West Virginia restaurant to be featured on America’s Best Restaurants

NEW MARTINSVILLE, W.Va. — West Virginia restaurant Jalapenos Mexican Restaurant will be hosting a visit from America’s Best Restaurants (ABR) in early August 2024.

America’s Best Restaurants , a national media and marketing company focusing on bringing attention to local, independently-owned restaurants, will bring its ABR Roadshow to the Jalapenos, located at 283 WV-2, New Martinsville, on August 1st.

Popular dishes will be highlighted, along with an extensive on-camera interview with owner Erick Hernandez about the restaurant’s special place in the community.

ABR officials say the episode will be aired extensively on social media channels at a later date.

Hernandez purchased the restaurant in 2014 without any experience in the hospitality industry but he knew customer service from his days working in his father’s auto parts store in Guatemala.

“I didn’t know the restaurant business but I know people, and I know I can turn this [restaurant] around based on customer service,” he recalls thinking. His parents came up with the new name; they rebranded and began social media marketing.

Noting that they are the “most authentic Mexican restaurant in the valley,” Jalapenos Mexican Restaurant is celebrating its tenth anniversary this year. They began a new menu last year and offer a wide selection of Mexican specialties, breakfast all day, and run food and drink specials.

They were also the first ‘Certified Safe’ bar in the Ohio Valley, completing a training program to recognize sexual violence and the role alcohol plays in it in order to help prevent its prevalence.

Hernandez notes his goal with being on the Roadshow is to bring in more business.

“It’s a unique experience, a family-friendly restaurant, and the best food in the valley,” he says.

Popular menu items that may be featured on the episode include the birria pizza, available in three sizes; Steak Cuernavaca, ribeye served in a hot skillet with grilled onions and mushrooms, cheese and queso dip; Cocina Ixtapa , a mix of chicken, steak and shrimp with vegetables and pineapple served on rice and covered with queso; or the foot-long Burrito El Rey , filled with rice, beans, steak, chicken, shrimp, vegetables, cheese and sour cream and weighing in at three to four pounds.

“It was actually featured on a Virginia tourism website as one of the largest meals in the state,” Hernandez says.

Restaurants featured on the ABR Roadshow are selected based on their customer reviews, menu items, social media presence, and level of involvement with their community.

They are found through customer nominations, internal vetting or by a restaurant applying to be featured by clicking here .

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