The Jalapeno Tree — Restaurant in Tyler

Wow. What a letdown. First off, let me say that as for the food, it was impeccable. The "Arnold" was a great dish and everything FOOD related was perfect. The service, on the other hand, was the absolute worst. I can handle incompetence, but apathy is something I won't abide. I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to take my mother out for Mother's Day. She's disabled from a stroke and has acute dementia so it's hard finding a time to take her out for special occasions. It was late, like, 9:00pm or a little after and when I passed Mercado's and saw they were packed to the street. I had little hope of finding a good walk-in place at that time. I was, at first, pleasantly surprised that this place was not crowded at all. We were shown to a table quickly. VERY quickly. Too quickly, it seems, for Ma to get one of the little bags they were giving away. Our server got her one. Thanks for that. You got one point. After our plates were dropped off, that was pretty much the last time I saw our server w/o me having to call her. I had water and tea and both glasses stayed empty for the whole meal. It makes me furious when I have to stop eating, let my food, GOOD food, go cold because the server can't be bothered to do a check back on her last table of the night. On top of that, less than an arms length away, was a malingering group of servers waiting to leave who could have easily brought a glass of tea or water, but when I dared trouble one, she just replied, "I'll get your server." From my EXTENSIVE experience in this field, this translates as "Good luck. This ain't my table." Apathetic, crappy, unmotivated attitudes. When she finally could be troubled to bring the bill and fill up my tea, she also said, "I'll handle this whenever you're ready and I can bring you to-go boxes if you need them." Once again, you tell this to a customer with a plate more than half full and who's in the middle of eating, you're telling them, "Hurry the heck up, loser! I've got important things to do! None of which include doing my job!!" As soon as I could, I just took my ticket up front and paid there so I could expedite our departure. I despise being any place I'm not wanted. Now, I know why we found a seat so quickly. They could not get us out of their hair fast enough and by the time the bill came I was ready to put the place behind me, as well. It was obvious they didn't want our business and it was a huge inconvenience for them. Worst case of the bum's rush I'd ever seen. Be glad I had my Ma with me. That's all I'll say about that. I assure I shall not impose on you and your very busy juvenile staff again, of that you may be certain! I left the server a $5 tip which she did nothing at all to earn but I did it just as a nod to social decorum. This may or may not be the reason that when I did leave, pushing a wheel chair and carrying the still hot meals in our hurriedly fetched to-go boxes, that not one, not a SINGLE one, of the front of house people, who were lounging by the front door playing on their phones or chatting, could not be bothered to even open one of the double doors you have. Great job. Most people have to actively work at being this rude, disrespectful, negligent, and incompetent, but it seems you guys have it down pat. The entire front of house staff owes an apology to the hard working kitchen staff who put out superb food only to have the entire experience ruined by apathetic, slothful, and sub par service. The tip should have gone to the cook. I won't be back and don't suggest anyone else...

Upon being seated, we waited 10 minutes before we got someone to take our drink orders. After that, we waited another 10 minutes until our server arrived. She was apologetic about the wait, which I totally understand so that didn’t bother me!! When we ordered, I said “We are going to share the fajitas for one, with rice and beans, combo meat” She asked for both? Which I was confused so I said “yes”. She asked if we needed anything else, and I replied with “Yes ma’am, green sauce and chips please” I was going to clarify what we ordered whenever she brought green sauce to our table, but she didn’t bring the green sauce out until after our food. We were brought out dinner fajitas, which I nicely said “Hey! I said earlier we only wanted for one” She got flustered and needed to ask her manager. Which again, totally understand, but annoyed at this point. The manager said that she can’t do anything about it and if she took the food back, it would be wasting. She then said “I can take it off of your ticket but be more clear what you order next time. Tell her that you are sharing” mind you we go to jalapeño tree once a week (mainly on sunday) for about 2 years now. We have never had a problem— We order the fajitas for one every single time. I let the manager know that I did say we were sharing the fajitas. The manager then said “the server wrote down for two, so it wasn’t her fault.” The server made a face and they walked away. We were also left with no tortillas and plates for our food so we had to ask the bartender because we only saw our server once after that. The bartender helped us right away and was was quite nice! I absolutely love jalapeño tree, I am just so upset that we were treated like this when we come...

We would come to this place at least once a week. We tried to go last night. I go with three elderly people in their upper 80' and a husband who had a heat stroke a few years back. When we got there I looked around to make sure that some of my group had not already gotten a table. I saw some empty tables inside. I asked for a table of five. The girl said just a minute to get it together. We waited and then I saw her go outside to the porch area. I went outside and said we are not sitting out here. I have three older people with me they cannot be outside in 96 degree heat to eat. She said we would have to wait 20/25 minutes for a table inside. I told her that I saw tables just around the corner she could pull together just like she was doing outside. She went and got a manager who wears a bun on her head, no identification that I could see. The manager never greeted us, never said hi and never smiled. Then the manager said you will have to wait for a table. I said why, you can pull together the tables on the other side like you were pulling tables together outside. I repeated, I had elderly with us that could not do the heat. She said no. I told them that we would never be back. She said okay. Never changes he face expression the whole time.

Too bad for the waiters because we were an easy table to take care of. We always order the same meal and we give good tips to waiters. This manager needs to go to customer service training. I have seen her a lot in the restaurant. She is never pleasant, never smiled. ...