On The Border Mexican Grill & Cantina

The food is great! I am a big fan of Mexican food and this place doesn’t disappoint.
They start you off with chips and house made salsa or guac. The salsa is delicious and has a great kick to it! They will even make the guac at your table if you would like. It is always really fresh and has excellent texture. They will continue to bring you chips and salsa throughout your entire meal!
Some of my personal favorite dishes are the tacos (your choice of protein and crunch or soft) The tortillas are super soft and fresh and all the toppings to go with are very fresh as well. They have great enchiladas, burritos, and taco salads from my experience as well. This is more of an American take on Mexican dining so don’t expect to be getting dishes you would traditionally find in Mexico.
Lastly, I took a break from going here for a bit due to the poor service from the waiters. I would just always have slow service, the waiters wouldn’t check in on me from time to time, and when they did, it took the a long time to come back with what I had requested. I decided give them another chance after not coming in for a bit and I can definitely say that they have turned their act around. The service has improved a lot. This is a nice, causal, Mexican restaurant to go to with friends or family.

I had dinner here while traveling in Dec. 2015, and the food was nothing to write home about. The free corn chips were thin and not flavorful. The chicken enchiladas were just okay. The refried beans had an odd texture and were not as tasty as I am accustomed to. In my opinion, this is not a good restaurant and it is worse than the other Mexican chains. Well maybe it is on a par with Chili’s, which I am not a fan of, either, but On the Border is nowhere near as good as the Plaza Azteca chain. I’m from Philly and most Mexican restaurants near my home are much better than this one. A disappointment.

One word: salsa. Yes, the inevitably complimentary chips and salsa are my favorite, definitely above average and a great start to the meal. With a medium-​level kick, it’s a welcome appetizer in a seemingly mildly-​spicy world.
The main dishes are also good, especially for a chain restaurant. However, if you expect super fresh ingredients and authentic Mexican food, don’t come here. If you expect tasty Mexican-​American food, friendly staff, and a fun, casual vibe, come here. I am pretty sure they cook everything (rice, steak, etc.) in butter, but hey, I didn’t come here to lose weight. The steak fajita is good; the beef comes out medium, and you can cook longer on the skillet if you want. They have fun drinks, too.
A few other tips: whenever I go, there is always a good dinner crowd, but I’ve never had to make a reservation. There are also daily food specials. Oh, and did I mention the salsa?

The food is excellent, but the service has been consecutively terrible the last four times we’ve been. This place has made it onto our list of «Let’s go here to eat» «No, we said never again, remember?» «It probably wasn’t that bad» «That’s what we said last time».
We had two servers, for some weird reason. Two. And it still took upwards of twenty minutes to get our check, and we rarely saw them. It’s not like the place was full — there was no one else around.

On the border is a tasty albeit Americanized generic take on Mexican cuisine. It’s well priced and has a fun and lively/​loud atmosphere and can accommodate large and small parties alike. The patio is great for atmosphere and a quieter meal. The service is just ok… often hectic and a little disorganized, it can take a while to get drink orders or meals right if the waiters are spread too thin. It was disappointing by how lackluster some of the hostess and servers are especially when it come to correcting orders that were very clearly just wrong or spilling drinks on customers and then showing very little concern/​effort to assist. I will say they are very accommodating to larger groups which can be difficult to find in Reston.
If you can handle mediocre service in exchange for tasty cheap eats, it’s still an ok option. They do fun mixed drinks and carry standard Mexican beers and domestics. The food is a tex-​mex styled take that’s somewhere between Chili’s and Plaza Azteca restaurants. They have pretty good complementary tortilla chips and don’t skimp on the salsa. Their food is fresh and good, but not the best or most creative out there. This is a solid place to go if you have a tex-​mex craving or a big group to feed as there is something for everyone and every budget.

This is the first time I’ve ever reviewed a restaurant, but after my experience, I just had to.
First, I arrived at 11:45 a.m. on a Saturday for lunch — and I was the only customer there. The welcome station was unmanned, with no employees nearby. I had to interrupt one of the staff to come to the front (there were several workers talking near the kitchen in the back) in order to get seated. Why not be ready for your customers?
I was then seated at a sticky table and handed a dirty, sticky menu. I was given a bowl of chips, and decided in a minute what I wanted, and then waited… and waited… and waited. Servers kept walking past me, and I was trying to catch someone’s eye, but I was pretty much ignored. (Remember, I was the only customer at the time). Finally, after about ten minutes, my server finally took my order, and left the gross menu on the table.
My meal arrived on time, but the extra item I ordered was missing. But the server never came back to check on things, so I started eating without it. After about 15 minutes — and at which point I was almost finished with my meal — I had to hunt down someone else to get the item.
I was completely finished when a different server finally replenished my drink, which had been sitting empty for half my meal (could have used it while I was eating, not after). It was also then my original server, whom I hadn’t seen since she took my order, reappeared and asked — finally — how my everything is. But at that point I was ready for my check and it was too late to make any corrections.
If this was the service level in an empty place, I’d hate to see what it’s like when it’s busy.
Two stars instead of one because the food was fine.

My lunch portion was small and too spicy hot for me – I had the enchiladas with green sauce and black beans. The enchiladas were a flour tortilla wrapped around chicken meat. There was not a lot of flavor and it was exactly what I imagined as an enchilada. It’s odd because I’ve been to other On the Border restaurants and was pretty well pleased.

A very fun Mexican themed restaurant. The restaurant serves tex-​mex style entrees, a good variety of them. I had a chicken bowl containing chicken, rice, black beans, avocado, tomatoes, and a few other things and it was pretty good. A few friends had the queso, fajitas, and the coronarita and they all seemed to enjoy their meals and drinks. If I went back again I would try the queso because it looked really tasty and I’m a sucker for queso.

Awful service went in for happy hour was quickly seated in the restaurant waiting for a friend. I began eating chips and salsa at the table when my friend arrived, when the waitress came over we asked what was on special for happy hour she said we could only get happy hour specials at the bar. So we got up and there were no seats at the bar or on patio. When the sea of waiters and waitresses standing around just watched as we looked around we left. This place is awful what restaurant only does happy hour at the bar. Needless to say I won’t be back. Uncle Julio’s was so much better.

Pretty bad service. Servers kept pawning our table off onto each other. Sat for 15 minutes without being greeted. Was about to walk out when they finally took our order.
To their credit, they rushed the order so the food arrived quickly. That helped.
Thing is, I would give them slack on the service if they were busy. But the restaurant was dead (maybe 5 other tables).
Pretty sure I won’t be back.

We were greeted right away and they have all booths except at the bar. Really great happy hour deals until I believe 6! We missed the deadline but I still tried the watermelon margarita and it was delicious. However, the $ 9 marg was not worth the size. But they do give free chips and salsa — yum!
I got the steak fajitas but the server forgot our rice. Not a big deal though. They also only give three tortillas :(the steaks were cooked really nicely. The price for the amount I got was good. It was pretty dead but also its a Wednesday night. Not a bad place to go though.

I’m sad to see that this place is only rated three stars. We come here frequently for what must be the best happy hour in Reston. $ 2 beers and appetizers plus the service is top notch. Matt, Christian, Wendy and Jessica give us great service.
The fresh flour tortillas are our favorite and it reminds us of the Mexican food places in Texas. If you are looking for fine dining, $ 8 beers and $ 12 dollar appetizers there are plenty of those types of places across the street. However, for a fun laid back happy hour, this is the place to go.

In one word, filthy. Tonight was the second time we have been in to this restaurant in the last two months. The last time we came, the menus were soiled with old food or drink residue, the table and benches were gross, and the foyer floors were a mess. So I took the time to call the manager over to let her know what we observed, just in case this was a one time occurrence.
Well needless to say, things have not improved. Floors were a mess, booths were dirty, table were sticky, menus were nasty again, silverware had crusted old food on it, and the bathroom had debris everywhere.
The food and drinks are OK, location is good, but we are not going to come back anytime soon or as frequent, because they obviously don’t care about having a clean restaurant. We are firm believers that if the front of the restaurant is that bad, than we would be frightened to see what the kitchen looks like. Shame on you for not keeping up this restaurant.

I was there for my first time great menu drinks on point my waitress Olivia did a great job she was attentive to details.

Just OK Mexican food and the service is lacking in the dining area and the bar, it kind of sad when the Happy hour is the highlight of the restaurant, I only come here to get few drinks, the food doesn’t suck but It’s nothing on the menu that I would come back for except for a few appetizers

I’ve had some pretty terrible service here over the years… to the point where my love for their queso just cannot justify me returning on my own accord.
For example:
The last time I paid them a visit for lunch the server we had pocketed the cash my co-​worker gave him for her meal and rang the whole thing up on my cc AFTER asking her if she wanted cash back (she said yes) and then tried to tell me when I got up and confronted him that we only gave him a credit card.
Thankfully the money we gave him was still in the billfold he had in his pocket, along with our itemized receipt.
Before that, there was the time I called to see if they were playing a certain game for the world cup and the lady that answered said yes in a voice that said I was stupid for even asking, and when I asked if they had any seats available in the restaurant and she laughed and hung up on me.
Yeah… I don’t go here anymore.

Steak Fajitas!
Came here after Easter service and I’m so glad the restaurant wasn’t overly packed. The six of us were seated quickly and comfortably. Our server was kind and attentive. Most of us ordered Peach Iced Tea, which was delicious the first time around. When we asked for refills, it tasted like plain Tea, without any sugar or Peach flavor. Our server was sweet and fixed our drinks. Thanks!
Their complimentary chips and salsa are the best. My favorite part of the meal! Queso is also delicious, Mmm melted cheese. I usually get Fajitas. You have your choice of Chicken, Steak, Shrimp, Carnitas, Grilled Vegetables, or Combo. It comes sizzling to your table. Along with freshly made tortillas and a plate with Mexican rice, your choice of black or refried beans, sour cream, cheese or guacamole, and pico de gallo.
Good times: D

When we first moved to the area in August, my boyfriend and I came here in search of good Mexican food. While we enjoyed our dishes, the service was poor. We returned a few times because we liked the food but continued to have poor service. After a while we gave up because we didn’t want to be regulars at a restaurant with such an unwelcoming atmosphere.
We decided to give On The Border another try in December and it seemed to me that the staff was new. Service is now so much better and the servers are much more attentive then in our first few visits. I now enjoy having dinner here and would recommend anyone who may have had a similar initial impression as I did to give it another try!

Doesn’t even deserve 1 star … worst restaurant experience of my life. Started with a dirty table, no server for 10 minutes until finally the manager came to take our order. When the chicken fajitas finally arrived, they were raw and had nasty blood vessels and fatty pieces I wouldn’t even consider eating. They also brought the wrong tortillas (corn instead of flour). It took over 15 minutes to get the chicken fajitas replaced AND added an extra order of fajitas to the bill, then comped the extra order like they were doing US a favor… We had to ask another server for our check because our waiter was playing on his phone, not paying any attention to use the entire night — Even actively avoiding us as he walked by the table.
We used to come to On the Border all the time, but it has clearly gone downhill in the past few years. After this experience, we will not be coming back here again.

This is the first OTB location I ever tried, about eight years ago. All of them seem pretty much the same to me, but this one is certainly my preference.
I’m so amazed at how chains like Chili’s absolutely suck, Uncle Julio’s Rio Grande are just so-​so and yet OTB continues to remain pretty legitimately tasty. I always come away just as satisfied as if I had gone to my local Mexican place that I love.
OTB has some of the best salsa anywhere. It’s perfectly garlicky and spicy, definitely not for mild lovers. And the pepperjack chicken grilled enchilada I had was lighter than a usual smothered enchilada but equally — if not more so because of its flaky, toasted crust — delicious.
Everything tasted great, and to top it off, our server was absolutely excellent. She was really awesome — brought out new drinks when the others were only half empty, very pleasant and attentive, got everything just right (even my special order to add avocado slices).
Well done, OTB!