Jalapenos

The food is mediocre at best. I ordered a chile colorado burrito that only had about four chunks of meat. The carne asada tacos are pricey and not that good. This place is way too expensive for the quality of food they serve.

food quality is horrible, service is really bad, order Carne asada burrito and Chile Verde pork plate and two drinks around 25 dlls. I think is pricey if you consider the food is not what used to be few years back.
definitely NOT a place to go .
my advise is find or look another place. plus a mini small paper bag of tortilla chips at 50 cents! come on man! I don’t want anything for free I don’t mind pay, when is worth this is one of the worst experiences as far as mexican food, imitation .
Good look if u want to waste ur money.

I remember this place being better. I tried the special two potato tacos for $ 7.99 they were ok. My wife had the carn asada burrito. I remember the Irvine shop being better but it’s closed now

I was in the area, and totally ran out of ideas for a gluten-​free dinner. I saw Jalapenos, and decided to give it a try. I ordered a pound of al pastor meat with onions, cilantro and 12 corn tortillas. When I got home, the meat was hot and tasty, not salty, not dry and not really spicy. I could taste the ancho chilies, a hint of cumin, some sweetness and salt. We did enjoy the meat and the tortillas. Onions and cilantro looked fresh, not dry. Tortillas were nice and warm, wrapped in foil. With the trader joe pico de gallo on top, I was very surprised, since I’ve had many al pastor that was too chili spicy and too salty and too dry. For us, this was great. It was $ 14.04 w/​tax for what we got. 1 lb of al pastor meat was 10.99 + tax. Enough for us for dinner for 2 and lunch for 1.
I seem to be luck today. For many, this may be too tame or too much gringo food, but we like it very much. Will be back for the al pastor again in the future.

Updating my review from 2 stars up to 3 stars. Here’s the skinny:
The food here is exceptional. The service is ok, the wait can be very long and even though you are paying near full service restaurant prices, they use plastic utensils and styrofoam plates.
My guess is that the restaurant changed management a while back. The service really slipped for a while but has been improving
For the best experience: order online then come pick up and either eat there or take with you to a local park.

This place is hands down the best. It’s been probably over 25 years now as the best Mexican food in so cal. As a kid and now as an adult is my favorite place to eat.

Tacos are fantastic.
Grilled chicken burrito? I took one bite, nothing but oozey gooey squishy insides came out… immediately in the trash. No structure to the burrito… barely any meat. If I wanted a bean burrito, I would have ordered it. Gross. $ 7 literally in the trash.

The worst nachos ever. Can guac can beans dehydrated chips, no onions, no tomatoes, no JALAPENOS, atmosphere is like a cafeteria.

Ehh. Over priced and confused if they’re trying to be authentic or not… Foods alright. I’ll go to a taco truck next time.

Thank goodness the actual patronage of this place doesn’t reflect the low aggregate Unilocal rating! I was shocked to look this up and see three stars, when literally EVERY SINGLE TIME I have been to Jalapenos for lunch the line is practically out the door.
Bro and I ordered a crap ton of random food to go for our Sunday lunch treat to ourselves: carne asada nachos for mom, menudo and a chile relleno for him, and beef taquitos, an al pastor taco and a side of beans for me. Less than $ 30… not bad for how much actual food we received!
Most of these things are difficult enough to deal with when you eat in the restaurant, let alone taking everything to go. They did their best to package everything well. Plenty of cheese, sour cream and ‘guacamole’ (I hesitate to call it that, because it looks more like the sauce-​type stuff you get at Smart and Final in a plastic bucket) on items, but meat was sorely lacking on the nachos. Taquitos were FILLED with beef, but grossly underseasoned. Chile relleno was okay, but swimming in that tomato/​onion/​whatever sauce poured over it. Al pastor taco was… well, kinda bland for a meat supposedly roasted on a spit and marinated in pineapple and spices. This one… not so much. And very small for $ 1.85.
But of course! Their chips are incredible, their beans are to DIE for, and the menudo!!! We didn’t even get to it until two days later and it is DELICIOUS. A rich, fatty broth, with minimal hominy and plenty of meat for dayyyys. Sin pata!!!
I love that our family still reliably goes to Jalapenos for a ‘treat of Mexican food’ every so often. You just cannot go wrong with those beans!!! Yes the prices may have gone up, and sure, after some time, maybe some menu items have a lost of a bit of flair, but after all these years, yay! I’m STILL a fan.

Somewhat pricey for what it is great for a quick bit. I’m always amazed at the constantly fast guy prepping the food. Anyone remember Martin Yang from the Food Show «Yang Can Cook» The guy prepping the food was that fast. The people working here are somewhat dead inside, don’t expect a smile, just order and pay.
I’ve been here when it’s not busy and their meats do get a little dry since it just sits under the heat lamps. So do yourself a favor and come when it’s crowded.

I love this place. One of my favorite places, I have been coming here for over 15 years. Would give them a solid 5 stars but the last 2 times i asked for chips, paid for them, and didn’t get them. When I tell the server he says you didnt pay. They argue over chips that cost $.50!!! They don’t give receipts with the food so I had no way of proving I paid.
Oh well, I love Jalapeños but I think my loyalty is worth more than a cup of chips.

For casual Mexican fare, this has been my favorite spot to go, hands down. Both locations are great (the ambiance at the one in Orange is far nicer).
My favorites are the chicken taco & any of the burritos. The house salsa is so amazing, you almost want to drink it from the bowl.. . without chips!

This place is one step above Taco Bell, but just barely. My order was a wet burrito and two cheese enchiladas.
It took forever to get my order. There were plenty of workers it was slow and I still waited forever. It wasn’t worth it.
Everything tasted bland. There was no flavor. Banquet TV dinners are better. The salsa bar sucked. Very little to choose from. They don’t even have cilantro. I wanted the hot salsa to spice my plate and it was so mild. I’m gringo and I would be embarrassed to label this as hot if I owned a restaurant. The mild salsa looked nasty.
If I’m starving for Mexican food I might come back, but not likely. There are far better places nearby.

Standard, but nothing great.
I got a burrito and horchata from here earlier today, and it was good but nothing special. The sauce over the burrito was really tasty, but the burrito itself was standard.
I wanted to try this place because I was told they had homemade tortillas, but they do not.
The pricing isn’t too bad, and it’s affordable.

I always get the Taco and Enchilada Plate or substitute one of those for the Chile Relleno. The beans, rice, enchilada sauce, and chip sauces are just amazing. The textures are always perfect, at least the times that I have been. :)
While in college I used to eat at the Jalapeño’s Restaurant in Irvine which I have heard has closed. They used to have a line out the door, I am unsure why they had to close.
I had to give these guys here in Tustin 5 Stars, I have eaten there twice lately and the food has just been about the best Mexican food I have had in Orange County hands down. The food doesn’t taste greasy and you wont wake up the next morning with a horrible stomach ache or feeling dehydrated like a lot of OC Mexican joints seem to have a propensity of doing.
Important Note: If you think the salsa cups aren’t deep enough then do what I always do and pour your chips on a plate and then use your chip dish for salsa. For those who complain about $.50 for chips… Seriously, who cares give them the two quarters and quit complaining, those chips are huge! :)

I’ve been coming to Jalapeños for the past 15 years and while I don’t live in the neighborhood anymore I make sure to make a pit stop when passing thru… For their delicious crunchy carne asada tacos! And their pico de gallo bar is da bomb.

The food is delish. Classic Mexican.
The al pastor, carnitas, and chorizo are my favorites. I think it’s pretty chintzy that they charge you for chips now, but that just means I save on the calories.
They have a great service for ordering online, but it’s not any faster than ordering in the place. I’m convinced they don’t make it until you show up to ask for the order.
They also have one of those drink machines with a thousand flavors.
On food alone, great spot!

I guess it’s been a while since I have come here. I was so surprised to find out I had to pay .50 for chips! Really? I do like their chips so I did buy them.
I also had a chicken enchilada which ended up being pieces of chicken with a cheese enchilada on top of it. Way too much cheese!
It doesn’t seem like management cares, based on the recent negative reviews.
Don’t think I will be back any time soon.

Last straw.
I used to eat Jalapeño’s every weekday for nearly a full year when I worked just blocks from this location. Later, Jalapenos became a weekly dinner that hubby and I would pick up and treat ourselves to, along with an extra purchased cup of their yummy fresh salsa! Loved this place for years. I didn’t balk when their prices rose. I continued to make the drive from Laguna Beach to Tustin after the Laguna Hills and both Irvine locations closed. And I would even trek there just to purchase their salsa if I was cooking my own mexican meal because their salsa WAS the absolute best: Fresh, spicy perfection.
Then, this week, I drove all that way, walked in to a nearly empty store, discovered they had raised prices AGAIN, and walked out with my salsa which they had scooped & bagged in the back for me. When I got home and pulled it from the bag, I noticed the salsa looked vibrantly red; like red dye. Well, turns out they are now using CANNED tomatoes. Husband and I tasted, then dumped the $ 4 paper cup of canned salsa; I don’t need to drive 15 miles for cheap, canned tomato sauce. I was a loyal customer for many years but I think this new generation of owners has run Jalapenos into the ground. I’m out.