Los Jalapenos

Food is great when you get what you order, but it’s the horrendous staff/​mgmt that earns the one star.

I have been there a few times for lunch. Service isn’t great but the food is really good. I’ve had the burgers and fajitas.

Friendly staff, tasteless Mexican food. Had the buffet, thought I’d try a nibble of various offerings. Fresh salsas, we’re good. Many of the hot entrees were room temp at best — the wings and mini cheeseburgers were the best items — which doesn’t say much for the Mexican entrees. Skip it!

This place started poorly, finally got its act together and has now, unfortunately, fallen back into the dump. I believe they were recently awarded the «Dirty Plate Award» due to poor inspections.
The food is mediocre. On our last visit we saw an employee come in with a Subway sandwich and begin eating it in the bar area. Not a great endorsement of the food. The menu I was given was covered with food (on the INSIDE!). Also, a lot of the staff seems to have turned over recently. Not sure if management has changed or if they have just gotten lazy. I know they have a food truck so I hope they aren’t putting all their energy there instead of the restaurant.

Not Mexican food. Meat is not seasoned. Need new cooks. Dirty glasses and greasy table. Nice interior but that’s all that is nice.

I have never given 2 stars to a restaurant on Unilocal but it deserves it. The food was tasteless. The chips were greasy, the buffet didn’t have a sneeze guard. I looks dirty. The vegetarian meal with the 3 enchiladas. I switched one for spinach enchiladas and it was gross. It was frozen spinach and no flavor nor seasoning to it. The bean enchilada was canned refried beans not seasoned it was gross. I was hungry and stopped eating because it was just terrible. Then the waiter over charged us for the beers and when we asked him, he said sorry the menu is wrong. So I spoke with the manager and she refunded the difference. Are they training the staff? This was my second time there. decided to give it a second chance, never again. I have a coupon for it, let me know if you want it. Not going back.

You know, its not bad. Had the buffet and although it was messy, the food was pretty good. Standard fair all round.

Having not been here in 3 years, the wife asked me to give them a second chance. I’m glad I did. Apparently the Latino based staff is no more and now this restaurant is served, at least visually, by an American staff. This is not a comment on the previous staff or a slight — simply an observation.
The food has taste! What a concept! They were out of steak for lunch, so I got chicken fajitas. For about $ 8, I got a sizzling plate of chicken, peppers, onions, all nicely seasoned, guac, pico, sour cream, rice, beans, and tortillas. Chicken was juicy and had decent flavor, as did everything else. The chips and salsa even were tasty. I had a bite of the wife’s hard shell taco — very tasty and well seasoned beef.
Not sure has happened in the three years, but fair is fair and I accordingly update my review. I will for certain return and give the rest of the menu a fair shake. Keep up the improvements!

Never had any issues here. One of our favorite Mexican type eateries. We love the specials. They are always a great deal. This is also a pretty good spot for birthday celebrations. It is also kid friendly which is always a plus.

Found this place when it was in Grove city. We loved it. Similar to Fiesta Mariachi, but it had some differences. Great bar. Small sized place, in comparison to other spots.
It is worth trying it. When I rediscovered it in the new location I was ecstatic.
OMFG how can something change so much? This spot is like hell compared to heaven. Rude staff, slow as the 20 year itch, and I wanted to cry when mentally comparing it to the folks that ran the Grove City one. Avoid this place. Seriously.

Horrible service… Food is decent at best. Management doesn’t seem to care how staff behaves. Won’t go back

We went as a group and serving is slow. Attest whatever I have selected is taste great.

Just plain bland. I gave it three tries. Twice I dined in and the three stars are for good service. Another time I ordered take out and the food this time was bad. Chewy beef and cold chunky refried beans killed it for me. The food is just so lacking in flavor.
I’m done with this place.

Food was great! Chips are homemade (I asked for a tour of the kitchen) Quac is fresh and thick. Tequila selection nice. Servers are friendly and knowledgeable. Carnitas are my favorite hot and spicy! My wife likes shredded beef. The protein bowl is good and filling. The Mexican burger is flavorful and has a bun you can’t get anywhere else. Go to Mexico before you comment about authenticity, and order the right things…(chicken fingers are not Mexican)

Very good food at reasonable prices. Great service as well!
Highly recommend the texana margarita!

I love Mexican food and saw a Groupon for Los Jalapenos so a friend I decided to venture over to the East Side of Columubs and give this place a try.
Let’s start with the margaritas — they were very good, the best part of my meal! I had a jumbo size one on the rocks and it was very tasty.
Chips and Salsa — nothing to write home about, but nothing wrong with them either. I’ve just had better. The chips are bland, non-​salted and obviously not made in-​house. The salsa was good, if a little on the runny side. Nice flavor though.
Dinner — I got the House Enchiladas. Chose chicken as my meat and verde sauce on top. I was pleased. The green sauce tasted very fresh, and bold. The chicken in the enchilada was decent, nothing wrong with it. I only had one side item, refried beans. They were okay. I didn’t eat them all, but that was because they gave me such a large portion. They were a tad on the runny side, but not terribly. I have had better. My dinner companion ordered the shrimp fajitas and upon its arrival at the table, I was wishing I had ordered that as well. The shrimp looked and tasted (I snagged one to try) great. Very nicely seasoned. Plenty of peppers and onions accompanied the shrimp. The side plate of cheese, sour cream, guac and rice was generous. My dinner companion stated multiple times that she was very happy with her meal.
Service — This is something they need to work on. I am not sure if they were understaffed, but the place was only about ½ full and we still had long stretches where we didn’t see our waitress.
If I lived on the east side of Columbus I would go back, but since I live in Hilliard and there are closer places that I already know I like better it isn’t likely that I will return. But don’t let that discourage you, just go with the expectation that you will have a 2 – 3 star meal and you will be happy.

Columbus seems to be adding American-​ated «Mexican» food as another of its highly available cuisines. It is hard in some parts of town to drive a few blocks without seeing something.
I will say this place is better than Taco Bell.
The food is okay, but in the 3 visits I have had, I don’t recall seeing anything that I would classify as authentically Mexican.
If you like burritos, I would recommend Chipotle instead. But if you like taco combo plates, etc. you will find this place to be of comparable quality and quantity.

Standard fast-​food-​type Mexican served very fast.
I’ve dined in before but this time I ordered take out. The place was packed and I just wanted to lounge and watch tv. I was pleased that they wait would only be 10 – 15 minutes, but a little concerned about how fresh the food is if that’s how long it takes to make a chile relleno, bean burrito, and cheese enchilada.
I also ordered a side of cheese dip. All orders come with chips and salsa. They kept trying to throw in another bag of greasy chips (they must refry the chips or something, but yuck!) but I made them take it out of there. They were good to explain how everything was divided (rice and beans separate from main entrée). I thought one of the dishes came with a different sauce but alas, all were covered in red enchilada sauce. Not very authentic and not very delicious.
The worst was the chile relleno. It was tasteless, even the cheese, overly seedy, and mushy. Just like eating soggy grass with slimey moss on top. My dog ate it, but hesitantly and made me cut if up.
Later that night and the next day, I had indigestion. I never react to food. Not a fan and not coming back.

I hadn’t been to this place in at least three years prior to my recent visit. Why? The last two visits were VERY bad. I was eager to give it another chance as it’s conveniently located and I have a tendency to really want things to be good.
It wasn’t as bad as I remembered… but it was by no means great.
The waitress we had was great, very friendly, very prompt. What I assume was the manager was also making rounds around the restaurant checking on customers.
This place is very kid-​friendly, which I appreciate.
We were given chips and salsa while we waited for our food and they were pretty standard, but good. The wait was not very long at all, and the restaurant was decently busy.
We stuck with ordering the Jalapeño Burgers, which come with fries. The burgers were good, but VERY salty. I picked the Jalepenos off of mine– they were large chunks and looked a little not the freshest to me.
The fries weren’t great.
Neither one of us completely finished our meal, which is a little unusual for us, but we both agreed it was better than we remembered.
Overall it was a pleasant dining experience.
Unfortunately, my dining partner was in the bathroom most of the night, and eventually threw up. We have to assume it was the Jalepenos, as that was the only difference between what we ate.
I’m not sure if we’ll be coming back, but I really hope this place continues to strive forward the way it is trying to.

Looks cute, so close to home, I really thought it would be better. I did not like the service, the food was not hot nor really fresh tasting. I had the fajita salad with the house tequila dressing, which was not my thing, but at least it came with guacamole and that along with the oily veggies was enough dressing for me. My husband had the chimichangas and said they were disgusting. It was free dessert night so we got the churros and sopapillas which were dry and stale. What a dissapointment, what does a girl have to do to get good mexican food around here?!!