Border Mexican Restaurant

The food was terrible. My stomach was in knots the rest of the night...The guacamole dip was like green scour cream the kind that comes plastic tube, nothing like thick real avocados gac you get at other resturants...stay away from this place. YUCK

THE BEST PLACE IN THE TOWN \r
I CAN SAY THIS PLACE HAS SOME THE BEST MARGARITAS, FAJITAS AND CAN NOT FORGET THE TEXAS GUACAMOLE...I GO THERE ABOUT 2/3 NIGHTS A WEEK. NOT ONLY BECAUSE I LOVE IT SO MUCH BUT BECAUSE THEY MAKE ME FEEL LIKE FAMILY EVERYTIME has I COME IN THERE. I MEAN WHO DOESN

First of all, there should be a zero star rating because even a 1 is too high for THE BORDER, which is located on Cobb Parkway in Smyrna.

I enjoy going out to eat often, and I can appreciate the work of anyone in the service industry as my husband is the manager of a restaurant, AND I have a lot of experience both serving and bar tending. Whenever I go out to eat, I usually tip either 20% or higher because I know how arduous the work can be.

Although THE BORDER has horrible, horrible service, the food is normally decent, so I try to overlook the lack of social skills and poor work ethic of the staff there. I always find myself making excuses for them, ie: Maybe they had a bad day, maybe they aren't feeling well, etc... I try to stay positive with them, but last night was my breaking point.

The service was unusually horrible. Our server forgot my son's meal and drink, and you know how unruly a two year-old can be, so that didn't go over well. Then he got my drink order wrong, and he took about fifteen minutes to bring it back. To top it all off, HE seemed upset about this. I was the one who had to wait, and HE seemed perturbed. He isn't the worst one though; there is a young girl who works there, and she ALWAYS seems pissed off. The only server there who is decent is VICTOR. He is always professional, nice, and efficient in his serving skills. When our server FINALLY brought our food, he never checked back with us to ask how our meals were. In fact, he ignored us for the next forty minutes. We ate our food because we were hungry, and what else were we going to do? At the end of our meal, when our server finally returned, he asked us how things had been that night. I told him it was horrible. He simply shrugged his shoulders and said, 'Sorry.' I assumed that when the check was delivered, he would have taken off SOMETHING, even if it was only the fifty cents worth of sour cream. BUT NOTHING! Our bill was 30 dollars and change. I was ready to overlook the fact that nothing was taken off as I thought that maybe he was not able to do this because he was only a server and not the manager.

When it was time to pay, I spoke with the man who said he was the manager. I told him everything, and he said he was sorry. He began to ring us up, and I assumed he was taking off SOMETHING. ANYTHING. I never expect a free meal, and I still didn't last night. BUT....I thought maybe he would say sorry and take off my margarita, which was horrible by the way. But NOTHING. When I asked him why he wouldn't take off anything,he said he wouldn't. Then he said, (which blows my mind), ""If you weren't happy with the meal here, then don't tip."" I said, ""You're serious? You aren't taking off anything? We come here about two times a week."" He said, (this will blow your mind further), ""If you don't like it here, then just don't come back.""

At this point, I was livid, and I asked him for the corporate address or phone number. He told me, 'I am not giving you this information. If you want to find it out, then look it up yourself.' I then asked one of the servers and I asked him again. He ended the conversation with (this will kill anyone...) ""If you don't leave, I am going to call the police."" My son and I just left. It wasn't worth it. Obviously this man (and I use this term loosely) is not a professional manager. My nephew (13 years old) would have known how to handle the situation better. I couldn't believe it. I was shocked. Needless to say, I will NEVER go back there again.

I suggest no one else go there. It's not worth your time or money.

Sincerely,
EXTREMELY DISAPOINTED

Ok,

Personally I have never expected great service from authentic Mexican restaurants. Not all cultures hold customer service to such a high regard as Americans. I tend to forgive bad customer service as long as the food is good, and the margaritas are cheap. This place has both! If you HAVE to have a good server, ask for Carlos, he is WONDERFUL.

Also, this restaurant appreciates regulars, the more you go, the better you are treated. The outside of the restaurant definitely seems seedy, but it's very different on the inside.

Service is terrible and staff is rude and unhelpful.

Cons: Service

For the first time EVER, I was cut off in a restaurant, and I only had 2 drinks!!!!

My girlfriend and I decided to meet for dinner, I arrived first, the patio was full, mostly with a large party, I told the ""host"" that we would wait for a table and sat at the bar. The woman behind the bar cutting limes completely ignored me and went out of the bar. Another girl came back about 5 minutes later and asked if I was waiting for a patio table, I said yes, she started to walk off and I said ""can I get a drink while waiting?"" She acted as though I was asking her to go out of her way, but poured me a beer.

As I was waiting, the 'host' (later I found out was the owner) told a girl that had come in after me, that he must have known, that I was waiting for a patio table but he would seat her first before me.

I was ready to leave at that point.

My friend showed up, took 5 minutes to get her a jumbo margarita, then we were finally seated on the patio.

There was a party of at least 25 people on the patio. They had obviously been there a while. There were tons of empty pitchers, glasses, mugs and shot glasses on the table.
I have been in the restaurant business for 15 years and I notice things like that. I also noticed the 75 health department score and the dead cockroach in the hallway to the bathroom, but those are things I can overlook sometimes.

It took the server 10 minutes to bring us menus, we ordered queso and another 10 minutes later a different server came to the table, told us the other girl was too busy for us and she took our order. I asked her to leave a menu as I needed to take food home for my roommate, she did not leave the menu.
We both ordered a margarita at that point.

Our food came, we ate, I still had margarita to finish, my friend ordered a 3rd. The waitress said ""NO you cannot have any more"" as this is going on, the large party is getting another round of beers, pitchers and shots.

I asked to speak to the manager, he said that we just had a more responsible server than the party did and that he would not serve us anymore, that she had drank a pitchers worth of margaritas. I asked him about the guys in the parking lot that were part of the party drinking in the parking lot, which, is illegal, since he was quoting legality to me. He said that the party was different because you couldn't see who had what, cuz they kept moving around.

My friend and I drink, more than we should, we are well aware of our limits, when we shouldn't drive, and we both know that she was not drunk after 2 margaritas and a full plate of food.

I was livid, that is all I can say. We talked to a girl that was with the big party that I knew, she said they had been served way more than 2 each.
I will NEVER go back there, we have been there before and never had a problem.

I am telling all of my local friends not to go there, it is currently my facebook status. I cannot believe how rude and terribly we were treated, no one around us had any problems, seemed as though we were the designated target for the night.

Horrible, horrible, horrible experience.

Cons: terrible service, rude employees, weak drinks

If 0 stars was an option, that would be my rating.

We (used to) go to this place frequently, but after last night (3/26/10), that will cease. 3 females + 1 male met at 6pm and had a pitcher of margs, Texas guac, cheese dip, and split a chicken/steak quesadilla plus a verde/shrimp quesadilla. An hour later, we ordered a second pitcher.

At 8pm, I paid $26 for pitcher #1 and left to take my guy home. There was about 1/2 a pitcher left. I came back at 9:30 to re-join my girls. The girls were still working on pitcher #2, and I had the last 1/2 glass. The girls had ordered another cheese dip and fajitas in the 1.5hrs we were gone.

Another guy - who had not been drinking - joined us at 10pm. Our waitress was off shift at 10, so we cashed out our $65 tab for all the food plus pitcher #2 with her and left a nice $15 tip.

A young waitress came over and we ordered a third pitcher. She said she needed to talk to her manager, and upon her return she informed us we couldn't be served because we had already had two pitchers.

Let me revisit the math for you: 4 people... 4 hours... two pitchers... a boat load of food and a 5th party joining us. I have never been so insulted in my life. I asked to speak to the manager, and he came over with attitude. I explained to the two of them that I had just returned and our new friend had just joined us, and we should be allowed to order a pitcher. When I said I had been absent for 1.5 hours, the waitress actually said ""oh, really? I don't think so.""

They conceded and said they could sell us a half-pitcher, but at that point, we were over their 'hospitality'. When I asked for the owners contact information, the waitress laughed in my face. When I asked her if she thought it was funny, she said yes.

We are all late 20's/early 30's moderately conservative working professionals that are employed by a Fortune 500 company HQ'd here in Atlanta. We are respected, well-behaved, professional people. We live locally in Smyrna, and taking a $10 cab in the event we've consumed too much is ALWAYS an option. We do not condone drunk driving.

I am still offended and will be writing a letter to Virgilio Padilla, owner. I am very disappointed in these guys...

Pros: None lately

Cons: Attitude, insults, and poor service

This place was a fantastic surprise. From the outside it doesn't look like much, but the inside is quaint and comfortable and the food is fantastic!

Pros: Table side quacamole!

Honestly, I love this place. Good salsa, good hot chips, and the wait staff is very courteous and attentive. I thought the spinach quesadilla was great--lots of cheese, tons of spinach. The margaritas are excellent, too. Good prices on beer--it's one of my favorite restaurants.

Pros: warm chips, good salsa, good margarita

Cons: if you're coming from the north, turn into the BP to get to the restaurant

BEST mexican restaurant in the world. Don't listen to the bad reviews - obviously those idiots don't know what they are talking about. The food is always hot and very good. The staff will bend over backwards to make sure that your meal is to your liking and that you do not go thirsty. The margaritas are excellent. Everything is well priced and enjoyable.

Pros: Great Food and Service

I go to the Border Mexican Restaurant about once a month and all of my experience have been wonderful. I typically go on Saturday nights for dinner. There is usually no wait but the place is always busy. Chips and salsa (salsa is very good) are brought out promptly along my drink. There margaritas are a reasonable priced and the service size is larger than at most Mexican restaurants. The fajitas (my favorite) are fresh and flavorful. The service was helpful; they did not rush me through my meal and are very knowledgeable. I will often ask the server what he or she recommends for dinner so I can try new item from the menu. During the summer I recommend sitting out side on the deck the atmosphere inside is typical but the food and service make up for it 10 times over.

Pros: Great Food

Cons: To far away from where I live

Horrible place! When I asked for not tomatoes in my food due to food allergies they sais they had no problem. When i began to break out in rashes and become very uncomfortible they proceeded to check my food and call me basically a liar in spanish as if i cant understand them. They didnt even offer a disvount on the food after seeing my face, neck, and arms red and rashy. I paid for my dinner and will never return and SUGGEST HIGHLY THAT YOU DO THE SAME! The food was bad anyways and the service was really slow.

Pros: good water

Cons: food, service, and timelyness

I hate writing bad reviews, so I always try to think of something positive to say, but in the 1 visit I made to Border there weren't a lot of positive things to say. The salsa wasn't very good and the chips tasted of oil. I'm a vegetarian and most Mexican restaurants are kind enough to make me a veggie burrito (if it's not already on the menu), but Border told me to pick something off the menu. I tried the spinach quesadilla and it was terrible! The spinach tasted like dirt with a bunch of cheese glopped onto it but I choked it down since my friend said she liked the place. My friend said Border was the ""office Mexican"" restaurant so maybe I caught them on a bad day, but I won't be likely to go back unless it's with her, and even then I'd suggest an alternative first (like Taco Bell across the street!). Eat at your own risk.

Cons: Untasty food, slow service

Where to begin? A group of five co-workers went to lunch. We were seated after less than a five minute wait and our order was taken promptly. After about 45 minutes we decided to inquire about why our food had not arrived. We were told that we were in the system and that there was nothing that could be done to expedite our order. The server came to our table and we complained about the wait. He shrugged and told us to speak with his manager, there was nothing he could do. I went to speak with the manager and she turned me back over to the man to whom we had been speaking with earlier. It turns out that he was the owner of the restaurant! A few minutes later our food finally came out and the only thing good I can say was that it was hot. The food quality was terrible. The owner made no effort at keeping our business. We told him we would not be back due to the poor customer service and he once again just shrugged. As we got to the register to pay, another customer was complaining about the poor quality of the food and announced that he would not be back either. Finally the owner told us all to ""Just pay and don't come back!"" Don't worry, we won't.

Pros: Great chips and salsa

Cons: Terrible service, terrible food