The Fall Guy said:

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Horrible white gringo food

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Hey, don't insult all tex Mex like that.

Last time I can remembering going to an On the Border is 2006.

On The Border when it was next to The Arboretum was glorious spot to meet chicks. Must have been late 90s

Seems like something would have moved into the location on Texas by now - crazy how a restaurant across the street for the largest university in the country can't make it. Other than Torchy's, Laynes and Chili's.

I've always wondered how the lower end chain Mexican places stay in business. Every town has the go to hole in the wall Mexican joint with the 78 year old grandma who makes the best tortillas you've ever had, and every metro area has multiple high end Mexican joints. Both types have way better food and way better atmosphere. And these days a lot of the more fast food type Mexican places have just as good a food as the lower tier sit down establishments. Just always seemed that places like OTB shouldn't have much of a market share.

Bummer. Their 19.99 Fajitas for two Wednesday night special was pretty good.

I ate at one last summer I think in Jackson Mississippi or Mesquite Tx(I remember who I was with but can't remember which trip we ate there).

Just boring food. But they let us take a booth for like three hours and work. We certainly were not getting in the way of any business.

Agree with poster above about chains competing in Mexican food with locals. It's practically impossible. The only decently good one is Lupe's and even it doens seem to be as good as it used to be.

Most chain restaurants just suck.

At the same time?

And yet, the On The Border chips are sold locally in our market. Kind of crazy that the restaurant is dead but the chips survived.

88Warrior said:

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itsyourboypookie said:

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agracer said:

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itsyourboypookie said:

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Private equity bought them in 2014, Pappas bought them at the bankruptcy auction for 15.9 million, and now they are throwing in the towel.

Between covid and inflation I'm surprised more places aren't calling it quits.

On the Border, off the map.

I blame the Iran war and screw worms. pic.twitter.com/YAxAMG9sZS

— Corey Thompson (@Roughneck2real) June 12, 2026

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I mean, the food was terrible. But that seems pretty common at a lot of restaurants today. Covid set the restaurant industry back to McDonalds level. My wife and I hardly eat out anymore b/c we don't want to pay $70 to drink water (we hardly every drink alcohol) and eat bad food.

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Why you bringing Chili's into this?

The service also sucks now too at every chain but roadhouse and Waffle House.

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Sir, I'll have you know the Chili's here in Bixby, Oklahoma is solid! Can't beat that Three for Me deal….

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Is there a Zaxbys in Bixby?

Emotional Support Cobra said:

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Chuy's, Lupe Tortilla, who's next on the Sysco food truck of mediocrity?

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To many basic white b***** will keep Lupe Tortilla open.

I thought this thread was going to be about Rip from Dutton Ranch dishing out some justice at the border. I am disappoint.

jeremy said:

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The Fall Guy said:

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Horrible white gringo food

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White gringo? Isn't that redundant?

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I think that it's a hate crime to double hate white people because the first one never counts

I know its cool to say, "I haven't eaten there since the LBJ administration..." but I've eaten there from time to time, including today! I was needing to grab lunch, it was right there, and so I stopped in. It was then that my waiter told me they were closing Friday. I wasn't shocked, but I was surprised by the timing. I thought Pappas only recently bought them out and would give it a go for a bit longer. I guess they decided to cut bait.

It is difficult for these medium priced chains to thrive. They don't pay enough and the quality from restaurant to restaurant is highly variable and dependent on management. They take a good manager and send him/her to a lower performing store, and then the original store he/she came from craps out. These places quit staying open late because fewer customers and they don't like to take the chance of over-serving alcohol after 9pm, which is pretty much a given if the bartenders aren't supervised properly. It just isn't a model for high revenue and employee retention. Good wait staff move on to bigger/better places.

People say OTB sucks(ed). Fine. I don't necessarily disagree, but what doesn't suck?

IIIHorn said:

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Ag03 CQE said:

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I saw this and mentioned to my wife that all the On The Border restaurants were closing down.

My 10 year old son heard and asked if it was because we were building a wall.

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The wall is being built between the eating area and the restrooms.

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That sounds like a war crime!

HoldMyBeer said:

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In the late '90s, I was stuck for a few hours on an elevated portion of the Southwest Freeway in Houston while they cleared a jackknifed 18 wheeler. There was an OTB on the feeder so I climbed down the embankment and asked a waitress about a pitcher of margaritas to-go, pointing up to my car and a group of thirsty people on the freeway. She said they couldn't do to-go but could serve me on the patio. She brought the margaritas in a plastic pitcher with plastic glasses and after paying, plus a very respectable tip, I climbed back up the embankment and we had happy hour on the Southwest Freeway.

I never actually ate their food but that was one of the better margaritas I've had.

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This had me cracking up! Exactly the sort of thing I'd have done in my 20s (and 30s too, if I'm being honest).

I love margaritas and have zero tolerance for traffic.


Edit autocorrect

I agree that it has gone downhill, but I had some great times there back in the day.

agracer said:

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I mean, the food was terrible. But that seems pretty common at a lot of restaurants today. Covid set the restaurant industry back to McDonalds level. My wife and I hardly eat out anymore b/c we don't want to pay $70 to drink water (we hardly every drink alcohol) and eat bad food.

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Don't forget lousy service. Most have too few servers and the tip suggestions have taken incentive away to deliver great service

High end restaurants use Sysco too though, don't they?

I've never understood why/how no chain has ever gotten Tex-Mex 'right' or done a good job with it. It doesn't seem like it should be that hard to do, and it's great food when done well, but I know nothing about running a restaurant/fast food chain so it must be harder than I think.

I ate at a Chili's when on the road last week and I am just about certain everything on their menu is popped into a microwave to 'prepare' it.

Where I had my first legal alcoholic beverage circa 2002. RIP.

Waffledynamics said:

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Nothing of value was lost.

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Unless you are one of the employees, suppliers/vendors, or real estate firms that own the leases on all those buildings.....

An L of an Ag said:

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HoldMyBeer said:

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In the late '90s, I was stuck for a few hours on an elevated portion of the Southwest Freeway in Houston while they cleared a jackknifed 18 wheeler. There was an OTB on the feeder so I climbed down the embankment and asked a waitress about a pitcher of margaritas to-go, pointing up to my car and a group of thirsty people on the freeway. She said they couldn't do to-go but could serve me on the patio. She brought the margaritas in a plastic pitcher with plastic glasses and after paying, plus a very respectable tip, I climbed back up the embankment and we had happy hour on the Southwest Freeway.

I never actually ate their food but that was one of the better margaritas I've had.

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This had me cracking up! Exactly the sort of thing I'd have done in my 20s (and 30s too, if I'm being honest).

I love margaritas and have zero tolerance for traffic.


Edit autocorrect

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My car was in the center lane so before I headed to OTB. I negotiated with another guy that if traffic started moving before I got back, he had to move my car to the shoulder, else my car would have been stuck in the middle of the freeway until traffic cleared and I would have been left standing on the side of the road with a pitcher of margaritas.

Bummer. Back in the day this was one of the best chain mexican joints. Too much competition now.

itsyourboypookie said:

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Private equity bought them in 2014, Pappas bought them at the bankruptcy auction for 15.9 million, and now they are throwing in the towel.

Between covid and inflation I'm surprised more places aren't calling it quits.

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The food quality and service had nothing to do with it. Right

ToddyHill said:

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And yet, the On The Border chips are sold locally in our market. Kind of crazy that the restaurant is dead but the chips survived.

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Well, the chips were the best thing about them, so………

nortex97 said:

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High end restaurants use Sysco too though, don't they?

I've never understood why/how no chain has ever gotten Tex-Mex 'right' or done a good job with it. It doesn't seem like it should be that hard to do, and it's great food when done well, but I know nothing about running a restaurant/fast food chain so it must be harder than I think.

I ate at a Chili's when on the road last week and I am just about certain everything on their menu is popped into a microwave to 'prepare' it.

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My thought is that most chains are national now and tex mex is a highly regional food usually involving higher than average spice levels compared to others. What works in Texas won't work in Illinois or say Oregon. So they have to make it appeal to as many people as possible and that means just a bit more bland, less traditional ingredients, just a bit more salt, and way less heat. And that's a bad combo for good tex mex.

chips were/are great.

the mexican food establishment is better off without this place.

When OTB first opened, it was fantastic.

In college, I interned at a PR firm and OTB was the first place that I ever went to happy hour with people I "worked" with. They were ordering margaritas by the pitcher and paid for everything. I felt like I was on top of the world that day.

HoldMyBeer said:

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In the late '90s, I was stuck for a few hours on an elevated portion of the Southwest Freeway in Houston while they cleared a jackknifed 18 wheeler. There was an OTB on the feeder so I climbed down the embankment and asked a waitress about a pitcher of margaritas to-go, pointing up to my car and a group of thirsty people on the freeway. She said they couldn't do to-go but could serve me on the patio. She brought the margaritas in a plastic pitcher with plastic glasses and after paying, plus a very respectable tip, I climbed back up the embankment and we had happy hour on the Southwest Freeway.

I never actually ate their food but that was one of the better margaritas I've had.

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Username semi-checks out.

Taco Bell does not seem to be worried about screw worms.... Oh right.

For anyone who is upset by this, let me know and I'll point you to much better Tex Mex places to eat.

I haven't lived near an OTB since the one in College Station so haven't had an opportunity to eat there since then. My lone memory of it is it was the first time and place I ever had a margarita with a Chambord meltdown which was a thing for us for a while way back then. That was at an OTB in Dallas...maybe in West End area?

Anywho, considering the sheer number of Mexican food places in Texas someone has to fail. Utterly saturated market.

Regarding Chili's, I thought I read recently that they are actually making a comeback and doing well.