Discovered this place by locals recommendations. We called a pick up order. The photos of their menu is old so check with the restaurant about their menu choices. I will say they had the best beef fajitas and homemade tortillas. I've ever had. Only thing they do not give you chips and salsa for free on take out orders. read more

I am writing this review regarding both the food quality and, more importantly, the manner in which I was treated when I attempted to provide legitimate feedback. I traveled from Austin to Bandera for an appt.and chose El Jacalito based on its positive reviews. I ordered chicken enchiladas with rice, beans, and sweet tea. After one bite, I found the enchiladas excessively soggy and the beans unappetizing and lacking flavor. The chips were satisfactory. Because I could not reasonably eat the meal, I went to the register and advised the employee that I would pay for the tea but would not be eating the food. Rather than receiving a professional response, another employee became involved and made a dismissive remark to me, stating, "Well, good luck with that." Shortly afterward, the cook/owner came from the kitchen and confronted me in an elevated and confrontational manner, demanding to know what was wrong with the food. When I attempted to calmly explain my concerns, I was interrupted and told, "I've served ALL THESE CUSTOMERS and YOU are the only one complaining." I found the yelling, dismissive comments, and confrontational behavior completely inappropriate. A customer should be able to express dissatisfaction with a meal without being publicly challenged, belittled, or made to feel intimidated. I am not giving a negative review simply because I disliked a meal. Taste is subjective. My concern is the business's handling of a legitimate customer complaint and the lack of professional customer service demonstrated during the interaction. 0/5 for food. 0/5 for customer service. 5/5 for giving me a story to tell. read more

We ate in the restaurant on a Sunday morning. Great food and great service. Fantastic refried beans and tortillas. This will be our breakfast place from now on! read more

Love this place! Whenever we are in bandera we have to make a stop here. There barbacoa is the bomb. Have never had anything there that I didn't like. read more

They were closed when advertised to be open We never got a chance to eat here Parking lot was full Closed sign on the door read more

Breakfast is amazing and service is excellent we don't usually eat in but I love the rustic country charm

We ordered tacos and chalupas to go. Quick and friendly service and the food was excellent! Very authentic flavors. Almost as good as I could make! Laid back Texas Red Cedar atmosphere, I recommend! read more

Very good food. Had the breakfast and portions were big and food was good. Friendly waitress. Remember they are only open breakfast and lunch. read more

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By faaaaar the best Breakfast Tacos I've ever had (and I've tried so many). This little hole in the wall restaurant definitely has a small town vibe. Everyone knows everyone here, and because of that service is always great. You definitely have to try their salsa - it's delicious! read more

Service and food is delicious. I love their pancakes, they're really big and fluffy. Their breakfast tacos are excellent, flour tortillas are made by hand. read more

Paulina and the girls were awesome! Very friendly very welcoming and the kitchen staff had everything out in minutes! Very tasty. Reminds me of our family's restaurant El Jacalito Mexican Restaurant. read more

Great food! Sooo good! Wonderful friendly service. Healthy portions!!!! Definitely a great place!!!!!

Food is ABSOLUTELY amazing! You can feel everything is home made. Prices are so fair for the size of food you get! HIGHLY recommend! Go NOW!!!! read more

Best breakfast burritos. Comparable to Mary's Tacos in Kerrville or Boerne. Wish they were open for dinner too. read more

My "yardstick" for evaluating Mexican joints is typically beef fajitas, cheese enchiladas, and margaritas. I tried the El Jacalito Special plate, which came with a taco, chalupa, cheese enchiladas, rice, and beans. The taco and chalupa were better than average, with crispy shells, fresh ingredients, and good seasoning. The refried beans were also above average and perfectly seasoned. What I would have hoped would be the star of the show (the cheese enchiladas) were so disappointing that I didn't even finish them. They looked presentable and like a standard Tex-mex enchilada, but were the most blame enchiladas I've ever had, and that's not hyperbole. Tex-mex cheese enchiladas typically either have cheddar or American cheese in them, with the latter being infinitely more flavorful since it was purpose designed to be a melting cheese. These likely had a mild or medium cheddar, which, when melted, was virtually flavorless. Not always a problem to use cheddar, as long as you have a great chili sauce to pick up the slack. This chili sauce was NOT up to par, and seemed like it came from a completely different kitchen. BLAND, like they completely forgot the salt and didn't bother to taste it before serving it. I don't mean LOW salt, I mean ZERO salt. I'm not sure what chilies or powder was used, but it had NO chili taste at all. It was more like a BLAND tomato sauce than an enchiladas sauce. I wouldn't be surprised if this came out of cans. If it does, it needs HELP. If this was a scratch made sauce (which it should be since it isn't hard to whip up a scratch enchilada sauce) then either the recipe needs to be overhauled or the prep cook needs to be retrained. I detest wasting food and will normally eat what I buy as long as it isn't awful, but these enchiladas had to go in the trash. Uninspiring and disappointing effort on those... the staff showed an average amount of courtesy, and the food arrived quickly.. everything other than the enchiladas was great. Really hope I caught them on a bad day, and I might give it one more try next time I'm in town to see if it deserves a rescore. read more

El Jacalito - These cheese enchiladas look much better than they taste, unfortunately. - Mexican Near Me - Bandera, Texas

Usually get to go Orders but Food is very good and reasonably priced with Friendly n helpful Service

Food was good! Cashier lady was friendly but the waitress that waited on us today 7/22/18 at 10:40am in a pink shirt was super rude. After she brought our food, she was nowhere to be seen. No refills, no asking if we needed anything else, no thank you, no smile. That left a bad taste in my mouth and probably will not be back again. read more

El Jacalito - Chorizo plate was good with yummy homemade tortillas on the side. Potatoes were bland though. - Mexican Near Me - Bandera, Texas

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Great food and great service. We have been going there for years and love the breakfast burritos!

Amazing fried tacos, basically a quesadilla but it was tasty. I had the bacon, bean and cheese. My husband had the Barbacoa taco and it was just as good. Old wooden floors, definitely with an old west feel. Great service and prices! read more

The cooks here know what their doing. Trust me good food! On another note You can taste the detergent in the coffee cups. At least their washing cups. Lol. The waitress are overly friendly they push the brink of being unprofessional. They argue in-front of customers and make comments when I eat my menudo to enjoy my guts! I was even told one time my food smelled. To loud. Unprofessional comments. I wanted to add today the waitress was talking loudly to a customer saying "Does your job work you like a Mexican!" She kept repeating it. But again awesome food. The cook is the best. read more

Food is ok tacos are comparable to Mary's tacos in Kerrville, but the wait staff need to be more professional. A few of the very young girls were talking to each other across the large dining room and complaining that one of the girls didn't get a tip off one of her tables. The entire dining room heard as she loudly pushed in the chairs in her displeasure. Very unprofessional and not enjoyable atmosphere. We received our bill at the table with NO prices or total! How do you know how to split a tab if your party pays separately? Maybe because in my 20's I waited tables and know how your supposed to act, but I have higher expectations, and know that's not how you conduct yourself. read more

The barbacoa is OUT OF THIS WORLD! They go very well on their homemade, light as a feather flour tortillas!

Amazing service and food experience! Love the small town Texas feel and the food was delicious! Lot of laughs and friendly environment. Thank you read more

So me n my fiancé stopped in for breakfast since we r getting ready to move to this small city. Homemade tortillas was what caught my eye, walked in n we were greeted immediately which was nice. We sat n ordered sum bfast tacos. I had the barbacoa with pico n avocado n a carne guisada with cheese in flour n my fiancé had one called "buddy taco" had egg bacon onion cheese potato. Good flavor on that taco n myne was one good n one bad. Barbacoa had great flavor ALL MEAT n it was delicious!! The other taco was way too salty!! Also the carne guisada was NOT guisada was more lyke asada no gravy base. Our server was very nice but the guy who was also a server helped us pick out the tacos. Overall, good food service was good n they took off the taco that was unsatisfactory which was nice. We were offered another taco if our choice b4 but we decided we were full. We will DEFINITELY b back to try it again. read more

El Jacalito - Barbacoa taco with all the fixings n a carne guisada I'm guessing was way too salty - Mexican Near Me - Bandera, Texas

Food is amazing!! Super authentic flavors. We ordered a fajita taco, a breakfast taco, eggs, bacon and pancakes. It's truly a hole in the wall, but the staff is friendly and kinda entertaining! I enjoyed the fun 80s music on the radio. It is definitely worth stopping by, the locals do recommend it! read more

El Jacalito - Mexican Near Me - Bandera, Texas

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My go-to for breakfast tacos in Bandera. The parking lot it small, but don't let that fool you. Best sweet tea ever, and they'll serve it to you in big to-go cups of you ask for it. They stop serving breakfast at 11 on the dot, so if you want breakfast, make sure to get there early enough! Fresh homemade tortillas are the best. Some of the biggest tacos I've ever had. read more

Just stopped in this morning for my usual Friday order of 2 sausage and egg tacos. Price last week was $4.75. Price today for the same order was $6.50!!! This place was already more expensive than the other taco places in town and this increase is totally unjustifiable. I will no longer fund the family's summer trips to Disneyworld!! Imagine the price if I would have ordered cheese on them!!!!! read more

Giving this a four star as some others have said the roughness of the guy at the counter and the "cheers" atmosphere where the wait staff is using profanity with customers is a drop down in the review. One of the young women behind the counter was clearly having a bad day and was looking out the window with a, could some prince come save me from this small town h e double l hole. Now on to the food, breakfast tacos are like a 4.5, with the buddy being just right. Had some other stuff as well just to sample it. Would come back for the food alone. Parking could be a bit troubleshooting at peak hours. All in a all, good place in Bandera. eyeneedabookietoday@protonmail.com read more

I've been coming here for a while and I've always recommended this place to tourists. Well after this mornings experience I think I'll stop gas lighting this place. SERVICE IS HORRIBLE AND they like to hold grudges when you are unable to pick up your order. For example. Yesterday my fiancé placed an order for us and was unable to pick up the food due to a flat tire. She then called to let them know and they made it obvious they were not happy with her. Today when making an order, they called me back and told me in the rudest way possible that they were NOT making my food until I arrived at the restaurant. I've been sitting her an hour and I feel I should warn everyone. The food is always soggy and mushy and the "homemade" salsa just makes It worse. After today I'll never eat here again and I'll be sure to steer anyone who wants Good Mexican Food towards any of the other mexican restaurant. I'll even recommend tacos from Whataburger before I recommend this place again. There's no room for pettiness in the customer service industry. Especially when your building looks like it will collapse on itself any day now. read more

Great little breakfast place! We had a large family reunion and they were kind enough to make room for about 40 of us (call in advance). The food was great. The "Shelly" was the best breakfast taco ever! The service was wonderful and for 4 people our bill was under $15! Just unheard of. Try this place out...it's well worth it! read more

This was our first time at this Mexican restaurant. We really liked it! I had the chicken flautas, and they were good, I liked the beans. We loved the salsas, and the fresh flour tortillas (my husband had 3 tacos on flour tortilla and they were delicious) and the fresh tortilla chips. Prices were very reasonable. I've been to other Mexican restaurants that charge more and their food is not as good. We'll go back, and will take the kids next time. I noticed their kids menu is $2.99 per meal. Pretty good deal. read more

When one gives three stars, it usually means something mediocre bad or mediocre good. I'm this case I like this place because the food is good and the service was good too. The parking lot is small and I was surprised I didn't dent any cars during my visit. Dont expect anything fancy. Of course i had to be the obvious out of towner who asks, "Do you have any Mexican Coke?" They have creative names for their menu items. One of them was called the Ladies Special which basically consisted of a taco, enchilada, rice and refried beans. All of this for $5.50. Not bad. The portions were generous. It's worth checking out if you ever in Bandera. read more

El Jacalito - Chips and Salsa - Mexican Near Me - Bandera, Texas

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The best breakfast tacos in the hill country! Everything is fresh, food gets to you fast and everyone seems to know each other.

Wow! El Jacalito totally exceeded our expectations! We should've known it would be good, because it was full of locals, but we had no idea! The nachos were amazing, the fajita tacos as well. Steer clear of the touristy places on the Main Street and walk 100 feet to this place, for sure! Oh, but it is BYOB. read more

El Jacalito - The main "dining room." - Mexican Near Me - Bandera, Texas

The BEST breakfast tacos EVER!! Hands down my favorite. I wish this was a chain because oh my goodness I want it all the time. The staff is so friendly and helpful and the prices are very reasonable. I absolutely love El Jacalito. read more

El Jacs is awesome. They really cater to the needs of the locals with things like the "Bulldog Special" and these cool coupon cards they had a while back. They have some of the BIGGEST and BEST breakfast tacos I've ever had. They're so good I've never ordered anything else off the menu. And if you like sweet tea, you've come to the right place. They don't have the biggest area for sit down dining but their servers are always attentive. The food is authentic and it's my favorite "hole in the wall" kinda place. read more

Yuk -- nothing special -- no flavor in food -- service is like eating in a patio outdoors--not worth $

Friendly, reasonable, and really good food. We were there at 7:30 am, so not a lot of dining customers. We did notice the take out was brisk. We were served quickly. The portions are large, two breakfast tacos were too much for one meal. They wrapped our to- go. Highly recommend ii. read more

The food was amazing. Okay, a little salty on the David's plate. But it was so far above other restaurants, I'll give the caveat without taking a star. The beef from the fajitas was also incredible. Salsa was great. Everything appeared to be homemade. You gotta try this place. read more

We had such good food and service here. Our server Henry was outstanding. He recommended the special which was not on the menu and it was amazing. Everything is home made right here and you can tell. We are just visiting from Cali but I wish we had this restaurant back home. read more