Julio's Mexican Cantina — Restaurant in Texas

This place is terrible!

Have you people no tastebuds?!?!? I thought they would have a 2-3 star average based on the consistency of awful food they put out on their plates, but I’m shocked to see a 4 star review!

I took a friend and we got the appetizer sampler. Those fajita nachos are absolute GARBAGE. The meat CANT possibly be grilled with the soft build up of fat clustered around the meat, not to mention how dry it was and how much GRISTLE was left on there! Fajita nachos are my favorite, and these were BY FAR THE WORST I HAVE EVER HAD. The flautas on the plate were only filled half way, so lots of empty shell (these were the best food item we had the whole night sadly). The chicken quesadillas on the samplers were gross, I’m not sure what flavors they were trying to go for, but it came out tasting like burnt hair smells. The queso in the middle of the plate was a tiny serving in a taco shell. The fried jalapeños on there were ok, but HEB’s frozen ones taste better.

My entree was regretfully chicken enchiladas as I struggled to find something on the menu that sounded good after the horror of the sampler that set expectations at an all time low. I had to steer clear of the disgusting fajita nachos and fajita related items I had originally set my sights on. The enchiladas were so salty that I was questioning if the greenish cream sauce they put inside was an accidental serving of avocado ranch. They were awful. My friend had a bacon wrapped shrimp platter which she barley touched, but took to go to be polite as I wanted to cover the bill.

We had 2 bar beverages each and honestly I questioned if they were watering down the alcohol. I’m a light weight and can barely handle one with my meal- we had 2 LARGE DRINKS EACH and I never felt anything. We were there 2 hours, so I assumed maybe the buzz just wore off even though it was never noticed to begin with.

The waitress was really pushy despite letting her know I hadn’t seen my friend in over a year and she was leaving the next day.

Oh, and we tried to order dessert- out of tres leche, so we settled for the driest churros you could have ever been sad enough to receive.

We didn’t talk to a manger and we didn’t complain. My friend and I only wanted to visit and not cause a fuss.

Anyway, please save your money and go somewhere farther away! I’m baffled how anyone can spend money there and think they had good food. It was the nastiest Mexican/tex mex I’ve ever had.

Just because the location is convenient for the subdivisions nearby doesn’t mean you should settle for this! Never never never going back! The food is MEANT to taste this...

Great service, good food, and great music! Julio's Mexican Cantina is fun, colorful, energetic, and simply inviting. The place is always jumping on a Friday and Saturday evening, so be prepared to wait in line for available seating.

I've visited this place on several occasions with my family and we absolutely love the exciting ambiance and the delicious food! Hubby and I always order the shrimp and beef fajita platter for two, which is so delicious! The shrimp are cooked to perfection and not overdone and the beef fajitas are always juicy, tender, and served piping hot with nicely grilled onions and peppers. The presentation is beautiful with sides of rice and beans and all the toppings to accompany it, which includes cheese, sour cream, pico, and guac. The overall rating for this dish is a 4 out of 5. You can't go wrong with the fajitas at this establishment.

Complimentary chips and salsas- 3 out of 5. The chips are served warm and crisp and they're not too salty which is a good thing. The salsas are just okay, nothing to brag about but the green salsa tastes much better than the dark one. The queso- 3 out of 5; it's pretty tasty.

Mahi Mahi fish tacos- 2.5 out 5. Although they were a pretty nice size, the fish in the tacos didn't taste fresh and was very bland and needed to be awakened with some flavors and salt. The side of rice was a small portion and could have been more but it tasted good, so 3 out of 5. The side of beans were full of flavor but appeared to be canned beans but tasted pretty good, so 3.5 out of 5 stars for the beans.

Frozen Strawberry/Mango Margarita with Tajin- 3 out of 5 stars. The presentation of this margarita is beautiful but the alcohol ratio to the margarita itself was off. I couldn't taste the liquor in it at all. So it's a pretty drink but it's pretty weak. The Julio Original Margarita is 4 out of 5. One could actually feel the liquor in this drink. I highly recommend it.

Overall, my family and I enjoy Julio's Cantina for the great customer service, the exciting atmosphere, and the delicious food. It's not overly amazing or mind blowing but the food is edible and it's a great spot to hangout with friends and family. There's Mexican music spewing out of overhead speakers and it's pretty loud, so you have to speak loudly to be heard in conversations. The dining area is clean whenever we visit but it's sort of a small area. However, they also have outdoor dining which can be enjoyable during good-weather days. They do not take reservations, so be prepared to wait for a table if you're visiting on a weekend around 6 pm and after because it gets...

Not sure what happened tonight, hopefully it was just a fluke. Got there at 8:40, seated promptly and provided chips&salsa. Took almost 10 minutes though before a waiter stopped by to acknowledge us. Food came out pretty quick, but something that was requested was forgotten. Ordered margaritas but was never offered waters. Original waiter never came back and we ended up with a different waiter. We told the first waiter to split the check and of course that message wasn't relayed to the second waiter. Overall, really decent food and really awful service. Not sure what happened because they were not busy at all this late at night. With all the confusion, who am I even tipping at this point? Give my money to the chips&salsa guy, he was the only one who delivered a solid performance tonight...

Will go back again because we typically have good experiences here... hopefully they were just off their game tonight.

Update, went back after this visit and had a great experience but then went back last night and it was just awful due to the service. Not sure if the servers were stretched too thin or if the one we had just wasn't that interested in doing her job but it was too many issues to ignore. Sorry Julio's, we've been faithful customers for years but it's too hard to roll the dice on a $100 meal every time and not know what kind of service we are...