Don Pedro Mexican Restaurant — Restaurant in Charlotte

I went with some coworkers for lunch, here is my experience.

Food Quality: I ordered some tacos. The shrimp was rubbery and covered in grease. The shrimp was not cleaned, how can people tolerate that? Maybe because I tasted it through the pound of breading and grease through the shrimp. Rubbery shrimp is a test of freshness and cooking. Either its old or microwaved. The pico de gallo was visibly not fresh. The salsa for the chips was watery, like I'd compare a V8 tomato drink as more palpable for a dip than this abomination. By the way the tacos came with a sliver of cheese, and a few shreds of carrot-- and the excuse for pico de gallo. I also ordered a club soda which had no carbonation but some restaurants don't keep the CO2 in check so that's unfortunately not unheard of.

Service Quality: The waitress was non attentive, with the excuse "I'm sorry I'm busy." I'm sorry too because I saw two other waitresses serving others and the restaurant wasn't that busy for lunch time. Maybe there was something I didn't see that was occupying her. Regardless even with the benefit of the doubt it took our food 1 hour and it was simple tacos. There was an issue with her hearing as well, maybe she's hard of hearing... It was obvious I didn't like my meal and it was obvious because she questioned why my plate was mostly full. I let her know I was displeased with my meal only to get a shrug if I wanted to take it togo. No...

Pricing: I am not one to complain about price, but I wanted the fresh grilled shrimp on my taco but thats an extra $8 on top of the $22 for 3 ordinary tacos. No thanks. But get this I get charged $3+ for a non-fizzy soda water. Which other places do NOT charge for unless served from a bottle.

I very very rarely leave reviews. I am not a picky guy and if I don't like something, oh well. But this place made me motivated enough to warn others. An insult to Mexican food, TexMex or whatever you want to call it.

Pros: If you've read this far you're really shopping around. The only good thing is that they have nice furniture and setting. Care was put into it. That is all....

Before meeting a co-worker for a late lunch today, I had visited this establishment a few times before. I generally do not write reviews; however, after today's horrific experience with the manager at this establishment, here goes. My co-worker ordered a chicken & cheese quesadilla with white queso on top. When her food came out, it had melted cheddar cheese on top; mistake #1 - order incorrect. Having worked in a restaurant, if you cannot accommodate a customer’s request, just say so. As her chicken & cheese quesadilla was not to her liking, she requested a different order, 2 beef tacos. Upon receipt of the check, we were charged for the quesadilla and not 2 tacos; mistake #2 - receipt did not reflect the food we ate. When I brought this to our server’s attention, he advised the manager. The manager, who had been very visible the whole time, came over and immediately stated that a quesadilla was ordered and that “sales are final”. As we debated the charge and quality of the quesadilla with the manager, she goes on to state that she always has complaints and issues from “YOU people” and that, “ya'll never want to pay” - mistake #3 - being profiled. Just because a customer’s meal was not satisfactory does not mean that the customer is seeking a free/comp meal. Overall, the food was okay; the server, he tried his best; and the manager, rude and the worst representation of this establishment. Needless to say, this was my last visit to Don Pedro Mexican...

I am very sad because I’ve been looking forward to trying Don Pedro since we moved to the area and after finally getting there, it was terrible. The most flavorful part of my meal was the water. The refried beans tasted like they were from a can. The “homemade” chorizo tasted like they figured out a way to remove flavor. Now I’ll admit the cheese dip wasn’t bad. Well the white cheese dip. I specify because they serve the orange kind on everything else. If I wanted fake cheese dip on my food, I’d go to Taco Bell. Also, ordered my kids a cheese quesadilla and it was smothered in the same kind of stiff, disgusting, and fake cheese. Makes it real hard for them to pick it up and eat. We ran out of nachos eating the only decent food on the table (the cheese dip (again the white kind)) and had to flag the waitress down as she proceeded to walk past our table not even looking to see if we needed anything. Did I mention it was a late lunch and their was only 1 other table in there and she wasn’t their waitress? She just didn’t seem to care. How did this place get to 4 stars? I have no idea and I never will because we won’t be going back. With all the different Mexican restaurants in the area, please save your money and your taste buds and go...