Don Pablo’s

Garbage! They give you these big portions but thats bad because everything was nasty.

This place sucks Burger King has better food and service !! One guy running the bar area

Don Pablo’s is an American chain of Tex-​Mex restaurants located mostly in the eastern US. There used to be many locations, but the number has significantly dwindled in recent years. This Don Pablo’s is the only one in Georgia. It’s inside the multi-​level Parkway Pointe shopping center at the corner of Cobb Parkway (Highway 41) and Cumberland Boulevard. This shopping center also has an AMC movie theater and a Copeland’s restaurant.
I came here for a birthday dinner and while I had fun, the dining experience wasn’t very memorable. We had a group of 12 and made reservations. Before we arrived, staff pulled together some tables in the middle of the restaurant, so we sat together at one long table.
Don Pablo’s has a Mexican cantina theme with festive lights and colorful décor. The atmosphere is laid back and casual. Despite the low ratings (at least here on Unilocal), this restaurant seems to get a good amount of business. The night we went, customers typically included small groups and families. Because of all the people, the noise level was loud. I bet this place would do even better in a suburb like Kennesaw.
The menu features a lot of common Mexican dishes such as nachos, tacos, burritos, fajitas, enchiladas, and quesadillas. Texas-​influenced entrees include BBQ ribs and chicken and pulled pork sandwiches. At dinnertime, most entrees are priced between $ 10 – 14 each.
We ordered a couple Dip Samplers for the table. The Dip Sampler contains four dips: Queso, Queso Blaco, Prairie Fire Bean Dip, and Guacamole. The dips weren’t bad, but the chips seemed hard and stale. The Queso Dip was a standard cheese dip. The Queso Blanco was mildly spicy because it contained chopped green chilis and jalapenos. The bean dip was thick and also mildly spicy and made out of refried beans. The guac was my favorite of the dips and one of the tangier guacs I’ve tasted.
We also split some empanadas. Empanadas are pastries filled with seasoned ground beef. They were OK, but seemed rather plain and lackluster. I wouldn’t order them again.
I had the Mesquite-​Grilled Steak Fajitas as my entrée. This entrée came with slices of steak (still sizzling), sauteed onions, peppers, beans, rice, and flour tortillas. Sides included shredded lettuce, cheese, salsa (pico de gallo), and sour cream. The portion size was generous.
The entrée looked nice, but unfortunately, it didn’t taste good. The pieces of steak were dry and tough. I think they were overcooked. The beans were lukewarm and pasty — just not very appetizing. The flour tortillas were probably the biggest letdown because they were hard and brittle. They would fall apart when I tried to eat them. At least the sides were fresh, but they didn’t make up for the disappointing main ingredients.
Service was slow. Our server was polite and friendly, but it took us a while to get our food orders, drink refills, and other requests filled. Granted, it was a busy night, but some of my friends never got their drinks refilled.

I have visited this location of Don Pablos twice, and had a pleasurable experience both times. Most recently, I went with my girlfriend. We ordered fajitas and a chicken quesadilla, and both were huge portions and tasted excellent. The fajitas were given standard presentation, served on a skillet with grilled vegetables with enough steam to set off a smoke alarm. The quesadilla came out with beans and rice, and it was a struggle to finish. I ended up getting way too full, but definitely boxed it all up to go to have for lunch the next day.
Their beer selection is so-​so. I remember ordering a Dos Equis, which was moderately priced. On the night we went, they claimed to be having a special on import beer, but we were informed by our server that import beers are always that price. I’m not very fond of that style of advertising. I don’t like feeling tricked into thinking something is on sale when they’re really stating the normal price in a really flashy way.
The service was all-​around good. The manager greeted us at the door, everyone had a smile on their face, and we felt very welcome in the establishment. Our server was very attentive (admittedly it was slow), and she took care of everything we needed.
I won’t say it’s the absolute best Mexican food ever, but I will be returning.

That was such a waste of my money! The food had no flavor the corn tortillas were dry and falling apart. The meat was dry with no flavor and the rice was hard. I wish that I had looked at Unilocal reviews before I ate at that place. I would take Taco Bell any day over Don Pablo’s. RUN from this place! The service was fair. Waitress had a dirty shirt with what looked like flour all over it. My husband and I felt nauseated the rest of the day.

Poor service!
Dirty silverware and a manager who looks like she is in need of a box of Tide with Bleach. Daphne, the manager’s shirt was so filithy. I wanted to ask her if she needed me to take her uniform home to wash it for her. On the bright side… a second manager Tabitha totally handled the situation. …she gave us the meal for free and apologized for the poor service as well as conversed with us on ways that she could keep our business… because of her… I will definitely give Don Pablo another chance. Additionally, our waiter Aaron tried to make the most of our experience.

Terrible, terrible service. Waited 20 mins for a table for 6, and the place was NOT full. ok, no harm no foul, we proceed with the night. ordered drinks and got them 30 mins later. 15 mins after that we got to order appetizers. the appetizers came without cutlery and the waitress was too busy to be bothered by us after that. we flagged down a waiter to get us cutlery and take our dinner order. the order, he took and he fudged up each and every person’s order and never brought us cutlery. dinner came out and we were still utensil-​less. we flagged down a manager and still didn’t make progress. Incredibly disappointing. Left a bad taste in everyone’s mouths. I had a mango margarita to ease the experience for myself but everyone else was very unhappy. we got our bill halfed but we still had a $ 89 bill despite that. If I owned or managed a place and saw a big group of people like this come in and you know they’re ordering drinks etc, and there’s potential to earn good money, why wouldn’t I make the effort to make sure they’re having a good experience?

I don’t like to be a hater but this was the worst. My friend and I came here before a show and ordered two drinks a guacamole appetizer and bottomless soup each. After 40 minutes I had to ask the bar tender if hey remembered our guacamole — it finally came. The chips served with it were stale — we complained and they said «those are for decoration». Meanwhile only one soup came out and the waiter claimed that he didn’t understand that we each wanted soup. Another 40 minutes go by — soup comes. Had to go to the bar to order more drinks get silverware and napkins. Worst ever.

Food is 100% better than the nasty stuff I tried to choke down last time! The service is horrendous unless you are black. My white friend and I had to wait forever to get menus, place our orders and get the check. They never brought silverware. The black customers got excellent service. Pity. Could be a nice place.

Gosh, let’s see… what did I eat there?
I can’t remember but I know I have. In other words, the meal was forgettable and nothing special. They have warm chips and beer that’s tasty, tho.

My wife has fond memories of this place. The chips and salsa are alright, she comes for the sweet cornbread dish, everything else is just window dressing for that particular meal.
I’ve tried fajitas, flautas, and the like which haven’t really impressed me. My one tip is that if you think ordering a combo is a great way to get a little of everything, DO NOT ORDER THE COMBO. Sure it’s a little of everything but most of the stuff all tastes the same. Save calories and cash by ordering just one particular entrée or go a la carte, you’ll be happier.

Wifey was craving mexican yesterday so we decided to hit Don Pablo’s. I hadn’t eaten there in years, and didn’t really remember much about it. And unmemorable is what it was. Nothing was particularly bad… but nothing was particularly good either. My wife got enchiladas, which were rather bland. I decided to get the sampler appetizer as my meal:
–Chicken Quesadilla — the best thing I had. It was average.
–Buffalo chicken tenders — you can find better in the grocer’s freezer.
–Beef Empanadas — meh. Tasty, but if you can’t make spiced beef in fried dough taste good, you have no business in a kitchen. Below average.
–Queso — average.
–Nachos — slightly below average.
And their salsa has that distinctive jarred flavor.

I learned why it really helps to read the Unilocal ratings before going to these places. Not worth the time, money, or good jeans.
The food was really blah. Either it was bland and masked by sauce and sour cream or it was too salty. There was very little flavor to the food, even the guacamole was too salty. The meat was tasteless and had a really old meatiness to it. In a nutshell, I probably won’t eat here again.
The space also seems too big. There were a ton of open tables but we still have to wait for a while. there also a lot of people working but no one came to our table after we were seated. The only reason it gets two stars is Chris, our server who just walked by and asked if we were being helped.
It is just not worth the time and money to eat here, especially when there are so many other Tex-​Mex, Mexican restaurants around.

The food was just so so, not very good at all. I was rather disappointed, being a fan of Mexican/​TexMex. The only good part was the service. The waitress was very good, which is why it gets two instead of one star.
Places like La Parrilla are a much better option though.

This was the worst dining experience I have ever had.
Called an hour before our group of 8 got there and they said they had plenty of room for us but we still made a reservation just in case. We arrived on time and still waited over an hour for a table. The manager did nothing to accommodate us and the three hostesses were clueless. Our server was impatient and rude.
We were late to our movie.
Never again.

So… looking for a quick bite to eat after work we decided on this. The GF had been once and thought it was good. I’m seriously rethinking our relationship. This placed sucked. The menu was chaotic and nothing jumped out as good, outside of the prices which seemed relatively low for the amount of food I assumed we would get.
I ordered some combo thing and from the first bite I was pissed. Pissed at myself for even thinking this was going to be good. The place looked dingy and sorta worn down, which was similar to the food.
If you want good tex mex, go to taco bell its better than this crap. By the way I haven’t been to Taco Bell in ten years.

This place was average, nothing special but not bad either. Our server was very friendly and that helped get them to three stars here.
I don’t know if I would go back, it was just kind of «ok.»

Oh, shit. Where do I even begin.
Service? Sucked.
Food? Sucked.
Why my co-​workers dragged me here kicking and screaming? They obviously suck.
Save your money and find a better Mexican place (and tell me where it is when you do!!)

How did I live in Vinings for a year and not go to Don Pablos? They’re happy hour special offers $ 1.99 draft, plus all your can eat tacos on Tuesday for $ 6.99 and fellas you’ve got yourself a cheap date.
The staff was super friendly, especially Brandon the bartender who chatted with me while I sipped my cheap beer. I’ll be back for happy hour again soon!

I wish I had looked at Unilocal before going here. Then again, with everything freaking closed with no note probably because of the stupid Super Bowl, this was our fourth stop and we were done.
BLEH. The nacho cheese taquito I got at QT later on to deal with my hunger tasted better than the stuff here.
First problem of course is you will get a server who resents your existence on a slow day when you are in the minority of people who don’t give a shit about football. Honestly… I do not want to hear that you «need to find another job» because you are having to work until close… I understand if you thought you’d be done to watch football but… oh god please don’t tell us, especially after you’ve done the minimum of work you possibly could and you only have two tables. You have confirmed everything and you did not need to take it out on us because we are like the easiest to please people right now. We just want some food.
How can I say it was taken out on us? Oh maybe by the check being dropped off before I’m even halfway through my meal. Seriously. It’s dead in here. You’ll get your chance to watch handegg in no time.
The chips and salsa were fine. Then I made the mistake of looking at Unilocal while waiting for the food. Eek.
I ordered some thing with tacos and an enchilada, plus rice and a side. It also came with «queso dip» which the rest of the world knows as Velveeta. Vile.
The first taco I ate, a crunchy steak fajita taco, was the only bright spot of the plate. While it wasn’t anything special, it was the only thing to have any sort of flavor… well it had one flavor. Pepper.
Then there was a soft chicken fajita taco. Okay. Put it down to try some other things on the plate.
Chicken enchilada… bland. Got a bite out of it and was done. Rice? No flavor at all. Black beans? Why are they so watery and how the hell do they taste this bad when I see onions and peppers in here too?
Since the only thing I’d eaten all day up until this point was a brownie, I forced down the remaining half of taco and gave up.
Would have just been better off eating popcorn during the movie. I can’t even imagine what it’s like to eat here when there’s more people in here. Oh wait, I have reviews to tell me.
Damn, who knew PF Chang’s could have been a better option… I started this review at 2 stars and in no time I went back and changed it to what it damn well should be. I would be scared if anyone actually really likes this place.
#Yelp365 — ³⁸⁄₃₆₅