On The Border Mexican Grill & Cantina

Always a treat to eat at OTB! :-) Great service as we told our waitress going to have a couple of drinks and then dinner. She didn’t push us and gladly brought delicious eats when we were ready. Steak street tacos and the brisket tacos always a fav! Of course chips, salsa & queso the perfect starter with wine!

Me and my wife came to eat on January 1^st 2016. They sat us down, and only after we asked if they could turn up the heat. Our waitress tells us that the heater is not working.
It makes me think. That they really don’t care about my dining experience. The only thing they care about was making money. Which makes me think «they might run their kitchen like that «
So if On The Border can’t tell their customers that the heater is broken when they walk in the door means they don’t care.
P.S it was about 40 degrees that night and they had a space heater at the door running to make you feel warm when you came in the door.

The seasoned ground beef in the crispy taco and the enchiladas was really good. The queso dip was alright but not quite what I was expecting. The chips and salsa were good, especially the salsa. Wish the chips had a bit more salt on them.

Tonight’s visit was supposed to be a redemption visit for OTB to get things right with us, unfortunately that didn’t happen, so we won’t be back.
We have been going to On the Border quite regularly for the last 2 years. We’ve always left quite thrilled with our food and our service until recently. On our last visit before tonight’s attempt, we were seated in a decent amount of time and were immediately given chips and our drink and appetizer order taken. It was after receiving those items that everything went downhill. 45 minutes AFTER receiving our apps, we still had no dinner. When we were finally able to ask someone about our order, the manager (a really nice lady) apologized profusely and got onto the kitchen staff and our waiter about the delay. By this point we were all already filled up on chips, and my own order came out wrong anyway, so we just requested to-​go boxes and the check. The manager was nice enough to apologize again and even comped our entire meal, which we didn’t expect at all! We chalked this visit up to just being a bad night and figured it would be better on our next visit.
Fast forward to this evening, when 7 of us decided to give OTB another chance. It was still fairly early in the evening, about 6, when we arrived to a fairly empty parking lot and a not very crowded OTB. We walk in and are seated in about 2 minutes at what we jokingly refer to as our usual table since it’s always the one we’re seated at when we come here. We sat dawn and were brought chips and salsa alnost immediately and unfortunately that’s where the service stopped. For more than 15 minutes not a single person approached our table to take a drink order, or an appetizer order, or even to check on us! Nobody even looked at us! We finally stopped a waiter for another table and asked who our waiter was and if they were going to come take our order anytime soon and were told «hold on» as he walked away. At that point we’d all had enough and decided to take our business elsewhere rather than obviously face a repeat of our last visit to this establishment. I know that Buffalo Wild Wings appreciated our $ 170 check and made our visit worth the money we spent with their attentiveness and accomodating the 7 of us.
Sorry OTB, we really enjoyed your food, but unfortunately you’ve let your business go too downhill for us to be back again. In this case, it’s 2 strikes and you’re out.

If you’re from the border, this is the last place to go. The only good thing here were the chips and salsa. Service was bad to start off and the waiter was not clairvoyant with our orders.
I asked for a baja combo with all sauce on the side but they still put it on the food.
They took too long to bring my order. It wasnt untill I asked 45 minutes later to take it to go that they brought it to me in an instant.

Went into OTB Sunday afternoon about 4:15. It was pretty empty. After waiting quite a while at the front, a man (manager?) came up and took me to a table. Waitresses pointed at me, walked past me, but no one ever brought me water or even said «we’ll be right with you.» I eventually left. Is my A&M-hating son correct in that people in College Station don’t know how to work?

Sat at the bar. First off the bar tender was less than friendly. Not rude but certainly not welcoming. I had the beef fajitas. The flavor was ok, not near the best I’ve had. They were a little tough. The condiment quantity was lacking as are most restaurants. They give enough pico and cheese for one fajita. I will give the margaritas an A+.

This place has not been the same since Lupe opened up. The service is always great but the food is always hit or miss. The adult beverages are not mixed well and tastes like there is absolutely nothing in them besides mixes and a splash of alcohol. The pluses are GLUTEN FREE MENU (and the manager on duty always comes out to discuss it) and they allow dogs on the patio. This place used to be worth the long wait but now it just has gone down hill. If other places are packed then this one is for sure available with little to no wait time.

Wanted to share the reviewers how customer oriented this on the border is. every time I come in here they serve me well. sure there are times when things can be better but i think that is standard for many restaurants. will always be a loyal customer.

Have no idea how the server was able to pull this off but with a non reserved group of over 20 people from at least 9 countries they were able to pull it off perfectly.
4 stars to the server that did an outstanding job with an unexpectedly large group. Even tipped an extra $ 20 above and beyond normal tips as she was outstanding and feeding all of us wasn’t easy. Shame she is working for a chain with low grade food.

Huge chips and good salsa were a perfect start to lunch on the patio with my dog Nixon. Tacos were good and service was great. I really love that they are cool with well behaved dogs on the patio. Next time I visited, the waiter remembered and greeted me by my first name.

This is my first visit to this restaurant and I must say I will be back. I took my mother on Mother’s Day and now I’ll find an excuse to drive from Caldwell to eat here.
We ordered the avocado fries and I ordered a beef chimichanga w/​sour cream. All of the food was beyond excellent and the service was outstanding. I highly recommend this place if your in the mood for Mexican food.

This is 110% a chain restaurant, and there are expectations that accompany that.
The food is only OK, and not well priced for the quality. But I like the happy hour here — $ 2 beers, $ 3 12oz ‘ritas, $ 4 18oz ‘ritas, and appetizer specials. It’s close to campus and a comfortable place to hang out for the extensive amount of time it takes you to get down that giant margarita. Sometimes that’s all you really want.

Terrible service. Ordered to-​go and stood at the podium for about 5 minutes before someone asked if I had been helped. 3 different staff members had walked behind the podium in those 5 minutes and ignored me. Food was good though.

It’s your standard Tex Mex fare. I had street tacos and they were good. The thing I LOVED was the fried avocado on the appetizer menu. Oh my. That would have never occurred to me and it was delicious!!! Service was good (and we had a big party), food was fine, and prices were reasonable. I will totally be back for that avocado!

It was okay, portions were fine. I was annoyed that they didn’t have a fajita platter simply for sharing. So we all pretty much ordered the same stuff, FAJITAS.
The Good: They were cooked okay, nothing special. A little over cooked actually. Chicken was dry and steak needed something to pick it up. Nothing in dire need of being sent back though.
We tend to enjoy the other items on the menu when we have gone there before. But I would stay away from the fajitas, there are much better places.
The Bad:
Service: I would say it was bad, but that would imply we received some service. We needed an extra minute to go over the appetizers, but they never came back for about 15 minutes. Finally had to ask someone walking by to find our server. Was a small crowd, the restaurant was probably 15% full.
Lack of toppers: Asked for some cheese, lettuce, sour cream, and guacamole for the fajitas. What we got were tiny dolops of each. Barely enough for one fajita, let alone a couple.
Price. It was over priced, plain and simple. For the price, I was expecting more.

Terrible Service Failures —
Our hint came when we stood at the podium for five minutes before the tortilla maker finally seated us. From that point on, it was a fight to get menus, get initial drinks, have the order taken, wait for food and wait for a check. At no time was there an explanation or an apology.
Although OTB is close to my home and I’ve been a regular for years, with Ninfa’s and Lupe Tortilla’s, as well as many other good Mexican restaurants in Bryan College Station, I won’t be going back to OTB for quite a while.
Their multiple-​day closure by the Health Department for roaches also weighs on my decision. Management obviously hasn’t improved.
Too bad.

Horrible service.

I love how people go to a chain restaurant and then complain about the fact that it’s a chain restaurant (see 75% of reviews below).
I’ve always enjoyed eating here. I get the exact same thing at every Tex-​Mex restaurant I go to – cheese enchiladas with onions and cheese sauce, and rice and beans on the side. On The Border’s cheese enchiladas are right up there. And the giant margaritas only add to their deliciousness.

ohhh so boring, but last night the service was good and the food satisfied my husband’s mexican craving. until this afternoon, when we had to go eat REAL mexican lol.
Like Greg D. said: If you aren’t a foodie, you will likely enjoy this place.