Don Pablo’s

Went there tonight and found it closed. It is not on the corporate location list as of a few minutes ago. Say what you want about authenticity (Mexico is a big country and saying authentic Mexican is like saying authentic American), I’ve paid for food with pesos and I found DP’s tasty and an honest value. I will miss it.

Today I came to Don Pablo’s to take advantage of my $ 10 off for my birthday that was loaded to my Habanero’s Club card. I got a notification of my $ 10.00 off sent to my email to remind me which was a plus. I choose tonight Wednesday night for the fajitas. Fajitas tonight are $ 9.99 after 6pm before 6pm they are $ 8.99 appears they have a daily special Mon-​Thurs depending on what day you come you can take advantage of a special for that day. Coming to the restaurant I had to stop by the ladies
Room bathroom could have been attended to a little bit more that what it was. I’m a big stickler for visiting a location that has a clean restroom. When I came to the hostess station a young gentleman greeted me and took me to my table he told me he was going to be my server. He was very attentive and over all was very pleasant. Brought my piping hot crispy tortilla chips and yummy salsa. Made my order it came piping hot and sizzling. It came within a reasonable amount of time I didn’t have to wait too long Salad tray was very fresh and vibrant with colors of the salad cheese guac and pico de gallo all tasted equally fresh. I agree with the other post the food is very tex-​Mex lacking the flavors for authentic Mexican good but none the less fresh and hot. But I guess that is to be expected from this type of restaurant. Overall I can say I had a good experience nothing other than the bathroom I can really complain about. Total check $ 13.12 with my $ 10.00 off =$ 3.12 without the tip. I highly recommend the Primarita on the rocks with salt although I didn’t get one today I have had them and they are delish!

Sambaritas at Don Pablo’s cost about 11 dollars. We dropped 33 bucks on their «Sambaritas» margaritas, but diet sprite would have been the better deal. Sambaritas are made with Patron Silver, so posers like me can think they are drinking the good stuff. I have no clue what blue agave means. I guess green agave is what’s in Cuervo or something. Three tumblers of Sambarita and not the slightest bit of alcoholic impairment.
Anyway, these seemed promising since they come with the «second pour» because they are hand shaken in the tumbler. Which is mostly ice. The glasses are mostly ice, too. So those 5 ounces (my best approximation) of liquid make four pours actually. Was it all the ice that precluded my drunkenness? I know it used to be when you go to McDonalds and you asked for less ice, there was always that tiny pause in the discourse between you and the girl at the counter where you knew she was thinking, «What a cheap bastard. He’ll probably tell me to fill the cup again because I left a sixteenth of an inch of space at the top.» That issue has been obviated by self-​serve soda bars. When you buy a margarita on the rocks, though, is it wrong to expect more than a splash of margarita? I’m not buying 11 bucks worth of ice. If I were, shouldn’t I get like 80 pounds of it? And for 33 bucks, shouldn’t I get a giant block of it? Then I could go to my Jetta and get the chainsaw and carve a flamenco dancer or a bullfighter or something. Maybe Don Pablo’s just needs a self-​serve margarita bar.
Maybe it was the time of day? Sure it was 11:15 AM on a week day, but wouldn’t that sort of be a signal that this was a table of real drinkers? Anyone ordering tequila before noon should be taken more seriously. Plus, when our waiter said «It’s 5:00 somewhere,» I thought, «Wow. This guy gets it!» Even if technically, it was really 5:15 and probably only on some frozen Atlantic island where they eat dried fish and make alcohol from root vegetables. Still, they are getting drunker over there than anyone at Don Pablo’s. Would I eat dried fish and drink potato liquor just to get a buzz on my day off? No way. Would I drop 33 bucks on Sambaritas in Laurel? Hell yes. Except some Scandinavian fisherman was having a great time at 11:15 EST and I was not.

Negative stars! One of the worst dining experiences I have ever had. How is this place still in business? Right when we walked in no one greeted us and the staff were all gathered in the front talking. Once we were finally noticed and got seated, the service was soooooo slow even though we were one of 4 tables in the whole restaurant. Server never came back after he took our order. Half hour later we got our food. The soup was decent but my fish was barely cooked and had cheese on it which I specifically asked for none. I finally tracked the waiter down to tell him. He seemed to only be concerned with the table behind us and gave them several baskets of chips when we had no food and no chips. I ordered a shrimp dish instead hoping it would be faster but it wasn’t. I can’t imagine how it’s like when the restaurant is actually busy. 15 minutes later our waiter tells us he has no more soup left for the bottomless soup… go figure. He eventually brings out the shrimp and there were 2 small pieces of chicken in the mix. This was strictly a shrimp dish so I’m not sure why chicken would be in there. I was done by then and just wanted to leave. Of course no apologies or anything. We were charged for everything and I was still extremely hungry. I am quite upset that I ate an entire basket of chips while waiting for food and now I have to go somewhere else to get more food after spending money on horrible food.
If the management doesn’t even care enough to ask if everything was OK, why should the staff be any better. Just disappointed I didn’t read the reviews before randomly selecting this place. I love Mexican food but I have no words to describe this place.
Oh and I forgot to mention that we sat by the windows and every corner had cob webs and dust. Gordon Ramsey where are you?

Dead atmosphere, food was lukewarm and wouldve been good if I had starved myself. Not a good experience…

Ok, it’s not food poisoning bad, but you can eat the same at home from the frozen section, without the attitude.
Pros:
+ The queso was tasty?
+ Parking! There’s lots of it.
Cons:
— Service. I think the server was on drugs based on his erratic service pattern. The nice final straw to the confused lunch service was the second half of my ticket printing from a different sections printer. I’m waiting for the credit card company to call…
— Food. I think that the majority of the service here is in the fry-​o-​lator from bags in the freezer. Quality is poor at best, with highly processed meat wads in the mini empanadas showing particular attention to detail.
— Portion-​Size. Look the quesadilla may be on a sampler, but why is it taco sized for $ 12? Additionally, my coworkers fajita plate had about 3 pieces of chicken on it. Sad…
Overall, Don Pablo’s reminds me of a really bad, more mexican version of Chilis. In an airport. During a blizzard. On a layover. While traveling with 2 children who keep asking if you’re there yet, and 12 dozen starving weasels.

The food is simply ok, nothing to write home about. I enjoy the Taco Salad bowl. The quesadillas are small and expensive to be an appetizer item.
The big Tequila drink was good and strong, but that was only because I asked for it to be strong. I went again and got it and it was weak.

There was an off-​duty waiter asleep at the table across our booth… completely unprofessional. Our waitress made a mistake in our order, rather than take responsibility and correct the situation, she denied it and left it as it was. There was also a roach in my queso dip. Will not be back.

Our group ended up here since our first option had a 30 minute wait and we were starving. It’s a bad sign when you’re starving and food doesn’t do it for you. There was nothing terrible about it, except for the sangria which had a sourness to it that yelled bad wine or spoiled fruit.
The chips and salsa while plenty are unremarkable. The shrimp in my fajita were bland, my partner’s steak was too fatty (and, hello, no carne asada at a tex-​mex place? that’s like not having chicken poblano. Oh wait, they didn’t have that either.) The tacos, quesadilla, enchilada the rest ordered were alright.
Tip for our waiter: when your customer doesn’t understand the bean side options don’t just rattle them off faster and faster in a mumbling fashion. Take your time to explain what they are. It may communicate you care.

I will be brief.
Our food was brought to us by the manager but he didn’t bring any silverware or tortillas. I had to get up and go get them myself.
The steak portions seemed to have depleted over the years. I remember getting that steak fajita meal and having extra steak. No more. Tiny bits of steak.

I’m not too much a fan of their food or how they run their organization. The bartender and my waiter were the saving grace to the rating I gave them. The bartender was all about treating her patrons good. The same goes for my waiter. He was personable and made you feel welcome. The food is OK. If you have never been I would recommend you go at least once and see for yourself. You may like it more than me or not. If you site outside, you get a nice view of the Laurel Lake. Also, if you are not bothered by ducks (only if you sit new the fence). The ducks don’t bother you but the are relevant as you eat your meal. They look at you and quack (which wasn’t a problem for me).

Great food, horrible service. We had to wait for what seemed like forever for a waiter to come to the table and take our order. They weren’t busy at all… the staff just seemed content with talking among themselves. If I want may don poblos fix I will take the extra 15 min drive to columbia. Will never eat in Laurel location again. I would have gave only 1 star but the food was on point.

My new favorite place! I don’t like going into crowded restaurants, and so many nights I come here. The staff are very friendly and don’t hesitate to jump in to your conversations, lol. The food is great, and Don’t forget to try a Lotsaria while your there.

I am sadden to write such a bad review for a place that has such great food, but its not always about the food… its about the service.
Yesterday, it was gorgeous outside and I know Don Pablo’s has a great patio by the lake so I thought this would be a great place to have dinner and enjoy the weather. We got there and we had to wait to be seated because they were clearing a table for us outside. Ok… that was fine. No problem. We were seated in 10 minutes.
Once we got outside, we sat there and one of the waiters dropped a basket of chips and salsa for us to munch on while we waited for our real waiter. After 15 minutes, chips were gone and watching other people getting served before us even though we were there before them, we decided to leave. The manager came to us as we were leaving trying to apologize, but it was too late. Having a hungry 3 year old waiting is just not cool in my book. And my fiancé was really mad…
So all in all, its too bad because they have such great potential. I won’t be going back.

My first clue should have been that there was hardly any wait to get a table at prime dining time on a Saturday night. We’d already hit at least three other restaurants in the area where the wait for a table ranged from 30 – 60 minutes, with standing room only in the packed bar and waiting areas.
As our party generally shares a love of most things involving oozing cheese and spices, we ended up at DP’s for the first time. What an odd, cavernous, colorful — and yet somehow cold and soulless — space. The tables felt weirdly placed in the room, and although there were plenty of vacant tables they tucked our party in the far back corner near an emergency exit. It was echoey and dark. This definitely called for some tequila.
The margaritas our waiter brought us were HUGE. I had a sudden vision of Malibu Barbie lounging on the side of the glass, as it would have made a perfect wading pool for her. Given the size it was probably best that it didn’t carry much of a tequila kick.
As for the chow, I confess I was just left with an overall impression of a lack of freshness and an overabundance of greasiness. For some reason our server made me a little depressed. He seemed sad.
So, although this experience probably occurred about two months or so ago, I recently popped onto the DP reviews to check out other Unilocalers comments and now I’m a little freaked about the remarks about sanitation issues. Ewwwww.

I agree with Lorena B. as a child I would always enjoy Don Pablos. Tex Mex is one of my favorite types of food, and now living in New York – where the cuisine seems to not exist – I was eager to return to home to Laurel and get some good old DP.
In a relatively empty restaurant we were asked to wait to be seated for about 15 minutes. An inconvenience yes, but I’d rather wait to be seated than to sit around waiting for a server at my table – so I guess it’s not that bad.
We were seated and the chips and salsa I normally enjoy were both cold and stale. Check one. As I sat talking with friends I couldn’t help but notice how dirty the restaurant was. I didn’t realize it at the time but it had an effect on my appetite. I didn’t eat very much at all. The food wasn’t really good. The tacos I had lacked flavor. The beef was overdone, the chicken flavorless, and the rice hard. The corn pudding that I used to like also wasn’t really hot.
The waitress I had was nice… when she showed up. Just not a good experience. Dirty restaurant, bland food, dark décor. I think this is my last time at DP.

Unfortunately this Don Pablos is a mixed bag. I have come here many times and had really great experiences, I’ve also come here and had really terrible experiences. Most of the terrible experiences result from service, so it’s all in who your server is.
As a vegetarian, there aren’t many options that aren’t laden with cheese, but the portobella fajitas are amazing, a huge platter of fresh cooked veggies with three tortillas on the side (they’ll give you more if you ask nicely), and a plate with rice, beans, sour cream, salsa, lettuce, and guacamole. The desserts are alright, but nothing special compared to how delicious Tex-​Mex desserts can be.
The chips and salsa they give you when you arrive are always pretty good, and the dip appetizers are also pretty yummy.
Be careful on busy nights, the service will probably slip dramatically. The food may not be correct in the first place, the food for the table may come out at different times, and the server can take anywhere from 5 – 20 minutes to get the check. And yes, it took me 20 minutes to get the check once.
Altogether not a bad place for dinner, just be prepared for your experience to go badly and you won’t be disappointed.

OH MY GOD… WTF…really…ewwwwwww (get the idea?)
We have been here a few times and only 2 have been worth the trip. I don’t know why we keep going back… penence?
The good things were the enchilada’s and and the taco’s. After that it is almost comical how disturbing things can get. HAACP anyone?
A couple of non food low lights that stand out are: we went with some very good friends and they messed up a couple of orders by plating the wrong entrée with the wrong sides. So how do they fix it? The waiter walks into the kitchen (leaves the double doors wide open) and scoops (with his bare hand) the entrees from one plate to the other. While watching this we noticed that there was trash and food stuffs on the floor. They also stored the serving trays on the floor leaned against the wall. So as you can guess we stood (all 9 of us) and walked out.
The second bad, maybe stupid is a better adjective, event. We were a group of 5 and arrived to find 3 groups waiting ahead of us. One of the groups was an 8 top, there were also groups of 2 and 3 waiting. I approached the hostess and she told me about 10 minutes. Seemed cool until I looked at the dining room; there were 5 tables occupied. That is 5 out of probably 22 or so. So I asked why so long of a wait; her response…“We are trying not to overwhelm the kitchen”. We, and all of the other groups went to TGIFridays.
The manager at fridays said he would send thanks over.

This was one of my favorite places to eat as a kid. Either my tastes have grown considerably more refined or the food here has gone way downhill.
We arrived around 4 p.m. on Saturday when the restaurant was mostly empty yet we still had to wait a few minutes for a hostess to show up. My first impression was that DP needs a good cleaning. The floor and menus were dirty and the wall around our booth was splattered with salsa.
The flautas appetizer wasn’t bad but it didn’t taste any better than frozen flautas from the grocery store. I liked the queso that came with it– wish it was spicy but it had a good texture and didn’t congeal like many other quesos. Before ordering, I asked the server if the spicy beef chimi de oro was actually spicy and she said yes. It wasn’t. However, it was the size of a Chipotle burrito and surprisingly not greasy. Too bad the beef was bland, as were the rice and beans that came with it.
*Steps on soapbox* A lot of you gringos out there writing reviews called this Mexican food. It’s not. It’s Tex-​Mex, which is an Americanized version of Mexican. It’s not remotely close to Mexican cooking. And no, I’m not Mexican. *Steps off soapbox*

When planning for a high school reunion, I strongly recommend doing it over margaritas. You learn so much about what you apparently were completely unaware of during high school.
This was the case when I made the trek into Laurel to gather with some lovely ladies from my graduating class to discuss the plan of attack for our high school reunion.
The food was decent, but not very memorable. The cheese in the quesadilla I ordered was not completely melted and although I am never one to complain about too much cheese… it just had too much cheese. My poor little pieces of steak were drowning in it.
The frozen mango margarita that I had however, was pretty good. Just wish it packed a little more of that tequila POW! BAM! ZOOM!
Our waitress, was polite and helpful but the kitchen turn around was a bit slow. This was probably due to the day and time (Friday evening dinner crowd) although the restaurant didn’t look all that crowded.
They also have an outdoor patio area that is pretty cute. Even though it’s in the midst of a strip mall parking lot, it’s secluded enough that you are removed from the traffic and general hustle and bustle.
I would recommend Don Pablo’s for a quick drink, but the food left much to be desired.