Don Taco — Restaurant in Carbondale

So I want out by saying that the food is pretty okay. It’s definitely not bad. I’d say it’s on par with Qdoba and chipotle. Except the guacamole. The guacamole is really good but i still think qdoba guac is superior. Anyway the bowls are pretty good and pretty fresh. But the quesadillas are not. I got a veggie quesadilla once that was greasy beyond belief. I’m not even sure how you make vegetables greasy but that is beyond the point. If you’re going to go for a bowl I’ll tell you they’re pretty good. I would say the bowls are better than Chipotles but worse than Qdobas. So food overall is pretty mid. It’s definitely not bad but it’s also not the best you’re going to get.

My main complaint comes from mainly 2 things. First of all is the price. I got a chicken bowl, drink and a side of guacamole because it doesn’t come with the food. It ended up being 20 dollars just for me to get lunch and a drink. That’s ridiculous considering qdoba and chipotle give the same thing and in larger portions for 10-13 dollars. Anyway I could overlook the high prices and the fact the food is just slightly above mid. But the real nail in the coffin for me is the fact that besides the teen staff the owner is incredibly mean and petty. One time I was going there for lunch with my friend and I spent 20 dollars and he wasn’t a big fan of Mexican food which is fair to each their own. Anyway he wanted to eat with me so we got his food first and then went to Don taco for lunch for me to get my food. He felt bad for bringing in an outside sandwich and he liked guacamole so even paid for a side of guac which after tax comes to around 5 bucks on top of my 20 dollars spent. And I kid you not the owner lady came over and asked him to leave because there was no outside food or drink allowed. Now I understand each restaurant can make their own policies but he and myself did indeed buy something and weren’t being a nuisance. To me that’s just incredibly rude. You may agree or feel differently but for me it’s petty and rude. Then on top of that I was in the other day for lunch and saw her absolutely freak out run across the kitchen to yell at a guy for filing up a water cup with what was either Powerade or sprite. Now I understand you shouldn’t be doing that but considering how much they charge for a drink I kind of understand why he did. And let’s be honest many others do it to at restaurants without having a person come running across a restaurant to scream at you like a crazy person. To me the just above mid food, the high prices, and the extreme pettiness of certain staff brought my review down considerably. It’s worth mentioning from what I can tell that same staff member or owner doesn’t even treat her own staff very well to begin with. She was really heckling them from what I could tell. If it wasn’t for mainly the price of the food and the actions taken by who I assume to be the owner my review would be of a much...

I'm Sorry...Long Review. I placed an order at 1:41am this morning for a Don Taco Bowl no Shrimp and replace with extra steak welldone meat+grilled onions, everything welldone. Delivered order at 2:30am-2:35amish, called Don Taco 2:38ish and got Carlos Talked with about a whole lot of Raw Onions was put on top of my Don Taco Bowl That Smelled Horrific, this was Without lettuce, tomatoes, and mozzarella cheese. He went to the Kitchen and Checked my order found that there was a problem, but knew they was about to close. He Apologized and instructed me to call at 11am today. I get to a General Manager Paula, she act like Carlos didn't say anything about my order needing to be replaced. I asked did you see my name and number, "Yes", but he didn't say for what. So, she's says he might be sleeping because you know. I said again he told me to call at 11am, and she said he put my name and number down. He couldn't fix it because we both knew they were closing. He was so sorry about it. I understood with no problems. This GM Lies like she was calling Carlos, and she'll call me back. So, I called her back, and another young lady gets on the phone asking questions like they couldn't see my number, and the manager wasn't standing there. So, the first thing that the General manager Paula say after I call back, because she didn't call me back is "Carlos Is Not A Manager, and he can't decide to replace anything!" So, Why Did you act like you had to call Carlos in the first place since he isn't a manager? I got so angry at the fact her story changed, and she gave me the runaround knowing she could make the decision to replace my order on the first call GM.Se Was VERY RUDE, DISRESPECTFUL, Condescending, and Outright Trying to Misdirect Me to Get Tried, and Say Forget It. Those Raw Onions took Over My Food, and I was Sooo hungry, I'm in a Wheelchair, I can't cook for myself ,and My Son who's my Caretaker was very Tired. She was not willing to help me even after knowing my food couldn't be fixed after delivery. I Asked her to replace my food, and she didn't want to deal with it all of a sudden. I told her I was going to write a review, and she said go ahead, and here I am. she got smart with...

This was my first visit to any DT. Not a good first impression.

The restaurant was clean inside and out.

Not to many people inside, it seemed slow for lunch time. Maybe it picks up when SIU students are in town.

Two patrons in front of me at the ordering station. They opened a second register to take orders. That was nice to speed up the ordering process.

The young lady at my register could have at least smiled and pretended that she was glad to have a job and wanted to help. She never smiled. The only thing she said was to ask if I wanted lettuce, tomatoe and onion. Still not a smile. She took my money and moved on. I understand now why places are automating the order process.

My order number was called in a relatively short time. Thumbs up on the speed in preparing the order.

The burrito was ok, not something to brag about. I didn't care for the tortilla shell. It had little flavor but did soak up some of the fluids coming out of the burrito. Chips were short in supply, stale, and not warm. Most Mexican restaurants have warm fresh chips that are very good and three to four times the quantity.

I like spicy. The sauce had a bit of a kick but not overpowering. Thumbs up on the sauce.

For the price I could have gone to a good Mexican restaurant and had a much better experience for maybe two or three dollars more.

Overall not a good experience. I will give it some time and try again. Maybe it was just an off...