Jalapenos

Just finally getting around to review this place. No surprise it closed down. It was not authentic Mexican food and very small portioning a for the price. Surprisingly it was always very busy during lunch. Most likely because of the location.

Wow, another place that I’m reviewing that has been closed since I last went. Good thing my friend NP moved out of Irvine before this happened because she really liked this place!
She brought me and another friend here for a casual lunch late last year. Since it’s inside a large plaza, parking was plentiful. Then again, when is parking an issue in Irvine? The restaurant has a good amount of seating and was decently populated when we went. I am surprised they closed down.
I forgot what my friends ordered, but I got two of their Crispy Potato Tacos. They don’t look like much, but they tasted great! I am somewhat biased because I love pretty much all things potato, but I think as long as you like potatoes and tacos you would like this one. Not much in terms of service since you just order at the counter and get your utensils/​etc yourself, but the employees were nice enough. This place seemed like a decent place to get a quick easy lunch when in the area… and craving potato tacos.

I can’t believe they closed! It’s a sad day for Irvine. They were always busy whenever I came in too. I’m assuming it was because it’s expensive to operate in Irvine, but they were the best Mexican here.
They do still have 3 other locations (Tustin, Orange, and Ladera Ranch), which is great. But I’m still upset about Irvine closing. It’s worth driving farther to eat those amazing tacos, I just hope none of the others close.

Wait what the??? This place is closed??? O the humanity!!! Irvine is again a taco desert.
Ok I fckd up. Taco Tuesday night on cinco de mayo. I wasn’t paying attn to the calendar. Oh well. Twenty minute investment in the line. I will not be deterred. Line out the frigging door.
Events do bring out the worst in people. People overloading on the free salsa. More than they’ll eat in a week but heaven forbid anyone else get any. See picture truly an unbecoming & particularly disgusting bit of theft and abuse of the commons. u

I love Mexican food. I would eat it every day if I could. I used to go to the Tustin Jalepenos and it was consistently good eat.
I ordered a burrito and noticed the sign about no more free chips. I can understand no free chip refills, but if I buy a burrito, I should get chips. Anyway, moving on to more important stuff.
As another poster wrote, the workers assembling the food are not wearing gloves. They are just manhandling the meat with their bare hands and multiple hands on multiple parts. And I am not just talking folding a tortilla, I mean arranging MEAT in a burrito. I don’t want to think of any of them then going to bus tables, but it could happen.
I give a lot of leeway to Mexican food and find some of the best comes from hole-​in-​the-​wall places, but this is not a hole-​in-​the-​wall and this is Irvine dammit!
But unlike the previous poster who asked the internet to contact the food inspector, I actually emailed the Irvine food inspector on the way out to my car. And to top it off, my burrito was nasty. If I wanted a bean burrito, I would have ordered one. I ordered a chicken burrito with beans. All I got was soupy re-​fried bean laden mess with soupy «guacamole.»

I used to love Jalapeños. Not so much anymore.
I came here on Tuesday for Taco Tuesday. It’s now $ 1.79 for tacos on this day. Plus you ARE NOT given free chips with your order. It’s 50 cents per small white bag of chips. Large side of rice is also up to $ 6.50 now.
So besides the increase in price, I guess since the last time I was here (over a year probably), I just don’t see myself returning… even for Taco Tuesday. Wanna know why??? Their employees DO NOT WEAR GLOVES. I see them using their own hands touching the cheese that will go on my tacos, inserting their hand that has touched cash to open the small bag for the chips, touching their faces and arms, touching the red washcloth that is used to clear the counters.
I almost felt I was DOOMED for food poisoning that night. I didn’t thankfully. But I honestly think I was just lucky. Someone please get the County Health over there asap!

Ever since I moved away from LA, I’ve been in search of a Mexican restaurant with a similar taste to my favorite taco stand in LA. I came here at the recommendation of my husband who says that Jalapenos is comparable to my all-​time fav.
I ordered the hard-​shell carnitas tacos and carne asada tacos. Whereas carnitas is usually my favorite meat, the carnitas at this restaurant was a bit bland to me. The carne asada was delicious though! The taco shells were thicker than I prefer as well. If you love cheese, you’ll love how much they give you here! The tacos were about $ 2.50-$ 2.75 each. If I come back, I will do so on Taco Tuesday so I can take advantage of the cheaper pricing.
We also got a side of fresh tortilla chips, which starting March 1^st, cost an extra $ 0.50.

Best dayum Nachos I have tasted in a long time. Aside from the fact that they offer Chile Colorado as a meat choice as most restaurants don’t even make it, they also put it on nachos yummmmay. The meat was tender and flavorful my only irritation is that there was not enough meat there definitely needed to be more but it sure was NOT lacking in taste. My boyfriend had an Asada burrito which I tasted an it was awesome. We will go back before we head back home.

My usual place to go for carne asada tacos. Their salsa with my Taco is great. The bummer part is Service isn’t there and the interior could do with an update but hey it’s a cheap Taco place. Recently what has changed was that chips no longer come free. For this treat you with have to pay 50c

I’ve rarely met a carne assda taco that I didn’t like. But, this place serves them, apparently.
Very poor quality food. Meat didn’t taste fresh or flavorful. Bathroom was dirty. 50 cents for the greasiest tortilla chips I’ve ever seen.
I didn’t enjoy this meal. I suggest going somewhere else. The only good news is that it was taco Tuesday, so I wasted slightly less money than I otherwise would have.

Jalapeños defies logic.
As far back as I can recall Jalapeños has been at this spot in Westpark Village slanging out their brand of tired ass Mexican to the masses. From the decades old interior to their particularly horrific service, nothing Jalapeños does (or fails to do) is just enough to cause the death knell for some reason and if cleanliness is next to godliness, Well, welcome to perdition or worse. Seriously, how do these guys do it?
The food blows chunks on galactic scale. The overly salted Pork in the Al Pastor Tacos would make a better jerky. Topped with cliantro, onions and salsa in a dry and crumbly «soft» Tortilla you have the worst in class Al Pastor in South County. Run away screaming.
I have also had the misfortune of trying their chewing gum styled Fish Taco’s which is an experience I am still trying to learn to live with and awake in night sweats over often. What evil causes this recipe? What allows us as a society to watch this to go on unchecked?!?
I would move on to the Carne Asada Tacos, but at this point I feel like any more descriptions of what Jalapeños is capable of in that kitchen of theirs akin to pointing out the fact that a Tree Sloth cannot explain or decipher Laplace transforms.
Why not one star? Because they do have a local following of people that take them very seriously and gladly shell out the $ 2.00 per Taco (on average) to digest this low level sustenance.
Damn it, that was a horrific meal.

Our friends dropped here for lunch yesterday, Tacos & Co. was closed and they wanted some Mexican food. I’m not going to complain about the workers, if I worked here I wouldn’t likely have a reason to smile. We all ordered different items, I had a combination plate that was a chicken item called the Margarita and most of the time we all sort of make it like a potluck to see if we like certain items.
The place wasn’t too appealing, so we took our food to go. I’m not sure if this was a good idea, maybe they give you more portions if you dine there. They were generous with the meat and those salsa and other items in small containers, which I had no use for. I don’t mind the price, but the portions of other items were lacking.
I also had 2 tortillas and a bag of chips, and the tortillas were better than most places, so I thought the rest of the food would be impressive. The first thing I did was open the bag of chips and dip them in the beans, but there was a problem, the chips were all broken into small fragments. The chips tasted fine but I didn’t want to look all funny in public like I’m merging Mexican food with Mosaic art.
The beans weren’t all that great, and I judge most Mexican restaurants if their food is better than places like El Pollo Loco. The rice and beans were roughly the same as El Pollo Loco but small portions. It was nothing special, it makes sense why this place is usually empty after work.
The meat was alright, we all ordered different items and the carnitas seemed to be the better item on the menu. It just didn’t seem right, food trucks make better food than this and it’s an actual restaurant. Other than the taste of the tortillas and broken chips, everything else was mediocre at best so I don’t recommend this place.

I went to Jalapeños for lunch and had two grilled fish tacos. In terms of value for money, it was good. If you go, calibrate your expectations against taco truck food (which can be very good) and you will likely enjoy the experience.

I ended up here for lunch one day as a last resort, since the place I was looking for was nowhere to be found.
I walked in (with a firetruck outside, and two ambulance at one point) to the fire department working on a young man who passed out just next to the counter where you order. This didnt stop anything, there was still a line, and people were ordering and walking around the guy on the floor. That, was weird to me, but it is what it is.
I ordered a carne asada burrito, and the gentleman at the cash register was so busy watching what the fire department was doing, I had to repeat my order a few times. People were standing around the salsa bar waiting for their food, not moving out of the way so other people could get salsa. Everyone was bumping into each other … not sure if its any less crowded over there when the front area is empty, but yeah.
The burrito I ordered was not good, at all. I ended up throwing most of it out. The chips were wet with grease, and it just wasnt a good experience for me unfortunately.

I have been here a few times over the years. The food here is always good. Not great. But good.
Today I had a carne asada torta. The meat was a bit chewy and lacked flavor. Not a big fan of cheddar cheese on a torta either. I had to add sliced jalapenos to give it some flavor and moisture. Also don’t remember if there were beans on it or not.
The chips and the salsa are always pretty tasty here.
The workers here are always not the nicest. Just blah…

Service sucks quality sucks.
As you can see from my tip I’m pissed that their breakfast burritos come with refried beans instead of hash browns. Who wants beans that early in the morning!!! It doesn’t even say what the breakfast burritos come with on the menu… (Insert angry face here)
I also don’t like that their mild salsa is pureed… Gross
The only thing I like is their tortilla chips because I prefer thicker chips over thinner ones and they come with all the entrees.

We’ve been coming here for years and have always loved the food. The last few times we’ve been it’s been AWFUL. Our tortillas weren’t cooked all the way through, everything was cold, the chips were like rubber. And our orders have been completely wrong the last three times we’ve been. It’s going downhill and picking up speed.
ANNND when we had to drive all the way back there for them to fix our order they were COMPLETE JERKS. Made us wait forever.

It should’ve been one star. But I gave it two, now here’s the reason why.
My wife was craving for Mexican food so we decided to eat at jalapenos. So we ordered the food over the phone so we can pick it up. They told us 10 minutes, so I put on a simple shirt and some holy pants and darted out to get my food.
While in the car, I discovered I was wearing my mother in law’s pink slippers that were 2 sizes short. I couldn’t go back.
That’s when I blasted my car stereo high to gain confidence in wearing women’s sandals.
I’ll get to the women sandals situation later.
Here’s the review of the food.
I hate it.
Here’s the review for the sandal situation. No one in the restaurant noticed. That it self warranted a star.

Pros and Cons
Pros
1. Tasty food
2. Affordable Prices
Cons
1. The décor is outdated.
i have been coming to Jalapenos for years now and I will continue to come. I really enjoy this place because they have really good Mexican food at affordable prices. Their best dishes are the Chile Relleno, Veggie Burrito, and their tacos. I high recommend coming to Jalepenos. My only complaint is that the décor is outdated.

Mediocre Mexican food at best due to the lack of any decent Mexican food in the Irvine area.
Honestly the Tortas or Taco Tuesdays are your best bet for getting the best bang for your buck. The quality of the meat is just okay, but you won’t hate it. What’s nice is that the chips are free and the salsa is solid in quality.
To be perfectly honest though, I’d probably pick Chipotle’s level of quality over this place.