Oscar's Mexican Restaurant — Restaurant in Redlands

I believe in trying something or someplace new at least once. Local resident that has lived in Redlands now for 6 1/2 years, but had never tried Oscar's. Decided to take my wife out on a lunch date...Quickly realized I had not missed a thing! This is gonna be painful and not in my nature to leave a horrible review but this visit in merits it...

Chips and salsa. Mexican restaurant. This is a staple setting the tone for the visit while awaiting arrival of your food, right? Salsa was bland AF! I am not judging if hot or not. It was BLAND. Like, I had to add salt just to give it some kind of flavor aside from smashed tomatoes! Didn't taste onion, garlic, cilantro - literally just tomato. Chips were on the cold side, too!

Ordered a frozen strawberry margarita for myself. Did not taste strawberries at all. Again, BLAND. Wasn't even one of those occasions where the bartender puts too much alcohol washing out the other flavors. It was an ice-cold, blended mix of nothingness aside from merely appearing to be a strawberry margarita (referring to its color)!

Food. Ordered an Oscar's 3 Item Combo (chicken enchilada w/two carne asada soft tacos) and a shrimp cocktail. Chicken enchilada wasn't bad, but the enchilada sauce wasn't cooked long enough. Beans and rice were whatevs...Soft taco meat and flavor were the same as something from Alberto's/Adalberto's, et al. What kinda turned me off was after taking your initial bite seeing the mini lake of grease accumulating on my plate. Saw this on my wife's plate, too! It was a good thing their corn tortillas are on the thicker side or they would quickly fall apart from having to absorb this! I'll say this: I have a good appetite and did not finish but half of a taco before saying enough is enough...

Shrimp cocktail. Came in a bowl. After all we had experienced with our meal my wife laughed looking at it out of disbelief! Even had to tell her to keep it down LOL! I'll start it with that...Shrimp was a good medium-size but not thoroughly thawed (close!). Cocktail sauce I swear was the same as that found in a glass jar! POOR PRESENTATION and HORRIBLE ATTEMPT at another Mexican restaurant staple.

I do not like leaving bad reviews but sometimes they are truly earned.

Service was friendly and you could tell the waitresses cared about their patrons. Did not complain, just paid and went...

09.17.16 -This is the best Mexican Restaurant that we have ever eaten at!!!! Our waitress, Sarah, was perfect. Sarah was so on her game. It was like she could read our thoughts. She was so warm and friendly but didn't hover. She spent time with us and made us feel like part of the family. The Food: The dinner salad was crisp and mounded high on the plate. The salad had fresh tomatoes, carrots and purple cabbage. The blue cheese salad dressing had the biggest Blue cheese pieces we have even seen. It was thick and wonderful. We have never had bar drinks served so quickly and they were outstanding. The fish tacos had the perfect amount of grill fish in them. The Refried beans had just the right amount of cheese on them as well. The Spanish rice was moist and the Black beans were great as well. Both the corn and flour tortillas were fresh and warm. The side order of guacamole had the perfect texture and fresh and tasty...no big lumps and not runny like jarred guacamole. The Chili Verde dinner was a tad spicy but so great it didn't matter! The chips were cooked perfectly with no after oil taste. The salsa was a bit on the spicy side as well but fresh and delicious. The entire experience was AMAZING!!!! We plan to tell everyone about Oscar's and plan to take ourselves and our friends every...

Was in the area and figured try something new.

It's small inside, but there were tables so we were sat immediately. We got chips and drinks quickly, but it took a LONG time for our waitress to come around and take our order. Not a huge issue, just the people that were sat immediately before us got their food before we even ordered.

The menu is enormous, something for everyone. I ordered off the smaller portions section, which was awesome. Additionally, they had healier options, which I also gravitated towards.

The food took a long time to come out too. Remember those people that got their food before we ordered? They were paying their bill before our food showed up.

The food was...tasteless. I assumed it was because I chose healthier options with less salt,etc, but others in my group said the same thing. Even the salsa, which was hearty and chunky, lacked a significant amount of flavor. I'm still hoping it was due to less salt, which I can live with.

The meal prices were phenomenal though. My combo (2 tacos, rice and beans) was only $12. It's easy to eat here inexpensively, which just goes to show that most restaurants are really overcharging.

There was nothing inherently bad about this place, but simultaneously, nothing extraordinarily...