On The Border Mexican Grill & Cantina

Bad. Really bad. Came here for lunch on a Saturday. Was hoping to catch the last period of the Flyers game. They don’t get that channel. And every tv had the same exact basketball game on. Really? I came here simply because I was in the mood for chips, salsa and a margarita. Too bad that was the only decent part of this meal.
Sat at the bar. The bartender’s service was great. She was friendly and attentive, but not too much of either. The drink selection is good too. My sangria swirl margarita was sweet and delicious.
Our food was awful. If it wasn’t for having skipped breakfast and spent the morning and afternoon car shopping, we probably would have left and went somewhere else. We were tired and hangry! The chicken tortilla soup was okay.
I would say okay to the chicken tortilla soup, chips and salsa, queso. Also, maybe the rice and refried beans. But who couldn’t make any of these things just «okay»?!
DO NOT recommend. So many other good restaurants around here. Currently feeling sorry that I was in the mood for a margarita :(

We dine at this location often. Food is great and they have a great happy hour crowd. This is one of my favorite chain places lots of good options for people on a gluten free diet too

Go for happy hour. The margaritas are great and the price is right. I love the empanadas and the fajitas.

Extremely rude waitress. We were waiting for our dessert for 10+ minutes and when we politely asked again, the waitress comes up to us and tells us in a rude tone that we should’ve had some patience and then dumps our dessert on the table.

Tex-​mex usually all the same… Not crowded, plenty of places to sit. One couple at the bar a majority of people there were families eating.
The service was excellent, very attentive.

Food is always great, but you’ll be there a while before you get it. Take it easy on those chips, Alex. Seriously if I ever somehow survive an apocalypse, the On The Border chips would be the first thing to go. And do you know what? It’s the salsaaaa.

I drag my friends here for the happy hour which is great but I wouldn’t come here for authentic Mexican food. The $ 3 margaritas and cheap appetizers get the job done and I never leave hungry. Great place to catch with friends and coworkers between 4 and 7pm.

Why would you go to On the Border? Well, you can call it, OTB — which is fun, to begin with. Then, there’s the melted cheese… on almost anything that sits still for a minute. There’s the giant fishbowl margaritas (good booze = happy patrons, big booze = full on delirium). There’s the homemade tortilla chips that come out fresh and lightly salted. There’s the guacamole. There’s the homemade salsas…
Just come here to get your fat on, folks. That’s the glory of OTB.

Decent food, decent drinks, decent prices. The $ 4 happy hour margaritas make it worth hitting this joint, but beyond that it’s nothing terribly special. It’s very typical of a chain restaurant where the atmosphere is generic and the food falls somewhere between «pretty good» and «good enough.»

I went here after my tournament and I had a great experience here. The chips and salsa came out right away and our waiter was patient with us. We had a few people running late.
The guacamole was superb. My wife ordered the Fajita Trio Combo. The salad was good, but had a small surprising spice to it. She enjoyed the chicken fajitas. We ended up getting the sopapillas (fried dough with cinnamon and sugar) as her dessert and they were delicious. It came with honey and chocolate. I felt the honey was the better dipping sauce because the chocolate was so rich, that it over powered everything. I ended up getting the verde canitas tacos and they were amazing. I would highly recommend it.

I came a little after 4pm waited forever to be greeted, I think they have 1 waiter working, I hate slow service, I want stuff yesterday. Next time greet me immediately like I’m a king, I’m paying you! Already in a bad mood, I feel like I need to go back to the kitchen area with a whistle, then cook my own food, it’s been 10 minutes now, obviously thinking about speaking to the manager to see what’s going on, I finally got my chips and sauce, I feel a little better, but now I need a refill. Waited a while for a refill, finally got steak fajita, which I really love and at least that didn’t disappoint me. Left a good tip anyway because I’m a nice guy.

Happy hour specials are on point! Also their late happy hour (9:00 pm to 11:00 pm) is cool. Free chips/​salsa with drinks is a plus!
Definitely not the best spot to watch sports games — TVs are in terrible locations. Other than that nice spot to hang out and grab some grub/​drinks!

Cons: Came here around 4:00pm on a Friday. I used the bar seating. Service was terrible. I had to wait forever just for someone to notice me as 3 bartenders are steadily walking back and forth in front of me. I was never told the chips were free, so I declined them when he finally took my order. Another patron told me they were free, then the bartender got an attitude when I asked for chips. After my food, The guy brought me the bill and I was sitting there forever waiting my debit card trying to pay. Finally I just paid cash and left a $.50 tip. Terrible service.
Pros: Food was good and it came fast.

I decided to give this location another shot and a manager was even kind enough to reach out to me and welcome me back, so i thought i’d give it another go. We’re happy to report that we’ve had nothing, but good dining experiences ever since (yes plural).
The food has been good, the wait staff could still use some improvement, but everything has been consistent and good. We think we just had a bad experience with a disgruntled waiter (whom which we havent seen since). Because of these factors we decided to change our rating to 4 stars.

Two words = Happy Hour.
Come here and get down and dirty with this amazing happy hour! I had not come to an On the Border since college and well, it hasn’t changed much, thankfully either have the prices. Although the ambiance is not necessarily of the best type of happy hour, there are families having dinner with their kids and there’s someone in the back making fresh tortillas, the food is actually really good.
We came and indulged in some Coronitas (margarita with a corona in it) for only $ 5! Appetizers like the chicken chimichanga and guacamole are not to be missed, but skip the flautas (heart attack-​ville with all that oil). If you come on a Wed, they have the fajitas on a sizzling skillet for $ 8, which is a steal!
As stated by other Unilocalers try not to fill up on the overwhelming mountain of hot tortilla chips on the table, but by the end of your first Coronita you wlll probably forget that tip.
This is an excellent place to come with a few coworkers, friends or even a casual date. I will definitely be heading this way again really soon.

I’ve been here a handful of times already since I live on Douglass campus at Rutgers. I always had a good experience here! First of all, I love the endless chips and salsa! I always forget to stop myself from getting too full from them but the warm and lightly salted chips and spicy yet flavorful salsa are just irresistible!
I usually get the «pick two» because I like to try different things and the order comes with beans and rice, which is a lot! For a meal about $ 10, it’s a good price! But I think the food itself is okay. For example, I got the chicken enchiladas last time, and the chicken was a little dry! Also, because the salsa was so flavorful and spicy, the food tasted/​seemed bland in comparison.
I went around 8:30 on a Friday night, and I thought the wait might be bad. The host said it would be about 30 min but it only took about 15 min! The server was very attentive and came around multiple times to ask us if we needed anything!

Let me just say 3 days have passed since we went here and I am still upset about the experience we had. First, our waitress came right over and the first thing she said was «today is only my third day» which is a little tacky since it was unsolicited, but we just laughed it off. What then happened was just inexcusable, third day or not.
First, we asked for a minute to think about our order, and she did not return for 20+ minutes. She clearly did not know the menu, and when we asked if she could bring us chips she said «that’s not my job, someone else does that» and we didn’t get the chips for at least another 20 minutes.
I ordered a drink on the rocks, she gave it to the wrong table, picked it up off their table and gave it to me, and it was frozen which was wrong anyway. She then gave me my soup with my meal when I had asked for it as an appetizer before the meal, forgot my empanadas, and completely forgot my mothers dish and never apologized for it! I don’t think she had any idea she completely forgot one guest’s entire meal, someone else working had to take her order again while we all sat here waiting for them to make it with now cold food.
Then finally when we were just so fed up and wanted to leave as soon as possible, and didn’t even argue over the fact that she OVERcharged us for extras we did not order. We were in so much of a hurry that we didn’t realize the waitress gave us the paid receipt without our credit card! We had to return the next day to the restaurant to retrieve it.
I would not recommend anyone to come here and will be looking up new places for future dining. I really hope someone who works here reads this and understands what a terrible experience we had.

On the Border is a chain Mexican restaurant which does it right. I enjoyed the Coronarita at the bar and would definitely order that again. Happy hour offers a few good deals including $ 5 margaritas and discounted apps. I enjoyed the fajitas. Simple enough, but I ate every bite. The chips and salsa are complimentary and quite yummy. Service was excellent at the bar and seated as well.

Get the swirl sangria Margarita at happy hour!
The full size nachos disappeared from the happy hour menu and were replaced by less than half the size nachos, nowhere near the quality of the prior ones.
The free chips and salsa are right on point.

When my friends and I were broke and in college On the Border was our «fancy» go to restaurant. It is a chain restaurant and not authentic Mexican food but nonetheless the food is pretty good. I enjoy the fajitas (chicken, beef, shrimp) and also enjoy the fish tacos. The chips and salsa are dangerously overflowing. The «guacamole live» is just regular guacamole but made at the table in front of you. This is particularly useful for those who want to learn how to make guacamole!
Gluten intolerant? OTB offers a separate gluten free menu. The tortilla chips are also gluten free (they were not a few years ago).
Maybe it’s the memories or maybe it’s the good food. but my friends and I always choose On the Border for gatherings.