Dos Reales

Came in for a quick dinner one Friday night. I’ve tried most of the Mexican places on campus, and since my friend had a car, we decided to make our way off-​campus to Dos Reales, which has glowing reviews on Unilocal.
We came in at about 8:30, the place had quite a few people in it, but there were many open tables and we didn’t have to wait.
The inside looks like a Mexican cantina with lots of bright colors and even some rustic decorations.
We perused the extensive menu and settled on beef flautas for me and chicken tacos for her.
My beef flautas were surprisingly good. They were filled with a braised beef and green pepper that had a little kick to it. The rice was pretty standard but the beans were quite delicious. My meal was definitely good, a little better than expected, actually. She said her tacos were good and had similar good things to say about the beans. The chips and salsa were quite mediocre, probably not made in-​house, but that’s just a guess.
Our server was barely seen, as we didn’t exactly need much from him other than to take our order and ask for the check.
For the price, the portions are good and I must’ve picked one of the better dishes compared to some of the lower-​rated reviews.
Decent Mexican food off campus.
I’d come back!

Great service. Awesome food. Cheap. Meat quality is very good compared to other Mexican restaurants in town.

No place I’d rather go with a big group of friends to celebrate a birthday with margaritas and excessive amounts of food.

Overall, Dos Reales had decent food, but it seemed very «Americanized.» I’m not sure whether I should hold that against them or not though because maybe that’s what gets them good business, but I wouldn’t say it’s anything unique or special. I did really like their horchata though; very delicious! The prices aren’t too bad either. The employees were a bit rude though when we went. I was with one other person and they brought our food out ten minutes apart. Also when they brought it out to us, they threw it on a table in a hurry and ran off. One thing that the staff were very kind about though was not kicking us out. The person I was with and I ended getting caught up in a conversation and accidentally stayed in the restaurant about 20 minutes after closing. The staff saw we were engaged in a conversation and didn’t bother us. After we realized that we stayed after hours, we promptly left. I might come back here and give it another try because the parts of my first experience that I didn’t like may have just been unique to that visit and may not be reflective of a typical visit to Dos Reales.

The food was okay, nothing special. I got a quesadilla and, to be honest, I took half home and it tasted better the next day when I was hungover, so perhaps it is better for that. The staff was really friendly and the service was fast. It is a step up from fast food for sure.

Year 2 Review
For the price of the food and the variety, it still skates away with an easy 5 star. You have to be selective in what you order. So far everything I have tried at least taste fresh to order and has not been pre-​cooked already. It may not be the best mexican food you have ever had or even authentic, but if you want a step up from fast food mexican then Dos Reales will not disappoint. Cheap drinks specials as well. The one thing they could do better is serve some tastier chips that don’t taste like they came out of a bag along with the very watery salsa; but for the price what can you expect!
Health code rating: B/​C. Lots of issues with food temperature based on the reports. I would steer clear of some of the menu items that maybe prepared ahead of time i.e. the chile relleno.

I really enjoyed myself here the staff the menu and my actual meal were all amazing defiantly a little slice of Mexico. I recommend a tall beer and the chimichanga. Also they bring 2 kinds of salsa for the pickier people both are excellent!

Dos Reales definitely has a tough competition in the Urbana-​Champaign area for Mexican food. It offers a few good things that make it more enjoyable than other two good places. First they have ample parking around the place. They have ample seating. Chips and salsa is complimentary and very good. Most of the staff does not understand complex English so keep it simple when ordering.
We felt like the waiter was looking for the table as he was guiding us to the table, a little disorganized but efficient because he found one at the end! It is a large place so very good for groups. We had vegetarian plates option A and I. I enjoyed my option I a lot. They had done a great job with Fajita vegetables and making a quesadilla from it. I am usually disappointed in Fajita vegetables but this one was uniquely good experience for me. Overall food is not as great as other two Mexican places but overall dining experience is better, clean and efficient.
Certainly a very good option for Mexican food, especially ambiance, parking and service are the things that matter to you!

Totally solid food, solid service, and solid drinks. But, in a city where there is substantial competition for Mexican food Dos Reales doesn’t top the charts as a favorite.

One of the best Mexican restaurant I have ever tried. This restaurant gets full marks on food taste and ambiance.
I have been to this restaurant on multiple occasions including weekends and I always found ample space to park car and seating arrangement.
Food serve is really delicious and it does not take more than 10 mins from the order to getting the plate on the table.
I recently moved to california and this is one restaurant I am going to miss here.

I just got back from dinner and it was great! I have been here a couple of times in the past and I remembered that I had a very good experience. I ordered a shrimp fajita quesadilla and it was fantastic. I also ordered the jumbo margarita and it was great as well. I didn’t care for the salsa but each to their own on something like that. This was a great dinner and a must visit on my next trip to Champaign.

For fair to middlin’ Mexican, Dos was ALWAYS a great option! Super fast seating, warm basket of chips and a house blended salsa, and a few menus about three minutes through the door! Can’t beat that.
Servers ALWAYS ask you for a drink order, and they come back with them rapido! Food’s the same way. No sooner are you sipping on a margarita, then you’re grabbing the warm edge of a plate of nachos or soft tacos! It’s just that fast!
The food, like I said, is fair to middlin’. They’re not trying to be anything they’re not. It’s just good, wholesome, down-​to-​Earth Mexican fare, simple ingredients, and often just assembled (so there’s not a whole lot of «cooking» involved, if you know what I mean). It’s ridiculously cost effective, too. For the amount of food you get (and you get A LOT!), the price is kind of astounding. How they’re able to give you so much for so little is beyond me!
Dos is just a comfortable, nice spot to hang out with family and friends. Kids are welcome, too, and definitely on hand! If you have a baby or young kids, this is a great place to come. Menus are laminated, the tables get a quick wash down between seatings (so anything spilled is no trouble!), and the volume is always within that range where children kind of drown out. ;D New parents, never fear!

I ordered the chicken chimichanga. Weird flavored sauce that made the chicken inside the chimi red. Never had that in there before. The rice was very bland. Barely any flavor. The salad with lettuce, guacamole, and tomato barely came with any diced up tomatoes and was served with half a tomato slice on top. This salad was also very bland. Chips were not very fresh. Decent amount of food for the money but all really bland.

Of all the mexican places I have been to, this one is really only a 3 start place. Food was lacking flavor. The mild salsa was like eating straight tomatoes sauce and the not was very very mild. The enchilada sauce was also bland and very mild. My son had a kids meal and that was honestly better than my food. I can’t say I’ll ever go back. There are much cleaner, friendlier and tastier places in town.

The food is aplenty here at Dos Reales. I had myself a California burrito… I couldn’t understand why they would put the cheese on the burrito instead of inside of it; it’s an awkward design that makes holding it a sticky affair. Despite this, the food was pretty darn tasty.

I was staying at one of the nearby hotels and didn’t want a chain so I decided to come here. The place was packed. I waited just a couple minutes for table and was seated. From the time I sat and placed my order to getting my food, it was maybe 20 minutes total and I even sent the waiter back once because I wasn’t ready. The service was super fast!
I wish I could say the food was just as good. It was average. I enjoyed that they gave you two different salsa options and my margarita on the rocks was good, however I ordered the enchiladas Mexicanos and it was good but not great. The serving size was huge but the food was just bland. I actually had to add salt and a bunch of the salsa just to give it some flavor.
I would try this again if I were back in the area and try a different option.

I think it’s fair to say that the horchata here is fantastic. I still remember how smooth and creamy that drink was. Hard to believe such magic can happen with good ingredients and loving food preparation.

Maybe one of the worst Mexican restaurants I’ve tried…
I had a chile relleno plate with rice and beans. The mass of cheese on the beans was pretty disgusting. I like cheese a lot but this cheese was not good. It tasted like imitation cheese (cheese product). The chile relleno (something I truly love) had a bit of the flavor that it had suffered severe frostbite. I think that it may have been improperly frozen or something. :/​
I wanted to like this place but I didn’t enjoy the food at all. Wouldn’t come here again. At least the chips and salsa were good!

A good choice — Always solid! Delicious! I used to eat here four times a week for lunch — love the chicken and shrimp fajitas.
Ice cold cerveza and great margaritas. The atmosphere is so-​so but the food is always amazing and FAST!

The ironclad rule of BBQ and Mexican joints is, the worse the place looks on the outside, the better the food is on the inside.
Dos Reales looks like a dump. The food is outstanding.
First off, you’ll notice the menu is enormous. It takes some time to sift through all the options. On a friend’s recommendation, I got the burrito bravo — just an enormous burrito. You can choose steak or chicken. I ordered steak, but my girlfriend got a taco with the chicken and it was mindblowing. (The chicken is shredded and pulls apart, like what you get out of a slow cooker.)
If I went again, I’d go with chicken for sure.
The house margarita was just so-​so. A little too tart for my taste.
Service was excellent, quick and friendly.
And everything is absurdly cheap.
It’s a shame they close so early, because this would be amazing hangover food. (Someone needs to throw their hours up on Unilocal.The day we called, they closed at 10:30 p.m.)