We checked out El Jinetes newest location in Hixson. We were served warm chips with fresh salsa, delicious. I ordered two tacos, one beef and one chicken. It was so delicious. My partner had a chicken enchilada with a taco and loved it. The service was excellent. Fast and friendly. The interior was brand new and adorable. I would highly recommend this restaurant. read more

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I was there last weekend. Got seated and got chips and salsa and waters. Hadn't even ordered food yet when I looked over to the bar and saw the biggest roach I've ever seen crawling up the wall. Needless to say we got tf outta there! read more

Food was very good. Hostess needs to be more personalble. She is not very nice. Our waiter on the other hand was very nice. We come here often and always enjoy the food. read more

Great food, drinks, service . Best rice I've ever had anywhere!. Their Margaritas don't skimp on tequila. The salsa they bring tonthe table is wonderful! read more

Tried this place on the spur of the moment and glad we stopped in! The food was good and the staff were friendly and knowledgeable!! Service was great despite the restaurant being quite busy and prices were reasonable. Would definitely recommend. read more

Food was mediocre but that wasn't the problem. I asked about their sangria's and he told they were handmade and good. All 3 of us ordered them. They were not good and very watery. I think the must prefilled the glasses with ice and let them set or maybe they were warm from dish washer. Any way they would fix them or take them off the bill. Obviously we felt ripped off and will not be back. If you choose stick to something in bottle or can. read more

Nothing is wrong with this place, food is absolutely flawless, people there are very respectful, and the atmosphere for a Mexican restaurant is 10/10! Love the place, deserves more appreciation read more

Wasn't impressed. I guess it was the hostess, all she said was "2?" Then walked off with menus. She squeezed by the guy cleaning off the tables and left us stuck behind his garbage can. Put the menus on the table and walked off. Very cold feeling. Waitress was friendly until there was an apparent gathering of staff at the front counter. They couldn't be bothered. Food was average and kind of generic. Burrito was a tortilla wrapped with meat and sauce poured over. Not stuffed - just a taco rolled up. They need to work on their timing. Friend got her "burrito " and I received my rice and beans for my fajitas. Waited about 5 minutes for my fajitas to show up. Not impressed. Probably won't be back due to poor service. Waitress was too busy at the "meeting" to care about the tables. read more

I have driven by here many times but stopped in for the first time on a Sunday afternoon. After being seated I noted the music was usually loud but OK, I am old now so I get that its probably me. They brought out the chips and salsa and the chips were cold. I ordered a chimichanga and upon arrival it was fair. Not so bad that I sent it back but the chicken inside was dry and tough. My wife ordered a chicken dish and it was so bad she sent it back and didn't even want anything else. Maybe this was just a bad day but both of our dishes were not that good. read more

El Jinete - the interior of a restaurant - Mexican Near Me - Ooltewah, Tennessee

my wife and I went to El Jinete last night around 630 for dinner. we sat at a table in the bar, and were not greeted for 5 minutes or so. i would have understood if it was busy, but there were only 3 tables sat. we overheard the bartender say to the hostess that "she told her she didnt want to be sat." In addition to getting the wrong size beer, I had to go on a hunt to find another employee to refill our water glasses twice. it wasn't the most pleasant experience, but at least the food was good. read more

No queso on the beef nachos. The portion was decent but the lack of cheese ruined it. El Magueys is far superior.

My Aranadas Special was full of flavor and a decent portion. My wife had the Hawaiian Burrito and enjoyed it. We had chips, salsa, and guacamole for starters, and all of them were good. The four other diners in our group also liked their meals and service was good. We sat on their spacious patio and the décor was welcoming. read more

El Jinete - Arandas special was flavorful - Mexican Near Me - Ooltewah, Tennessee

Delicious food! Love everything. It's always so difficult to decide what to order. Staff is so friendly and speedy service.

Good food, good atmosphere, and convenient in ooltewah. Love that they have a choke device posted inside the door. Clean place to eat. However, they need to figure out crowd control. Waited forever for a table for two, given no option to sit outside. Then a larger group of eleven came in while we had been waiting and they figured out how to seat them. After we kept sitting there we just got up and went somewhere else. Sundays are the worse there. read more

Hostess was rude. I asked not to be seated next to the door. She seated me there anyway. waiter never checked if I needed anything after he served my food. the rice tasted like it came from a bag from the grocery store. Queso was watery. I don't recommend this place. Music was too loud and terrible choice. read more

Well.. I am reviewing again ... I hate to do this but if you are going to review restaurants you have to be honest. I take this very seriously because I am a home chef and I love cooking and food very much. We do not order in often because we can cook better but sometimes everyone needs a break. We wanted Mexican and this WAS our favorite but the feeling has changed. My husband got carne asada and the meat was grey and so over cooked it was like it had been boiled and not even put on a grill. It was elastic and you could not chew it. I got shrimp and veggies. The shrimp was very under cooked and my veggies were still hard and crunchy.. not steamed and had no flavor. It's sad when the best part of a 65.00 delivery meal was the bean dip and a nacho and cheese kids meal. We have gone on every Sunday for 3 months but we will not be back. We will definitely be doing Los Potros or Don Bento or our home kitchen for now. This was a complete waste of money.. read more

El Jinete - So disappointing... - Mexican Near Me - Ooltewah, Tennessee

I was part of a large group, about 25, at 11 am on March 31. The staff made us feel very unwelcome. They told us we were taking up space from their other customers. I am from Ft Myers. My best friend had gotten married the day before. I had traveled a long way for the event. I was looking forward to good Mexican food. This experience of the fact of most of the staff being rude about us needing seating, left a bad taste in our mouths. I do NOT recommend this place at all! I wish I had the name of our waitress with short blond hair. She never smiled and was never friendly during the whole meal! DONT GO HERE! read more

Since moving here, I was in need of authentic Jalisco Mexican food. The birria was amazing! So much flavor in their marinate. Definitely a must. Tired both the red and green salsas on the chicken tamales and both pair well, don't prefer one over the other. Ceviche!!!! Add the lime they provide and sprinkle of salt and it's a great meal or shareable. Highly recommend this place with what I tried, definitely will be back to try more. read more

First time visit had to try the fajitas steak. Very tasty the beans and rice where good. The salsa was home made and tasty the chips crunchy. The menu was really huge so much more to choose from than other places I have been. Full drink menu for those who choose those spirits. Some flair love the painting on the wall. Really classy place the waiters and waitresses all in white dress shirts with sporty red ties. Not a Military friendly location. read more

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I've been to a different el jinete and i loved it. When i got my food, the meat wasn't cooked all the way and my avocados were brown which taste and smelled sour. Not a big problem but the chips where stale and i asked for better ones bc i want my chips fr and they were even worse. read more

Food amazing. Service is great. Consistent food quality. Great local Mexican restaurant.

No what I call "Mexican" Food, they don't know how to a Chili Relleno, they call whatever they make a Pablano. The ground beef tastes awful and the salsa they serve at the tables be ready to doctor it up with some hot sauce and salt. The servers are good. I've had much better. read more

Probably one of the best restaurants you could go to, great service, organized tables outside, all around perfect, the food was awesome, I'm telling y'all right now y'all need to get their cheese quesadillas, all around a great restaurant read more

We're in town with some family and found this little place. We got sat for 5 right away. Took the server a few minutes to come get our drink order but we were in no rush. There menu is really big. Almost too much to look at and choose from. I got there Chiles Poblanos Reales. What that meant is they cook and sliced 2 small poblanos open and took steak, chicken, shrimp, grilled onions and tomatoes, topped with melted cheese and placed it on top of the poblanos. Was a really good dish. Enough food for 2 to share. We also got a cup of queso. Believe it was queso blanco. Good flavor and not spicy at all. I recommend this place whether you live here or are passing through. read more

Went in during lunchtime on a Thursday. Service was sub-par. Once seated, it took the waitress 10 minutes to get our drink orders. She did the bare minimum & had a very poor disposition acting put off by my one request for lime after our meals were brought out. I ordered the chicken tortilla soup & shrimp ceviche. The soup came in a large bowl which was great in terms of soup portion size. However, the soup itself was completely flavorless. It tasted like unseasoned chicken & veggies in watered down veggie broth. The soup did come with pico de gallo & avocado to garnish. The pico de gallo was not fresh & the avocado was mostly black. The shrimp ceviche was appetizing. However, I would suggest this dish be plated with lime as usual rather than a patron having to make the request after it's brought out. The salsa was cold, chunky & tasted heavily of ketchup. I also ordered a Michelada which was thick, brown in color, & not palatable. Ambience was pleasing. The layout, location & atmosphere of the restaurant itself has so much potential if they would get food and service where it should be. Overall, I left feeling so frustrated that I paid $60 for this experience. If you truly appreciate authentic or Tex Mex Mexican food, you will be highly disappointed. I will not be returning. read more

We ate The Horseman tonight. There was about a 30 mimute wait at 6:30 on a Friday night. The place inside was nice and the staff friendly. Small draft beer selection but at least they had Dos Equis Amber which we got two 60oz pitchers of. My shrimp chimichanga was pretty good but I've had better at a couple of places in town. My daughter got the chicken tortilla soup and it was a huge bowl with almosf a full avocado on the side and bowl of pico de gallo. She said it was excellent and took home about half of it. I'm getting that next time or the shrimp soup. My other daughter got a few things but the chicken tamale with verde sauce really stood out. She gave me a taste and it was very good. We will surely eat there again. It's at least my second favorite in Ooltewah. I still think I prefer The Bullfighter though. read more

El Jinete - Huge bowl of soup. I'd already eaten a bit before taking the picture. It comes with some great pico and a generous amount of avocado slices - Mexican Near Me - Ooltewah, Tennessee

No pets allowed outside. Only service animals. That's ridiculous. Never heard of a restaurant with that rule. read more

This is my favorite Mexican restaurant in Chattanooga. The salsa is always good and prices are reasonable

I only did curb side pick up.. The to go tacos were affortable and convinent. An order of 3 soft and 3 hard shelf tacos were for 4.49 per order. To be honest they were quite basic, the flavor and seasoning was bland. However, The temperature was right an the portions of meat were more than fair on every taco. In addition, the lettuce and cheese were fresh. The total was 13.99 and that was with a 3 dollar tip and a side of chips and salsa. The salsa was in my opinion ... just ok... bland. I'm very familiar with authentic mexican cuisine so I'm partial to a very savory and aromatic taste on my mexican food, so for those that like American style mexican dining this would be it. If u want tacos for less than 5 bucks I would definitely recomend them. read more

El Jinete - To go - Mexican Near Me - Ooltewah, Tennessee

Service was good on a Friday lunchtime. Got seated right away. Served chips and salsa quickly. However there is a different taste with their salsa. I can't quite put my finger on it, but I didn't care for it and neither did my son or husband. The cheese dip though was flavorful and good. I got the California burrito chicken and it was okay. Not much tomatoes or lettuce. My husband got the California burrito only steak and said he really liked the flavor. My son got a ground beef burrito and said it wasn't as flavorful as our regular Mexican place. Drinks were pricey, almost $8 for 3 soft drinks and we had to ask for refills on them and the chips. Overall okay but not anything special. I wouldn't go back because of the weird salsa. read more

El Jinete - Chicken California Burrito - Mexican Near Me - Ooltewah, Tennessee

Service was great. Food was sub par. Salsa tased like tomato sauce from a can. Food was very bland and felt cheaply throw together. I know they could step it up. read more

We have come here before and had Wonderful service. But we usually come before the dinner rush. This last time had a lot to be desired. We were seated on the patio and between the time we were seated to the check was 1.5 hours. When we gave our waiter the info to pay for the meal he FORGOT to bring the change back and we were waiting for 30 minutes after giving it to him before my husband asked for someone to ask what was going on. Not impressed. read more

I had high expectations for this place, my sister comes to this restaurant every year when visiting relatives and they love it. Well... I don't know if I am too picky, or they are too lenient. I consider myself a taco connoisseur, So I ordered my usual suspects. Pastor, Chorizo, barbacoa. I actually got a combo platter and this is the first time I am not served a side, like rice, or chips, weird, not a deal breaker though. I also got an enchilada. I think our waitress was new, she didn't seem knowledgeable and was even a bit confused at times. I asked to my tacos in corn tortillas and I got shell... yes like taco bell. And they had no toppings!!!!I I sent then back, and I got them back in flour tortillas instead. I gave up at that point and just eat my tacos. They were not good. I don't know if all this happen because our waitress did not write our order properly or what but I am sure that I am not coming back to find out. Subpar food and service. read more

This is our go-to MX food spot. Service and food always attentive and good. They'll make anything right if you're not happy.

well the chips were stale, chicken dry. wife got guacamole and the avocado was brown and tasted sour. as well as the shrimp was under cooked. not only but the server wasn't mexican. will never be back read more

Easily one of the worst meals my family has ever had. There is no way this place can be proud of the food they serve. Our table was dirty when they sat us, never a good sign, but hey things happen. However it was very busy so there's obviously a market for this under seasoned slop. Even the cheese dip (more like cheese water) was bad. How can you mess up cheese dip? We didn't finish our meal, just paid, left a good tip and crossed that one off of places we'll never go again. My family asked me to go through Taco Bell on the way home. Taco Bell is sadly better than this place. Live & Learn. read more

This place was awesome, the service was fast and friendly even tho there was a communication difference. It's big and flavorful and they are not cheap with the stuffings! read more

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Great Cinco de Mayo night here. They were packed, accommodated a table for 12 and Brianna our server was amazing! She makes me want to go back. Food was outstanding and frozen margs perfect. read more

service was terrible. not to mention the food was terrible. it took 30 minutes for the worst chimichanga of my life. it also completely copied el metates menu. DO NOT GO HERE read more

Always friendly and fast service even when it's busy on Friday night. I always get the chicken, steak and shrimp fajitas with corn tortillas. The meat and veggies are always well seasoned and the corn tortillas are authentic! read more