Pablo's Restaurant and Cantina — Restaurant in Fate

Don’t let the ratings spoil your dinner!!!!

If being served, waited on, and seated by ALL kids is your thing then this is your place! I swear on my life there was not a single adult working in the entire restaurant. Let me give you three quick reviews. Service, food quality and overall experience.

SERVICE: Our waitress was new with no support. If I had to guess she may have been 16 to 18 years old. Her knowledge of the menu was obsolete. She did do the normal job of checking on us regularly but all the basics were missed. We got to a point where we were telling her how to do her job.

FOOD QUALITY: This is Fate, a small town in east Texas. It has one restaurant, this one. Ratings and review are based on those facts and those facts alone. Food was mediocre. Food menu was extremely small and EXTREMELY over priced!!! My girlfriend and I shared a 2 person plate that was built for one and priced at $24! It was a viable option considering everything else was $15+ a plate. Nothing special at all, enchiladas, quesadillas, all the normal stuff. I can get in board with these prices at Matt’s Ranchero or another reputable Mexican food joint but these prices were set clearly on this place being the only restaurant option in Fate.

OVERALL EXPERIENCE: The moment you have been waiting for! If zero stars were an option this place would get a zero! Stared off by us waiting for them to clean a table to seat us. Once seated the table was still extremely filthy. The seater gave us one menu because they “ran out”. Ok, pandemic so I can understand that but no digital menu suggests they only had paper menus. How do you run out of menus?? Next was drinks. Two waters, nothing fancy. Girlfriend asked for a straw and the girls said the ran out of stead but that they had the little coffee stirring straws. Sure, suggest and give us straws that are designed to stir coffee, not drink with. Good job sweetheart. Last was food. My girlfriend is tiny and doesn’t eat much so we order a plate that she had had before. It was built for two people.......Per the menu.....Botana Para La Familia.....chipotle brisket quesadillas, bean cheese nachos and ranchero tacos (2) fajita steak with chipotle wine & (2) fajita chicken with pipián sauce...... Sounds great right? This plate is $24. When we got our plate it has 2 tacos, not 4. When we question the waitress she had zero clue what came with the meal and said the menu was supposed to say “either/or” (2) steak or chicken tacos. She proceeded go get the guy that brought us the plate because girlfriend told her that was incorrect. The guy who brought us our food was another 16 to 18 year old kid, I guess he was the manager?? He said since we got flour tortillas we only get one of each, not two of each. Hahaha! I laughed and asked where it said that on the menu?? At this point we were both ready to get the hell out of this place so we didnt argue. There was nobody to talk to anyway. On my grandfathers grave, there was not a single staff member over 18 years old.

Before you take this review the wrong way let me explain one thing. My girlfriend and I are both extremely financially stable and choose fine dinning at mid level restaurant because we can afford it. This restaurant at these prices are a serious JOKE! Please do yourself a favor and drive to downtown Royse City or down 1565 to 276 for Matt’s Rancheros. I promise you will...

My wife and I love to try new places, and we are suckers for a good queso, and the chips matter just as much too. When we pulled up, you saw a clean, pleasant, and well-kept area. The exterior is clean, has a modern look, and is very inviting.

It has a Glass Cactus vibe mixed with Mi Cocina. The room was very inviting when we walked in and had a great vibe. We arrived at 5:45 pm on a Tuesday. A couple of tables were seated, and the bar was packed with people watching the Dallas Stars pregame coverage. We were at the door for only a minute until we were sitting. I offered an option of a half booth, table, or full booth. We opted for the entire booth.

When we were seated, our server, Bobby, was amiable. He took our drink order and brought out water as well. The water came in these neat glass bottles they brought to the table. I love this concept because we never have to worry about having an empty water glass. Once you empty the bottle, it is replaced with a full one while your cups are still full.

I am an unsweet tea drinker, and the quality of tea matters to me, or it tastes like dirt water. Their tea was excellent. We ordered queso as an appetizer, and it did not disappoint. It was not my favorite, but it was better than a lot I've had. I ordered the steak fajitas for dinner, my wife ordered the steak chimichurri, and my daughter ordered the tomatillo enchiladas with sour cream sauce.

Everything was plated well and came out looking very appealing! I was overly impressed with the meat quality of the fajitas and loved that they were not served on that gimmicky fajita sizzling plate! We ate everything and cleaned our plates. The steak was cooked perfectly to order for both the fajitas and the steak as a whole. Even the rice had a good flavor and was not bland.

For desert we ordered the churros. They did not disappoint, and were served with a cinnamon ice cream. The churros were light, crispy, and worth every bite! I would bet they get this ice cream from Fate Creamery, because it was amazing.

If you want to add a new Mexican restaurant to your rotation, do not hesitate to check-in. Our server, Bobby, was fantastic, but it seemed like all the staff were well trained and happy to be there, so I think you may have a good experience with anyone.

The pricing was on par with the area, I even attached a copy of my receipt to share what a meal like this would cost.

Thanks for reading,...

True Mexican Cuisine. The food, drinks, staff and environment were incredible. The food was fresh and tastes like Mexico City. Jessica (Yessica) was an amazing waitress and we didn't need to ask for anything. Pablo himself was walking around and asked how it was :) We ordered queso with artichokes, I had southwest salad with salmon, my son had the Baja Tacos and Strawberry Cake. Salsa and the Queso were on Point!!! The Salmon was a man hand size portion, full of flavor and perfectly flaky. The avocado slices were creamy, nutty and the dressings...OH MY WORD! I recommend getting BOTH Chimichurri and Cilantro Vinaigrette, its one of a kind! The Baja Tacos were there and then gone. I don't think he took a breath between bites, LOL! I managed to decode, "these are SO GOOD"! The cake was homemade and looked like a Strawberry Tres Leches Cake. I was unable to eat it, but it smelled like it was made in Heaven. I have SEVERE Celiac Disease and I was shocked; the Chef and staff were educated on levels of Gluten Free. I wasn't made to feel like an annoying trend when I asked about Gluten, but that they cared about my health and experience. For the first time in two years, I was able to just enjoy dinner with my son without worrying about the care put into my cooking. The atmosphere is great, house music was the perfect volume/vibe and they had live music too! Don't get me wrong I love our small towns, but it's nice to get out of that from time to time. I want to visit Dallas without visiting Dallas. Great food, great drinks and great memories! I'd give 100...