El Jalisco Grill — Restaurant in San Antonio

Much bigger inside than I would have guessed, this far northside Mexican Restaurant has been flying under my radar for quite a few years. It seems I have been in a minority with that perspective however, as the joint was jumping for a Wednesday afternoon. Lots of hispanic workers in this lunch room, noon day rush which gave me an inkling about the food this kitchen must be delivering.

I have mentioned this before, but I get a kick out of menus styled after many Mexican bordertown restaurants I have seen that display menu pictures of each dish the restaurant offers. I don't know whether or not it's meant to be a pictorial hand holder for the uninitiated gringo or a brilliant way to entice hungry diners with delicious looking dishes. In either case, there were page after page of thumbnail shots of El Jalisco's food with cheese smothered, pepper spiced, fried up, breaded down, sauced over, and grilled through meats, chicken ,fish, soups, tacos and tortas. What a gas! (and that's a term of surprised endearment rather than a post frijole consumption statement).

I appreciated the fact that the salsa casera was kept cold for freshness, but my chips had icicles hanging from them with each scoop and bite. Two squeeze bottles of salsas were also available. I liked both of them with the earthy heat of the red chile salsa and the incendiary burn of the light green probably serrano laced version.

As usual for a first time Mexican restaurant visit I ordered the canary in a coal mine dish as a litmus test (still love mixing metaphors) for the food served here. If the enchiladas are no wueno, the canary dies (virtually of course) and return trips to the restaurant are doubtful. $8.50 got me three well filled, beefy enchiladas along with the 1st commandment of Mexican food sides plating; "It shall be served unto thee a goodly portion of rice and frijoles with each and every meal"! And yea verily it was so and sitting right in front of me . . . "Hot plate!"

A rather larger than usual salad of decorative lettuce and diced tomatoes led to an escape from the earth tones plating doldrums. The salad tasted fresh too so I was happy to eat it. I am also happy to report that the canary was whistling an admirable rendition of "Guantanamera" after several tasty mouth fulls of enchilada. There was no funky spiced picadillo or over chili powdered gravy. Just a mild cheese and a moist, savory meat filled tortilla that quickly registered a full marker as all three were consumed. Not quite an enchilada favorite equivalent, but a good solid contender for a favored spot on the list. The rice and beans were mundane but not boring as they kept pace with the disappearance of the enchiladas. I think I would also have liked the flour tortillas too had I had the same ones this morning for breakfast.

An apparent steady patronage, an extensive, sub-moderately priced menu, lots of Mexican food classics (no puffy did I spot, however), a large, uncrowded feeling, no nonsense dining room even when it was filled . . . all ingredients for a recipe of success which they seem to be enjoying. Right across from the Longhorn Cafe, El Jalisco has got my number and I its. Its stealthy location shall...

My husband normally picks up food from here weekly. It was strange for him to come home and have the food fall out from under the bottom of the bag because the taco grease had seeped through. It was also weird they didn’t have any cilantro, cebolla, or limes for any of the tacos. So we ate them plain. My waffle was not nicely decorated with fruit like it normally is, it barely had any fruit and was just thrown on the waffle quickly. I decided to call them and let them know that today I was disappointed that the quality service and food wasn’t what we’re normally used to. Being a business owner myself, I appreciate helpful feedback.

I ended calling and wanting to speak to a manager. “Rosa” told me there wasn’t a manager available and that I could speak to her instead. I proceeded to explain the situation to her, she was immediately defensive and didn’t apologize at all and actually insisted they had done everything right. I told her that my husband goes there weekly and we’ve never had problems before.. she then said to me she knows exactly who my husband is because he’s the handsome man that goes by to pick up tacos. She stated how handsome my husband was about 3 times. I was completely taken back and shocked she would ever offend me like that. I don’t believe she was happy about my complaint and said that to get back at me.

Now I only explained the complaint to her because the manager “Jose” wasn’t available. After hanging up the phone and utterly disgusted by her lack of professionalism, I decided to call back to ask to speak to someone else. Rosa then hung up on me as she knew exactly who I was and why I was calling back. It’s interesting because I called again and “Jose” the manager miraculously answered the phone. He denied that Rosa would say such a thing because apparently they’re husband and wife. He also stated he was there listening to the conversation and knows for a fact she didn’t say that about my husband. I know exactly what I heard, especially because it was repeated many times.

I’m extremely disappointed at the lack of professionalism of both “Rosa” and “Jose”, especially for lying and not wanting me to speak to the actual manager directly. They didn’t apologize for the lack of quality of the food, or apologize for what was said to me about my husband. They weren’t willing to give me the name of the owner of the business, nor his email, nor his contact info.

Stay away from this place, they’re dishonest, unprofessional, and clearly spend their time admiring how handsome their clients are. Buy your tacos...

Where do I begin? This place has been one of my favourites for at least 7 years. Because I live out of town and get to visit only once or twice a year, anticipation heightens my memories and expectations. Never once has El Jalisco let me down. Consistently outstanding food and service. I always eat breakfast there when I'm in town and sometimes lunch. Since I'm eating some of the foods over and over again, over a period of years, I can attest that the quality never wavers. The service is on par with nicer restaurants where the staff is well trained in table service as well as customer service. The dining area and restrooms are spotlessly clean. One waitress was wiping down clean tables this morning and quietly singing along to the music playing in the restaurant. The music is very nice and never too loud. Yesterday they turned it down even lower because my papa has hearing aids was was having trouble hearing over the music. I love the high-backed quiet booths and long tables for large families to sit together and enjoy a meal. I throughly enjoyed the barbacoa taco on corn tortilla this morning with lime, onions, and cilantro. I stop and lay the taco down between each bite so I can savour the unctuous shredded meat with the crunch of onion, sour lime, and bite of the red salsa. The second taco was refrito, also on corn tortilla because they are outstanding, because I always have beans for breakfast. This made my...