I was stuck on a job and had to finish my project with night shift so I killed some time at Sportsman warehouse. All the shopping made me hungry. This place was right next door. I had Steak a la Mexicana. The food was perfectly juicy not dried up. The jalapeños were spicy and fresh. My drink never went dry. Chips were a little hard for my liking, but still edible. I would recommend this place to my friends. read more

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Every location I can order the dish and it will come out different. One time chicken is a whole breast then it would be chopped up and another it will be in strips. Quantity is also different. I order to go from piney grove location the most and the food is always cold. I only live 2.3 miles and will order before walking out the door. The restaurant is old and booths are lumpy. The parking lots is full of deep holes. Just not worth going to anymore. Too many good Mexican restaurants in area. read more

We tried this place because it seemed convenient when leaving Costco in Columbia. What a great surprise! We got the steak fajitas. They were very tasty with plenty veggies and steak. The chips were crispy and hot and the salsa was fresh with just the right amount of heat. The beer was cold. The service was great. read more

It wasn't great. The food was alright, but the service wasn't great and they messed up my order after I tried to explain in detail what I wanted. Most of the servers were on their phones, and I had to get up out of my seat and ask them for refills and more chips. Like I said, the food was alright, but nothing special, and a little more expensive than other Mexican restaurants in the area. I wouldn't be averse to going back in the future, but I'll probably stick to other Mexican restaurants first. read more

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Ordered takeout and got i don't know what but it isn't arroz con pollo. I did ask for beans instead of rice, since I don't care for rice in particular but the chicken was shredded and cooked in a tomato based sauce and it had no queso on it. I could only eat the beans since the chicken was watery and chewy. So disgusting. I know complaining to the restaurant won't matter since all the reviews on here and Yelp say they take no responsibility and honestly dgaf, but either way, wanted to give my honest review. The other San Joses in town are amazing. I just ordered here since it was right off the highway on the way home from working out of town. read more

San Jose Mexican Restaurant - a pan of food - Mexican Near Me - Columbia, South Carolina

Always good food and reasonable prices, especially at lunch. Our favorite Mexican restaurant.

Food was delicious and authentic! The workers were very polite & the ambiance was perfect! The drinks are great!! Everything was so tasty!

This is absolutely my favorite Mexican restaurant, the food is delicious and the service is very quick. My go-to place :)

Ah-Mazing!! A++ all around. The service was super fast, we had our piña coladas and salsa within 5 minutes of walking through the door. We ordered and had queso within 3 minutes after that. And the food came out super hot and not too long after our chips and dip. we will definitely be back! read more

San Jose Mexican Restaurant - a man eating a meal - Mexican Near Me - Columbia, South Carolina

I eat here about once a week, it's always fast and the food is great. Everyone is nice and it's pretty spacious too!

Been here before multiple times and enjoyed the food, but this was my first bad experience. I ordered takeout and me and my family had to pick chicken bones out of our mouth, and found our burritos naked with only chicken and/or beans. As well as a "taco salad" soup. Wont be coming back. read more

Bug is food!!! Absolutely distrusting and bad business to say I put it in there!! My boy friend and I go there all the time and they had the nerve to say they've never seen us! read more

San Jose Mexican Restaurant - DO NOT EAT HERE!!!! They argued that I put a live bug in my food after already being there 30min or so. - Mexican Near Me - Columbia, South Carolina

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We were looking for something quick and close to the interstate. Which often means, I don't get an opportunity to check Yelp before my husband pulls in wherever and parks. When we pulled in here and there were only a few cars in the lot, I "had" to check Yelp. An average of three stars. Ok, that's workable, especially since no one posted any pictures to go along with those negative reviews. Honestly, I usually wouldn't rate a restaurant with holes in the seats as a fiver, but I don't think three fits the food and that was all I cared about as I was passing through the area. The menu is quite extensive and the items were priced slightly more than average. The lunch menu is only available until 2:30 and we got there at 2:45. Bummer. Another thing about the menu is that it doesn't indicate which items come with beans and rice and which ones don't. For example, the fish tacos didn't include beans and rice, but the Cheese Steak Burritos did. Neither mentioned it. So, if you're in the mood for beans and rice, you'll have to ask which meals include those. I chose the Cheese Steak Burritos. They were stuffed with steak and mushrooms. Not the normal fatty like steak strips. These were tasty and cooked to perfection. The mushrooms seemed to be fresh, not canned. They were both covered in a nice amount of cheese sauce and everything was piping hot. I opted out of rice and got double beans. They weren't the usual canned refried beans that you normally find at Mexican restaurants. I think these were prepared from scratch. My husband got chicken tacos of some kind and they were stuffed full. Literally, each taco had at least twice the chicken that you usually find. The service was ok. I never had to ask for a refill. Another mention, the chips, and salsa were great. The salsa wasn't too spicy and the corn chips were warm. read more

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This is absolutely the worst Mexican food I have ever eaten. I ordered an enchilada with beans cheese and onions. It cost $6.10. It was smaller than the size of a hand and flatter than a pancake. I also ordered a bean taco salad with cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, and onions. The salad was not eatable at all. I ended up throwing it out. It was a bowl full of lettuce, one slice of tomato, and little to no beans. This cost $9.90. I called the restaurant back to let them know how dissatisfied we were with this meal. They said that there was nothing they could do and offered no refund or no compensation for this terrible food. Hopefully, you read this review before considering eating from this house of nasty food. Don't waste your money or time. read more

The San Jose restaurant on Broad river rd in Ballentine has high quality food, service, and atmosphere, as well as reasonable prices. The building and its surroundings look charming and inviting, with plenty of parking and accessibility. I'm so grateful to finally find a wonderful Mexican restaurant in the cola area after wasting my time and money for years!! read more

eh, it was alright I guess. The food was decent - typical of Mexican restaurants in the area, but it was a little dingy inside, and the service was subpar in my opinion. I ordered the fajitas and they brought out nachos (before the meal arrived) instead of the typical rice and beans. When I asked about it afterward when my food came out, surprised that I didn't have any sides with my fajitas, I was told that fajitas come with a choice of either rice and beans or the nachos. I didn't want to make a stink that no one had asked which I wanted, so I just expressed my disappointment at not having rice and beans, and that I didn't eat the nachos since I'm allergic to corn. Rather than jumping to correct it, they offered to sell me a side of rice for $2.50. hmmm. It wasn't about the money - I was just surprised that there was so little effort made to please the customer. With so many great Mexican restaurants around, I will go somewhere else next time. read more

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It's a Mexican restaurant. I thought it was really good. The food wasn't greasy like some. The staff was friendly. The cheese dip was very good. It was clean read more

Authentic (or at least I think it is) Mexican food that's served quickly. Your plate will be filled to capacity with food. Their guacamole is fantastic, not like these other fast food type restaurants. Queso definitely goes on everything here too. They also have vegetarian options for those trying to stay away from meat. This was my only my second time here and I'm glad I can keep them on my list of places to eat. Service was also good. read more

This San Jose has always been low stars from me for cleanliness, but today (Jan 14, 2023) my brother had a RAT crawl behind him in the booth - servers and management did nothing about it, were unapologetic and still had him pay full price for the meal. My mom called to complain (6-7pm ish) and asked "is this how you do business" and the employee said "I guess" ... RATS are one thing (I guess) but the least you could do is say sorry about it -- save yourself the trouble and go the extra 10 min to the Ballentine location. read more

Can you say WORSE meal ever! There was no taste to anything. How can spicy Mexican food be so bland. Ordered cheese dip and salsa for the chips. Both were so runny. They must water them down. When San Jose was on Garner's Ferry Rd. I could not wait to go back. When we found ourselves on this side of town we just had to stop for dinner. Wish I would have just gotten a burger at the Hardee's in the parking lot. Drive on by and don't be disappointed like we were. read more

Very disappointed! Portion size for the beef queso is very small Asked the waitress to bring it in the to go container and she brought it out in a small bowl. Even spoke to the mgr and he stated it was the same size as the to go. It wasnt! Was in the restaurant business for 20+years. Bad customer service! Waitress was rude and not attentive! Got a refill at the end of my meal. Asked for a bag for food and chips. Had to take it to the register to to get my to go cup, never got my bag for chips or food. Left without both! Last but certainly the most important, employees including the mgr are wearing their mask either pulled all the way down or barely covering their mouth. Doesnt even rate a one star in my book! read more

Nothing great about this one, also nothing bad about it. I've heard some complain about the cleanliness, but it seems okay to me. This one is located near where my wife works, so we hit it up from time to time. If you've had San Jose than you know it's pretty much standard Tex-Mex fare. Prices are great, it's an old Quincy's so don't expect the Taj Mahal or anything. Free chips an Salsa which is always nice. read more

Don't waste your time if you're looking for good service. These clowns there hang around the register and BS and laugh like idiots. Can't or won't speak English. No management available. I've had better service at Taco Bell, at lease they understand and speak English. read more

We ate here yesterday outside on the patio. If you haven't been here before the food is good, service fast, chips are homemade.... I would say it's an all around good Mexican restaurant. Highly recommend. read more

They serve nice fresh baked baskets of tortillas accompanied by mild salsa. If you're vegetarian, the "D" is pretty tasty. It comes w/one burrito, once cheese enchilada and one chalupa. It's filling but not overly heavy where you have to unbottun your jeans, which in my book for a Mexican Restaurant, is a positive! The thing I liked most was their chardonnay. It was almost as sweet as a reisling but just slightly less so it didn't feel like a dessert wine, which is just what I wanted. The dessert was good, not great. The portion size was huge so we ordered one fried ice cream and shared it among 7 people, and that was still a lot! Service was good in certain areas and not so good in others. If you like overly attentive staff then you won't mind this. I just felt like our waitress, despite how sweet she was, was too eager and attentive and consequently interrupted the flow of conversation a bunch of times. She did however get everything right and split our checks at the end of the night w/o our asking, which was super helpful. read more

Enjoy coming here for lunch, staff is courteous, I am able to get in and out and the foods reasonably priced.

San Jose Restaurante Mexicano will have to pay 11 employees $170,666 after investigatorss discovered that servers and kitchen staff were paid less than federally mandated minimum wages and were not adequately compensated for overtime work, according to a labor department Read more here: http://www.thestate.com/2012/06/12/2312884/mexican-restaurant-has-to-pay.html#.UJ9Jx73nbFo#storylink=cpy read more

My husband and I decided to take our daughters to eat here tonight. We are new to the area so we've been trying several different restaurants. My daughters ordered the steak/shrimp fajitas. The shrimp was a nice size and tasted awesome. As did the steak. It was served with lettuce,sour cream and guacamole. Beans on top of chips covered with white queso. We were expecting rice. But I guess it's not part of the meal. But that's ok. The food was still delicious. We ordered the steak fajitas. Which we shared and enjoyed very much. The salsa and chips were so good. The waiter checked in us several times. No complaints about anything. Give the place a chance. Some dishes are a little pricey. But the food is really good. read more

My husband and I had a terrific meal at San Jose Mexican Restaurant. The staff is extremely efficient for a busy lunch crowd nd the food was excellent. I had the lunch special fajitas and they were very flavorful. My husband ordered the small nachos as an appetizer and a burrito from the lunch specials. He was so full from the nachos that he had to tak the burrito home. We also shared a jumbo margarita which was jumbo and strong which my husband liked a lot. Will definitely go back when we are back in the area again. read more

They are very clean, fast service, good prices (because the servings are huge), and very polite. My daughter loves coming here. Our food is always great and we always get the same waiter. Pablano pepper and the pork is the best. read more

I had Jocelyn as a waitress. She was very helpful as she remained astute throughout my entire dinner. I ordered shrimp tacos and the experienced remained piquant. I will probably be back considering we shared proclivities. read more

My favorite Tex-Mex dish is the chili relleno. Boy was I shocked and disappointed when my food came without the chili pepper!!! What the heck??!! read more

Worst Mexican food I've ever had. Took 45 minutes to bring out some trash food. Then they got upset when we didn't tip after they already took 18 percent out. read more

Look for a better place....this was a disappointment. I had a beef taco and they came out wet and flavorless. My daughter had the chicken fingers and fries... It was so unappealing I would hesitate to serve this to my dog. Service was excellent. read more

Food is sooooo Good. Ordered Sweet tea and fajita chicken enchiladas. made my birthday!!!

I had to squeeze real hard to get eek out a four star rating here- if it weren't for the excellent prices and killer margarita- three stars would have been it- because the food is only mediocre. I had the carnitas- aside from an over abundance of salt- they were under spiced and full of gristle. Try cooking them with some onions- would go a long way on taste. The beans and rice were standard fare- nothing special- exact same bland sides as all small town Mexican restaurants. The atmosphere was dull - the staff- need to check a pulse- got the job done but wake up- maybe smile and check in the customer once or twice after food gets delivered. Just glad I'm not a needy client when I eat. The salsa is week- bland and runny. The chips have a store bought bagged quality. But the $5 margarita hit the spot- large and made my head swim a little. The prices were fantastic- carnita meal of just the right portion size for under $12- can't beat that. If looking for a three star meal at a great price then I recommend- but if wanting something more than a great margarita with eeeh food then I can't recommend. read more

San Jose Mexican Restaurant - Mexican Near Me - Columbia, South Carolina

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Booths dirty and broken. Lettuce looked a little old. Expected rice and beans with fajitas but more chips with queso on top of the chips we got when we sat down. Fajitas were good along with the tortillas. A bit pricey for what was on the menu read more

We were traveling from out of town. To be honest we were a little apprehensive when we first pulled up. But once inside decided to stay and so glad we did. Service was wonderful. Food was fantastic. We all had different dishes and we were all happy with our selections. Very glad we went and would highly recommend. read more

A bit overpriced... food is delicious and service is good, but the prices have gone up.. disappointing

sucked. 'Nuff said. Worst service on cinco de mayo. No specials, no promotions....terrible service.