On The Border Mexican Grill & Cantina

Came here for an early dinner with wife on a Thursday evening at around 7 p.m.
First impression was not all that great. The host who greeted us, a young looking man, just wasn’t enthusiastic about working there at the time. Not even a smile or a ‘hello’. He led us to a table near the bathroom entrance that was dirty. We had to wait while he grudgingly cleaned it up –spraying us with the cleaning solution while he went about it. I was really about walk off, but I figured he was just a kid having a bad day.
We finally sat down and had our waitress Daniela bring the chips and salsa and take our drink orders. She was much friendlier that the host guy.
The chips were obviously old and stale, I couldn’t believe nobody in the staff would have tasted them before putting them out to the diners. Wife and I just shook our heads after tasting those chips and pushed them to the side.
The drink orders came quick, however they had to be taken back for a new order because we had specifically asked for the drinks to come without any salt, but when they came, they were full of salt on the brim. The replacements came quick though.
For drinks we ordered:
— The Herradura Grande with Reposado tequila, Gran Gala orange liqueur — on the rocks. This drink is POTENT!
— Coronarita– a fruit margarita infused with a Coronita — wife loved this.
For food, we ordered:
— The Street-​Style Mini Tacos –These are three mini, open-​faced tacos, fajita steak, grilled onion, Jack cheese, avocado, pico de gallo, red chile-​tomatillo salsa, soft corn tortillas. They were actually tasty and wouldn’t mind getting these next time I come back. You may need more than one plate though if you are hungry. They are really small.
Although the street-​style mini tacos and drinks were good, the service was lacking. Daniela was friendly but was super busy. Whatever was going on in the kitchen made us wait for our food for almost 15 minutes with no updates — Daniela was no where to be seen for a while. When we finally got a hold of Daniela, she said there was a back-​up in the kitchen that was causing the delays.
I’d suggest re-​training the restaurant greeter/​host and wait staff to be more customer focused/​friendly. Restaurant should be clean at all times. However, I’ll give them a second chance for the drinks and food.

Well, it’s a TGIF night, and On The Border was the winning pick. Upon arrival, 5-​Star treatment received throughout the afternoon. Highly recommend «happy hour» times, staff not only very attentive, but extremely professional. Food was exceptional, tasty, and did not lack any taste quality issues!
Regardless of the amount of clientele that arrives, the On The Border personnel will remain attentive to your needs. I love the fact all the employees take the time address your needs, and really take an interest in understanding what you desire at On The Border.
Two thumbs up for this establishment. :)

If you are looking for a great place that has great service. ALL the management is wonderful (Terence and Bryan). Bartenders (Jake and Rob) are great. They make us feel at home every time. Tell them I sent you.

My son loves going to On the Border. It is so much fun watching him chow down on the fajita nachos and queso. It is not meant to be a 5 star restaurant but the atmosphere is fine and it is my little boys favorite place!

They said I would get my food in 5 minutes. 30 minutes ago. I feel like she violated my trust and I feel my trust has been violated. They are dirty, dirty liars here.
We wanted to cancel our order, but our server said they already started on our food. She held our cards to prevent us from leaving. This is the most bullshit experience I have ever had

In March I was caring for my mother at Plano Presby, and took a much-​needed break one evening at On the Border. It was in between rush hours, so I pretty much had the place to myself. The FAB~ulous Manager, Adam, checked on me, and I shared some of my story. Kind-​hearted soul that he is, he made me the best Mexican Martini I ever enjoyed! YUM! The waiter (I think his name was Scott) was just as AWE~some~ highly attentive with recommendations for some delicious eats. It was just the break I needed. Y’all can’t go wrong here~ go see Adam and his great team at On the Border at Plano & Parker.
Makes me miss Dallas all the more as there aren’t any On the Borders in here Austin, aka Nutsville.

Wish I could give 0 stars for the piss poor service at this location. I have given this location 4 different chances and have only had one positive experience here. Today, they have lost me as a customer for good. With the location, I always hVe wondered why it’s never full, now I understand why. Walked in today afternoon, made eye contact with the bartender about 3 times. No hostess or server even came our way. I jokingly mentioned I would count to 30 then leave if we weren’t approached. By the time I got to fifteen I was already fed up and walked outright as a gentleman waved saying «hi ladies». Too little, too late! Ended up going right down the road to Chiladas and had an Amazing
dining experience.

If we are literally the only table in the restaurant, why are we sitting for so long without drink refills and no chips. I mean isn’t that standard at a Mexican restaurant, chips and salsa.
Asked another server to get our waitress and she yelled from the kitchen, what we wanted? So, we waited for her to approach our table.
When we asked for more chips her response was «but your food is coming out.» Then goes on about how busy lunch was and they’re busy trying to reset for dinner. Cool, it’s 3pm, no one is here and I’m a paying customer. I don’t care what your excuse is.
Not happy

Stop by for dinner with my daughter, food was good she had beef enchiladas and she said they were good, I had chicken tortilla soup and it was very good and filling. Jacob our waiter was very attentive and has great customer service skills!

The service is always onpoint. If they don’t know something, they will find out. Love that instead of trying to wing it. The Cadillac Margaritas are Da Bomb. …well, that’s what someone told me. Because I do t drink.

Had dinner here last night after watching a movie, with a total of 7 people. Got sat and ordered our food around 8:40pm, and that was the last we saw of our waiter until the food actually came out. I had to ask a bus boy to bring us more chips and salsa, as well as water. After more waiting, our server was still nowhere to be found, but rather the manager asked if we needed anything.
I asked him to check on our food, in which he responded to me, «We have a pretty quick kitchen». I then told him that we had ordered our food about 30 minutes ago, so I’m going to disagree with his statement. And like other comments here, it was not crowded at all, and by the time we had gotten our food, we were the only ones left to serve.
Finally our server reappears with half of our food, with an apology but rather an excuse of how her feet hurt. She also brought out a dessert first with our entrees (from a 3-​course menu including appetizer, entrée, and dessert). She then takes her time to bring out the rest of the food with yet another excuse about how she was having a hard time with someone’s check.
The food was ok, more than likely better at other locations, but not much to complain about other than the time it took. This location doesn’t seem like it has the biggest dinner crowds, and I don’t think the staff here could even handle it. I won’t be returning to this location ever, especially with so many other staff-​competent restaurants nearby.

Holy sh*t! The staff here are terrible, especially the guy with the fowhawk. That guy was a complete douche bag and I hope he enjoyed the non tip I left him. Thought about writing «fohawks are lame» on the tip line of the receipt. Gotta give it to the manager though, he’s a cool guy. I really did not care for the food here. Its too sterile and white tasting. Totally boring food, should’ve gone to Chuys.

My husband and I ate here tonight and the food was delicious. Sergio was our server and he was probably the best one we’ve ever had here. Sergio checked on us and made sure our drinks stayed full. We will most definitely be back to visit this location. Five stars.

Only 1 beer on tap! Need I say more. Small place, no great specials. I’ll give 2 stars just because most On the Border’s aren’t this bad. Headed somewhere else.

Nice location but the taco Tuesday is until only 7:00pm. The difference types of meats are more than $ 2 like they advertise. Ground, Chicken Tinga & Veggie tacos are the only $ 2 taco. $ 3 for pork, Shredded Beef and Grill Checken.

I have been going to OTB for 30 years and I have eaten at this particular location probably 25 times because it is next door to my church and on my way home. Sometimes it is good and sometimes really terrible.
It is never crowded here so easy to get a table even on a Sunday.
The fajitas, which OTB basically invented, are ok about 50% of the time, just edible about 25% of the time, and inedible about 25% of the time, including today.
Today for example, I got the beef fajitas and they were basically mooing so I told the waitress and they came back 3 minutes later and were very rubbery. Obviously stuck in the microwave or some rapid cooking device.
Service is almost always really bad, especially if you sit at a high top near the bar because the bartender serves you instead of a waiter.
This is probably the worst OTB but it is never crowded.

Snooty host at the door refused to seat us even though the restaurant was half empty. «I just couldn’t guarantee you good service». What were they expecting on a Friday during the holiday season. We left.

Being a Texan, born and bred– Tex-​Mex flows through my veins at all times so I’m a bit biased in saying On The Border is the McDonald’s of Tex-​Mex. I will try to be fair to review this place for what it is though.
Great fajitas and fantastic margaritas– nice place to come for happy hour. Can never go wrong with their famous chips and salsa either. I feel like their tacos and enchiladas don’t have a lot of character though– very standard taste and nothing that stands out. At least the prices are reasonable.
This location is excellent– which explains why it’s always so packed. I imagine they get a lot of catering business from the nearby hospital too.
Service and timeliness has been hit or miss the times I’ve gone– the servers here are all friendly though so that’s good.
If you’re looking for an authentic Tex-​Mex experience, look elsewhere. But as far as a chain goes, this location has most of the bases covered.

Great service… very attentive! When not attending to customers they were windexing the menus !
The Mexican mojito is delish and queso was equally tasty.
The management is awesome… we needed to keep food cold in car while we killed time having a drink and they gave us a bag of ice. Great customer service!!!

I visited this place recently, and my experience was not that great. I went with a group of 6, and our waitress must have been in a really bad mood. She made comments that weren’t really necessary that made me not enjoy my meal. I checked into Unilocal and got an offer for free bowl of queso, so I ordered it. Someone at the table wanted another order of the queso, she rudely said, «this second order will not be a free one» as if we were cheap and didn’t want to pay for the queso. Some of the people in our group were soft spoken, so she sounded really annoyed. The food was great, but bad service = not a happy customer. At least pretend you like your job or work for your tip.
Overall, the restaurant is a small restaurant, but the food is pretty good.