El Jalapeño Mexican Restaurant

These guys are the kindest and their food has absolutely never disappointed! It’s mine and my husbands new favorite regular place to go. Come support this small business you won’t regret it one bit!

Everything was excellent! This quaint little restaurant was pretty nice, and staff was extremely friendly! They even have karaoke on i believe Mondays, and Fridays. Food was delicious, and I'm frankly not too good with words so I'll just say: It was yummy and I highly recommend!

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Recommended dishes: Flaming Cheese

Wanted this to be amazing because is close to us. However, service was horrible. We had 4 people at our table and every single order was wrong. The food was mediocre .

Atmosphere: 4

Food: 1

Service: 1

Salsa...too much cilantro ? Steak quesadilla...steak was very tough and chewy/stringy! Not good quality and makes me question what I ate ? Wife also got like a rice bowl and thought the same. Grandson ordered cheese pizza and fries. They brought him pepperoni and he wouldn't eat 1 bite. Freezer burnt, crust half cooked on bottom but edge was hard? Like how??? AND how can you mess up fries??? Fries had no salt and also tasted freezer burnt and a weird taste like half cooked although they wasn't soft. Can't even explain it. Was looking at planning 2 group get togethers over next few weeks with 15 people, but we will look for another place to go. OH and if you chose to go, make sure you are ready for some bad karaoke! ? Now, if they are still open in a year, I may try it again, but they have some kinks to work out!

Atmosphere: 2

Food: 1

Service: 5

Perfect. The perfect blend of authentic and "Tex Mex". We ordered the Street corn, and it was the best we ever had including in multiple places in Mexico. The cheese dip was delicious and not watery like in most places these days. We ordered a couple of combos with things like chicken burritos, beef enchiladas, chili relenos, and they were PERFECT. My wife just spoon fed me a spoonful of JUST the refried beans, and it was DELICIOUS. They are doing things very different here while also keeping the menu easy to maneuver. Service was also perfect. He was very friendly, very careful not to get the order wrong, and also extremely knowledgeable about the menu and food.

Like I said. It was one of those rare "Perfect" experiences tonight. It was our first time in and can already tell that we will be eating here often in the future.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Best Mexican food in Etowah county! We loved it. We eat here multiple times a week and always come away impressed.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Awesome service! Amazing food!! Such a huge portion I will be eating it for three meals! Great affordable prices! Everyone needs to try it!!!!

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

This restaurant’s waiting time was about ten minutes and the food tasted amazing!❤️

Atmosphere: 4

Food: 5

Service: 5

First & not the last time trying this restaurant. My take out order consisted of ...a la carte...3 soft (shrimp,grilled chicken, steak) & hard tacos(2 ground beef/1 shredded chicken)! Entrees ordered 1 Texanas Style Fajitas & Steak Tampiquena! Sides ordered....Pico de gallo,Tortillas (3). So fresh,hot,and delicious ?. The chips and salsa are homemade. The service awesomeness. I couldn't stop eating the chips and salsa seriously. Give them a try..you will not be disappointed! Price point and quality..well worth it. Just added this restaurant to my weekly schedule.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Food is quick and some of the best around. The service is excellent.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Recommended dishes: Guacamole Azteca

Very good fajitas. Service was quick and professional. We've visited several times. I would like others to patronize this restaurant.

Atmosphere: 4

Food: 5

Service: 5

Recommended dishes: Fajitas

DO NOT GO THERE !
This is the first time I've ever written a review. Worst Mexican restaurant, I've ever gone to. I always order chili roleno and they serve me bell peppers, with two salty of meat. Water down cheese sauce. The chicken was dry and plain.
The rice was dry. We all did not like. Will not be back.

Atmosphere: 1

Food: 1

Service: 2

Great Food , Even Better

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Everything was DELICIOUS.

At first, I wasn’t sure about the salsa. It wasn’t love at first bite but by the third chip I was HOOKED. Actual cilantro flavor (my pet peeve when it’s missing!) and good balance, just the right amount of spicy for me. Not at all watery.

We got street tacos and guacamole azteca with house-made hot sauce. The tacos came with a yummy fried jalapeño and onion: see photo cause that onion was gorgeous!

The guacamole azteca:
Lemme tell y’all something.
I LOVE AVOCADOS.
I got this for the avocados but WOAH was the red onion delicious! It reminded me of pickled onions almost, but it’s just salt and garlic if I heard correctly… there’s gotta be some secret there cause they were delicious. we ate like it was going out of style and I used it as extra for the tacos (bc I split them all, see below)

Hot sauce: I may have been tearing up a little. Good flavor, plenty of heat, no regrets.

The street tacos:
I’d rank the shrimp ones first, though they have less meat (duh, it’s shrimp), then grilled chicken, carne asada, and carnitas last. The carnitas had meat flavor but I have had some I liked better, although those were probably not even halfway authentic. These tonight were really really juicy, tho.
The shrimp, chicken, and carne asada were seasoned BEAUTIFULLY for me and I am hard-to-please about steak in Mexican food. Fresh red onion and tons of cilantro, with chunks of perfectly ripe avocado to top it off. They come with two tortillas for structural integrity, I guess, but I actually split them all and ate eight mini tacos instead ? and these very nice people didn’t even comment on it ?

The people? Lovely. There were two servers and they got a little busy as I came at the beginning of their dinner rush. Having been a server myself, everyone seemed to leave satisfied from what I saw. They did a very good job at balancing everything they had going on and still made time to hear me rave about their food. You should be a little embarrassed for me and also a little impressed bc we finished it all ?

We will definitely be back to check out the other menu items. I’ve never had birria but I guess it’s time to hop on the trend train and see where it takes me. Also, there was a sign about esquites and I ADORE street corn, but I forgot all about them when I saw that beautiful guac. Soon I’ll return to stalk those kernels.

Plus, they’re open on Monday and I tend to wanna grab food on Mondays and get frustrated bc most people are closed due to slow traffic.

I wish no slow traffic on El Jalapeño. Go try them out or try them again and bring your tastebuds with you. They’ll be grateful.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Recommended dishes: Guacamole Azteca

While the waiter was taking our order he seemed to get frustrated and flopped his arms to his side and sighed really loud. No one ever came to check on us after giving us our food. Everything we ordered was very bland. The fajitas had no seasoning and were dry as a bone. The chili relleno was a stuffed bell pepper. The chips tasted like they were fried in old burnt grease. I asked for spicy cheese it also was bland no spice in it. The only thing spicy you will find there is the habanero sauce in a bottle on the table. We won't be back.

Atmosphere: 4

Food: 1

Service: 2