So was there again last night and the chips were EXCELLENT actually. Â Perfectly cooked, crisp, not uncooked or stuck together as most of our past visits. Â I hope they got the "memo" and have now decided they need to fix them for good. Â The rice was a little dry, but over all the meal and service was good at this visit. Â Hopefully it's just going to get better.
Review Source:Nice location. Â Free parking and a wonderful patio on the Ohio river to enjoy a sunny afternoon, if you can get a seat. Â Free chips and salsa to enjoy while drinking a reasonably priced dos equis or margarita, just don't order any of the food. Â While not terrible, the food simply isn't good either. The most flavorless Mexican I have ever had.
Review Source:This place sucks! The last time we will come here. Â Waited 20 mins at outside bar to order drinks. And it was chaos from there on... Â
We have been here several times and it's always the same story.  This should be a great place to grab a drink overlooking the river  but the outside bar is ALWAYS under-staffed. How do you expect someone to take care of 4 tables, the bar, the servers and stock beer, liquor, and alcohol and maintain good service?  And they are not just pulling off beer tops - they have to make drinks that take time.  Where is the bar back? Te servers were pissed off and (more importantly) the clients were pissed!
And then we got to witness a very professional exchange between customers and the server, manager and hostess. Â Not sure of the story and really don't care, but the waitress told the customers they had to pay for drinks they ordered 30 mins prior but were not delivered because the bartender was too busy. Â The customers argument was the other customers left because they waited too long and didn't want the drinks. The manager was talking to the customers in a somewhat heated exchange and the hostess walked by with new clients following and said "that's my manager, be respectful". Â Why she was involved I will never know ad could care less. Â
In the end the bartender was nice and trying to do everything he could. Kudos to him for making the effort. Â But it was still ridiculous that we had to wait so long for drinks and food when the simple answer was to staff the place. Â The one waitress stated they were not prepared for the crowd on the outside deck in March and were under staffed by 1/3rd, but this should not have been a surprise. Â We've had great summer like weather for the past few days.
My husband and I went here last Saturday around 3:30. I think I jinxed us when I told him "Last time I was here with a big group for a bachelorette party and we had good service." There were no more than ten tables seated when we arrived. We were seated right away, then waited ten minutes unnoticed before a man got up from a table of servers in training and said to us "Have you been helped, I hope?" We said no then gave him our drink and food orders. Between the time he took our order and when he brought our food out a server came over and apologized and said something nonsensical about how she put our order in and got our drinks. (The man did that.)
We received our food quickly. I like Chipotle and love Qdoba and I would have much preferred either of them to the food I received at Don Pablo's. My husband and I both got the pork taco trio. The tacos were okay, but the pork wasn't shredded well and it seemed extra fatty. The chipotle sauce on the tacos was good and the tortillas were soft and fresh. The chips that came out before the food were good enough, but the salsa resembled ketchup more than salsa. And not Heinz, but more like the mysterious "fancy ketchup". Our actual server, the woman, made no real attempt to recover from ignoring us when we arrived. She visited her other tables constantly and returned to us to throw extra napkins and water at us, hoping that calling us "sweetie" would blind us to her total lack of effort.
All in all, a huge disappointment. All this place has going for it is a nice atmosphere. We greatly appreciated that server in training (may have been leading the training?) for approaching us. We walked a tip over to him since he was the one that actually got us fed that day.
Yup, pretty awful. As others have said, it was good years ago but no longer. Â Having a huge opening to the kitchen so most people in the dining room can see plenty of spilled food on the floor is really gross. My steak (ribeye) had good flavor but was chewy and that is the only thing nice I can say about the rest of the food. Enchiladas, horrible...sides, horrible...chips, chewy... Â I travel for a living and eat out all the time and while the service was decent, the food was a 2/10 so very disappointed. Not going back unless I hear that MAJOR changes have been made.
Review Source:I love sitting outside on a sunny day in September overlooking the river. Â This is one of my favorite places to do it--- if you can get a table.
This place tends to be incredibly overcrowded during the weekends, especially when the weather is good. Sometimes with up to an hour wait. Â I recommend avoiding it at those high times. Â If forced to go there then, try eating in the bar. Â Generally there is no wait to sit there and order.
Wanting to cheap out and still leave full... Get the trio of cheese dips to go along with the unlimited chips and salsa. Â You may have ingested about 2000 calories before you leave, but your bill for 2 people will be under $10. Â And I LOVE their chips, salsa, and cheese dip.
Their fajitas are overpriced and tend to be small portions. Â I recommend going to a non-chain restaurant if you are looking for great Mexican food.
You go here to enjoy the view and the chips and salsa... Don't bet on anything being particularly authentic.
Don Pablo's left a little to be desired last night! Â The server was SLOW...and there were maybe 10 - 15 tables that had people at them. Â Tuesday is all you can eat taco night. Â At only $6.99 it is a good deal, but there were several times we were waiting on taco and drink refills. Â You should not come between a fat man and his food!
Review Source:Horrible food, Don Pablo's has gone down hill with the food quality...awful. 20 years ago Don Pablo's used to be decent.
A friend of mine and my sister ate there. Well, we order a special, boy was that a mistake. When you order the special, oh boy it was the awful special. Never never get the guacamole. I don't know how to explain it, but if you ever see a vat of sewage, Â that's what it reminds of...barf. Continuing with my special. The beef enchilada, if you call it enchilada or mystery meat. I can't even explain the meat. This dinner was on my top 10 worst meals I ever had...arggg!
The only highlight was the Ohio river and the city view, that's all.
The food has really gotten bland here. Many of the items I used to like are either no longer available or prepared differently than it used to be. The service on my last visit here was ok up until the food arrived. After that, service was non-existent: Couldn't get refills, dessert or even the check. I felt like my being there was just a huge bother to the wait staff. Then I found out the $10 credit on my Habanero's card that got me to visit in the first place wasn't even on my card! Free parking and Ohio river views are about the only reason left for a visit here.
Review Source:you can sit outside the Ohio River and drink really cheap margaritas ($15 for a pitcher). Theres free parking too. On that basis its gotta get at least 3 stars
The bad thing is, the food is way bland. Homies need to salt their tortilla chips. If you eat here, you'll be using a lot of hot sauce & salt from the table. Maybe even bring your own hot sauce, thats how i roll. Mexican food is suppose to be some of the most flavorful food the world has to offer but this place hasn't figured it out.
The first thing we thought of on our second visit was "How do we get this 'Regulars' badge off of the Yelp page. On our first visit we waited for close to 2 hours for a table outside. It was a gorgeous evening and we wanted to enjoy a drink by the river. So skip the wait and skip the creepy man who gave my girlfriend and i his email address and get to the drinks.
The margs were good. Pretty standard, pretty good size for the $$. Our server was good. Pretty attentive when we needed water or salsa refills.
The second visit we went with 2 other couple for dinner. It was an early Monday evening, probably around 7ish. It wasn't our first choice-for obvious reasons-but when the other place was closed because of the holiday we decided to come here. With our party of 6 we had no wait. We sat out on the deck and enjoyed the sun. The drink, again, were good. The food was sub-par at best. Our friend had to send hers back because it was cold. We split a salad that was OK, nothing to write home about.
Like I said in my review of the other Don Pablos, typical chain Mexican food. Nothing too special here-cept maybe the view.
So the best thing about this place is the location. Situated right on the river you can get some nice vistas of Cincinnati and Mount Adams from their windows and patio.
As for the food, I really don't have much to say about it. My party and I arrived (there were 7 of us) and we had heard good things about it for an evening dinner. Chips arrived warm and pleasantly oily (a sign that they take the time to make them themselves) and the salsa was pretty decent too. I was very pleased to see that Don Pablos makes their own tortillas and makes them fresh in a little area of the restaurant for all the guests to watch the magic happen. This also was a good sign. Â (And for the record, the tortillas are actually pretty good)
We started off with the nachos which while looking quite appetizing, didn't really live up to their appearance. I couldn't quite put my finger on it, but the cheese looked like it came out of a Kraft shredded cheese bag and had this somewhat stale quality that comes from not being either quality cheese or being freshly grated. Whatever it was, it didn't taste right. Not terrible, not terrific. Don Pablos had started off so promising too.
Being a Wednesday, we took advantage of their Wednesday fajita deal. We ordered the combo, the steak, and the chicken. My friend Steve went outside the realm of traditional Mexican and ordered the "Texas Two-Step" (a BBQ hodgepodge of chicken breast and baby-back ribs). To cover our bases, we also ordered a combo dish consisting of the poblano spinach enchilada and the chile relleno.
The chicken was dry and flavorless. The steak was tender but needed additional seasoning. The rice and beans were ho-hum. The enchilada and relleno were adequate - it didn't receive rave reviews, but my friend finished it. (That being said, he is admittedly not a picky eater) Even the Texas Two Step fell short and arrived luke-warm and again, somehow underflavored. (Imagine the difference between a well marinated and slowly cooked BBQ and something that is cooked partway then BBQ'd. Only then is the BBQ sauce introduced so the meat taste like there's BBQ sauce ON it, rather than throughout it)
Our server, while adequate, seemed rather harried and not really the friendliest. So Don Pablos level of service seems to be well-matched with its food. Not terrible, but again, not terrific.
Given the cheap prices on margaritas and beer, I suspect they may squeeze by on the caliber of their food by inebriated their clientele.
If you're looking for just good Mexican food, go to La Mexicana in Covington. If you want a little authentic Mexican ambience, go to Taqueria Mercado #3 in downtown Cincinnati. If money is not an issue and you want great food and a nice setup - go to Nada. But whatever you're looking for, unless you want a dinner of large margaritas coupled with chips, salsa, and tortillas (and nothing else), I don't believe you'll find it at Don Pablos.
Compared to the other Mexican food options in Cincinnati, this place ain't so bad.
If I could fly to Texas every weekend, I wouldn't go here. But compared to Cancun and Rio Grande restaurants in the Greater Cincinnati area, this place is on par, if not better.
Best fruity margaritas I've had so far in Cincinnati. Good flautas, queso, guacamole, and corncake. Areas of improvement would be the chips (less than fresh) and the rice (undercooked).
On a Saturday night, it took at least 30 - 45 min to get seated, but we had fast, attentive service after that.
Horrible. I love Mexican food and I thought it was impossible to screw up but I was sadly mistaken. I got the conquistodor which is basically like a sampler with like 6 different things and nothing was better than okay. My husband tried 3 different types of enchiladas and they were all bad. The best thing was the salsa and even that was worse than all other Mexican restaurants that I've tried. The service was horrible also. I went about a half an hour without a refill. The view was great, but there are other restaurants with the same few. Overall I was very disappointed.
Review Source:Until Thursday I've never walked out of a restaurant because of it's menu. Â I finally have. Â Does this story make me a snob? Â You decide. Â
Way back in the early to mid-90s when my wife and I had no money (not that things have changed that much), we found Don Pablo's. Â Flavorful food on the river at very cheap prices. Â It's walking distance from our house, but somewhere along the line we just stopped going and couldn't remember why. Â
So with both of us taking the day off on Thursday (and for the second time this year sans kids) we decided to reminiscence and head back to Don Pablos. Â
The first thing I noticed was rust on the iron work outside. Â Nothing horrible, just enough to show a bit of decay. Â Walking inside (about 11:45) the place was a ghost town except for some girls-from-the-office types noshing on chips and salsa. Â
We were seated in a pretty much empty dining room and given our menus and the mid-90s came flooding back to us - and not in a good way. Â Any menu that has big-pics of Tex-Mex slop scares me. Â
But the real fright came when we ordered cocktails. Â It was a bit of a celebratory lunch so we decided on having a couple margaritas. Â Now it may make me a snob, but Cincinnati has come very far in the last few years. Â There is still way too much vodka behind bars from the late 90s, but as a cocktail culture, we're getting there folks!
Here's the problem: we didn't order a Margarita. Â There were several different drinks with the suffix "-ita" Â We tried to figure the difference when Alicia said "My God, they're advertising they use sweet and sour mix!". Â True enough, they were. Â Sweet and sour mix is that sugar water junk Miami University sorority girls buy by the gallon to help the tequila go down. Â It's noxious sugar water and shouldn't be used by anyone claiming to be a bartender.
Wanting a fresh Margarita, Alicia then noticed one "-ita" called a Squeezarita. Â This one was special and so named because they squeeze (get it?) fresh lime juice for the drink. Â So it looked like we'd be paying $7.49 for a simple traditional margarita with way too much ice served in a way too heavy glass with the strong possibility that the bartender would still in all likelihood put sweet and sour mix into it. Â Look, three minutes away in my kitchen I had tequila, a lime, and triple sec. Â I could have a true Margarita for about 75 cents. Â This is just insulting. Â Another shock was something called the Slenderita which used low-carb sweet and sour mix. Â I'm sure this was used to appeal to those girls-from-the-office types who want to feel pretty when they flirt with the UPS guy who normally comes at two, but, come one - a Slenderita!!!???!!! Â
Again I hate to sound like a snob but considering it's 2011, this city has learned to expect more, and it really isn't that hard to squeeze a lime, why is Don Pablo's selling this crap? Â At this price?
We claimed an emergency call, went to Rio Grande, has a great meal and two true margarita for a about $26 out the door. Â Why is that so hard?
I really do not like writing reviews for chains. It seems like a waste of time, because all of us know that chains are not good. I mean you can enjoy it but you know, deep down, you would really want to be somewhere else. We go to chains because they are easy, and safe. So if that is where I am coming from then why am I writing this? Because I want to make sure you do not waste your money. The economy is not 100% stable yet.
This is the third time I have been to this Don Pablos. That is two times too many. The service is always slow, but not bad. But this place is always empty. Everytime I have gone, it seems to be stricken with some sort of south of the border plague. When I was there today, there were two other tables full. Maybe 10 people sitting outside. And I counted at least 20 waiters. So that means there were 18 customers and 20 waiters. But it was still slow...what gives? And the food is just poor tex mex. And there is actual good mexican in this city now. So there really is no excuse for poor tex mex. And it is tex-mex, it is suppose to be easy and fool proof. It seems Don is quite good at messing it up though.
And that is the sad part because I remember Don Pablos being really good. I remember going to the one in Rookwood and it was always super tasty. But then again I was ten years old and I still though the plot lines to Scooby Doo was close to Shakespeare. Yes, I wasn't the brightest 10 year old. But hey I was 10!
Also my margarita sucked. And I can make a better one after drinking a pitcher of them, really I can and I have done it. So if I can make a decent margarita when I am drunk. Then the bar tender should be able to make a great one sober. Right?
Just let this one go. Your in Belluvue, try Virgils. It is great, not mexican, but you will feel like you paid a decent price for good food.
Best Feature: good food, LOVE the view of the Ohio River!
Worst Feature: Not a fan of the food portions; service is 50/50
So I have always been a HUGE fan of dining by the Ohio River! There are some beautiful restaurants and events down by the river, and growing up my family and I would hit up Mexican restaurants (e.g. Chi-Chi's, Margaritas). I've loved this restaurant for some time, and I thought that it was the best restaurant near downtown Cincinnati.
However, as time has passed, I've discovered I'm not as impressed with this restaurant. I just went here recently, and though I adore the decor - it's beautifully decorated and invites all - the food itself is where I have a problem.
The dining areas themselves are fantastic - there's an outside patio and an inside dining area, so you can pick your seating preference. They have a variety of different dishes to choose from, and they have specials running on certain items so that's always a plus.
The one drawback I have is the portions - I ordered a chicken and shrimp fajita combo, and I would have to say that 85% of my dish was comprised of onions. Sliced onions. Now don't get me wrong, I'm no onion hater - I love veggies! However, that was what threw me off - there's supposed to be peppers, chicken, shrimp, etc. I stared at my dish and realized I'd just paid a decent amount for what was a few pieces each of chicken and shrimp, maybe about 6 slices of sliced bell peppers, and a huge hunk of onion sitting on my plate.
This was a huge disappointment. I looked at the other dishes the rest of my group had received, and we were all equally unimpressed. I guess touring restaurants around Cincinnati has changed my palate, but I'm quite used to sizable portions; this was just a mockery of a dish. Not to mention I was less than enthused about the taste - the bell peppers were squishy to a disgusting point, and it was hard to taste anything but onion.
The service was also fairly average; for a big party, our waiter had to be summoned several times to refill chips, drinks, etc. And we weren't scarfing our food down quickly; we took our time and the restaurant was almost empty during this time we ate there. I was rather disappointed about that.
I will probably not be returning here anytime soon - I enjoy the atmosphere, the beauty of the surrounding environment, but with other restaurants offering so much more in the same area, I think I'll enjoy the view of the river somewhere else where my food is worth my money, tastes fantastic, and the service is stellar.
Sorry, Don Pablos, but you and I are estranged for now.
This is an obvious chain, but we used to like to act stupid and ask "Is Don cooking tonight?" as we were waiting to be seated. Â Don Pablo's specializes in the same kind of "fresh Mex" that you'll find at Chevy's on the West Coast. Â It's all sanitzed, Olive Gardenized Mexican food but you can certainly do worse in an unfamiliar city, if you're not brave enough to try local places and don't have access to good unbiased local opinions.
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