On the Border is the latest restaurant to pop up along Jonesboro’s Red Wolf Boulevard. Since opening last month, the location has been swamped with people waiting to try out it’s version of Tex-Mex fare, including my family and friends. I have now visited this location on two separate occasions and regrettably, was not pleased either time.

The restaurant has a seater waiting on you, and you are promptly shown to a table. The kitchen is open so you can see what is going on, which was really appealing to me. The chips and salsa are brought to your table as soon as you are sat down and both have very good flavor. The first time my family and I went I ordered a cheese dip for an appetizer that arrived very promptly and was warm and delicious. My main meal was the chicken fajitas that were scorched to the bottom of the fajita skillet. They came with sour cream, guacamole, cheese, and pico. My chicken was so burnt that I couldn’t eat it, so I just ate the cheese dip and that was very good. My parents both ordered chicken chimichangas that they said were delicious. Our server was very nice, helpful, and had a good understanding of what was available to us on the menu.

The second time I went was with my friend’s family. We ordered two cheese dips that arrived to our table twenty minutes later and were both cold and chunky. Our drinks that had been ordered at the same time as our appetizers, arrived after the dips. For our main meal, my friend and I ordered an appetizer sampler that we shared. It came with mini chicken chimichangas, chicken enchiladas, beef nachos, and some rice and beans. The chicken chimichangas were also burned like my meal from my previous visit. My chicken enchiladas were so over seasoned that we could not eat them, but the nachos were delicious. My friend’s mom and dad both ordered shrimp Border Bowls, that were very dry according to them. They consisted of black beans, white rice, and shrimp along with vegetables. Our waitress for the second trip was very nice but didn’t come check on us very often and didn’t get our food and drinks back very soon. She was friendly, but not on top of things.

The restaurant has good and bad things about it and can probably work out the kinks as they get on their feet more. The food has a good start if it wouldn’t have been burnt and the service needs to be more friendly and aware of their table’s needs. I like the fact that the kitchen was open for everyone to see inside and that we were seated and served chips and salsa right away. I would definitely give it another try, but so far it’s not one of my favorites.