Don Tigre Mexican Owings Mills — Restaurant in Maryland

TLDR: Tasty Mexican eats in a fun atmosphere and spectacular service. Come for the fajitas and dessert!

Vibe: 5/5. Tucked away in a small business park near the old Owings Mills Mall area, Don Tigre makes it's presence known immediately as you pull up. Fun multicolored banners and bright patio dining furniture grace the front of the restaurant as well as the vibrant Don Tigre sign. This stands in stark contrast to the rest of the business park, but in a good way! During our weekday night visit, both the outside patio and inside dining area were bustling with energy. We saw several tables of office workers enjoying a few happy hour drinks, as well as several families with children sitting down for dinner. Our party of 6 and 1 toddler was seated inside at a large rectangular table near the entrance. Inside, the vibrant color motif continues colorful wall décor as well as a brightly colored tiger statue that greets you at the door.

Service: 5/5. The waitstaff at Don Tigre is what makes them stand out from your typical Mexican restaurant. During our weekday night dinner, we received outstanding service from start to finish. Our group of 7 arrived around 6PM without reservations and were seated immediately. Since we had a toddler, they allowed us to have the large rectangular table in the center of the dining room, with the toddler at the head for ease of access by the parents. It goes without saying that the most important part for any Mexican restaurant is the free chips and salsa service. Don Tigre did not disappoint, as the baskets came out instantaneously with being seated and were refilled without asking, countless times throughout the meal. Our waiter also did a great job at checking up on us and keeping our beverages topped off. Bonus points for the restaurant including water carafes at every table. Overall, a very pleasant, friendly and smooth service that made a lasting impression on all of us!

Food: 4/5. Don Tigre has a simple yet well executed menu. All of your popular Tex-Mex food favorites are available, including tacos, burritos, nachos, quesadillas, tamales, fajitas etc. Pricing is reasonable and is on par with any chain Tex-Mex restaurant in the area. However, the food quality is hand over fist better than the aforementioned. We started our meal off with orders of queso and guac for the table. Both were freshly prepared and had great flavor, seasoned well and smooth, creamy textures that paired well with their house made tortilla chips. For mains, the bulk of the table ordered various renditions of the fajitas, including shrimp, steak, chicken and al pastor. The fajitas came out with the standard fanfare, hot and sizzling on a cast iron skillet and a plate of accoutrements on the side. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed the fajitas, with all proteins cooked perfectly and with generous portion size. One small gripe would be the green pepper ratio to onions and meat, as I found myself sometimes eating mouthfuls of only green pepper. For dessert, we were treated by Don Tigre to their house specialties, fresh churros and fried ice cream. Both desserts were fantastic and lived up to hype. The churros were generous in size and perfectly crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. The balance of the sugar and cinnamon dusting played nice with the chocolate drizzle that adorned each churro. And then the fried ice cream, which is a scoop of vanilla that is rolled around in the churro sugar/cinnamon mixture as well as cornflakes before hitting the fryer, was decadent. The ice cream was served with what seemed to be fried flour tortillas, which were intended as scooping vessels for the ice cream, brilliant. Overall, you can't go wrong with anything on the Don Tigre menu. The kitchen seems to have the food dialed in, making this a worry free place to go to enjoy your Tex...

7/19/2023 I visited for hh and loved every bit of my visit. Everyone was so kind, helpful, and customer service focused.

I grabbed a seat at the bar and ordered the following. Classic Margarita (Peach) - Strong !! Yum !! Strong !! Chips & Salsa - Fresh !! Chicken Wings (Mexican Style) - Pretty darn good !! Definitely reminded me of Pargos (telling my age) Wings !! Vegetables - Colorful, plentiful, and delicious !!

This place came HIGHLY recommended from my hair stylist next door, and this place did not disappoint. I've been in the salon in the past 6 months when management has visited to say something kind. Unsure of the convo, but they sure left all the ladies smiling.

I loved this place so much that I gave hubby a great verbal review, and he visited within 2 days. Guess who's still raving about their Chicken Tacos !! True Story yall !!

This community needed a chill spot to call home, and it has arrived !!

• revisit * 08/22/2023

Welp, my previously stated 5 Star, is now a 4 Star. A struggling 4 Star.

Asked hubby to visit a hh/ restaurant w me. He obliged. I was happy. Gave him 2 options, and he picked this establishment.

We arrived at 6:45pm. It was so crowded and lively. We even ran into a few familiar faces. We were kindly assisted by Wisdom. Yes, his name is Wisdom. Awesome, right!! Hubby ordered the Taco Tuesday Special. 5 Tacos/ $15. Add a Margarita for $5 !! That's pretty great, aye!! He enjoyed everything!! The Strawberry Margarita that Wisdom made him was pretty magnificent.

I ordered a White Sangria, Mexican Style Wings, and Veggies. My Sangria was yum. Great size!! Wings... nope. They were tiny, dry, and cold. Several of them were cold. More than half. Another bartender offered to take them back. She returned w the same Wings w added sauce and tougher than leather. She stated to let her know how they are because some NEW ones are coming out. I was so confused of why they heated these dry, baby sized Wings. I guess I wasn't deserving of a new batch. I gave them a try. Nope. Now, they're too dry to eat.

There's no way in heck I'm giving them a 3rd chance to further disappoint. Due to my many allergies, there weren't too many other options for me to consider.

My veggies were mid, as the young adults say. They were just ok. The portion size was smaller than my previous visit, not as tasty. Edible.

I left quite disappointed. Wisdom apologized endlessly. The other bartender didn't apologize once. It's truly the kitchen's fault, but a little empathy would have helped.

I'll give them 1 more try. I'll visit closer to the beginning of hh so they can give my food a little more attention.

That's...

I really like this restaurant. The food was delicious and the atmosphere was perfect.

My daughter was celebrating 🥳 me so she ordered 2 drinks 🍹 for us to start. Later, we saw some drinks that other guests chose so we asked for them. (You know how you see 👀 the appetizing, appealing choices that other people make and you just gotta try it too?) My daughter said she couldn’t taste the alcohol… this is because our waitress, Deylin, who served our 1st “fully loaded” drinks, took it upon herself to decide that the new drinks would be VIRGIN. When we asked her why were the glasses different from the other guests’ glasses, she made a guy ask for my daughter’s ID (which was like locking the barn door AFTER the horse has already gotten loose). After my daughter had proven that she’s on her way to 30, we were brought the drinks in the appropriate glasses BUT it tasted like the virgin drinks were just dumped in them. This was dishonest of the bartender unless Deylin just instructed the bartender to just do the dump switch as if the glasses were the initial issue. Clearly, if she made someone else ask for the ID, she knew of the request for alcohol. (I gotta say that I’m still tripping why BOTH of the new drinks were non-alcoholic if you only wanted to see “ONE” ID 🤔.)

On another note, I enjoyed reading other reviews that boasted a pleasant experience while celebrating birthdays or hanging out with MOMS. I was wearing birthday beads around my neck and they were never acknowledged. Even the fact that I mentioned, “It’s our first time here”, wasn’t acknowledged.

I want to reiterate that “I really like this restaurant”, but would not like the same waitress who barely wanted to smile. My daughter still tipped well because that’s how she was raised. However, I can’t say that the tip was earned honestly.

The young lady that greeted and seated us was very welcoming!

We were told that they don’t do the Tableside guacamole anymore, but it’s still fresh. It tasted sooooo good and was even more tasty leftover the next day! The happy hour prices didn’t really seem different from what was already on the menu even though they are advertised on a different table sign also.

This is a hidden gem in the Brookside Commons tiny shopping center off of Lakeside.

My true rating is 4 stars, but the app averaged the 3 categories together and came...