Don Juan Restaurante

I live two blocks away and will get in my car and drive far far away from this place when I want Mexican food. It’s just not good. Nothing about it is good.

Always good, friendly staff, excellent food and good prices. One of our regular spots for dinner.

Great margaritas! I have always loved the food. The mole sauce is very good. I have been coming here for over 20 years. The staff are always so friendly and are pretty much the same people that have been been working here for ever.

I must say I am a huge fan of Mexican food and love trying different places in the area but coming to Don juan was a big mistake. It was not worth the 50 bucks my boyfriend spent on 1 burrito suizo meal, 1 Carne Asada meal and a Piña colada that was 8.50 for a small glass. When we arrived the young man came up too us 2 minutes later and asked if we were ready to order, we said we needed a few minutes… but not 30! My boyfriend had to go find him to tell him we were ready to order when he found him sitting there watching the game. The waiter was completely rude to us the rest of our time there. He went up to the 2 other tables there asking if everything was okay while we got completely ignored the whole time after we got our food. Now when the food came to our table the food looked pretty good but don’t let that fool you. My Piña colada was pretty good but half of it was still ice I didn’t know it was that hard to press the blend button for 30 more seconds and the glass was very small definitely not worth 8.50. My burrito suizo tasted like it had pasta sauce on top of it and I got about 1 spoon full of beans and it was cold. My boyfriend got the Carne Asada with enchilada and the enchilada was cold and our food was flavorless but it’s funny because our plates were really hot which makes me believe our food was microwaved. This place was way too expensive I couldn’t even eat my meal it was soo unappetizing but I’m not one to complain so I just kept my mouth shut but in the end we will not be returning to Don juan there are so many other mexican places in the area that are actually worth the money! Sorry don juan I was expecting way more! The 2 stars is for the free chips and salsa!

Now I’m usually not one to rip a business on Unilocal because I know it can have big effect of the success of the place. But for the cost of these dishes, I expected a worthy, flavorful meal. That would make the cost irrelevant. Sadly. this was not the case. The enchilada sauce tastes as if it were pulled from a can of generic Pizza sauce. The Carne asada was made to a proper medium. Which was nice. However the cook seems to not have yet discovered the joy of salt and pepper. Zero flavor. My girlfriends pork taco was flavorless mush rolled into a stale corn tortilla. The piñata colada was $ 8.50 and came in a 12oz glass… and if that wasn’t enough, it wasn’t even blended right. The glass was ¹⁄₃ uncrushed ice cubes. I’m not sure what Don Juan was thinking but we definitely were not swept off our feet with this experience. Our waiter was also quite unpleasant and negligent. All in all.poor. I gave it 2 stars because the chips and salsa were not horrible and they managed to fill my sprite once… viva la mexicant

Underrated restaurant in Edison park. Highly recommend you try their dinner entrees. The Amish chicken with chile sweet potatoes is one of the best dishes I’ve had in Edison Park

Friendly staff, plenty of options in the menu. My only complaint is that my steak burrito had more rice in it than steak– tasty, but seemed obvious that they were trying to get more of a profit but using less meat and more (cheaper) rice, and for $ 13 I don’t want rice in a tortilla

You can always count on great, friendly service, delicious food, outstanding margaritas, fresh nacho chips, and can choose between traditional Mexican fare and the chef’s gourmet touch on the special entrees.

This place is just okay. I think it’s a bit over priced for the quality of food served. We have been here atleast 5 times and it gets less and less appealing each time. I really think this place has the potential to be great! The margaritas are very yummy. I have had the tacos, carne Asada, fajitas… all ok. But for the price I am always expecting more. Service is usually always friendly which is nice, they have valet which is another bonus.

Disappointed… The food is not what I would call «Mexican» food… It’s more like a fusion of Mexican/​Italian…
My family and I were first served stale chips and two cups of «salsa», one tasting like a mixture of cocktail sauce and marinara sauce, the other some brown liquid that the chipotle peppers you get in the can, i think they call it Adobe sauce…
My wife had chilie relleno which was more like a pepped dipped in a thick pancake batter smothered in marinara sauce… Nasty…
The service was very nice the wait staff more than polite… Probably trying to over compensate for sad excuse for the food that was being served.

Went here when I had a 3 mos old baby. It was a weekend and busy, but there were some tables open. The waiter was very nice, but the owners were just plain rude. They seemed to be very aggravated at the fact that we had a baby with us? Not sure but we felt as if we were inconveniencing with our child. May be we just caught it on a bad day, but again, you’re running a restaurant so you have to be cordial with everyone. Very weird and unpleasant. The food was just ok, nothing that you can’t find anywhere else. Will not go back and will not recommend it to anybody who has small children.

Thursday half priced pitchers of Margaritas, fine dinner selections, unlimited refills of chips and tortillas, and the Blackhawks by request on the bar TVs.

Great location, but pretty bad Mexican food. The quality of the food plates is more like fast food. I had not been here in 10 years. Let’s say it did not get better. I highly DO NOT recommend this place. This is Chicago, you have so many better Mexican dinner options, especially much better quality at this price range.

Best burger I ever had. Black Angus. Brioche bun. Sauteed jalapenos. Carmelized red onions. White cheddar. Shoestring fries. Not to mention the chipotle bbq sauce on the side. Medium rare. Not what one might expect at a high end Mexican restaurant.
Worth the trip…

I wanted to like this place ‘cas my husband has such fond memories of this place… alas, it was truly a HUGE disappointment. I guess we should have known we were in trouble when we went to the bar at 7:15 to get a drink before our 7:30 reservation and no one even came to take a drink order until 7:25…at which point we were told our drinks would be brought to our table. which they weren’t.
It just got worse from there. We got seated and 10 minutes later the waiter arrived and took our drink order (funny since we technically ordered drinks already). The drinks came a little after that and the waiter dropped them off and WALKED AWAY. No «are you ready to order?», or «would would like to start with an appetizer?». Nope, he walked away and left us to sit there why he helped a large, very loud party next to us. We finally placed our order 30 minutes AFTER we got our drinks. Lovely. Another 30 minutes to get our food after that. By that point I was nauseous and didn’t really want the food but since I was paying $ 13.00 for TACOS, I figured I should choke something down. The food was fine but not worth the money we paid for it.
All through this loooong wait, no one apologized or really acted like they cared which pissed us off even more. We paid as quickly as we could so we could get out of there, and as you can imagine, the tip was like the service, non-​existent.
We will NEVER go back.

Meh! That’s all I can say about the food. My Husband and I used a Groupon tonight for our date night. We were a bit disappointed.
Parking: on a weekend, it is hell trying to find parking. After looking for parking and driving around, we finally were pleasantly surprised that Don Juan has complimentary parking. Use this service… it was worth it!
Seating: we were promptly seated and the man that showed us our table was very pleasant. There are several tables and the ambiance and atmosphere was comfortable.
Salsa was very strange. Not even sure how to explain it. We asked for mild salsa hoping this would taste normal and our waiter quickly brought it to us. It was very strange too… almost tasted like pasta sauce.
My husband ordered the carne asada and he said it wasn’t seasoned and wasn’t much to write home about and my steak tacos were lacking seasoning as well.
To sum it up, the price was reasonable (with the groupon) and the staff was very nice and pleasant. The food was disappointing. I Doubt we’ll ever come back.

Ever since I found this place, we cannot stay away! Such good, quality food. Steak tacos are some of the best I’ve had. Guacamole portion is a little small but tasty. The queso fundido is excellent!!! Sangria!!! So tasty (the main reason I love this place)
They can be quite busy at times, but the food is worth it. They also have excellent fish and shrimp tacos as well as tamales my husband says.

For the most part, this place is just meh. Average ambiance, average service. However, the food is extremely good. The last time I was here, I tried the Original Don Juan Burrito for the first time. I opted for the skirt steak version, and oh. My. God. I can truly say that it was one of the best burritos I have ever had. I’m craving one right now just thinking about it. So, very average place, but totally worth the trip if you are looking for a good burrito. Yum.

We stopped in with a Groupon deal, and enjoyed a nice mid-​week dinner.
We were welcomed and promptly showed to our table. It was still early — maybe 5:30 — so not too man people, yet. There was a strong, odd odor when we came in, like an old, seldom used banquet hall with miscellaneous smells mixed in the background. Not too much by the window tables, but very strong near the back /​center of the restaurant.
Our server was polite and efficient. Nothing special, but definitely competent. He and the bus crew always made sure we were OK, and had our water /​iced tea filled.
The food was tough. The menu is great, with a lot of unique items which help this place stand out. Not quite up to my all time favorite standard at El Molino in C’Ville, but fun.
My wife and I tried the Los Jalapeños Rellenos appetizer, and found it flavorful. it was well prepared and nicely presented. It was also the best dish we had this evening.
Our main courses were the Flautas de Camaron and Beef Brisket (not sure what it is called on the menu). Both were nicely prepared, and very well presented. The Flautas were very good, and the chile habanero salsa was nice, but maybe only medium heat. The brisket was very tender, but lacking much flavor. The habanero BBQ sauce was fair, and also only medium heat. Corn was nice, but only a sauce drizzled over it, and the potatoes were decently prepared ‘au gratin’, but nothing special. All servings were mid-​sized, offering a good amount of food but could have been larger for the price.
The big plus is to try to find a deal. The prices, as listed, would be very high for the quality and amount of food received. With the discounts, it is much more in line. Marked up to mark down?
Overall, a fun place to go for something more than taqueria food (definitely go to the small, local places for the standard dishes), but nowhere near ‘fine Mexican cuisine’ they bill themselves as having.

Expensive, yes, but great food.
We started with the ceviche and it was probably one of the best I’ve had anywhere. So fresh.
I had the steak tacos and they were really, really good. But, at $ 13, it was a little pricey. You get 3 large tacos, but the rice and bean portions were smaller.
It was pretty empty, which was understandable because we went on a weeknight. However, the service was phenomenal (maybe because it wasn’t busy?). Our waters were always filled, our waiter came by at each course to see if we were enjoying our food, and he even popped by a couple times just to see if we needed anything. He didn’t speak the best English, but he certainly understood us just fine when we needed anything. Our check came out quickly after we requested it, and was returned quickly once we paid.
I had a lovely experience and will come again — probably on Mondays for $ 5 margaritas with my girlfriends.