On The Border: Authentic Mexican grill

On The Border is a traditional Mexican restaurant with a twist that was first opened in 1982 in Dallas Texas and is now available to Jeddawis to experience the real taste of Mexico.
The restaurant is fun-spirited, vibrant, festive, creative and with an authentic Mexican design. The walls are a mixture of bricks and wood that reflect nature and a homey atmosphere. Some are decorated with pottery; others have beautiful chandeliers designed with glass bottles. The tables and chairs are made of wood. The open kitchen shows diners the preparation of their food. There is also a terrace area that gives diners an outdoor feel with seating overlooking Jeddah’s Andalus Street.
The restaurant seats up to 276 diners and separates singles from families. Besides the wooden chairs, diners also have the choice to sit on leather booths. The restaurant boasts of two VIP rooms that seat 40 to 50 people. It also offers outside catering, either by delivering the cooked meals or by sending their chef to cook right at your home.
Their menu is tempting and attractive; it offers a huge variety of authentic Mexican grills and greens. Once seated, diners are offered complementary chips and salsa to start the Mexican fiesta.
On The Border’s signature drink is the Mexican Mojito and the Fruit Margarita with different flavors: Strawberry, pomegranate, watermelon, mango-passion and guava. The pomegranate is highly recommended, as it is the perfect mixture of a sweet and sour cold drink.
They also offer Mojitos with fresh mint, lemonade and Monin Mojito Mix Syrup, which is served frozen or on the rocks. The Strawberry Colada is another recommended specialty that is a blended, traditional piña colada with fresh strawberry.
For starters, the Chicken Tortilla Soup is very tasty. It is prepared with slow-cooked pulled chicken, rice and vegetables, and topped with fresh avocado and tortilla chips. It comes in two sizes. The Citrus Chipotle Chicken Salad is a very healthy choice for those who are looking for less fat in their meal. It comes with premium pulled chicken breast tossed in fat-free mango citrus vinaigrette with peppers, red onions, tomatoes, corn, queso fresco and crunchy jicama on a bed of mixed greens.
The appetizer’s menu offers a fun and tasty variety of food including delicious dips that can be eaten with chips. There is the Queso Live, which is a cheese dip with a choice of either chicken, beef or both topped with avocado, sour cream and chopped tomato. There is also a Guacamole Live of fresh avocado, tomato, onion, jalapeño and lime to give it the perfect zesty ending. Diners have the choice to leave the guacamole chunky or smooth. Both dishes are prepared in front of diners to give them the pleasure and entertainment of seeing their food being made in front of them, and both are highly recommended.
For the main dish, the Brisket Tacos are an excellent choice. The tacos are crispy or soft and stuffed with juicy brisket, BBQ sauce and topped with crispy onions. The meal comes with two side orders: a choice of fries, mashed potato, salad, rice and beans, or vegetables.
Another great main dish is the Taco Melt; it is one of their best sellers. The dish comes on a hot plate, and diners have the choice between minced meat and chicken on a bed of traditional salsa and topped with melted cheese. It also comes with soft tortilla, sour cream, guacamole and a side of the diner’s choice.
From the fresh grill section, the Jalapeño BBQ-Salmon consists of a salmon fillet mesquite-grilled with a jalapeño-BBQ glaze served with black beans and grilled vegetables.
Another option is the Bandera Sirloin from the carne grill, a famous 255 grams premium choice sirloin steak served on a bed of sautéed onions topped with freshly made avocado relish and served with grilled vegetables and On The Border’s mashed potatoes.
The best part of the meal comes at the end, as On the Border offers four great deserts, from the Chocolate Turtle Empanadas made with flaky pastry stuffed with pecans, chocolate and caramel and served with vanilla ice cream or the Sopapillas — a plate of five pieces of warm fluffy Mexican pastry sprinkled with cinnamon sugar and served with honey and chocolate sauce for dipping — to their best seller, the Sizzling Apple Crisp. This is a hot plate of warm apples topped with crumbs, vanilla ice cream and caramel sauce. It tastes great when it is hot. There is also the traditional Border Brownie Sundae that comes with vanilla ice cream and pecan praline sauce.

Opening hours: Saturday to Thursday from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 a.m.
On Friday from 1:30 p.m. to 1:30 a.m.