain for $15, there's enough deliciousness for two meals! Served with a cold Dos Equis, what could be better. Tonight's service was even more friendly and efficient than the exceptional service we always enjoy. Topped dinner off with a beautiful sopaphilla. Yum!

Update- 9/6/24: Fajitas again, this time for lunch, and a special price of $10.39. Ya just can't beat that deal for such delicious food. Ice cold XX beer for $3.50 just tops it off! My wife got Chimichangas and she loved it, with a soft taco on the side. We'll have another meal with the leftovers. Such a deal!

Update: 4/18/24: Fajitas tonight! A wonderfully delicious meal at a bargain price of $14.

Original: The service is fast, friendly and efficient. The food is always fresh and tasty. This visit we both tried Chili Rellenos (Poblanos), which was excellent. My wife asked them to stuff ground beef inside with the cheese. Most excellent! I tried their more common practice of covering the chilies with meat (one with chicken and one with steak). While this was good, it wasn't as good (and more expensive) as the ground beef. I do recommend this restaurant and...

I am from Texas, where there is a plethora of Mexican dining experiences from nice restaurants to food trucks that serve tacos. I am used to Tex-mex from home, and have been eating it all of my life, so there is a bit of bias in this review. That said, I will try to remain objective. All in all, the food is pretty darn good. I ordered the equivalent of chiles rellenos, and it really was pretty good, aside from lacking any heat. The pablanos were cooked lovely, and filled with cheese, which was great! But the sauce covering the peppers tasted only mildly of Chile powder. My son ordered Camarones a la diabla, which he was warned was spicy. Friends, it was not spicy. It was tasty, and kind of tasted like a fancy cocktail sauce base, but it was not spicy. In fact overall, everything lacked heat as far as I was concerned. The service was excellent, friendly waitstaff and really nice variety. But everything lacked the quintessential level of heat and excitement. I give it four stars because everything else exceeded expectations. Atmosphere is nice. Good spacing between tables. I will definitely return at...