Jose Pepper's — Restaurant in Wichita

First I will say Jose Peppers is our favorite Tex-Mex restaurant in Kansas. Sadly, we live in Texas now and no Jose Peppers here. On our recent trip to Kansas we stopped at the Jose Peppers in Wichita for dinner & to get family pack dinner to take home & freeze for later. It was Sunday, September 17th, we arrived at 7:50pm, they close @9pm. Upon arrival, several servers & the manager/hostess were chilling & having a good time in a large booth & they were clearly not happy to see us but came over & seated us anyway. Our server was a very rude guy which is not normal at any Jose's. We ordered our dinner as soon as we got our drinks & explained that we also wanted to order a family pack to go which is supposed to include chips & salsa & espinaca. He told us that could be a problem but he would put in the order & see what happens & he didn't think it included the chips & dips. He then brought our chips & salsa to go with our eat in dinner. My husband asked about our to go order & if they would be able to fulfill it at which our waiter hatefully responded... I still don't know, the kitchen staff has already been putting away food & preparing the kitchen to close & since we came in an hour before close we shouldn't expect it & he walked away. WOW, we were shocked. There were several other customers that came in after us, were they rude to everyone? Our family pack to go consisted of 8 ground beef enchiladas, rice & refried beans & according to the menu chips, salsa & espinaca were included. We also ordered an extra con queso to go with it. The manager lady came over & asked us what size con queso we wanted not knowing there were different sizes, we asked what our options were & price, now she got an attitude with us like we should know the answers or something because she didn't know & would have to check, she never returned to our table. When our to go order finally arrived, there was a bowl of each cheese dip both of which we were charged for. We were charged $4.99 for the espinaca and $4.99 for the con queso, (which we didn't even realize until we were back in Texas putting it away)the small salsa & the 3 little bags of chips with about 15 chips in each bag were free.

Don't get me wrong, we love Jose Peppers. The staff is normally friendly and professional. The food is fresh, they have generous portions and depending on which location you're at now, the salsa is amazing, it has great flavor & it's not so spicy that you can't enjoy it. I will say however, our last trip back to Kansas was disappointing. Over our 10 day stay we ate at 5 different Jose Peppers, 4 out of 5 have definitely turned up the heat in their salsa ruining the experience for me because I can't eat hot spicy foods. I completely understand that some people enjoy spicy salsa and things can be added at the table to achieve that flavor. However, you can't take things out to make it milder. Maybe they would consider offering both a mild version and a spicy version. Anyway sadly, overall this trip was not a good one where Jose Peppers was...

Jose Peppers in Kansas originated in Overland Park Kansas based off of restaurants in Arizona. They had cooks and management from Arizona come up to Kansas for 3 months before opening the first Kansas location to show them how to properly make their authentic Mexican food. I worked at the first Kansas location from the beginning. I fell in love with their shredded beef mini chimi’s that they would put on their platters. I loved them so much, I would request just a plate of mini chimis…then all my friends would ask for the same until they finally put them on the menu as an appetizer. I haven’t lived in Kansas for 25 years, but every time I come to town I go to Jose peppers specifically for their mini chimis. In the last 5-7 years they have changed the authenticness of their food. Americanizing it by first putting season salt on the chimis, then doing away with the shredded beef and using shredded chicken, and now using ground beef. The mini chimis come with jalapeño cream cheese for dipping. It used to have little chunks of jalapeño in it. I am in Wichita visiting my son and took my daughter and grand kids to the Wichita location on Saturday. Not only was the food completely awful, but there’s no authentic seasoning or spice to the food anymore. They’ve gone so far overboard trying to save money, the food doesn’t even taste how it should. I’m quite sure the original owners of Jose peppers in Arizona are not substituting authentic spice and seasoning for Lawrys season salt. I’d be willing to bet they’re not passing plain cream cheese for jalapeño cream cheese. They’re not trying to pass off ground beef as seasoned shredded beef. To say I was disappointed is an understatement. If this location is not going to keep the Jose Peppers brand authentic, then they sure as hell shouldn’t be allowed to use the Jose Peppers name on their building…because what they’re serving is NOT Jose Peppers food. Not even close. If you want authentic Mexican fare, DO NOT GO HERE. It is bland, cheap and completely awful. I will never step foot in a Jose Peppers again after...

Four coworkers and I were in Wichita on business. We decided to try Jose Peppers...that was a bad decision! Food was just average, but service was so bad it was pathetic. Our waiter was glassy eyed. One of my coworkers suspected the guy was on something, but I don't know. We told him separate checks before we ordered, so he literally did separate checks for each item each person ordered. Order a drink, and you got a check for that. Order another drink, and you got another check. The meal was on it's own check. I, plus one of my coworkers, asked him 5 times over the course of 30 minutes to bring me a tea refill. 5 times! He finally remembered and brought me one. Another coworker asked him at least 3 times when he would get his margarita. I understand staffing issues post-pandemic, but this was way beyond that in terms of incompetence. When we handed him our credit cards he was gone for at least 10 minutes and it was screwed up.when he brought it back. I finally saw and flagged down a manager, and she did apologize repeatedly. She said he was "normally a decent waiter." All I could think was "decent--is that all he is on a good day?" Food was just average. Cilantro rice was OK, refried beans were Taco Bell quality, and the little corn cake thing was too salty. Carnitas Burrito was two levels below what an outstanding Burrito at an authentic Mexican restaurant should taste like. By the way, the restaurant wasn't that busy, and there appeared to be at least 3 other waiters working. Table next to us wasn't happy either with the service he provided them. We were there for about 1 1/4 hours, and most of that time was spent waiting for drinks, waiting for food, waiting for checks, waiting for credit card receipts. By the time we left I just wanted to beat my head against a wall--that's how bad it was! The decor in the restaurant looked good--no complaints, and the restaurant appeared pretty clean.

Not sure when we will be back in Wichita. But we certainly won't make the mistake of eating at Jose...