Patio area was really nice and server was great. I normally don't like to write bad reviews but this time I have to. We ordered ice tea and veggie burrito. The tea tasted old like it was made days ago. The burrito was the worst I've ever tried. The beans were mush and it was full of bean juice. I didn't eat mine but my husband ate his and had a tummy ache. I warned him not to eat it so that's on him. Anyways, food just did not seem fresh. read more

Cute place with outdoor seating and bad food. This does not seem to be legit Mexican food, and was not very good. Service was very slow, and no one at my table was happy with their food. (We were polite about it, but wouldn't ever go back.) Everything was extremely bland. Tacos were hard shell. This seems more a midwestern gut bomb "this ketchup is too spicy" kind of a cosplay Mexican restaurant, where you might be better off ordering a deep fried burrito coated in cheese and just giving in to your fate, rather than hoping for some delicious fresh street tacos and being sadly disappointed. However, the chips were a mixed bowl combo of flour tortilla chips and corn tortilla chips (FYI for anyone gluten-free!), and they were surprisingly good. read more

My mom and I had lunch today at El Jardin's my Mom had chicken cascade with rice and beans, I had the enchilada supreme with rice and beans. The pork here is always tender the rice and beans are always good. They have the place all decorated for Christmas The food is good, the employees are very nice. read more

They used to be great! I moved away for 6 or 7 years. Came back and have been there twice! There won't be a third time! Chicken nachos were awful! Like it was scooped out of a pot? Burrito resembled a used diaper! Pail . read more

Ordered 4 tacos with 2 orders of rice no beans and got only 3 tacos with beans. Will not order from there again. read more

El Jardin - Got a Togo order of 4 tacos, 2 orders of rice with no beans and I only got 3 tacos with beans. - Mexican Near Me - Columbia, California

Visited it for dinner on weekday , it was quite full restaurant. Chips was complimentary but chips was very oily and lack the taste. We ordered supreme taco and veggie fajitas . Veggie fajita was decent taste with flavors of vegetables but the taco was very bland neither had any spicy nor the taste that we had to ask for homemade spicy sauce. Good part was I felt servers were very nice and looked happy such that they really enjoy their work which was commendable . read more

El Jardin - Veggie Fajitas - Mexican Near Me - Columbia, California

Went in to order two burritos I told them no pico and it comes out with pico. They remake it and it comes back like they just thought it together literally was barely edible. The pic will show... come on guys the one in Murphy's was fantastic. The first burrito was better than the second besides the pico. Will try again mainly because i loved the Murphy's location and hoping it just might be a new cook or a bad cook... read more

El Jardin - Mexican Near Me - Columbia, California

Went to lunch with a friend. I ordered the shrimp cocktail. It was so bad. It was like eating shrimp covered in ketchup. Haven't been able to muster up the courage to go back. Don't think I ever will. The husband met his friend to have lunch and said the chicken tacos and said they tasted like they were at least three days old. I'm so confused because I've been eating at the El Jardin in Turlock and that place is excellent. read more

The good: nice spot, comfortable outdoor seating, friendly staff. The not so good: the food. We got a crab enchilada and the flavors were all wrong. Very fishy crab and lots of lemon plus all the regular enchilada flavors - nope. The chips used for chips and salsa were crumbly (seems common to Mexican restaurants around here unfortunately). The little dish of cut cabbage was browning at the edges. The fajitas came in some kind of wet sauce, instead of the usual dry grill. The sauce was a little sweet and tasted like there was soy sauce in it, burnt by the cooking technique. Burnt soy sauce... why?? When you could just leave them dry? read more

I would definitely eat here again. It was a cute little place. The chips were delicious, freshly made and still warm. My daughter enjoyed her fish taco combo, and my steak enchilada with red sauce was one of the best I've had. The lady who brought out our food was friendly and kind. She was excellent. The younger woman who had initially taken our order was less welcoming, but not rude. Nothing so grievous as to ruin the experience of the delicious food, which is why I'm still giving them 5 stars. It was clearly made with diligence and is the best Mexican food I've had in a long time. read more

Stopped by this cute Mexican restaurant on our way out of Columbia. Nice out door (pet friendly) seating, good ambiance. Staff were really friendly. I ordered a combination plate, 1 chicken enchilada (salsa verde) and 1 steak taco. Plate also came with rice and beans. Everything had really good flavor, beans were a little on the runny side but mixed with my rice was tasty. My boyfriend got the carne asada plate which he really enjoyed. When we are back in the area we will definitely come back to this spot. For card payments they accept visa/Mastercard/American Express. Unfortunately no Apple Pay. But also didn't completely expect this small historic town to be completely up to date with that. All In all we had a good experience here and recommend to others :) read more

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The food is spectacular and the service is the best. Very comfortable booths inside and pleasant patio seating with shade. My new favorite Mexican restaurant read more

We love El Jardin when we pass through Columbia. The service is excellent and menu is authentic Mexican food. The Caldo de Pollo soup is amazing! Highly recommend. The broth is delicious served with rice, Pico de gallo, purple cabbage, sliced Avocado. My husband ordered Combination Chili Relleno plate. He said it was excellent! We decided to eat at El Jardin another location. We ordered the Fish tacos special. Margarita is little sweet so I ordered Skinny Margarita if you want to skip the sugary mix. read more

El Jardin - Caldo de Pollo soup - Mexican Near Me - Columbia, California

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Service was a little slow and server wasn't as attentive as I wished. I had to ask for everything instead of her having the intitiative to bring water and when asked for coffee to get the creamer and sugar as well. She got my order wrong and had to wait even longer to her my correct order. There were a lot of flies outside so when I was eating it was horrendous. Overall food was ok but it needs more energized staff and more attentive read more

my DoorDash just dropped off food from here and halfway thru eating my steak taco salad I started chewing on something extra chewy. Thinking it was steak gristle I chewed for so much longer than I wish I had but I eventually pulled out the chewy thing out of my mouth and it was a cigarette butt. After gagging and throwing up for a bit I had my wife call to ask for a refund or the very least to raise awareness to the staff. They completely denied and dismissed it as not their fault. Mind you the bags our food came in had no signs of tampering with and the dish itself had the toppings undisturbed when I started eating. I believe the gentleman's name who my wife spoke with was Julesus? who didn't take any of our info. I was beyond disgusted by the cigarette filter I chewed on but it was really unfortunate the staff refused to help. read more

El Jardin - The filter paper unwrapped in my mouth as I was checking it. - Mexican Near Me - Columbia, California

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We had dinner there last night and food was good, no complaints. Service was not the best but our server was very nice. My complaint..... NO MASKS worn by any of the staff. We eat out often and this is the first restaurant we have eaten where no masks worn by any staff AND when when a table of four left as we were sitting waiting for our meal they cleared the table and wiped down the table and benches with a rag.... NO sanitizer sprayed, nothing but a rag. Not good in these times and probably will never return.... Unacceptable!!! read more

The food was delicious. I had the Baja tacos and my husband had the chicken enchiladas. So yummy. The enchilada sauce was perfect. I will stop here again next time I am in town. read more

Went there last weekend and ordered the 4 taquito's appetizer apparently the four taquito is in reality 2 cut in half. Only one bathroom was open and functioning not sure if the 2 for the price of 4 is at the other location or if I just got lucky. SMH read more

When the waitress brought our food to the table she threw it dawn and practically ran away. We ate our nachos we ordered to share with a side of rice and beans... we were never offered refills or asked how our food was or able to ask for extra napkins or salsa.... When the girl brought us our check I told her we had also ordered a burrito to go, she leaned in and very rudely said "WHAT?" I repeated my self and she walked away without saying a word. We sat there waiting for a good 10 minutes waiting for the burrito, a different girl walked it over to us and handed it to me without saying a single word... even after I thanked her. I would like to say I won't be back but that's probably not true... but it appears to me the staff isn't too keen on tips for service. read more

Service good ambiance cute I don't like the food the flavor is off it's just not good there is much better Mexican food in the area we've tried there other restaurants same experience. read more

Oh my yum, this place is BOMB!!! My husband and I came here for dinner, and it was delicious. We loved that they have regular tortilla chips and flour tortilla chips, so fluffy! The cabbage salsa was delicious, perfect bit of spice, delicious flavor. My husband chose a combo with the crab taco and beef enchilada with green sauce. He loved both of them. I ordered the Chile verde, and it was amazing. The pork was super tender, and the sauce super flavorful. We both got margaritas, and they were very yummy. The service was terrific, we were checked in often enough but not too often. For dessert we ordered the churros with ice cream. I'm pretty sure there was half of a container of ice cream in the bowl, it was crazy. The churros were terrific! We had a wonderful experience and hope to come back again! read more

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My favorite restaurant in town! Service is GREAT food is GREAT! Street tacos and mango teas are my favorite!

I'd leave zero but I can't. They sat us in for 20 min and didn't take our order. Then they had the audacity to ask us us to move from our table to accommodate others and insisted that they were too busy to take our order! I really believe that they didn't want to serve us because we were brown. My fiancé, my mom, and I were extremely upset. We will never come back. Don't ever come to this racist place! read more

Tried this place out for the first time the other day and was pleasantly surprised. First off, the waitress was super sweet and attentive...seated us right away and brought our drinks and chips and salsa out immediately. The chips and salsa was bomb as well as the guacamole we ordered. We also asked for a side of hot salsa that was also delicious. Our food came out in a timely manner, presentation is everything and the cook definitely took their time making sure our dishes looked amazing. Everything was delicious. Afterwards we ordered the churro sundaes. The waitress told us they were huge so we decided to order two and split them between the four of us. OMG! It was amazing!!!! Quite possibly the best dessert I have everrrr tasted in a Mexican restaurant, I would return for that alone. I would definitely recommend this restaurant, great service and food! read more

El Jardin - Churro sundae... sooooo delicious! - Mexican Near Me - Columbia, California

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We have always loved coming here and it's been a while. Honestly the food was really good but the service takes away from the enjoyment of the food. You have to get up to ask for more napkins and salsa because nobody checks on you so so frustrating. Then the girl that brings the salsa doesn't look at you and pretty much keeps her back to you horrible service when you feel like an inconvenience ‍ too bad! Also when you put your empty salsa at the end of the table as a hint (because they run past you) and they actually look at it and keep going ‍ This experience is also based on more than one or two visits This place had great service under Zeke but things change sadly. read more

Bad customer experience, turn away locals at 7:02pm because you say your closed. You where serving a table food and two other tables didn't have there meals yet. Bad business, little eateries like yours in Columbia depends on locals to keep you alive in the slow times!!! read more

We came here hoping for a better experience than we had in Twain Harte. The food was good and service was alright, but the place is dirty. Pads on the seats are shredded, our table had something on top that made it look like it was peeling, and just not comfortable. A coat of paint, some cleaning, and washing windows could spiff the place up. My melamine plate was warped, so I had to hold it still from moving while I ate. We're done trying to find Mexican food in Tuolumne County. read more

This place is good. The only time I come here is when I make my way into Columbia with a group of friends from time to time. The service here has always been great whether we're eating outside or inside. Today we came here with a party of 8 but I only snapped a photos of some of their meals (below). I went with the chicken tacos, rice, and beans for $12.45. This is a bit higher than I'm used to paying for the same meal at places in town. Luckily the taste of the food is decently competitive enough with other places in town. It's one of the few places you can eat if you're in Columbia, so I'll justify the costs. My meal was good. They put oranges on everything here. On your plate, and for some reason the ice-t even comes with an orange peel (???). Had a decent visit this time around but everyone at the table who had the green sauce complained of it being way too salty. Just my luck that I could care less for the green sauce. My tacos that originally come with it were ordered without it, so hopefully I'm spared of a heart attack. No lie though, apparently it came off like they poured a whole can of morton salt into their green sauce. The handful of people at the table who had green sauce were pretty disappointed. It's crazy when I think about how a sauce can ruin a meal. When it's a mexican restaurant the sauce serves as a piece of the puzzle that determines whether or not the customer can properly assemble a solid opinion about a place. Their opinions were that the food was average if the green sauce wasn't incredibly salty. I've come here enough times during the past couple of years to give this place a 4 out of 5 without having tried the sauce. I have yet to have a bad experience with the food or staff here. Note I likely only eat here 3-4 times a year if I'm in town visiting. The closest El Jardin relative to my location is in Manteca, CA. It's not the kind of Mexican Restaurant Chain I'll drive 20 miles out to go out and eat in the next town over for, but it's more of a place that'll have good enough food and offer you a good enough experience while you're visiting the town. read more

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We keep trying to give this restaurant a chance but it seems like the cook doesn't care or isn't good at his job. We ordered a couple of chimichangas a few months ago and they were soft like burritos. They gave us 2 free "chimichangas" because we complained about the 1st ones. They still didn't get it right. They were still soft. As far as I know, a chimichanga is supposed to be fried. We complained a 2nd time and on the 3rd time, they finally got the order right but the manager said you have to order chimichangas "extra extra extra crispy". Today we ordered 2 burritos and they were dripping orange-hued grease. My girlfriend was grossed out by it and didn't want to eat it. She called El Jardin and talked to the cook explaining that the burritos were too greasy but the cook denied that they were greasy. He didn't offer to make it right or anything. Just hung up. read more

This El Jardin treats you like family. We used to go to the El J in Murphys, but we have decided we like the one in Columbia better. Generous portions cozy atmosphere and great Mexican food. Brave El J Columbia. read more

Decided to eat here while visiting Columbia and glad we did. Great food and beautiful outdoor seating. read more

El Jardin - Outdoor - Mexican Near Me - Columbia, California

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My friend Randy and I went and had lunch. Our Waitress was Avery. We couldn't be any happier with her service. Avery was such a sweet and attentive waitress. The only thing I can comment negatively about would be the complimentary chips tasted stale. The baskets were prefilled and sitting on the counter. Rest of food was so delicious. read more

Just went there because I thought it was a plant store. Disappointed it was a Mexican restaurant, my family wanted to try it. I should of said no but decided to give this place a try. The host and waitress were very polite and friendly. The food was gross. I ordered the carnitas, it comes with rice, beans and lettuce. The meat was warm on the top and in the center it was cold, it wasn't microwaved enough. The meat was covered in a red sauce, which I had never had carnitas like that before. The beans seemed like they came out of a can topped with some melted cheese. I couldn't eat anything, everything was salty. I would never recommend or return to this place. read more

This quaint restaurant was located on noisy and busy street. Big rigs with gravel, Cars I could smell the exhaust. read more

El Jardin - Celebrating my granddaughter's birthday - Mexican Near Me - Columbia, California

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My family and I went there for a birthday diner for my mother-in-law and the food was awesome as always and the server Avery was very very nice and very accommodating and fun. Thanks for a wonderful experience! read more

Stopped in for a family dinner party of 15. Then the rest of the tables filled up instantly. This review is to applaud the waitress Malory for doing an excellent job she had only one person helping her and she did a fantastic job. Definitely was on her game. As for the food I only give it 2-3 stars tops it's not that great. it's decent as far as Mexican food goes but it's nothing special. This is just my opinion I'll probably eat here on occasion since I live locally. read more

So disappointed tonight. Left a brand new server alone, 20 min to get drinks, 25, min to order, 30 for dinner, guac was disgusting, tasted like vinegar. Not her fault, too busy with to go orders. Dessert never came. We are regulars and will be going to Sonora from now on. Very bad on the part of management. read more

Food taste good. Good portions. Only 4 stars because of service. There wasn't many people there at all but they acted like they were packed. They didn't ask for a phone number or a name for our order and didnt tell us how long it would be. Other than that it's great. Cant hold a mistake against a whole restaurant read more

El Jardin - Mexican Near Me - Columbia, California

We pass through Colombia a couple of times per year, and we always stop at El Jardín for the best Mexican food in Tuolumne county. Today we came through and our experience was truly excellent. 5 star food and service. Our waitress Avery had personality plus and was proactive making sure we had everything we needed. THANK YOU Avery for making our experience one to remember. We often get good service, but you went above and beyond. You set the gold standard for service with a smile. read more

This place is really great!! Food is awesome service is outstanding. Thank you so much!! read more