On The Border Mexican Grill & Cantina

Being the introverts that we are, me and my boyfriend have the habit of placing To-​Go orders and stuffing our faces at home. I placed the order a little before 8pm. (I was told the food would be ready in about 15 minutes.) We arrived a bit before 8:30 and walked up to a vacant To-​Go counter. The bartender told us that the hostess would be out with us shortly. We waited over 10 minutes until she came out. When we finally got back home, I set up the table for us to eat. I opened up the boxes and saw that my boyfriend was only given 12 fries (yes, I counted) with his order. You have never seen such a sad look on a grown man’s face before. To the manager, I worked in the restaurant business for a while. I understand how busy it can get, and how mistakes happen… but in my previous employment we always had someone at our To-​Go counter. The guest was always addressed in under 30 seconds. Your food is delicious, but the service is as disappointing as a small amount of fries.

My family has eaten here 3 times since we’ve moved to NJ this year. We enjoy the food and service, especially the chips and margaritas. In fact, we only use OTB brand chips now for snacks at home. Still I thought management and dishwashers should know that every time we’ve frequented, we were given yucky water glasses. When I pointed this out at each visit, we were still served more uncleaned vessels.
My guess is that this is not intentional. But still, for the love of hot spicy salsa dip, can you please have your washers please use soap, water, and a dish sponge in between customers? Please? Pretty Please? Pretty Pretty Please Please?
That’s 6 pleases. Nuff said.

Affordable, border specials, free chips and salsa which will definitely fill you up before the entrees come out haha. Ordered the Grilled Mahi with Mango salsa. Fresh vegetables hit the spot. Magi was nice and yummy, you could see the grill marks, very fresh and hot. The mango didn’t over flavor the fish taste but accented it. Definitely coming back!

Finally decided to give this business another chance, and they actually got our order right. Everything was perfect, and was prepared exactly as we had asked. We really enjoyed our food.

This place is good. Somewhere between 3 ½ and 4*s for me, but in this case I could give it the 4. ANYway (in case you’re still with me after that opening…), I could ponder and quibble over «authentic cuisine» in this style/​culture, however I don’t eat there for authenticity, I eat there because I like the food. This is a good place to go enjoy a good meal, a beer or two, and good service, at a reasonable price. It also have a nice décor. It may not be a must-​experience, jump through your own rear end and go there this very moment 4-​stars, but still worthy of 4 stars from me. Go sometime when the mood takes you, and enjoy.

Very good food and very good drinks, I move the chips the they give you when you come in. Nice place for a quick Mexican bite

The bartender during the week is fantastic. I came with my family tonight and I think we were served non alcoholic margaritas. Maybe they were just watered down. The service was terrible!!! We were really missing our week night guy. Again, he is amazing. (I wish I knew his name and will update you with the name next time I see him). I should make more comments about how many times I enjoy myself here. The fajitas are just fine and my family generally has a great time here. Just make sure to come during the week days/​nights and sit in the bar area :-)

Server today was very lazy. Tended more to the table of 7 next to us. I haven’t been here in over a year I’ll keep that habit up.

A couple of friends and I went here after shopping at the mall. We spent a long time in Macy’s trying on jogger pants, (which are now out of style, by the way so I would advise against future purchases), so it was about 9:30 pm and the morale was low. My friend and I were set on going to Johnny Rockets, but some others convinced us this place looked good. It was not.
First our waiter, started off at a 100%. He brought us chips and salsa and drinks relatively quickly. We then ordered and waited for our food. We waited. And waited. And waited. My desperate pleas of «Please help!» and «Please my stomach is eating itself I can no longer live!» could be heard throughout our large booth. We had already spent way too long at this tex-​mex inferno, and all I could think of was my tacos. I ordered some sort of taco with fried onions, which the menu made seem very appetizing. I assumed it would come with the usual taco fixins– lettuce, tomato, cheese, etc. Our waiter finally arrived with our food, and I could not be more surprised. My tacos consisted of nothing but a strange mustard, a few sad looking soggy onion rings and a strip of grilled chicken. There was nothing Mexican or cantina-​ish about it. My friend got the mahi-​mahi tacos, and I have never seen her more depleted and depressed in our years of friendship. I remember she said, «mahi-​mahi may have been the fish so nice they named it twice, but whatever THIS is, it is not very nice.» She said the cabbage tasted stale, and we were both upset it took this long to get food a sack of nails could have shlopped together.
Looking back, it made absolutely no sense as to why it took so long to get us our food. There were only a few other customers in the establishment, which made the dismal scene before us appear slightly post-​apocalyptic. That is what On The Border Mexican Grill & Cantina is. A post-​apocalyptic «Mexican» restaurant that somehow withstood a nuclear war. Would not return.

Wow! I am giving on the border 5 stars!
I went here on ¹²⁄₂₂ with my girlfriend and another friend and had the most amazing time!
We had the appetizer sampler, tortilla soup, deluxe fajita, and enchilada. All the food was delicious and made per our requests.
The star of the night wasn’t the food though. It was our waitress Adriana. Holy guacamole! She was very attentive, always had a smile on her face, kept both our drinks and waters full, and had an amazing positive energy about her. I don’t remember the last time I had service this good.
A++ for this night OTB. Thank you!

My boyfriend loves this restaurant the food is always good, but the food does not out weigh how bad the service here is. On multiple occasions we have waited more then 10 minutes for our waiter to even come greet us at our table. One time we waited 15 minutes before we got WATER! Thats all we asked for since we weren’t sure what we wanted to order. I have to say they need to hire more staff because either they are under staffed and everyone is running around (doesn’t look like that’s the problem) or the management is not hiring people who should be in the service industry.
I recommend if you want good food and GOOD SERVICE visit the location on Route 46 much more attentive to their customers.

I’ll be kind and give 2 stars.
My friend and I had gone here at the end of the summer and just wanted to split some appetizers, maybe a dessert. The waiter was less than enthusiastic about waiting on us and approached us asking, «Know what you want?» The service was horrible and the food so extremely spicy. My friend loves spicy food, but even agreed it was beyond her liking.
We got our food, which was not what we ordered, and informed the sever. He seemed annoyed and didn’t say a word, just walked away with the food. He came back with the correct order, and practically dumped it on our table. The rest of the meal, the service was still awful.
I sent an email to corporate complaining mainly about the service. The manager contacted me to apologize. I totally get it, that it is beyond her control so felt funny that she offered a gift card to make up for it. I did provide my address, though. This was the beginning of September and I’ve yet to receive it. Not to sound like I’m looking for a freebie, but come on!
Probably won’t be coming back again. Not worth it. I used to come years ago and it was great.

Boy has this place gone down hill. It used to be one of our faves for a healthier alternative for fast food.
Staff is friendly but is slow. Food comes fast but greasy.
Shocked that the table next to is has been now empty for 20 minutes yet still full of dirty dishes. It’s not that busy.
The manager is in the kitchen and I see her coming out once in a while.
Bathrooms where gross.
Not sure if I will be backnn

Never dissapointed when I come here. Always my go-​to when I’m craving Mexican. Bottomless chips and salsa is always a plus! Monday to Friday 3 – 7 pm in the patio or bar its Happy Hour on select foods and drink. The choices from the small apps happy hour is pretty good! Serve I guess depends on who you get but always be understanding.

On the Boarder is dated a little cheesy and chainy, but you always eat and drink well and you never feel like you didn’t get your money’s worth.
It’s your traditional Ameri-​MEX type place but they are fast the margaritas are tasty and the chips and salsa keep coming which is great id you’ve worked an appetite up at the mall.
For east coast Mexican tou won’t be disappointed but don’t expect fine dining.

Server was terrible. He came to our table failed to introduce himself. Took our drink order and just walked away. Came back took our food order rude as hell and just walked away again. Treated us like garbage. Failed to make any suggestions. Food was OK I guess but the services is just so bad. Everyone just drops everything and walks away from you. Management needs to be more accessible. I don’t think I’ll ever be coming back.

Came for HH to watch the 2015 draft. Awesome HH. Sucks that you can only order one drink at a time though. We got a pitcher of margarita and wanted to order one more drink since HH would be over soon. Oh well– we enjoyed the food and the chips and salsa were filled timely for us. We tried the empanadas, guacamole, nachos and soft tacos. All delicious!!!

I came here with a friend for lunch recently. Their menu is pretty extensive for typical Mexican meals, but their lunch menu is priced especially reasonably. Fresh, hot tortilla chips and salsa are complimentary and we eat were given our own mild salsa bowl. We each ordered a Coronita which was fairly large and strong, and we had the option to make it frozen or not. She ordered a taco salad and I ordered steak quesadillas which came with the usual guacamole, onion, salsa, and sour cream fillings on the side. I was also given the option to have tortilla soup or their house salad with it. I chose the house salad, but I’m sure the soup would’ve been good as well. Our bill with everything came to $ 33 which is quite reasonable considering we each ordered a drink.
Happy hour here starts at 3 PM, and I know they have other drink specials during the week. It is conveniently located on Route 17 with easy access to the Garden State Plaza. I would eat here again, and am interested in checking out their drink specials for a night out with friends.

Yesssssss, so good. Queso to start with warm chips, A+. Then I got the pick three combo for 10 bucks. I went with the beef empanadas, chicken enchilada and a crispy beef taco with refried beans and rice. That’s a huge meal for only $ 10 and its damn good too. I’ve been to plenty of finer Mexican restaurants and I’m not ashamed to say that I prefer On the Board over all of them! Quality food and the service was also on point. I will be back.

Two nights ago I made the unfortunate decision at around 9:30 PM to get some late-​night food here before we headed over to the movie theater.
Even though I walked in with low expectations, the food this place had to offer still managed to offend me. I ordered a bowl of the tortilla soup as an appetizer then the steak quesadillas as a main course. Both my appetizer and entrée were so salty I am having trouble finding the words to explain them; think ocean water in solid form. I did not finish them, I had no interest in taking any of this trash home with me either. Some poor dog probably ate this out of a dumpster in the back of the restaurant then died of dehydration.
It was not just my food that was overly salty, my girlfriend’s food was just as bad.
I will not be back. Ever.