Josefinas Mex. Café — Restaurant in River Oaks

Those negative reviews speak true in my experience. I most likely wouldn’t return, not because the food was bad (it wasn’t). The food is what you would expect from this type of establishment, not the best food you would want to keep returning to because you know it is excellent, but good enough to suffice when you don't want to drive far for something to eat. However, the overall experience was exactly what you’d expect from a place that doesn’t care much about service.

My complaint with the staff. The women working the front counter, who I will go out on a limb and say might be the family/friends of the owners, managers, or even the owners, were on their phones, huddled together, giggling, and doing everything you wouldn’t want your own employees doing in front of customers. Not exactly the image of professionalism.

Our waitress seemed irritated when we asked for a minute to look over the menu. She came back exactly one minute later and asked if we were ready to order. Throughout the meal, she walked around like she was busy, but clearly ignored us when we were obviously done and ready to pay, never asking if we needed anything.

Meanwhile, the other waitress was working hard, actually doing her job well, I might add.

Atmosphere matters. A smile at the door and a goodbye aren’t enough if the service in between makes your guests feel overlooked or like an inconvenience. That’s where this place...

First, if you're coming here for breakfast, be here by 11am. We missed that. The atmosphere is cozy, colorful, interesting, cultural. They're pretty busy at lunch and seem to have "regulars", so I had high hopes for the food.

Now, I judge every Mexican food establishment by a few things right off the bat. Chips should be hot and fresh, salsa should be fresh and homemade and, harder to find but even more important to me, they should have crispy beef tacos made with shredded beef not ground burger. So, the chips here are not served warm, and probably from a bag, but they are ok. Not stale at least. The salsa is awesome. Which is sad to serve with these mediocre chips. They have crispy tacos, but only with ground beef and the very young server didn't offer me any alternatives, so I got the Carnitas instead. They were very good. Really, really good. Decent amount for the price. My partner got the Shrimp El Diablo. About a half cup of fairly small cocktail sized shrimp that looked and tasted precooked and heated, drowning in spicy red sauce. He was disappointed and for $16, we don't recommend it. Also, refills on chips are an additional charge and they ran out of salsa, so no refills on that.

All in all, fun place, but less than average service and hit and...

I really wanted to like this place - it's close to home and it's Tex Mex, which is my favorite. But I gave it a couple of tries and won't be going back.

The tacos were mediocre and for the price, they really shouldn't be made in cheap store-bought taco shells. The cheese enchiladas just weren't good...I can't explain it, but they lacked flavor. The chips, however, are really good and among the best I've seen offered at a Tex Mex restaurant.

The restaurant seems to always be freezing, so if you go, take a jacket. And the front door slams with every single person who comes in or out - it's a jarring noise that takes away from a peaceful dining experience.

Tea is not included with lunch specials and costs $3 a glass, which is kind of a pet peeve of mine. That's the restaurant's choice of course, but I think a free tea offering with lunch specials could help their business. Just my $.02.

The waitstaff is friendly, which is one reason I'm sad about not going back, but I just...