Chez Jose

11/07/09

Best Mexican Restaurant in Portland

by marmot

Chez Jose is a fantastic Mexican restaurant-- it offers a diverse menu of unique dishes you won't find at other, more generic Mexican places. They have a wonderful spicy peanut sauce they put into some of their dishes, such as the butternut squash enchilada, which is a perfect mix of spicy, aromatic, and slightly sweet. Their chips and salsa are also amazing-- chips always warm and fresh, and the salsa a little hot-- not bland like many other Mexican restaurants. I go to Chez Jose often, but try to go on off hours after the crowd dissipates a little. It's Saturday night and I actually just ordered takeout, which I'm about to pick up! They pack a bag of chips and salsa with takeout orders, which some places won't do. Nice!

I appreciate that they have some good microbrews too-- something you don't often find at Mexican restaurants. However, their margaritas, though delicious, are very weak-- don't expect to get buzzed! You're better off with a beer.

It's also great that they serve free-range pork and beef-- I would love it if they added free-range chicken but I applaud their current efforts.

Overall, fantastic place-- I mean, I put "crowded and noisy" as a con, but they're only crowded because they're so good!

• Pros: Great food, great service
• Cons: Often crowded, noisy

08/03/09

Poor management

by jleek1279

I was at this establishment with the party of 11 ladies and have to say that the waitstaff and manager were just crude and put off by us from the moment we walked in. Now, I came ahead of most of the ladies with three other gals and we were aware that if we sat at the counter, that we would have to move if someone wanted to eat but we were told in a curt manner like we were unwelcome. We just wanted to order a couple of drinks while we waited and then sit at the table to eat. We agreed we would move if someone wanted to eat. No big deal. We weren't rude, we understood that they are just there to work and take care of business but they were just foul about it. No apologies and smiles or anything, just lame service. I too, have worked in the restaurant industry and understand that they don't make the rules, they just follow them but HELLO, it wouldn't have hurt you to smile. We are all hard working moms and deal with small children who have to be reminded of their manners, I should be able to expect better manners from adults, especially in the customer service industry. Well, when one of the gals disagreed with their choice to have us leave since we were spending money, she inquired about it with a manager and he proceeded to get hot headed about it and turn a not so great situation to disasterous. If I were the owner, I would seriously rethink about the impression I want the public to have of my restaurant. Instead of a great little simplistic restaurant, it was more like a fast service joke with people who were in bad need of manners training and reminder that they are WORKING WITH THE PUBLIC. In counting, there were 11 of us and we have already each told at least three people what a terrible place this was and told the business that referred us to never to refer anyone to them again. Good job management. Didn't realize in this economy that you were doing so well that you could turn 11 paying customers away.

• Pros: Excellent atmosphere
• Cons: Terrible manager and wait staff

07/31/09

don't go!!!!

by aover

Hi ,

I would like to tell you about our trip to this restaurant. This is really hard for me since I was a waitress and I know the restaurant business very well. But in all my years as a waitress and as a customer, I was appalled by the lack of humane treatment, let alone professionalism by the staff at Chez Jose Restaurant. The language that the manager used was by far the worst treatment I have ever experienced as a customer. All we wanted was to eat and have a nice time. To have a manager cuss you out for ordering a drink and sitting at the bar area (which I now know really was an eating bar) shows very poor customer service. At no point did any staff tell us it was an eating bar until they told us to move since they had paying customers. We were paying customers. There were 11 people in our group, and the meanness of the staff convinced us to leave after waiting 55 minutes for a table. We said that we could be broken up at different tables if it made seating us easier. It’s too bad I can’t tell you about the food. But with how many families with kids were there hearing the manger with that language, I’m sure we’re not the only ones who will never go back.

• Cons: staff