El Jarro de Arturo — Restaurant in San Antonio

Given my love for fine dining, I guess I expected this place to be stellar, given it’s past editorial reviews. I ordered the Snapper with mango and currants and the Chicken Mole. I also ordered a side of Spanish rice. Everything was bland. It was very disheartening. I never crave for Mexican food and was really craving Spanish rice and Tex-Mex. I expected the Snapper to be bright but it wasn’t. The presentation was surprisingly disappointing. I’m in the food industry and am a cook. I also love upscale dining. Presentation is my forte and is a form of food art only some people have a knack for. It was basically put on my plate like home cooking. I guess I was expecting art on my plate. I would use a ring mold to form that dish on the plate if I were this place. I would also decrease the amount of Red Snapper on the plate. I had two portions of it, which most people probably wouldn’t complain about, but for a Snapper dish with mango and currants, I would expect this dish to be one of the star dishes of the restaurant. Snapper with Mango and currants?! Sounds like true, authentic deep in the heart of Mexico food to me. So sprucing it up to be the lovely dish that it’s meant to is probably best. And when you serve a couple in their 30’s, you should probably add more salt to the food. The crowd was mostly senior citizens so I can understand for the need to decrease salt in their food. But, we in our 30’s, don’t yet need to decrease our sodium intake. Salt brings out the flavors in food. The chicken mole was way better than the over-priced Red Snapper dish. Don’t get me wrong, the price is normal for Red Snapper, but the dish was so sad, that it wasn’t worth the price. Spruce it up and it will be worth it. I ate some of the Red Snapper and ate a bite of the chicken Mole. Food waste is a sad thing to do and walking away from a place without giving it a continued chance isn’t nice, either.

We then ordered dessert. You can’t mess up dessert, especially if there are only three things on the menu, right? Dessert will be better and apologize for the sadness of our entrees, right? We ended our dinner with two coffees and shared a Tres Leches. The sponge was dry and had a dry crumple on the palate. We had to roll the sponge on our tongues to get the crumbs to dissolve. Whatever berry sauce reduction on top of the Tres Leches, did not match Tres Leches; it was a flavor we didn’t expect or imagine would be on our Tres Leches when it came to us. Surprisingly, the coffee was the only good thing. It was stronger than most places who serve coffee. When the bill came it was sad to be spending that much when I could have gone to SouthTown, Downtown, or the Pearl Brewery for stellar service and for stellar food. :( The crowd was catered to the older geriatric types and plastic surgery housewives vs the young hip and foodie crowd. I’m sorry to be so harsh, but maybe the restaurant was better back in 1975 and lost it’s flair as the years passed by. I was also surprised to see no female service and it was a male dominated atmosphere with only male servers. We also didn’t have just one Server. We had multiple Servers and multiple Food Runners. Coming in from Austin Texas, there was so much inequality in this restaurant and it was clearly not a Woman empowered place. It all began with the salad. The balsamic vinaigrette was not on our salad or off the the side when we received it. And that should have been the sign and start of a horrible experience to where I feel so ashamed for the restaurant, itself. Im sure everyone there are good people, though. It’s just lacking so very hard. :( I couldn’t take food photos to take for social media because of how surprisingly bland and poorly presented...

This was my first, and more than likely my last visit. Let me start of by saying I am NOT a picky person at all. I am known to finish my coworkers left overs just so they don't go to waste. I've also worked in a restaurant so I find that I am actually quite lenient as a customer. My husband and I went on a Tuesday night. It wasn't that busy. We were seated quickly (one of the few positive things I can say). I noticed an odd aroma...like they needed to spruce the place up a bit...it smelled of old building and general funk. The décor is... interesting? It's clear that they have been there forever. It's an odd mis-mash of things- including a mirrored wall that looks like it belongs in a dance studio, metal star light fixtures that don't seem to go with anything else, metal railings that have obviously not been painted in quite a while. It feels a tad run down and very casual. The tables, however, have white linen tablecloths with white linen napkins. It almost seems as though they are trying to make it seem much fancier than it is. Maybe that's because some of the dishes are nearly $30. The food came out of the kitchen quickly, but was bland as all get out. Nothing was seasoned. There wasn't a bit of salt to be seen. For the price, there should be SOMETHING special about the food. There is not. Dry chicken topped with shredded lettuce, tomatoes, and shredded cheese. One of the Tostadas which was supposed to be some kind of chili/queso combo was simply a store bought crispy tortilla drowning in some kind of melted orange cheese-like product, with a couple of canned jalapeno slices on top. Neither my husband, nor myself finished our meal. Even the guacamole was nothing to write home about. (and for $5 for a side of guac, it had BETTER be spectacular!) The hand written ticket was added incorrectly, making our bill almost $3 higher than it should have been. The waiter was quick to fix it. (He was very nice and efficient the entire time we were there, and I can only hope that the math error was a genuine mistake and not a way to make a few extra bucks off of an unsuspecting customer). At this point, my review would have been 2 stars as the food wasn't bad, it just wasn't good...however... The next day...without going into to many details...let's just say there were some gastrointestinal issues for both me and my husband...and this was the only thing we both had in common as far as what we ate/drank. I am not sure who is giving this place 5 stars...or why because my experience was next...

I wanted to introduce my in-laws to El Jarro De Arturo since my mother had mentioned that she had gone to school with the owner Arturo and figured I would give them my business. When we arrived they sat us at a table with Ricardo as our waiter. The Service Was Terrible!! I ordered 1 fajita taco and Ricardo brought me a plate of fajitas. I decided to not make a big deal and keep the plate that I hadn't ordered. The staff proceeded to make gestures and was rushing us to order and had a Very Bad Attitude! I didn't want to make a scene, since I had suggested the place to my in-laws.

Well, we left the restaurant and I decided to leave No TIP! A few days later my wife calls me and said El Jarro De Arturo had charged a $12.00 Tip! How nice of the Lousy Waiter who goes by the name of Ricardo.

My wife then contacted the restaurant and spoke with "Sandy" the Owners wife. My wife told Sandy of our problem with the Fraudulent Tip Charge!! Sandy tried to minimize the situation by focusing more on why we did not leave a tip instead of the FRAUD that was committed. Sandy-Owners Wife then stated she would research it.

The manager John not Sandy called later that evening and admitted to the over charge and we are still waiting our refund in the mail. It's unfortunate that Sandy couldn't own up and call personally and give an apology for the FRAUD that occurred. That is a Federal Crime and will Not Be Tolerated!!

All I can say about this Establishment is CHECK YOUR BILL!!! And don't complain to the Owner because she will act like its your fault not theirs.

I hope Sandy reads this review because she just lost "5" quality customers because of her Bad Attitude in handling this problem. Also, I hope she realizes that by Ricardo's actions which Sandy defended she lost BIG!! Because we know tons of people and I will not be raving about their restaurant anymore.

PS. John- The Manager who acted more like a Real Owner was Awesome! He should open a place of his own! Still think this place is terrible! Your better off going to Pericos Restaurant or La Fogata...