Normally we have a great meal at the Columbia location. This time we sat for 20 minutes before our server showed up to order drinks. Drinks came quickly, ordered food......waited 30 minutes for our food. (Server did come by to tell us our food was coming) food was cold when it arrived. The kitchen staff were definitely dropping the ball here. Loved our server, Isabella......5 stars to her!
Missing meal. Appetizer short on quantity. Speedy credit card charge, no speedy card adjustment yet.
So we stopped for lunch. The service and the actual food was ok. Not great but ok. However, the restaurant it self was nasty. The tables where not wiped so the food from the previous customer was dried on the table. We wiped the table with some napkins and water that we order. We dinned on a booth next to a window. The window sill had a bed of dust along with some dead bugs. The wall next to the booth was splatter with tomato juice from what it seamed like the chips sauce. Between the booth seat and the wall there was a bid stack stack of trash. The fans above our heads had a coating of white dust on all the boards. I took pictures of the food which again, was not bad. But the food wasn’t that great or even that good for us to ever go back.
I love "On the Border" but as a restaurant and On the Border goes this Columbia, MD one is less than a 1 star place. Always a wait because they can't keep staff. I have seen mice here and they leave piles of trash in the restaurant area that is closed. I have always ordered the same thing cheese enchiladas no onions double beans. I went this time to this location and didn't eat after twice they couldn't seem to understand the simple request that I have made every time I visit an on the border. Don't visit this location if you like on the border.
I call for curbside as the signs are still up as I normally do. Great, if they hadn’t been up and somewhere it was relayed that I needed to come inside then ok that is fine. However, I finally get someone to answer and in a sarcastic and an annoyed tone she tells me “oh yea you need to come in” “like can you just come in.” I proceed inside to grab my food. Two staff members are eating food while the phone is a few feet away. Again I would have had no issue grabbing my food if there was somewhere stating this. I ask to remove the tip because the person who answered was unprofessional, why would I tip this individual. I ask them to remove and they proceed to tell me a manager is needed. I said I’d wait and a couple seconds later a miserable woman comes to the the pick up area. She ask me why and I said I just want to remove the tip. I was trying to avoid further interaction as I’ve made my mind up I will not return. Give me my money and I’ll keep it moving. She starts to do it and then has the nerve to say oh it was only 4 dollars. Got it! People like her do not get far in life. I just wanted to keep it moving. The entire interaction was just poor! This is why I decided to write this, as I am getting in the car the miserable looking manager and her staff are huddled around the pick up station laughing and looking back. If you want to salvage what business you can do yourself a favor and get rid of that manager because she does not represent your brand well!
I call for curbside as the signs are still up as I normally do. Great, if they hadn’t been up and somewhere it was relayed that I needed to come inside then ok that is fine. However, I finally get someone to answer and in a sarcastic and an annoyed tone she tells me “oh yea you need to come in” “like can you just come in.” I proceed inside to grab my food. Two staff members are eating food while the phone is a few feet away. The server stuffing his mouth walks up and ask if I need something while chewing his food. If I’m standing at to go then yes clearly I need something. I ask to remove the tip because the person who answered was unprofessional, why would I tip this individual. I ask them to remove and they proceed to tell me a manager is needed. I said I’d wait and a couple seconds later a miserable woman comes to the the pick up area. She ask me why and I said I just want to remove the tip. I was trying to avoid further interaction as I’ve made my mind up I will not return. Give me my money and I’ll keep it moving. She begins to tell me they stopped doing curbside and I point out the signs are there, again I would have had no issue grabbing my food if there was somewhere stating this had changed. She starts to do it and then has the nerve to say oh it was only 4 dollars. Got it! People like her do not get far in life. I just wanted to keep it moving. The entire interaction was just poor! This is why I decided to write this, as I am getting in the car the miserable looking manager and her staff are huddled around the pick up station laughing and looking back. If you want to salvage what business you can do yourself a favor and get rid of that manager because she does not represent your brand well!
Awesome service and ambiance:)
Dined here with two other friends for dinner at 6:30 p.m. Figured it would be busy and was not surprised to have a 20-minute wait when we arrived to be seated, although it wasn't a full house of guests. However once seated, we waited an additional 15 minutes and still had not seen anyone come to our table. Went back to the hostess to ask if a server had been assigned to our table and was told by her that she had only just told them that we were seated at the table. When server arrived, we placed our entire orders, and then waited an additional 10 minutes for our two sodas and water to come to the table. Server told us she was new and had only been there about 1 month and sorry. From this point on, our server was nowhere to be seen except at other tables. While needing our drinks to be refilled, our focus changed from enjoying each other's company to what is going on here with the service. Meals were brought out by someone else running food from the kitchen, and we still did not have refills for our drinks or any silverware. The food runner eventually brought us silverware, but still no drinks despite having shared with him that we were waiting for them and food was lukewarm by the time we could eat it. After another 10 minutes, we took our own cups up by where staff was coming in and out of the kitchen area and asked for our drinks to please be refilled. Talked directly with our server who said she knew we needed them, and then she promptly turned her back to me and started taking an order from another table. Hostess ended up getting us the refills. The server, despite knowing we had issues at our table, still did not arrive to check in with us during the course of our meal. Only when we had finished our meals and been sitting and waiting for anyone to come back to our table, did our server make another appearance. This time she quickly brought us our checks and miraculously returned to collect money within 2 minutes of having given them to us. Everything about our experience was appalling. 2 of us have been servers before and just couldn't believe the lack of table service, the lack of attention, the lack of smiles or friendliness. Just excuses about why it should be okay that everything was so poor on every level.A few things to note:-The flavor of our food was good, despite not being hot by the time we had silverware to eat it. I feel bad for the kitchen staff that their front end is not pulling it together.-Our server did not convey to the kitchen we had a corn allergy at the table, and one of our dishes had to be returned because there was corn mixed in with the rice that she received.-The silverware appeared to have been washed, but they were wet with water spots and a piece of paper stuck to one of them.- The bathroom was neglected and dirty.
Our waitress was just not present for almost the entirety of our visit. After we received our food, we noticed we were missing things, after 20 min still no waitress. Noticed the manager intervening at another one of her tables for an unrelated issue, I took the opportunity to request our missing food from him directly. I won't name the waitress out of respect.And how was the food? Not good when you have to eat it cold.My wife and I ate quickly and stopped at Taco Bell on the way home. Spoiler alert; Taco Bell was better.
I purchased a gift certificate from On the Border and received a $10 bonus gift certificate. I first tried to use the bonus certificate and was told that my minimum purchase did not meet the threshold. I attempted to use it two weeks later and was told that it had expired.My wife preferred another Mexican restaurant anyway so this made our weekend decision much easier. This company can keep the $10 because I won't be back.