Dos Caminos — Restaurant in Charlotte

My family and I went on May 4th for my birthday. We had reservations for a part of 8. They sat our party at a table right next to the bar. Mariachis were playing when we first arrived, and it was loud but acceptable and fun. A few minutes later a DJ began playing and it was so loud, that it literally hurt my head. We had only ordered a few drinks and appetizers at that point. I went to the hostess stand and asked if they could move us to the dining room. She asked that we give her a few minutes and she would come to our table to let us know. About 10 minutes she came and actually put her finger in her ear as she passed between our table and the bar. She told us there was no way she could move us because the tables that were empty were for reservations. I explained that we were also a reservation and could she not place us in the dining room and place another part of 8 at our table. She was very nice but adamant that she could not. Another reason provided for not moving us was we had a waiter assigned to us. I offered to cash out and generously take care of our waiter and was still told no. I did get a little emotional because it was my birthday and had discovered the day before my mom has stage 4 breast cancer that has moved to her bones. I explained it was my birthday and pleaded with them to move us. My family was saying let's just leave but it was 6:30pm on a Saturday night and each couple had already paid $30 for parking nearby. When the hostess still politely refused, we decided we would leave but I did want to make sure a manager was aware. We waited for the manager who came over and I admit I immediately explained why we would be leaving and how frustrating it was that they would not move us to the dining room and the noise level was not reasonable. I did say I thought they should comp the $25 guacamole or something since we were going to be scrambling to find another restaurant and had paid to park 4 cars to leave quickly. The manager told me once I was finished that she had come over to tell us she would move us to the dining room. She never apologized or offered us anything for all of our trouble. We cashed out and out bill at that point was $51 and we rounded up to $100 for our waiter. The waiter was upset with the manager because he wanted to move with us to the new table, but they said no. He was complaining that he had only had two tables all day. We moved to the dining room where it was loud, but didn't hurt our heads and you could at least speak with the person next to you and be heard. Food was okay, nothing special with the chicken a little dry. My DIL ordered a salad with no cheese, and they didn't leave the cheese off. She just scooped the cheese out and ate it anyways. Our service at the second table was extremely slow. We ordered a margarita tower and had to wait 30 minutes because they ran out of towers. Our waiter at the second apologized for the slow service and said she was overwhelmed. Overall, food was not worth the price, restaurant is beautiful, but was TOO loud. Nobody ever apologized for the inconvenience or sound lever. During dinner, you could not talk with family at the other end of the table because they could not hear you. I see a few other reviews that were not Cinco De Mayo weekend that mention the music is too loud which is funny because they said it was not normally that loud and was only that loud because they had a DJ for Cinco De Mayo. Very disappointed with the food, atmosphere, and service and will...

🚨 A Night We’ll Never Forget… For All the Wrong Reasons at Dos Caminos Charlotte 🚨

July 15th is a very special date for my family. It was my wife’s 34th birthday, and we decided to celebrate it with our three kids and friends who are family in every way that matters. I chose Dos Caminos Charlotte because I had always driven past it, the place looked spectacular from the outside, and I thought, “this is where we’ll have an unforgettable night.”

And unforgettable it was… but for all the wrong reasons.

It all started with the reservation. I walked into the restaurant and there was no one at the front desk. Several employees saw me but no one bothered to approach or offer help. I walked over to the bar where I was greeted by JIN, the bartender, who, without even a simple “good afternoon,” “hello” or “how can I help you”, just threw out a cold “WhatsApp”—no smile, no courtesy, no basic manners. That was my first red flag, but I told myself: “it’s a special day, no one is going to ruin it for me.”

Eventually, someone took my reservation, and I left. Later that night, I returned with my wife, our kids, and friends. A young gentleman, very polite, showed us to our table, and for a moment, it seemed like things might go well.

But the real disaster was just getting started.

We ordered drinks, food, and welcomed our friends… at first glance, the place looked nice, the décor was pleasant. But then the drinks started to take forever. From my seat, I could clearly see the bar, and the beers were just sitting there while we waited. I got up, wanting to help out and pick them up myself.

But when I got to the bar, JIN —the same bartender— greeted me again with a rude and dismissive attitude, basically shoved the beers across the counter at me, and when I asked for lemons, she threw them at me with no respect whatsoever, right in front of another employee who looked visibly shocked.

I went back to the table trying not to let this ruin our night, but sadly, it only got worse.

The food came… except for my oldest son, who was completely forgotten. We had to insist multiple times, and after hearing meaningless excuses from the waitress (claiming the kitchen had closed, and other nonsense), they finally brought out his meal — but it was served with a horrible attitude.

The worst part, though, came at the end of the night.

We had brought a special three leches and passion fruit cake, to sing happy birthday, light the candles, take photos and videos, and end the night with a beautiful family memory… but they didn’t even respect that moment. They took the cake without permission, butchered it into uneven, broken pieces, and brought it to us completely ruined — taking away one of the most joyful, special, and emotional moments of the evening.

It was disrespectful, unprofessional, and frankly, humiliating. What was meant to be a magical celebration turned into a night of terrible service, zero empathy, and absolute disappointment.

Charlotte has plenty of places where you can eat well, celebrate with dignity, and be treated with kindness. Dos Caminos Charlotte is NOT one of them. Sadly, for us, it will always be unforgettable… but because of their terrible service.

Life moves on, we’ll celebrate many more special occasions… but never again at...

I don't leave one star reviews lightly, because I know people work hard to do their best. However, I'm leaving a one star review in hopes that they will improve and to save someone's night if you have a "hangry" person in your party!

Short Version: We didn't eat there, because when we arrived we were told it'd be a 20-minutes wait, but it was actually a 2-hour wait. Areas to improve: Be honest with people about the wait, so they can decide to wait or go else were. As "hangry" is real and it can breakup relationships!

Long Version: We live in Uptown, so Friday's we pick a new restaurant to go and walk there.

5PM I checked if Dos Caminos took reservations. The next available was 8:15PM. That was later than we wanted. So we said we'd check it out and if the wait was long, would go somewhere else and make a reservation for a later weekend.

7PM We arrive and told the wait is 20 minutes. Not bad, so we decide to wait. Unfortunately it's raining and they don't have a waiting area. So we're all crammed into a small space that has two different entrances, so you're constantly moving to let people in.

7:30PM I check with the hostess, she says it'll be another 5 minutes. So we decide to continue waiting, instead of going somewhere else.

8PM I check with the hostess again. She says "it'll be soon." So I push for more details. She's clearly not comfortable explaining the truth, so she has someone else explain to me, they seat reservations first and then put walk-ins on a "waitlist" (think "standby" for airlines), but they can't estimate when we'll be seated.

All that is fine, if you're transparent with people. Simply say to walk-ins, "Hey, Friday night is our busiest night, so if you don't have a reservation, we probably won't be able to seat you until 9PM." This then gives people the option to wait or go somewhere else. Because if you have someone "hanger" in your party, it's not a good night.

So we decide to leave and go somewhere else with immediate seating. I stayed on the waitlist, because I want to see how long it would take.

9PM I get a text, they are ready to seat us. I cancel, so it can go to the next poor party that was told 20-minutes, when it was really 2-hours!

Recommendation for Improvement: Train your hostess to explain to people the true wait times during your busy times.

It's best to have people leave and try back another day, than to be "hangry" because I guarantee nothing good can come from it.

I will leave my 1-star review up, until if and when I return and give a more complete review of the...