San Jose's Original Mexican Restaurant — Restaurant in Tavares

I used to be a fan of the location on 27 highway. When this one opened i gave it a shot, food was good and service is what you expect from a decent restaurant. However, slowly but steadily, the quality of service and hosting for dine in customers has gone south. I walked in a few weeks ago on a Saturday night, they had aproximately an hour to go before close, once i walked in all chairs were upside down as if the place was already closed and all staff was doing cleaning chores, everyone looked at me and my companion as if we were gbosts, we walked out and someone opened the door and said to come in they would bring down the chair for us to sit, we politely declined the invitation. Today, Sunday, i gave them another shot. With some 3 hours to go before closing we entered the place, we stood at the door for 5 to 10 minutes and someone finally approached us and sat us down. After a good 15 minutes sitting at a booth no one had come to our table, the host sits another couple in a booth right behind us, immediately a waitress stopped by their table and served them chips and salsa and walked right by us without even acknowledging us. When she walked by again i asked how do they manage the order in which they served customers, the young lady did not have an answer, i expressed my frustration about sitting 15 minutes unatended and the couple right behind us already served and they had just walked in... She said she would get someone to serve us and while walking away said in a loud and rude voice, Dang!!! Wow, i am surprised how some places take good service for granted and do not care if a customer comes back or not based on customer service experience. Unless the owner has an extremely deep pocket, i cant see this place surviving for too long if they have been delivering this kind of customer experience. Like the saying goes... When the cat is not in the house the mice have a party, i am just suposing the owner is not there. I walked out, i dont believe i will be...

First time here.

We wanted to eat a little in the lighter side. My wife asked if she could have the children’s fajitas and they said yes. When it came, it was missing some of the ingredients one would find on fajita’s such as the green peppers on so on.

It was also about the same price as the adult version. With that, as bad as we felt, she rejected it as it was a bit misleading in the menu.

I ate my food as it came out at the same time. I only had a quesadilla and rice and beans. When my food came, that was when my wife declined her food. This is something we have never done before, but after talking to 3 servers to get the correct information, I kept my food.

Yes, it took 3 people to clarify the items as to what was gluten free. Yes, we felt terrible about not taking her food, but we were also concerned about it not being gluten free as stated. Having celiac is nothing to fool around with as it could really make her sick.

If this is a franchise, we decided not to try them ever again based on our experiences.

My food was good and so were the chips and salsa. The service was good as well. It was only the clarification of the menu items and the value of the items on the menu that creates the problems for us.

The place was busy, so maybe it was us and not them, but it didn’t work for us and we eat out often and do well everywhere...

I am admittedly, a lot obsessed with Mexican food. I’ve been to many Mexican restaurants in the central FL area, and San Jose’s sits easily on my top 3 (probably at #2) list of Mexican restaurants in central FL.

I’ve been to their Altamonte Springs, Tavares, and Clermont locations, and each of them have been excellent. Generally their ambiance is pleasant, no frills, with their service and food quality doing all the boasting. However, I love the aesthetics and open concept of the Tavares location.

The only slight critique that I have is their salsa for the chips. It’s not bad at all; but could be better. It’s almost like they use a turmeric or chili powder that takes away from its fresh flavor. But again, this is just nit-picking. Their house spicy sauce however; is amazing!! Great kick and flavor! My favorite house spicy sauce anywhere!

If you’re not sure what to order and are very hungry, try the California burrito Jr. yes, even the Jr. is a lot to handle. I weigh 300+ lbs lol There is a regular one that’s HUGE, and you can actually choose multiple meats to place in it. My favorite is the beef tinga.

Overall, fantastic location for Mexican eats and great ambiance. Easily the best Mexican spot in north...