Jalapeno Tree

Being a local, we have hit just about every Mexican place around.
First of all, the road construction on #75 has made it difficult. As a result, I suspect that the serving talent and those with culinary skills have gone south! That being to more lucrative eateries.
Secondly, I like the comment about «how white the servers are.» While I am a Yankee, somehow, it is kind of oxymoron to me that you would not have more brown in the mix. I am not saying this in any kind of racial context.
Frankly, I am not really into chain restaurants. Obviously, you want to help the locals where you can and I am not sure that I have any overriding compulsion to go back.

They make the BEST fajitas! Also! Try the Chicken Tortilla soup — bowl not the cup. Excellent!

Fajitas are great. Salsa is very mild, if you are looking for something spicy you will be disappointed in the salsa. Queso is pretty good and quacamole is very good. Fresh made flour and corn tortilla’s are fantastic.

I was not impressed with this place at all. Food was very bland and service was horrible. I am by no means a picky individual and I typically give a place a 2^nd chance. I will not go back.

My wife had spoken highly of the Jalapeño tree having eaten there in Houston some years back and kept urging me to «please try it» to try so I could experience the same.
Well…my 1^st and last was an experience, lets just say I thought Chevy’s remember them was the worst Mexican food i ever had, but that dubious honor has now been taken by… you guessed it. The Jalapeño Tree!!!
The Salsa tasted like it was out of a can, a ketchup, garlic, onion type substance that was better made in NYC. They also offered up a Guacamole type substance that looked like a cross between baby poop and bean dip. It had a very salty taste and had no resemblance to anything I ever tasted before… after a few «chips of both offerings» we pushed it aside.
We were offered drinks to which I asked if the Margarita’s were with mix or if they could be made by hand. The waiter offered up they were indeed from a mix and «knew of no other way to make them… and why would you»…We passed and ordered softdrinks.
We now moved to the menu and ordered lunch.
The squeeze butter on the table should have been a clue to leave quietly and get out before my taste buds would relish the renderings of the squeeze butter, but I stayed and ordered lunch… MISTAKE!
I ordered fish tacos and my wife ordered chix salad. The fish taco’s were Talapia? which in all my life never had tasted a dish so miserably made as this. The fish was cold and actually raw. It tasted like paste that was deep fried and launched into a cold shell and served up to a plate and sat in the window… forgotten and made to wait… and wait… and wait… while someone else painstakingly took the 1.3 seconds to put together the 3 day old salad and what was to resemble chicken and serve up the chicken fajita salad. The dressing that came with the salad looked like cheese sauce or perhaps the baby poop I mentioned earlier and was inedible.
At this point I took another bite of the «fish» and had to stop there cause I was getting physically sick. Then a guy I assume was the manager came over and asked, «how was the meal»? I showed him my plate of mostly uneaten food and told him I was not too happy with the meal at all. He asked what else he could bring, I said Nadda, as in no way am I gonna subject my self and my wife to this lab experiment the call the Jalapeño Tree. No offer to «comp» my dish by the way, he just kinda slumped off, kinda like he knew the place was serving up injustice.
At that point I just wanted to leave, get the check and find some Styrofoam for some real flavor, perhaps that is why the Jalapeño Tree offers up the butter sauce on each table… Ummmm Styrofoam anyone?
Do yourself a favor, stay home, save your money and eat the packaging materials that came with your Christmas presents and do your tastebuds a favor and don’t forget the butter sauce.

We eat here frequently on the weekends. It is generally not too busy if you go in for a late lunch as we like to do (1−2ish). You can also get a table pretty quickly on most Friday nights.
Service is usually very attentive and friendly. We’ve had a few mishaps here and there, but never anything to ruin the experience. The manager often stops by the table to make sure everything is okay.
As far as the food goes, it is typical Tex-​Mex, nothing too fancy but it really hits the spot without putting a big hit in your wallet.
The chips and salsa are always good. They bring two salsas, one looks like ranch dressing with a tinge of green and the other is a tomato-​based salsa. I prefer the traditional salsa, but both are tasty. Servers are generally on the ball about bringing all the baskets of chips and salsa you could ever want.
I absolutely LOVE the free home-​made tortillas. However, these days you need to ask for them if you want them as nobody seems to just bring them to your table anymore unless you are ordering fajitas.
As for meals, I generally pick from the build your own combo section and have never been disappointed. The tortilla soup is one of my favorites.
I have had the steak fajitas a few times and the flavor of the steak itself is really fantastic. The fajita steak is often a little difficult to bite through (and when you’re eating a fajita, this can be messy!). They serve fajitas with little cups of zingy garlic butter that add about 10,000 more calories but are kind of worth it.
We have never ordered dessert here because we go for the free soft-​serve ice cream by the entrance instead. Great for the kids!
Overall, a consistent and quick place to grab a good meal for cheap.

I enjoyed this place on my quest for something warm and gooey. It is a typical texmex atmosphere. It was busy with lots of families and a baseball team. Not too loud tho. We could still talk, even whisper and hear each other just fine. Clean.
The chips are very good and served with a mild salsa and an creamy avocado mixture that is pretty good.
The «mexican dip» appetizer was very bland and boring. The rest of our food was delicious. I ordered the ‘Clint Eastwood” grilled chicken w/​queso over it, cheese enchilada, beans and rice. The chicken was moist, nice grilled flavor. The queso and enchilada completely satisfied my warm gooey craving. YUM. My date order the «Bo Didley» and enjoyed it enough to pack up the leftovers. I’ve never seen him do that. I got a taste of his catfish w/​shrimp and tequila cream sauce. VERY GOOD.
There is an ice cream machine like at jason’s deli or a chinese buffet to top of your meal.
I’ll go back.

I have visited this location and the Denison, TX location. Denison location is far better.
EVERY time I have been to the McKinney location, the service has been horrible. The worst case was waiting 20 min. just for someone to ask us what drink we would like, getting our order taken and to the table took an additional 30 minutes. The food order was wrong and the rice on the correct order was stale tasking and the rice seemed watered down.
The staff could learn a bit more about being positive and polite and speeding up their service, along with accuracy. I will say when the manager finally came by, he was very apologetic and gave us a free meal because the service was so bad. I did go back after that, thinking it was perhaps an off day, but it wasn’t. The service/​food was better the few times after but still not up to par compared to the Denision location.
The tortillas are awesome, so is the guacamole type dip they give you with your chips. I like the Chimi with beef fajita meat… ONLY at Denison location.
I like the way the place is decorated, I will say that.

totally not what i expected. a friend of mine told me to try this place, indicating that it was the best tex mex in the metroplex. last night we tried it out and it was definitely the total opposite of what i had in mind. first, our server was slow and didn’t seem to be engaged with us at all. i won’t hold this against the entire establishment because i saw other servers taking good care of their customers.
i usually judge mexican eateries by their salsas. let’s just say that i was highly underwhelmed with theirs. it tasted more like marinara and cocktail sauce and didn’t have any kick to it. with a name like jalapeño tree, you would expect a little umph with the salsa. not here. the avocado cream sauce was bland and without importance. if you want good avocado cream sauce, i recommend Taco Diner.
the food was salty. large portions, but far too salty to want to eat it all. the rice is forgettable. no flavor. i was disappointed and won’t be going back

We are frequent customers here. Their chips and salsa are amazing. When you are seated, you get a basket of chips and two little things of salsa. One is a traditional tomatoe based salsa and the other is like a purée of avacado and ranch dressing or something like that. I’m not exactly sure what it is BUT it’s REALLY good.
I’ve had a few things off the menu and I’ve been quite pleased with the food from there. I personally like their enchiladas and carne asada.
Right now, there is a TON of construction happening around the area and it gets kind of difficult to get to the restaurant. BUT don’t get discouraged! If you miss the turn in, just turn around and try again because this restaurant is definitely worth going to!
A BONUS! You get free ice cream at the end of your dinner =)

Wow. Welcome to Jalapeño Tree the whitest Tex-​Mex restaurant in the world.
I began to get concerned when I saw squeezy butter at each table. I like butter on my tortillas and I figured this was just an easier way to make that happen.
Okay so they offer free tortillas (most places do) and they are really well-​made, chips and salsa, and avocado cream sauce. The salsa is the most bizzare thing I’ve tasted… it’s like cocktail sauce mixed with salsa. The avocado cream sauce was pretty mediocre.
I ordered the fajita kebob dish called «Don Pablo» I think. One thing I have to say is the beef on that kebob was absolutely perfectly cooked and juicy, by far the best thing about that place. The chicken was average and rice and beans were also really average. Their salsa verde is mixed with sour cream and very thick. So, those three pieces of kebob meat were the highlight of the evening.
To top it all off when I went into the bathroom one of the waitresses was sitting in the sink texting. It wasn’t a counter-​top either. She was just sitting in a free-​standing sink with her feet on the other one. I showed a little suprise to find her there and she glared at me as if to say, «Yeah, I’m in the sink. Any questions?» An entirely new take on employees must wash their hands before returning to work.
The bathrooms were filthy and smelled like there was a septic tank issue.
I wandered bewildered out of the front to meet my friends and partake of the free soft-​serve on my way out.
Waaaaay weird.

My wife and I both ordered the Delrio Burrito w/​Sour Cream. Took my mother-​in law and sister in-​law out for lunch birthdays. The burritos were spicy but not too hot. Everyone enjoyed their food and they sang to my mother-​in-​law. Very Good.
Notice: Food Portions are big so you can order one meal and share. This is what my wife and I should have done.

«Baby, I can see the plate, I dunno what’s on the plate, but I know it’s gonna be good.» –The BF
Lemme preface this review by saying that I trust my BF, he’s a good judge of things that I like. But when he said this… about Mexican food. Yeah, I was not a believer…
Then I experienced. and now… I too am a believer.
I love Mexican food. You give me a good margarita, some gangster chips and salsa, and a bomb main dish, and I will be the happiest person ever. You have no clue. (sidenote-​I THINK that’s why he took me) ANYwho… we went around 6ish, and it was perfect timing bc they have happy hour from like 5 – 7 during the weekdays, so the waitress comes and I’m all about it right then. A 20oz WONDERFULLY not watered down frozen margarita-​Jalapeño Tree:1 Quida:0
Then she brings out this sour cream, guacamole concoction that I normally wouldn’t try… it was the most refreshing experience that my digestive track has had in a long while. So yummy… JT:2 Quida:0
I ordered a chicken fajita chimichanga. beans. rice. You know the ordinary. Now everyday I see the plate and that’s on it. OMG! This was like melt in your mouth deliciousness going on. AND… when the beans and rice are that good alone, you know we are going to have some issues with getting me outta there. JT:3 Q: 0
And to top EVERYTHING off… you get free ice cream. JT: 453 434 Q:0
Go have a looksie, I swear if you don’t like it… well. You will like it. I’ll meet you there:)

This is a great place. I’ve been many times and have not had a bad meal. As others have mentioned the tortillas are outstanding. They come piping hot and you can have as many as you wish. Another item which is good is the avocado sauce they serve with the chips and salsa. It’s a free item which comes with the chips, but it really good.
As for food, I’ve had pretty much all of the menu. The fajitas are a favorite as well as some of the combo dishes. Service has always been pleasant and prompt. Highly recommended.