Don Julio Mexican Restaurant Bar&grill — Restaurant in Forest Lake

We used to love this place. The food was always good, atmosphere was inviting, and service was mostly good. However that has changed over the years and after our last visit, just a week and a half ago, we will NEVER go back to this location.

In recent months we have found that when we dine in the staff will speak ill of and make fun of their patrons in Spanish. Most customers have no clue it’s going on, but if you know the language and listen in closely you can clearly hear them. This alone should have been enough to stop going, but the food and the few nice servers (oh, and the one cook who’s always singing loudly which we found amusing) kept us going.

Unfortunately, our last visit was the proverbial straw that broke the camels back. Long story short they made a mistake on our to go order and we had to go back to get it fixed. Which would have been no big deal except for the fact that the one main manager there proceeded to not only argue with my wife about their mistake (we ordered and paid for super nachos, but received plain chicken nachos), but he also flat out yelled at her and told her there was a “better Mexican restaurant just down the street that we should go to next time”.

To that point we had been loyal customers for over eight years. No longer will that...

To start off the food was a 10/10. I noticed the odd menu pricing first. All of my food ordered as a side costs an even $10 but as a meal its $10.75. when you order it all as a side you also get more food compared to paying .75 cents more for less food that comes on one plate. When I ordered my food as sides and specifically said not the meal he wrote it as a meal. I also noticed for three enchiladas sold separately it's a dollar more than buying one at a time which you'd think if you bought more at a time it would be cheaper. The service wasnt horrible it just was one mix up after another. When I got my drink it was clear the flavor had run out, I explained what had happened and asked if he could refill the pop dispenser. Another drink was brought out and had the exact same bitter taste. So I was given the same drink without the flavoring refilled so it was just carbonated water essentially. I gave up at that point and it was a you get what you get situation. Great food,...

I made reservations for 15 at 5 pm on Sat . When we arrived at 5 , nothing was ready . They quickly put extra chairs at 2 tables -not even together . Our server did not speak much English, so communication was horrible . We had to ask for things over and over . No one helped her with our large group ,even though 5-6 other employees were standing around chatting . It was frustrating ! Took us over 2 hours for all this due to the slow service . When the food did arrive , it was auctioned off to us one by one . Food was good though ! We did not order any alcohol and our bill was around $240 . They added a 20% gratuity , which is normal but, I usually leave extra and felt with the level of service 20% was too much ! On top of that they added another $9 for credit card fees . This place used to be decent but, it has really gone down hill ! I think that explains why they were not busy at all on a...