El Jinete

Love El Jinete. Food is great and so are prices!. And the staff is always very nice, friendly, and pleasant. We drive from Suwannee whenever we are in the mood for Mexican food!

The restaurant is clean and the staff are friendly and helpful. We found gristle in the chimichanga (so much that one of them was unedible), other than that it was refreshingly good food.

We love this place. Of course I have to say we do order the same thing every time. Cheese enchilada with Cheese sauce and beef tacos and fajitas.

I’ve only placed meals to go here, but every time I come, I’m greeted by a pleasant waiter. The food is decent Mexican food. Nothing too amazing but not disappointing neither. It’s never too too packed, which is good for hungry nights. The parking situation is better than Fernando’s. Honestly, that’s why I’ll drive here. It’s standard Mexican, though.

The service was very bad! Food to expensive… not clean. Never again!!! Don’t waste your money or time

My Qualifications: I am Mexican. I know what good Mexican food should taste like. I also lived in Texas for many years so I know what good Tex-​mex food taste like.
Review: food is overly salty, some chicken items had a «metallic» taste. Guacamole was terrible, not fresh. To add insult to injury, it was expensive.
Save your money and find a better place.

The service was subpar. The server didn’t know the menu. We thought maybe the issue was a language barrier, but later noticed a gentleman at the next table calling our waiter over. They argued about a missing item from his dish, and he spoke Spanish.
My tostada had only meat lettuce and tomato (no beans or cheese). My burrito had only meat (no beans or cheese). He tried to tell me that this how the dishes should be. The enchiladas were tasty (only reason this review is not 1 star). They serve black beans instead of refried beans. My husband’s order was wrong. We had to call our waiter for everything we needed and then ask more than once when he forgot. And they charge for everything (even jalapenos, & lettuce/​tomato). We will not return again.

Best Mexican in Dacula. I get the chicken fajita every time I go and enjoy it every single time I go.
Service is a little too relaxed for me but nothing to really gripe over.

3 only because they switched waiters in the middle of service which made it terribly slow. Food decent but typical. Nothing extra special.

Love the food and service. Great meal always!
To bad Waffle House was built in front of it. But great place to place to go or sit down and eat. Friendly staff.

Has gone downhill. Went a couple of weeks ago after a long break from the restaurant. Had to beg for everything we got. Waiter was new, service wasn’t that good and got some of the orders wrong. We were in a group of 12.

I’m a huge mexican food fan. Not sure if this qualifies… Wait. I am sure. This was the worst (by a mile. Which is how close I live) food I have ever eaten. Looked like mexican food? Flavorless & stale meet nasty. Their microwave must be busy. Pure crap. No second chance. That’s how bad it is. I might have to move just to put more distance between me and them?

[2^nd chance to make a better impression — review series]
THE SCENE
I don’t write many 1 or 2 star reviews. I would rather not write a review at all than to be critical of someone’s livelihood. But I’ve promised myself that if I do write such a review, I will go back at some point to give them a second chance. I must say, El Jinete is the one business I’ve been most interested in returning to try again. It’s been a solid 3.5 years since I stepped foot in this place. So I really wanted to give them a fair shot and decided to have lunch here twice over a two week period before posting any update.
Back when I first started Unilocaling, I didn’t really see the need to visit a restaurant more than once before writing a review. I personally think it fair to write an honest review with your first impressions because the first impression may be the only chance a restaurant gets to retain your business. IMO it is also the most honest review.
I wanted to really examine the quality of my first review by adding two more visits for a total of three. I also wanted to try a variety of items on the menu for broader assessment. If there is one thing I’ve learned over my years of Unilocaling, it is most every restaurant has at least one dish that may be great, even if every other dish sucks! So here are my experiences from my most recent two visits:
THE EXPERIENCE
** SECOND VISIT [ January 28^th, 2015 ] Noon
It was noon and rather quiet. Only two tables were occupied when I arrived and one additional table was seated during my visit. The server was prompt to bring a menu and allowed adequate time for me to look it over. Music was playing and the restaurant seemed very clean. Even my menu (which can be sticky at some restaurants) was clean. I stuck with my usual Mexican favorites for this visit:
TAMALE (2.5 stars) | $ 2.95
I’m a huge fan of tamales and excellent corn masa can make all the difference in how authentic it tastes. Get it right and I’m pretty generous with the stars! Although this tamale was packed with lots of meat (even had a meat sauce poured over the top), it had a very commercial taste and not authentic at all.
FAJITAS TEXICANAS (3.5 star) | $ 13.49
Fajitas are my favorite thing to order when eating at any Mexican restaurant and thus probably one of the items I am most picky about when it comes to taste. I found the seasoning of the meats and veggies to be acceptable but not particularly flavorful. Portions were generous and they honored my request for corn tortillas instead of flour. I would rank this dish a three (3) on the flavor-​meter, however, my even pickier 10 year old son really enjoyed eating my leftovers after school that same day. (Disclaimer — between his lunch and the time he gets home is almost 5 hours, so he’s starving and would enjoy anything).
— — — -
** THIRD VISIT [February 13^th, 2015] 2:30 PM
Remember what I said? EVERY restaurant probably has at least one thing they make exceptionally well. Today I decided to ask my server what was HIS absolute favorite thing to eat here. He misunderstood me and started spouting off the popular items, one being the Fajitas I tried a few weeks ago. I said, «No, what is YOUR favorite meal» and he instantly replied the Pollo Ranchero.
«I’ll have that» I said and 10 minutes later I was enjoying what may be one of my favorite meals at any Mexican restaurant ever.
POLLO RANCHERO (4.5 Stars) | $ 10.49
I wish you could have seen the shock on my face! Honestly, I was convinced this would be my last visit. After my first two visits I was absolutely sure nothing exciting could possibly come out of this kitchen… but I was wrong! Grilled marinated boneless chicken breast covered with mushrooms, spinach and onions. Topped with cheese and served with rice, beans & tortilla it was a pleasant surprise to my taste buds to say the least.
— — — -
FINAL THOUGHTS
I was so convinced this place was not very good that I had already prepared my final thoughts after my second visit. Needless to say after this 3^rd and most recent visit my opinion has changed dramatically. If this review had been my first visit, I would have easily given them 4 stars, but mediocre past experiences average my overall experience out to 3.5 stars. However, unlike my previous review, I am actually looking forward to coming back.
Get the Chicken (Pollo) Ranchero, it just might surprise you!

Eat here all the time– love their food. Shrimp or veggie fajitas are excellent. Margaritas are outstanding and they even sell Christmas trees for Christmas!

I was not sure what to think after reading all the reviews so I gave El Jinete a try. It was my first time here a while back and I was hesitating whether I should even waste my time for a review. Went a second time again and here is my long, overdue review…
Service: Could be better. Needs improvement! And the waiter was not knowledgeable of their dishes. Had to waive down waiter for refills, napkins, and the rest of my moms food after an hour wait.
Food: Ordered the carnitas dinner for myself and carne asada tacos for my mother. The carnitas was dry and had pieces that were extremely tough to chew through. The taste was bland. Needs salt or sazon or something! Moms taco came out with just grilled asada. No fixings (think lettuce, onions, cilantro). Just bland pieces of steak with a couple corn tortillas on the side. We had to ask for lettuce, etc because they forgot? Food was terrible. Needs improvement.
Overall: I will never return here again. But you can give this place a try if you want. Trial and error. You will never know for sure unless you try it out for yourself!

The staff was friendly, the server was fast and the restaurant clean. The carnitas was extremely dry, but the other dishes were very well prepared. I’d return again.

This place ROCKS! We used to go to the Jefferson location when we lived in Jackson county. I was happy to find the Dacula restaurant. We go at least once a week. The food and service is fantastic.

Friendly staff and clean restaurant and quick service. Food was hot and tasty. Not to be considered «TexMex», but good never the less. Tacos were beef and a bit too «mushy» as if it had been kept heated for a while. Enchiladas were chicken with white sauce which is queso cheese.

This is not my favorite El Jinete. The cheese dip is runny compared to the Snellville location. Also, the margaritas are stronger their too. The food was okay but you get more quantity at the other location too. I hate the drive but we pass this one to go to that one. That says a lot.

I have to agree with «Richard R.»; the other reviews must be from friend, family and employees!
I’ve been to El Jinete 6 or 8 times just to ensure I didn’t just go on an off day and it’s about the same every time.
The place isn’t dirty and the food isn’t so awful you can eat it but it’s not all that good either. The ambiance is a bit lacking as well.