On The Border

Glad to see it is gone. Dark place with mediocre service at best and worst food at any OTB I have been to or any pretend tex-​mex. We referred to it as dog food… poor dogs. Only went there to meet others at happy hour. Fair Oaks is world’s better!

Good happy hour specials… Good is okay. Not great, but decent. Service is painfully slow, so you should order two drinks at once if you want to get them in before happy hour ends.

Nice ambiance and serving, food was good, but the drinks were amazing, want more coronaritas now! too bad there arent any on the borders here in gainesville.

The service is awful. The first time we came here the service was just slow, we couldn’t find our waiter and finally I had to get up and search for someone to bring us out check. The second time (tonight) we were seated then waited over 10 minutes without being greeted by our server. We left and went to chilis because we had three hungry kids and couldn’t wait any longer. We saw four employees pass our table, some multiple times. None even acknowledged us. We were in a middle booth between other full tables all of which had servers. Even if it wasn’t that servers section they should have come by our table… It’s not like it was busy and there appeared to be enough staff.
I generally like on the border, that’s why we tried to give them a second chance but that was obviously a mistake. Never again.
Unless you have endless time and aren’t that hungry, I would recommend going elsewhere.

Good place, good food, great service and we were there amongst a large party of about 40 people. Our servers were excellent, no issues at all. We had sort of a set meal, so it was brought out in batches and everything was excellent. Great margaritas and sangria. It was very loud, but then again we had a party of 40 and you would expect that. Have been back since the large party just with a couple of people and noise level was much quieter and not as hectic. Food and drink was just as tasty. Had a combo fajitas the second time and it was delicious.

food was ok… but, its lonely… I guess the Chili’s next door is taking most of the customers

I love their margaritas and food! Also it is affordable and won’t hurt your wallet. Sergio you’re a great bartender!!!

First time that income in to this location. We sat at the bar area on a Sunday during football season. The service provided by the bartender/​server was great. He was very attentive. Very polite on top of all his tables and very friendly! Service like this definitely coming back (server name: Sameer)

Been to this location several times. Service is mediocre. They have pretty good happy hour specials starting at 3pm, including margaritas! In nicer weather, grab a table outside.

Still has the best salsa in the area, and the booze and drinks are great, but the food I was served was awful. I used to be a regular here, but over time the food has gotten worse. They couldn’t even get the tacos right.

Heavily salted food, no flavors except the spices, the table tablet had no ink when the receipt printed, and finally the waiter was not that willing to answer our questions on the menu. I have had much better experience in other similar restaurants.

This is place is awesome! This is the first time my hubby and i have ever ordered from here. Our food was so fresh and so delicious! We ordered our food for pick up. It did not take too long for our order to be ready about 20 minutes of a wait for pick up. The young lady at the front desk was very nice and polite. I actually wouldnt have minded dining in… maybe next time. anyways I ordered the grande taco salad with grilled chicken and diced tomatoes with the jalapeño vinigarette. The jalapeño vinigarette was so decious with the grilled chicken i probably could have ate just that! Lol. But the veggies in my taco salad was so fresh i was very surprised. My husband ordered the ultimate fajita with no pulled pork extra chicken. We also got queso sauce on the side to go with our chips and salsa. Omg. The queso sauce was so good. I think they have the best quest sauce I have ever had. The salsa and chips were also very good! My husband said that he would absolutely love to order from here again next time when we are in Tyson’s Corner and I totally agree! I would love to come here more often… i hope that there is one in Ohio! That would be awesome considering that is where my home is lol. We will most definitely be back very soon! (-:

Bland rice, very very dry, my friend who ate it practically needed the Heimlich Maneuver because she got it caught in the back of her throat, choking til her cheeks turned purple. The cheese quesadillas: nothing to write home about, bland as can be. The best thing about them was their Kahlua Ice Cream Pie which I don’t even think they made on the premises. The waiter we had was lackluster personified, hardly any personality and didn’t seem to want to be there.
Beware of that dryyyyyyyyyyyy rice!

My wife and I decided to try OTB for the first time. It will also be our last.
Pros — none
Cons
1. The hostess was slumped over the podium playing with her phone, looking totally uninterested in being at work.
2. The server was slow and hard to find. She said she two sections, but there was hardly anyone there.
3. The food quality was below average.
4. The kitchen did not prepare the food properly, my wife asked them to hold rice and give her double beans. Her order had the rice.
5. The servers completely forgot my soup.
6. My wife and I have both had stomach pain since we ate. We have had this kind of food many times before with no problems.
Lousy food, bad service, inaccurate staff, and staff that has no interest in being at work.

I chose this place for carryout tonight because someone raved about their steak quesadillas. I ordered a sampler platter that included their chicken quesadillas, steak nachos and some other rolled chicken that I think they call «flautas» but I normally call taquitos. I also ordered their sopapillas and some chips and salsa.
I was very disappointed in this meal. The first impression that I got was how overwhelmingly salty everything was. I love salt, but this was too much. It was the kind of salty taste to overcompensate for a lack of quality in the food.
I picked over the platter and ate very little because it was not only salty but very greasy. The chicken inside the quesadillas was overly salty and appeared to have pepper all over it. The steak on the nachos were fatty/​chewy so I just picked all of the steak pieces off. I decided to eat the chips and salsa that come with the meal. They come in a plastic bag that tells you that you can heat it up in your microwave, when I did that it started smoking and before I knew it everything smelled burnt. (and yes I followed the directions on the bag) After noticing that a hole was burned in the side of the bag, I attempted to salvage what I could of the chips but most of them had a burned smell to them so I threw them out.
I decided to try the sopapillas. I have fond memories of very flaky crisp sopapillas from Anita’s Mexican restaurant years ago but these were more doughy and smelled of a deep fryer. Granted I am fully aware that they are made in a deep fryer however when I can smell the deep fryer that means the oil is going bad.
Overall I was disappointed and won’t be returning to this restaurant for any meals in the future.

To barrow from Unilocal,«I’ve experienced better.»
It is not that there was anything wrong with what I had but it also was not particularly good. I don’t plan to spend any more time or money at this location unless I happen to be with a group who selected it. (This time I was with a friend who wanted to try it.)
There are a lot of tex-​mex options in the NOVA area, both chain and independent, my recommendation, try someplace else.

5 stars for the service and 3.5 stars for the food.
Just came here for happy hour and our server was awesome. He was really attentive, prompt, and friendly. We were only there for an hour but he made sure that we always had chips/​salsa and our drink orders taken care of. The margs here are strong and come in extremely generous portions when ordered at the Happy Hour prices.
I got the brisket quesadilla to-​go and it is SO good and huge! The prices on the menu looked really reasonable considering how big the portions are. I was pleasantly surprised to see a huge bag of chips and a cup of salsa in my takeout bag to account for the bottomless chips/​salsa that comes with the meals here. The food isn’t anything to rave about (I’ve definitely had better Mexican) but it’s enough to fill you up and satisfy a craving.
All in all, I don’t have any real complaints and would gladly come back soon!

This is a quick go to spot for my family and me. They have fast service, a fairly clean Mexican atmosphere and good fajitas. My favorite fajitas are at rio grande, these don’t come close, but the convenience of being next to my parents house is great.
I recommend the chicken fajitas, the steak is a bit too dry for my taste, and they never cook it to order. Chips and salsa are good. I highly recommend the guacamole live, they make it right in front of you and boy is it tasty.
The margaritas taste like all mix and minimal alcohol, so you may have to get a double to truly appreciate them.
Service is fairly standard. It gets frustrating when they are busy, but on an average night there is really nothing to complain about. Worth a try if u are in the area and are in the mood for Mexican.

Not only was this place a disappointment, the food was actually too gross to eat (and I’ll eat pretty much whatever).
I got some of the nastiest enchiladas I’ve ever had. Dropped 40 bucks (took the lady there) and will never go there again. F this place.

I just can’t forget about the chips and salsa here, even two years after I’ve moved away from anywhere near a On The Border. This place recalls memories of high school and college. Coming here to eat and gorging ourselves on chips and salsa to the point we couldn’t finish our food, or finished and hated ourselves for it.
I don’t tend to deviate from my normal order here, steak fajitas and they are consistently pretty good. The beef empanadas and appetizer sampler are also good if you are looking for a lighter meal option over a full blown dinner. I’m always happy just to get my chip and salsa fix!