jacala

tasted like i remember. after all these years the food still taste like i remember--good. we went on a kinda busy saturday nite, got seated in the party room which was fine cause there was lots of people watching to be had. they get all kinds of mixed groups in this place, which i like very much. that means from affluent to well not so affluent go here to eat and party. we ordered the small queso w corn torts and it was served nice 'n hot, its a great app for 2-3 people. we had already been munching on the delicious chips 'n salsa. i also buy the salsa to keep at home. since we had an appetizer we split the no.3 plate of 3 cheese enchis w chile con carne, 2 puffies & of course rice 'n beans. but i also had to try one of their chicken mole enchiladas because i love mole. for me, they make some of the best cheese enchiladas in town. i love that chile con carne on top. i think the puffies are ok, wish they were bigger (don't we all?). thistimethe rice was nice & we upgraded to frijoles ala charra, which were delicious. much better than the refried. the chicken mole enchilada was described as a "spicy mole sauce", well it had spices but not spicy at all and very tasty. the portions are large so we still had leftovers to savor the next day. nexttimei won't wait so long to come back to get my enchilada fix.

food was good, not great. the beans and homemade tortillas were awesome. hot sauce needed more spice. service was very slow. drinks took a longtimeto be refilled. other diners in my party thought overall it was mediocre at best.

cheese enchiladas and puffy tacos-yum!. i've been going to jacala for 30 years. i always get the #3. take the extras home and eat it later. i love their cheese enchiladas, puffy tacos and rice. i do think the beans could be better. still good though. they make their salsa and flour tortillas fresh. i buy their salsa in heb too. while i love their food i do agree that sometimes their wait staff give bad service. they are friendly, just not always on their toes. i've learned which waiters to ask for. however, most of thetimethey do well. the food is good and not bland. i've eaten at a lot of mexican restaurants since this is my favorite type of food and i still love jacala the best. i do wish they would bring back the fountain on the patio. it was beautiful.

this is the secondtimei've ordered food to go and gotten the wrong order. jacala is out of the way and not worth thetimeto go back if they mess up. buyer beware! check your food before you leave. the service is hit or miss.

my firsttimeto san antonio and we were looking for a great mexican restaurant. someone saw jacala online and it was famous or something. but i had a bad feeling early on, the salsa was bland and tasted like old tomatoes, v8 has more spice. i ordered the famous puffy tacos which were tiny, cold, soggy, and bland. i asked for some tomatillo salsa which normally is spicier but to no avail all the sauce were pitiful. i read on here that many oldtimecustomers said it has lost its former glory, this seems true. i am sure there is good mexican food in san antonio just not at jacala's. use peppers yo!

yummie food. i can’t help but read some of the reviews on this restaurant called jacala mexican restaurant since 1949. so the wife and i went down there to eat 28 minute drive there and we were looking forward to the food. we rather go to an ok looking place and have a delicious meal then go to a beautiful place and have an ok dinner that may be way over priced. the older staff that has been working there for 40 plus years shows us how well they take care of their employees and that’s the kind of place we like to support even if we live near 1604 and 281 outside the loop. i take my clients there all thetimealong with family that comes into town! i have seen rich people to hard working class of people that eat there and it’s a very mix bag of people but that shows me how wonderful the food is to eat. i strongly recommend this restaurant if you like something different and off the beaten path and none commercial

bad service/lack of personnel. i had been going to jacala's for the longesttimebecause of their chile gravy. they have the best chile but the last few times, i was terribly dissapointed. i placed an order by phone for a pint of chile, which is what i usually order, and an order of puffy tacos. when i picked it up, i noticed the bowl was very small so i told the cashier that gave me the order that the bowl looked smaller than before. she said that it was the same one and it would cost $7.25+ tax . i told her that i wished the person that took the order would have said that it wasnt a pint yet just a portion which is exactly what it was. i told the cashier that i didnt want the chile afterall and i would just pay for the puffy tacos. she offered me the crackers that came with the chile but i told her "no thank you" because what will i do with the crackers. she was a hispanic, dark hair, big lady which ive never seen there before and seemed rude when i questioned the portion size for takeout. i left the crackers. the very lasttimei was there with a coworker, we waited about 20 mins for someone to come and take our order. i noticed that in that same booth section, to the left as you come in, there were other customers sitting down and also waiting for their food orders to be taken. since we were terribly dissappointed, we've decided that we wont be going to jacala's anymore. we then proceeded and walked out because no one ever came. we asked the dishwasher if there was a waiter/waitress there to help us and he said they were in the back probably getting other dishes. when we left, we told the cashier that we wouldnt be back because no one ever came to take our order and that there were other customers also waiting. she immediately went to check on the customers waiting but we left anyway.

horriable service. the food is ok but the so call female manager they have there seriously needs help with customer service! ive been there a few times but today tuesday oct18 will be the lasttimei go there! i called just right now around 2:30 to ask a question spoke with her and i notice that everytime i go or call she puts up an attitude and not just with me but i also notice with other ppl! they need to get her out of there if they really want customers, i think her name was cynthia im not too sure but she was totally rude

downhill. i have been going to jacala since i was born, they are our neighborhood family restaurant and whenever my brothers come home for a visit that's the first place they want to go. however, they no longer taste the same, the sisters that run the restaurant are rude and snobby and are fake and unapologetic when stuff comes up. they must heat everything up in the microwave because it is usually cold when it comes to the table with hot plates. we went on thanksgiving weekend and got moldy corn tortillas and when i showed the owner, she said the sysco had delivered them moldy corn tortillas. first of all, authentic? you get your tortillas from sysco? bahahahahaha. second of all, you don't check your food before it's served? when i questioned her, she said that she advised the staff to check them and some must have been overlooked. sure, okay, it can happen but when the next warmer was brought to us, guess what? yep more moldy tortillas. when i showed her again, she offered me a free margarita. seriously? we were a table of 15. in my opinion, she should have comp'd at least one of the meals, taken off a % or something. but, i wasn't looking for anything free, so, no biggie. the service has gone extremely downhill and the restaurant is so disappointing now. i keep going back expecting great food and am disappointed more than i am happy. the jacalitos are about the only thing i will even order anymore and my family insists on visiting the restaurant for every occassion. someone else's review says something about being a shadow of it's former self, or something like that....and too bad to say, it's very true. i used to rant and rave about jacala...now i would advise anyone to stay away ....go to los barrios or one of the other local favorites and save yourself sometimeand frustration.

a shadow of its former greatness. i grew up in the neighborhood [la] jacala is located in and recall many dining experiences there with my parents when i was a child. it was pretty much our default neighborhood establishment and i really, really enjoyed my usuals there, the puffy tacos or the carne guisada. in fact, i still view that carne guisada as the standard bearer for all other carne guisadas i eat and find few people or places can measure up.

recently i've gone back to jacala and noticed something disturbing -- the food quality seems to have gone noticeably downhill. gone are the perfectly light, flavorful, and crispy puffy tacos -- now they're rather soft, soggy, and bland. the carne guisada doesn't quite have the zestiness i remember, and the enchiladas are rather greasy, bland, and unsubstantial. and the tortillas? you can purchase better at heb or walmart. pretty much the only thing that's remained as delicious as it always was are the chips they serve you as an amuse bouche.

the service is middling; it'd probably be best not to dine there when many diners are going to be eating there. they should think about investing in larger glasses to serve their iced tea in so you don't have to waste a lot oftime(and see the grease congealing on your rapidly cooling food) tracking down a server to refill your iced tea. they should work on the acoustics so that it isn't so echoey and doesn't drown out conversations so easily. but mor eimportantly, they should work on the food and get it back up to the levels of quality it held some twenty years ago.

decent, reliable food and good service, but.... i have liked this place for many years and have always had good service here. my only one real complaint for a longtimewas that the enchiladas were a bit greasy, though i have since learned what to order. however, on a recent trip a friend of mine had a very bad experience. long story short, if you order anything from the bar, please try to order directly from the barkeep and watch him make it. otherwise, they might try to switch out cheaper alcohol for what you order.