Don Julio Tacos & Tequila Bar — Restaurant in Kitchener

I booked a reservation for 9pm through the Open Table app for a party of 4 - my friends and I celebrating my birthday. We arrived promptly for the 9pm reservation and were told that we'd have to wait 15 minutes as there wasn't a table ready for us - which was fine since I was waiting for the other members of my party to arrive anyways. I could see that the restaurant was completely full and there were many people waiting for spots as the restaurant was completely packed. My sister and I waited outside and when my friends arrived, we approached the hostess again as it had been 15 minutes already and again were told that we would have to wait longer as there were no tables available. I was a little annoyed as I had booked the reservation and had expected a table to be ready to accommodate us, but regardless, we politely just said we'd wait. A few minutes later, the hostess steps outside again to give us the option to be seated outside in the patio section and when a table becomes available, we'd be moved inside. Because it was fairly chilly and we had already been waiting quite a while, my friends and I agreed and were seated out in the patio. We ordered our drinks and meals - I got the camaron tacos and a pineapple margarita - which were both great, though I found it a bit pricey to pay $17 for two small tacos. My sister also ordered the camaron tacos and a sangria, and my two friends each ordered the birria tacos and a sangria and Waterloo radler. We were half way through our tacos when the hostess came back outside to let us know that a table had been prepared for us, so we then had to pick up our plates and drinks and head inside which was still very busy at this time of night. I checked my phone to see that it was 9:45 by the time we actually were seated inside at a table. Now I understand that as a new establishment, this place would be busy and booked, however as I had made reservations, I was quite disappointed that I had to wait 45 minutes to even be given a seat inside of the restaurant. The hostess was apologetic but it seemed like there were not enough staff to even accommodate the amount of individuals inside of the restaurant. Our server (I do not recall his name) was friendly, but did not seem to check on our table very much and seemed a bit flustered throughout the entire time we were there. We finished our tacos and were waiting for him to come back to our table to order more as we were still hungry. We flagged him down and he came to take our orders. Half way through writing down what we wanted - he suddenly tells us that the kitchen would be closing in 5 minutes and that we wouldn't be able to order anymore food. He then states that he would bring me a complimentary dessert as it was my birthday and would bring chips to our table since we couldn't order any more food, and so I ordered another drink - the mango habanero. My party and I waited another 10-15 minutes or so before we realized that we weren't going to get any chips and nobody was even making my drink. My friend then flagged down the hostess who was speaking to our server, who then brought me my drink. The server brought me the carlota de limon cake which was also really tasty, but my night had already been soured by this point as the service was poor and it was not our fault that we missed the 10pm kitchen cut off time. Had we been seated at 9pm as per the reservations, we would have had plenty of time to order more food and drinks, instead of just waiting outside in the cold. My table spent over $100 for our food and drinks despite receiving poor service and barely any food. While I understand that it was a busy night, as there seemed to be a large party of formally dressed individuals seated nearby us who were getting better service and attention, I did not feel as though the staff at the restaurant did enough to honor our reservations and make sure we even had enough time to order food for our party. I had high hopes as I had heard many great things about this restaurant, but this first time experience was a...

Was so excited to try this spot after two years of hype! My group of six was there for a birthday and left disappointed. Self-described as a luxury spot, luxury should provide comfort. Don Julio does not.

Atmosphere: rather plain; too bright for evening dining. Giant tv on wall. Why?

Drinks: The chosen glassware is not appropriate for margaritas. The classic margarita is delicious, perfectly syrupy and fresh - very nice. The coconut margarita is hard to drink. The drink itself has good flavour, but they put a ton of desiccated coconut on top and so you're constantly getting mouthfuls of what feels like fingernail clippings, when you just wanted to sip on something refreshing. At $14+/drink, you don't want to waste any...but the glasses are tall and deep, not those classic, shallow & wide margarita glasses, so when you want the last 1/4 of your drink, you are forced to tip the glass all the way up and ice splashes on your face. So you have to waste the last 1/4 of your drink. (straw option would help with this glassware)

Food: Instantly hurt my stomach and gave me a moment of panic. I had the vegan taco option (there's only one), which the menu described as jackfruit with avocado crema. Sounded delicious! but nope! They changed the taco without changing the menu, to what I was told was "a quinoa-soy plant-based chorizo." It was obviously Yves cuisine ground round with pickled onions and some clover on top. Atrocious combination. They loaded way too much filling on the tiny taco wrap, so much that it poured all over my hands and fell out while eating. (You think it's good amount for price but it does not execute well). Made me think they had lots leftover and just wanted to get rid of it. It was inedibly spicy and had no flavour other than the Mexican ground round. After finishing, I had an instant stomachache and felt a moment of panic. This feeling subsided as the night went on.

Vegans don't want meat substitutes: sweet potato and avocado would be nice, for example.

Service: the server was knowledgeable and friendly, but we lost him throughout the night. He took away half the food plates, leaving other dirty dishes on our table while we tried to enjoy drinks after our meal. Also they close at 12am, but at 10pm, they started putting chairs up on tables, making us feel unwelcome. I get that no one wants to stay after closing, but when you work in hospitality, you should be...hospitable.

I'm sorry to leave this negative review but hopefully the feedback helps. I prefer Guanaquita next door, but if I return here, I'll probably opt for chips & guac and a simple margarita. Probably a fun...

Worst restaurant experience I’ve ever had. I usually don’t write reviews or get upset over things, but I’ve never been treated so poorly. On Sunday evening, April 6th, we asked our server Abby if the Taco platter is served with all components separate. She assured us it would be separate prior to ordering. When the beef and chicken arrived it was covered in sauces and tomatoes despite us previously asking if everything was separate. I have a lactose allergy (my boyfriend doesn’t) and other dietary restrictions but no where on the menu did it say the chicken would have sour cream on top.

It was a bit annoying since we asked but we can understand things get mixed up or servers mess up sometimes. When I politely reminded her about the separate components, she was not at all apologetic for the mix up and outwardly blamed me for not telling her of the allergy ( I didn’t think it was necessary since she assured us it was separate regardless). She eventually brought plain portions we thanked her but she ignored us and walked away visibly annoyed. Again, a little distasteful but not something we would let ruin the evening. At payment we deliberately weren’t shown the bill, she just handed us the machine with the total on it. After I paid I noticed it seems more expensive than anticipated, I asked to see the bill and found a $12 charge for the replacement meat, something never communicated or approved - not to mention wasn’t even our fault. When I confronted her about it, the server got extremely defensive and rude, insisting it was our fault not hers nor the kitchen, so she decided to charge us for it without telling us. She then rolled her eyes and said that she’ll just “pay out of pocket” and handed me 12 dollars cash. Which I found incredibly insulting.

There was never an apology or any attempt to defuse the situation. I tried to keep things offline and resolve this with the manager yesterday evening, but I was beyond shocked at his unprofessional rude response, it’s clear why the staff feel no need to be professional when he is setting an example. When I told him what happened he stated that he believes her over me, following with “what do you even want from this”, showing absolutely no care for the awful experience. I have never felt so unheard or dismissed by an establishment. Truly disappointing from...