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On The Border
Categories: Restaurants Mexican Restaurants Tex-Mex Mexican, Tex-Mex
420 Maine Mall RdPortland, ME 04106
(207) 774-3983
1 free Queso OR Sopapillas
Join Club Cantina! Get 1 Free bowl Queso OR Sopapillas when you join On The Border's Club Cantina. See website http://www.ontheborder... to join
- Hours:
Mon-Sun 11 am - 11 pm
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Parking:
- Private Lot
- Attire:
- Casual
- Price Range:
-
$$
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
- Takes Reservations:
- Yes
- Delivery:
- No
- Take-out:
- Yes
- Waiter Service:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- No
- Alcohol:
- Full Bar
- Noise Level:
- Average
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- Yes
13 reviews for On The Border
13 reviews in English
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Review from Simon L.
Portland, ME
12/20/2011 1 Check-in Here
I'm not sure why this gets such a bum rap on here, but I enjoyed it.
Deep fried avocados.
Do you need further convincing? Yes? Fine, here:
Quick service (respectful of an hour lunch break) and cheap but delicious fare, coupled with free stuff if you check in on Yelp (I'm a sucker for marketing, yes.). -
Review from Kenneth R.
Portland, ME
The food was very good and service was commendable. My silverware was dirty so I needed some new ones. Overall good visit and I would come back again.
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Review from Virginia C.
Rochester, NH
10/9/2011
Mediocre food. Our server was too "present", could barely eat our meal in peace.
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Review from Jim B.
Portland, ME
7/22/2010
Why is Mexican food so hard to nail, and why are "gringo" chains so woeful when handling this ethnic cuisine?
Last night, our book club met at the SoPo OTB after our workdays for a pitcher of margaritas, some chow, and an animated discussion about "Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal," by Christopher Moore.
I've missed a couple of meetings and the group had moved our discussion group from $3 Dewey's out to the Maine Mall.
The covered patio at OTB is a nice touch and on a Wednesday evening, not too crowded. This was good, as our theologically-based discussion may have offended possible orthodox Xians in our vicinity. If you've read Moore's book, you'll understand.
But back to the culinary fare.
The waiter was brand new and he was totally lost. We're an easy group--we just wanted our margarita's and chips and we were good for a bit. Even that was a challenge for him. After about 20 mins, the chips and salsa arrived, but sans napkins. This resulted in me finding the serving station for napkins, and glasses of water for our group. What I didn't realize at the time was that I probably should have taken over the table for the night.
Poor Steve--he struggled through the entire meal. When our food finally arrived, dry, overcooked, and a real poor imitation of Mexican fare, he forgot to check on the need for refills, if anyone wanted beers, and then, the bill situation at the end was a total clusterf*ck. One of our group had already bought and paid for the pitcher (the penalty for not finishing your book), and had to leave early to catch the bus. The pitcher got tacked onto another member's bill, and once again, Steve didn't know how to take it off our bill. Consequently, this delayed our exit, as the storm clouds outside continued to gather (see below).
My smoked beef brisket tacos were the worst "Mexican" food I've ever tasted. They make the Ortega DIY packages seem like a 5-star meal. The beef was virtually non-existent, the BBQ sauce was supermarket variety, and the onion rings (I should have looked at the picture on the menu more closely) were these dehydrated strips of laboratory-generated astronaut food that overpowered whatever flavor was left from the beef. The accompanying rice and beans was actually an improvement, but not much of one.
Should have known that chain fare, near the Mall was a bad idea. My vote is a return to downtown for our next book salon.
The only "positive" was that we had the covered patio, as we got to witness the darkening skies, the attendant lightning strikes, and then, the mad dash to the car, getting soaked in a downpour, and driving home in a deluge from last night's nasty thunder/lightning storm in southern Maine. -
Review from John R.
Scarborough, ME
6/27/2011
Food would have been good if it had arrived warm. Lifeless shrimp,steak was a couple of little cubes,large pile of excellent rice with corn in it. Used to be excellent, Friendly, but very slow service. Seems to be more of a bar than a restaurant now.
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Review from Valerie C.
Bangor, ME
5/13/2011 2 Check-ins Here
Great food, lousy service.
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Review from Jim W.
1/14/2008
.5 stars. That's "point 5"
Even after our expectations were diminished when we found out this is a chain restaurant, we were still disappointed in the food and the service.
NO-NO. -
Review from nicole g.
Boston, MA
12/5/2010
i'm very surprised to see all these negative reviews!
we ate at On the Border a few days ago driving from Boston to Bangor, and found that not only was the food delicious, but our waitress was awesome - she pegged us for vegetarians based on what we ordered and offered vegetarian rice and beans instead of the regular stuff - maybe a small gesture but really, really appreciated!
we also ordered "shaken margaritas" and they were yummy.
i dont know what this place is like on weekends or at night, but for a mid-afternoon meal on a long drive it was perfect. and seriously, A+ for being so intuitive and professional about your customers' dietary choices :) -
Review from Bryan M.
Portland, ME
4/17/2010
Thing I liked: the ability to dine outdoors.
Things I didn't: The food was not terribly good, overpriced and slow. Compared to other local mexican fare, it leaves a lot to be desired. -
Review from Whryne R.
Bloomington, IN
9/22/2010 1 Check-in Here
Was only here for like ten minutes getting a take out order for my sweetie. Decided to sit at the bar and have a margarita while I waited. Um...yeah it wasn't worth the price.
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Review from Lora B.
Brighton, MA
10/28/2009
Boo, tear, sigh...this is the last time I will visit an On the Border. The once spectacularly spicy bloodymarys served in a pint glass, and the ginormous "create your own" grilled burritos are sadly no more. I went to eat here with my roommate, and we had been fans of this chain for years. Their chips were warm and super salty, the drinks were large and tasty, and the burritos were massive and contained tons of fresh veggies. What more could you want from a Tex-Mex chain? BUT now I just can't figure out what happened..
First, there is no more option to create your own burrito. No grilling, no choice of veggies, nada. So while we hunted for something else to order we ordered adult beverages. Our drinks came out a quarter of their normal size. My roommate's mojito tasted like simple syrup with a splash of rum. To correct this problem, our waitress took the drink back and decided that maybe if she threw 3 more shots into the simple syrup, she could make my friend forget how bad it was. We weren't fooled. Next came the guacamole "LIVE", where the waitress made guac table-side, with bare hands(ewe) and forgot the citrus. This cost 8 dollars. Finally came the Habenero fajita that I had chosen. The portions were tiny. You had to choose cheese or guac as an additional option, for more money. Cheese should NEVER not be included! The portions were small,the skillet was not sizziling, and to top it off the Habenero sauce which came on the side tasted like flavorless red tinted cannola oil. GROSS. I must find a new Tex-Mex place stat. -
Review from Wayne B.
Gorham, ME
11/24/2010
I was impressed that they had menus (at least online) for dietary restrictions. I was able to order gluten-free and dairy-free; although they can't guarantee cross- contamination. Food was good but could use more spices. Lastly, why won't restaurants stock Redbridge? It's available, please stock it so gluten-beer is available !!!!!
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Review from Jill D.
Wakefield, MA
1/29/2011
No star from me. The food was awful. I ordered enchilladas - they were soggy and gross. So gross that I took one bite and sent them back. I then got tacos - greasy on the inside, bland and cardboardy on the outside. Truly the worst Mexican food I've ever had. The waitress was good, so no complaints on that end. But seriously, HOW do they stay in business with such awful food? I'll never return there, even if the meal was free.
