Don Juan Mexican Bar & Grill

My husband and I love this place, we go about once a week. It’s a solid meal, afforadable and served very quickly. The second you sit down you get your warm chips and salsa. They may make the salsa in house, as we have noticed that it varies slightly every time we eat it. There in house hot sauce is really good if you like it really spicy, get some and add it to your meal. Portions are filling and the meal comes hot and so fast. In case I haven’t mentioned it, We love love love this place. It’s not the fanciest, or most authentic, or best mexician in town, but a great quick affordable meal is so hard to find. Don Juan is the gem of our neighborhood.

Really bad. I don’t like writing negative reviews but it was required. Margaritas tasted like a pre-​mix from the store. Fish tacos were hands down the worst I’ve ever had. I had a dish that included steak, chicken and shrimp and this was halfway decent. Won’t be going back.
It was crazy busy in there so who knows.
Update:
I do appreciate you reaching out. The margarita was actually undrinkable.
The fish tacos were just bland and no flavor. Also, the fish was mushy and just not fresh tasting. I wish it were just me that thought this but my wife completely agreed.
Maybe we will give it a spin again sometime.

This was by far one of the best lunch and service experience I’ve ever had. The server was very nice and helpful. I felt like I was at home being served by mi madre. I ordered a soup to start which came out with tortilla chips. The soup was average but fresh. The chips and salsa were very good though and had just enough spice to be tolerated by even the most novice of tastebuds. Then I ordered the chicken supreme burrito which came out with a warm smile. You could taste the love and care they took to prepare the food. I then ordered a flan to go which was wrapped up very nicely for me and he didn’t push the bill on me until I was ready for it, which I felt was very nice. So if you want to go to an authentic Mexican restaurant I’d recommend this one as the best in Ann Arbor.

Friendly and fun service, the table side guacamole is a MUST, and the margaritas are exceptional! Best authentic Mexican in Ann Arbor and has a great small town feel.

I like coming here for a late dinner any day, but especially on Taco Tuesday! The service is always friendly and fast, and those chips and salsa are a treat. It’s not really that spicy, so I usually add hot sauce to it. The food is hot and decent Mexican food.

This place was great! Not only was the food delicious, the STAFF was AMAZING! You feel at home right when you walk in.
The menu is huge! I tried the Chile rileno, taco, 2 enchilada combo for like $ 10 plus 1.99 Margarita! What a steal.
Food was hot, drinks were delicious, very good authentic Mexican food. Free chips a salsa were delicious. Definitely recommend to anyone looking for fast friendly service and great food!

I can’t say enough about this restaurant. No matter when I go, the food and service is awesome. Please never change!!!

Tuesday is dollar taco night and it’s wonderful. The alcohol is a little pricey but it balances out well if you can get tacos for a dollar.

My fiancé and I have been here a few different times. Both times we only came for snacks and beer, and both times we had a very pleasant experience.
They have a few tasty Mexican beers on draft. They also have margaritas that I hear are good (although pricey).
Complimentary chips and salsa, of course. The salsa is okay, the flavor is good but it lacks substance. Chips were warm and tasty, and our server kept them coming.
We also ordered the cheese dip. Pretty decent queso, I might say. Perfect with a Modelo Especial.
The menu looks like your typical Americanized Mexican cuisine, I will write another review once I try something.
Over all the place had a nice atmosphere, friendly service, and damn good queso. Give it a try but don’t expect an «authentic» experience.

They let me call ahead and eat there cuz I only had 30 minutes people very nice and the food was good

Give me a Speedy Gonzalez with beans any day of the week! I love love love the salsa and chips and my favorite is using the leftover chips to dip into the beans which comes with my enchilada and taco (ground beef please). The servers are awesome, the beer is cold and the service is quick. I love this restaurant!

This is a great place with an incredible staff. I had the lobster enchiladas and they were perfect. Great prices and I’ll definitely go back.

I understand this place is under the sam R ownership as Los Amigos. This place is Los Amigos, but cleaner and better. I was pleasantly surprised when I ate here for lunch the other day.
The menu is the exact same as Los amigos, everything you’d want from your typical Mexican place. Prices reasonable & prompt service.
The chips & salsa were better than most places like this, a lot more salsa was provided than the normal small dish. Chips were warm!
Not much to say, but of the basic Mexican restaurants in the area, this one is a little nicer than most.

This was our first time dining at Don Juan’s and we were pleasantly surprised with the festive and cozy atmosphere once we stepped inside the front door. The service was also a nice surprise with a very attentive, helpful and friendly wait staff. We especially liked the way the restaurant staff came together to sing a «Happy Birthday» complete with the proverbial sombrero, to a 7 year old in the booth next to ours.
My wife ordered the Fajita Taco Salad with chicken and loved every bit of it. I enjoyed the Enchiladas Supremas with an extra plate of shredded lettuce on the side. My plate, which was comprised of one beef, one cheese and one chicken ‘lada, with some rice on the side was very good and filling. Somehow, I missed not having the re-​fried beans on this combo plate which would have further enhanced the meal.
Overall, very impressive Don Juan. Four big ones.

I had high expectations for my visit and was looking forward to their food… however, after visiting and having their food, not sure if I’ll be back…
Service — little slow… took a while to get refills and our food, as well as chips… the server was little slow, not sure how long the server has been working, but service could improve…
Food — The chips and salsa was free, so it was a nice touch.
Chori-​Cheese — mexican sausage and cheese melted in a bowl… this was very heavy and oily and SALTY! Couldn’t eat half of it…
For the main course, I went with #20 combo… got the chile relleno, burrito, rice and beans… rice and beans were okay, but their chile rellen and burrito was too SALTY as well… not sure if the theme of this visit was SALTY or not, but they need to tone down the salt level of their food.
Overall, decent… if they can control the saltiness of the food, then maybe I’ll revisit, but it might be a while before I got back for a visit…

I came to town to visit my parents and was dragging my feet out the door on the way to dinner here because I wanted to go to a nicer restaurant downtown. I was trying to convince them to go to Jolly Pumpkin or Isalita with me, but they insisted that Don’t Juan was a great place, so I caved (plus… You don’t have too much control when you’re not footing the bill).
It turned out to be awesome. The restaurant itself doesn’t look like much, but we ordered a combo plate for our table that turned out to be far too much food and was absolutely delicious. We were served separate plates of rice, beans, veggies and tortillas, and they placed a huge, sizzling platter of chicken, beer, chorizo and shrimp in the center. It was delicious! And not too expensive!
Decently-​priced beers, cheap, delicious food– my kind of place.

Back up plan after Knight’s was too busy, and we had to get to an 8pm play. I commented that this place seemed more Mexican than the restaurants we went to in Mexico lol. I guess we Americans are used to a certain décor in Mexican restaurants in America that we also expect in Mexico.
Overall solid experience. The small pitcher of margarita came out with two glasses already filled with some margarita, so the $ 11 small pitcher is definitely a deal. We also got steak fajitas… our skillet came out steaming, as it should… except smoke was pouring out of our steaming skillet… pretty obvious that our food had been burnt, but the waitress left it with us anyway. We tried… but our steak and veggies were too burnt, so we notified a server and they replaced our skillet and redeemed themselves.
Looks like other tables didn’t have their food burnt, so ours was an anomaly. Servers checked back to make sure we were happy.
Fajitas were solid, but we’ve had better. Not a terrible back up option for us before our 8pm play.

Third time is the charm. I think these guys are listening to their customers. Service has stepped up, and food quality has stepped up. This was our third lunch visit. We ordered from the regular menu items, instead of lunch specials. Still very reasonable prices and the food was top notch.
For $ 10.99, I ordered the fried tilapia. Thinking it would be just pieces of fish that I could build my own tacos. It was a beautifully prepared WHOLE tilapia. Perfectly cleaned, scaled and cooked. It was pre-​scored for easy removal of the meat; came with rice, tortilla (I choose corn), and avocado salad. the whole fish made about 5 tacos and that was 5 full tacos with avocado, rice, salsa.
My dad ordered nachos. Huge plate, half chicken, half beef — hold the tomatoes. He loved it and took the rest home.
I will definitely be back to try more of their regular menu.
Chips are good, thin and crispy. Salsa is still the same very mild tomato-​y stuff but waiter asks if you would like to try hot salsa. Combine the hot stuff — which is sriachia and some smoky goodness — with the regular to make your preferred heat and taste. Very good idea.
Whole meal plus one drink was $ 22. Come on! That is dirt cheap for fresh whole fish, authentic food and great service.
Good job Don Juan!

Not a bad place, but an even tally with some hits and misses.
It’s basically your average Mexican place with the standard menu fare.
I have been here couple times when in the area though for lunch. Here tonight most recently for dinner and finding the place packed and very active.
Pluses:
Good chips and salsa which is always a good start.
Great beer specials before 6pm
Good service (even on a busy night like tonight): we were always looked after; drinks always full; chips and salsa always replenished.
Slightly larger than normal menu, very descriptive with something for everyone.
Minuses:
Anything with ground beef (enchiladas, burritos, tacos, etc.) are abundantly over-​salted. This aspect I had forgotten about, however upon the first taste, quickly recalled that oversalting is the norm (at least for my handful of visits). If you have some rice or salad going, you can kind of temper the salt bite, but otherwise, you’ll be wanting to drink a lot of water (or make use of those beer specials) to slake your thirst.
Combo #3 for me: Enchilada, Taco and Chili Relleno.
Relleno was pretty heavy on the cheese, greasy yes, but that from the cheese I presume. Taste was redeemed by the tasty Poblano inside. Enchilada and taco were fair, but bruised by the saltiness.
Others at the table had the ala carte chalupa plate (2 chalupas); salad with tilapia fillet; taco plate and Burrito Special. Generally all received generally well enough, but all with the common criticism of «too much salt in everything».

Ha! After teasing us for a month, this location finally opened this week. The bf and I went for lunch and were able to use a 20% non-​alcoholic drinks coupon from Clipper Magazine. All of the workers we interacted with were very polite and friendly.
The cheese dip ($ 3.59) was warm and went well with the free chips & salsa. Don Juan already had a huge leg up on Tio’s there (in case you can’t tell from previous reviews, I have a bit of a personal vendetta against Tio’s for charging for chips & salsa).
I ordered the lunch special #1, which was plenty of food for me. They did not skimp on the beef filling (chicken was also an option), and it was well seasoned. The chile rellenos also tasted good, but as it cooled down, the cheese got really chewy. Tasty though!
The bf also tried a lunch margarita and claims it was better than the ones they serve at Los Amigos by Briarwood, even though these restaurants are owned by the same guy. Huh.
I think we ended up getting under-​charged, even with 20% off, but hey, I’m not complaining. :)
All in all, I would say this place is worth checking out at least once to see if it suits your tastes. I would definitely make a return visit.
Note: If I could give this place 3.5 stars, I would. Rounding up to 4 to encourage other people to try it out though…