Little Plastic Spoons: Ejecutar en la frontera

(Or: Run from the border)

Location:

On The Border

4175 Morse Crossing Columbus, OH 43219

(614) 471-4416 ‎

I have to warn you, in case you didn't already know, that I'm basically a Mexican food snob. That being said, we decided to go to On the Border because we were starving and it was literally right in front of our eyeballs.

What a mistake. The service was mediocre at best. Our waiter had an earpiece in, which he clearly spent more time listening to than to us, and I personally could not understand a word he said due to mumbling and volume of voice. My best friend could make most of it out, but I'm not sure how. The floors were sticky - and I don't mean Texas Roadhouse/peanuts all over the floor/sticky - I mean when I set my feet down and stood in one spot for more than 10 seconds, I had to exert effort to remove my shoe from the floor. The entire restaurant, even the bathroom, was like this. It was so bad that I checked the bottoms of my shoes to see if I had stepped in gum - I had not.

My food was terrible. Our waiter brought two bowls of the same salsa, and one basket of chips. We waited so long between ordering drinks & food that he had to bring us more chips. They were fine, nothing special. The salsa was watery and had no zip - even my 21 month old son would not eat it and he'll eat pretty much anything. He loves spicy food like mama, so it probably tasted bland to him too! I ordered barbacoa enchiladas, which is: "Three enchiladas filled with Shredded Beef and aged cheddar cheese, topped with red chile enchilada sauce and melted cheddar cheese." When my plate arrived, you could tell immediately that it had been sitting under a heat lamp. The random blue chip shoved into my beans was rubbery; The sauce wasn't shiny like fresh sauce, it was matte like old crusty sauce. The cheese was dull and starting to separate, the tortillas were dry and cracking, and the meat filling was just ordinary. When I tasted the red enchilada sauce, I almost spit it out. Instead of being a tangy delicious sauce, it was almost exactly like mole. Thick, sweet, and seriously had the hints of cocoa that mole has. Total (bad) surprise to my mouth. My refried beans were run of the mill, and my Mexican rice tasted like someone's leftover Rice-A-Roni... from last year. I got a side of black beans for my son, which he ate all of, and they were fine. You can't really mess up black beans... as far as I know... I'm sure it's been done.

My best friend got the Queso Chicken, "Tender grilled Chicken Breast topped with creamy chile con queso sauce and fresh sliced avocado. Served with sauteed vegetables and cilantro lime rice." She liked it okay, but it wasn't exactly what she'd expected. The chile con queso sauce was more like Rotel + Velveeta, and didn't really have a flavor to it. The chicken was grilled, and she said it was not spicy, but very flavorful. Yay! A good thing! Also her rice was nice and fluffy and tasty, and the sauteed vegetables (squash & zucchini) were done perfectly. Apparently I should have ordered off the "fresh" menu! Guess that's the only food that's made fresh!

Overall, this was a very disappointing experience. I guess if I had never eaten at a real Mexican restaurant, I might think places like this are good? I don't know. It was just sad. I will most likely never go back, and that feels fine to me because I'd rather support the mama y papa restaurantes down the street.