San Jose Restaurant

So the local news reported that the owner of the San Jose restaurants here in the Columbia area was recently arrested for the alleged murder of the guy cheating with his wife. Apparently she was cheating with another guy. This is the owner whose alleged bribing of Sheriff James Metts of Lexington on behalf of illegal alien workers led to Metts being in prison now. Also, if you are concerned about immigration, you should know that most of the employees at San Jose’s restaurants are allegedly here illegally. Google and research this place yourself before spending your money there. But their food and margaritas are good.

Excellent service! They’re handling 40+ bikers like champs. Margaritas are flowing like a waterfall! Great atmosphere and extremely nice staff! The food is to die for! If you want the best in service, drinks, and Mexican food then this San Jose is the place to be!

My family’s favorite Mexican restaurant. Food is always delicious, and the service has never been less than spectacular.

Beautiful restaurant, but bad food & margs! Gag me! They consider guacamole as just avocados smashed up & put in a bowl. The margarita tasted like pure sweet & sour mix. (I ordered the alcoholic version) staff can only speak little English & have a hard time understanding English. I would never come back or refer anyone here!

I used to be a huge fan at their old location. But ever since they built this new fancy building and poured money into atmosphere… The prices have gone up and quality of food has gone down. You can notice the crowds are not there anymore. Oh well… You always have Pablano’s down the street!

First time there — went for lunch. I ordered Pollo Con Mariscos. Everything was overcooked and tough except the potatoes on the side, which was the best part of the meal. The margarita was green in color like cheap mix, which is all it tasted like. I won’t be going back again.

Decent Mexican food for a «combo #5» restaurant — as I like to call places that have the same combo plates/#s as other chains. Kids love cheese dip on everything! Wait staff is attentive and you never have to wait long for your food.

This is the first time that my boyfriend and I went to visit this place, which looks very nice from the road. I like the architecture, and when you walk inside, there’s a lovely mural with bright colors and festive outdoor scenes that are very befitting for a Mexican restaurant. We were seated immediately by a smiling young man, and we had chips and salsa on the table the moment (literally!) that we sat down. We put in our drink orders right away, and our waiter returned after a few minutes to take our meal order.
My boyfriend ordered «Carnitas» (under the «Pork» heading), no onions. He got what he had hoped for, except that the mixed veggie salsa (?) of tomato, cilantro, etc. that was heaped on the middle of the plate was VERY spicy, and he had intentionally avoided anything marked «hot» on the menu. He said the pork was very good, though, and the rice and beans were predictably good, just what you’d hope for at any Mexican place.
My order was a bit more complicated. I ordered the «2 Spinach Burritos topped with Nacho Cheese with rice or beans.» I ordered this with beans, with «no cheese on top» and «add chicken, so that both chicken and spinach are inside the burritos.» I’m sure this was a language barrier problem, but when I received my entrée, I had two burritos — one with spinach, and one with chicken. Sigh. Don’t get me wrong — both tasted great! But I really, really wanted them mixed.
Normally I’d still give 4 stars since the service was fast and everything tasted good, but the spicy veggies AND the order mix up AND the fact that my UNSWEET tea was refilled with SWEET tea… the rating has to go down to a 3. Just a little more care could have been taken with an order — and I guess I need to start taking Spanish lessons!