They brung us out water when we arrived my mother in law sipped her cup and had a hair in her mouth that clearly belonged to someone on the restaurant staff. Our waitress was standing there when it happened and just giggled and didn’t address it at all. Then I ordered a piña colada. My waitress brung it out in a very visibly dirty glass. It was crusty hard pink gunk on the inside showing through the clear glass?. When I showed her she said she didn’t know what it was either. Service was mediocre at best after the sanitary issues I sent stuff back I had a feeling she would just pour the drink into another glass instead of remaking it so I said it was ok I didn’t want another…. After some time she brung the check and didn’t remove the drink. I went ahead and just paid and left. I DO NOT RECOMMEND. THIS PLACE IS DIRTY!! First time in the area and definitely my last time at this place ? I wish zero stars was an option.
Over the years, we have eaten here several times. Lately, it hasn't been good. Today, at 2:20 on Sunday, it took a while to get seated; when we did sit down, we thought after a while that they had forgotten about us. After finally getting our drinks ordered, we wait again, then they are out of the ice tea I had ordered, so just water was fine, and that was another long wait. My wife had ordered a soda, and the bottle was brought without glass or straw. After asking for a glass of ice for the drink, 3 more waitress passes before reminding her. Then our order was taken. Our food was brought to the table by another server, my order was wrong but at that point I didn't say anything about it, and we asked for silverware, and watched our food in front of us for over 5 minutes, until I walked to a pile of prepped napkins and silverware and grabbed some. After that, my $17 lunch enchiladas were lukewarm, and the service had been so bad. I took my food to go, as who wants top dollar for cold food? What a mess. It may be a while before trying again, and they were only moderately busy. The owner is nice, and hopefully will shake things up there as it used to be a favorite. This is a painful review, as I so want to write a good one for this place.
My son loves this place and comes here often. So when passing through Bellingham we had to try it. The outside was a bit weird. The parking lot looked like a garage as there were two cars under repair right in front of the door. However, when we went inside things improved. The service was excellent - fast, friendly and knowledgeable. The food was really good and we should have ordered meals to share rather than individual, as the meal sizes are very generous. My son ordered a drink special that if he had been driving would have put us on the wrong side of the law. It was huge and potent but very tasty. Prices are a little high. The outside patio was open for the hardy souls, but when a bit warmer would be a great spot to sit and watch the harbour and the trains.
Pros:Decent ingredientsGreat serviceGreat atmosphereCons:Got my order wrong, ordered beef got chickenThe taco shell was soggy when I got it, had to eat it with a forkThey add a 3% kitchen service charge. (Evidence in receipt picture)
On a previous trip to Bellingham I had pulled into the parking lot here & looked up the reviews which were quite spotty. I moved on to the Soy House but kept it in mind. My last trip I had decided to eat in downtown Bellingham. It had just started to rain & THERE IS NO STREET PARKING in Bellingham...it's a real bummer. Remembering that Jalapeños had it's own lot I ended up there. My criteria for eating at a new Mexican restaurant is always the same. Judge the salsa...is it chunky, zesty & have cilantro & homemade? Off to a good start! I always have chicken Quesadillas to compare to other places. Very good...& loved that they were filled throughout. I usually end up with a bunch of tortilla pieces left on my plate that had no filling. And they have a great Chica (small) margarita. Looks like they have a nice deck for summer...will be back!
We had such high hopes for this place after getting recommendations from friends. Had a horrible experience here in the late summer. This was our 1st visit to a Jalapeno's location in Bellingham. We saw online that the patio was "dog friendly", which wasn't true, dogs were not allowed on the patio, but rather in the parking lot in a non covered area on picnic tables... I don't know if it was just horrible sparse service in this area or if it was the restaurant overall, but we were given a basket of chips, 1 salsa, 2 waters, and then left unattended for 30+ min. I finally went inside and asked if we could place an order, get refills, and more chips and salsa. They assured me someone would be out soon. On the brink of leaving, after 10 additional minutes, someone finally came and took our order. We were never checked on again after the food was delivered. Again, I had to go inside just to ask to pay the check and waited an unreasonable amount of time for it. You would think there would be some sense of urgency to collect payment... Super disappointed!I don't normally leave all negative comments. So in the spirit of positivity, the salsa was good and at least they are trying to be dog friendly.
Huge portions, big and strong margaritas, delicious chips and salsa. What more could one want from a local Mexican cantina?
We chose dinner here for the sunset.Best service ever! Every single staff gave us excellent speedy cheerful attention. In this era of Lean staffing it was unexpected. I hope Management treats them well!!- they deserve it
To start I will cover the chips and salsa. Chips were just normal chips but the salsa was on point. My wife got the ribeye tacos. They were good but the meat lacked seasoning so the corn tortillas over powered the meat. I had the beef Chipotle enchiladas. They were also really good and the plate was packed. We couldn't finish our plates. We will be going back.
Disappointed in their food