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

05/22/09

Good food, excellent margaritas

by jennalecomte

We first went to Chez Jose simply because it was close. I was first impressed by the speed of their service. My husband works nearby and has a one hour lunch break, and we've gone there several times on his lunch break without him feeling hurried or late. They are just great at getting us in, getting a table, and getting our food out quickly. The salsa is always warm, and you get 2 different kinds, which is nice. I highly recommend the honey chipotle shrimp! Delicious, as is the veggie quesadilla that comes with it! I also very much enjoyed the lime chicken entrees. It is especially nice that they have all their options a la carte, for those of us who don't eat as much, it's nice to have the option to get a smaller meal. We just tried their margaritas, which were excellent. The mango one was full of real fruit! Their flan is the dessert we get every time. It is extra cinnamon-y and perfectly firm. Soooo good! The only drawbacks are that it can be a little more expensive than your average Mexican place, but it makes up for it in unique offerings and good flavor. Also, it is always quite loud in there, not sure if it's just the acoustics or what, but I wouldn't take someone there to have a long drawn-out dinner discussion.

• Pros: Great margaritas, quick service, good food, EXCELLENT flan!
• Cons: noisy, a little overpriced

02/22/09

Lame food + lame service = never again

by foodlover98765

We live just blocks away so we thought it was time to give Chez Jose a try.

Pros:

- Convenient location

- Prawn appetizer was decent - but $5.50 for 4 prawns on a stick!? Crazy!

- Free chips (I can barely call this a pro since it's pretty standard in most Mexican restaurants, but the chips were warm.....??? semi-pro?)

Cons:

- Loud loud loud! On top of all the hard surfaces amplifying normal conversation, there were screaming children and the servers were constantly bashing around plates and bins right next to our table.

- The menu was tiny with very few options. My boyfriend wanted chicken in mole sauce, and while they had a tamale with mole sauce, they could not put the chicken on the menu with the mole sauce. Our beans and rice were crusty on top like they had been under a heat lamp for hours. My fish taco was fine, but nothing to write home about. Taco Del Mar has better.

- Our server was fine at first, but got worse and worse as the evening progressed. When we were ready for our check we had to wait nearly HALF AN HOUR to receive our bill. We weren't eating, our silverware was in the 'please, clear my plate' position and we constantly tried to get our server's attention as he walked past us again and again. When he finally did give us our bill he didn't even apologize or mention that it had been a long time. I know that during really long fine dining experiences the billing part of the evening can take a while - but this evening it took about 30 minutes total to order, get our food (that was fast!) and eat, and then an additional 30 minutes for the bill. sheesh!

- Price. We spent just shy of 40 dollars on sodas, an appetizer and two dinners. It's just too expensive for such poor ambiance, service and food.

Never again. I'd rather get something to go from Market of Choice.

• Pros: convenient
• Cons: service, ambience, food, value

02/22/09

Can't believe Chez Jose ripped me a big one

by ripmeoff

I have been going to Chez Jose for a bunch of years - before the big fire even and never left feeling ripped off. Well tonight it happened. I ordered one fish and one shrinp taco. They brought me the combo platter, which they get $13.50or so for IF someone gets a burrito or taco or enchilada that's the total price. Well get this, they charged me an extra 1.50 for each taco. Tiny taco, mind you. Grand total was like 14.95 plus 1.50. That's freeking ridiculous. Check this out, my wife order a Pico de Gallo....little crappy tiny paper thing (the size you give away samples in)...they charge 1.25. DO I feel used? Yes. DO I feel I got my money's worth? No After bunches of years, I'm through with this joint. Taking advantage of customers and gouging them. Freeking food is just not that good anymore. They must be resting on their laurels and collecting the dough. I'll not be back...Jose! And I was a good customer. Want to add though, the service is always good. I just got ripped on the food.

02/04/09

Bland and Overpriced.

by inveighn

I've eaten here a couple of times. The second time I thought if I ordered a few other things it might change my opinion. It didn't. The food here is extremely overpriced and just boring. The Last time I ordered the Chille Relleno dish with enchiladas and a tiger prawn appetizer. The appetizer was good, but over priced, it came with 5 pieces of shrimp. Your money would be better spent at a taco stand downtown. I've lived in L.A. and the border of Mexico at El Paso, and this is very much a generic "white friendly" Mexican place. I don't mean that as in insult.

• Pros: Food is so-so
• Cons: Over-priced, bland food, parking.

01/13/09

Super Food and Super Staff!

by Minivern

We love this place. The food is great, the staff is friendly, and the prices are reasonable. It's great to have Chez Jose nearby, but it's so good that even if it wasn't, we'd drive to it. Their Mexican Chicken Soup is excellent, and always hits the spot, as do so many other things on their menu. Try their Margaritas too.

• Pros: Great food, staff & prices.
• Cons: Parking can be trying & you might have to wait to be seated on weekends.

02/15/08

Great Food and now finally Great Service

by brkamo

We are so impressed with the improvements in service that we are again regulars!! We stopped frequenting the SW side restaurant a few years ago because of the horrible service. Not just once but every visit. Now all of that has changed. The food was always very good but now it is great. And the service is good. We will come back every week or two. Thank you!!

08/04/07

GREAT Mexican Food in Portland - Imagine That!

by bmall

I grew up in McAllen Texas. I recently moved here from Dallas and have been searching for some place to eat Mexican Food. Last night we went to Chez Jose. IT WAS FANTASTIC. First off - don't even listen to the one bad reviewer... their salsa is the best I've EVER had (served warm, no less). I ordered the Carne Asada. It was a bit under cooked to my taste, but still delicious. Beans - perfect. Rice - splendid. My wife had a sour cream chicken enchilada and said it was better than the ones she would get at our favorite Dallas restaurant. I ordered a beef enchilada ala carte, just to see if I'd like it too. The flavor was great, but I was surprised to find the beef was not ground beef. Rather, it was a stew meat? It was good - just not what I expected. Our meal ended with the owner/manager? bringing us a flan to try. AMAZING! It was drizzled in honey and sprinkled with cinnamon. Again, best we've ever had. (I was a bit surprised to find it on the bill, since we actually never ordered it.) But I'm nitpicking. Excellent food. Good service. Great value. We will continue to eat there, I'm certain, on a regular basis for years to come.