Don Jose’s Cantina & Taqueria — Restaurant in New Lenox

We were very happy with our first visit to Don Jose. Our service was delightfully delivered by Jack. He is a gem with a good sense of humor and it is clear that he is experienced in the restaurant industry.

The chips and salsa were homemade and delicious. Some may report that the chips are a little greasy, but that is to be expected of fresh fried tortillas. They were warm, crispy and the salsa packed all the right punches in flavor. We tried the frozen sangria and Coronarita. Both were phenomenal! The margaritas are large and definitely utilize a house made mix that is flavorful without being sickly sweet or too sour. The sangria had bold fruit flavor with just a subtle dryness on the back end. So refreshing!

Then for our food… I read a one-star review of the Al pastor tacos so, naturally, I had to order one. I’m not sure what that reviewer thinks Al pastor is, but this was perfection. The meat has all the right seasoning and you could tell that it was sliced from a spit. The salsa on this taco is quite spicy, so be forewarned if you like milder flavor. My son enjoyed the carne de res taco and my husband enjoyed his three steak tacos. Skip the shrimp and chorizo taco for now, I am leaving some feedback for management and hope this improves.

Overall, try this place out and also have some consideration for the new business owners. You can talk in person to management or leave feedback WITHOUT leaving a one star review to our new neighbors on their opening day 😊

Most importantly, DON’T SKIP DESSERT! Bunuelo and horchata gelato is divine! The three of us spoon fought for the last bites.

Now for a few tips to this new gem in our community:

1. Please have the hosts wipe down menus between guests. We had some salsa on our menus that is never a good first impression.

2. For this price point, my expectation would be three jumbo shrimp on a taco, not four tiny cocktail shrimp that were previously frozen. This can easily be adjusted and still be profitable. Also consider having your cooks brown the chorizo to a crisp, so the taco is not served soggy. This taco was a hard pass for a shrimp snob like me.

3. Thicken up those beans just a tad so they don’t spread across the whole plate and hold the heat longer. Our beans were watery and lukewarm upon receiving them.

4. Courtesy of my 12 year old boy, he asks if you could please add bottled Jarritos to...

We have gone twice for dinner. The chips are fresh and homemade with a yummy salsa to accompany them. On our first visit, we ordered the elote fritters as an appetizer - they were so flavorful! For dinner, a chile rellano dinner and a 3 taco dinner (steak, el pastor, and chicken). While it took a while, it was worth the wait, as everything was piping hot right off the grill and delicious!

On our second visit, we ordered the pork verde soup, steak fajita dinner, and short rib dinner. The soup my husband ordered came out about 3 minutes before our meals, not allowing time for him to enjoy it and before the meals came. While both meals were good, they were not hot, which was much different than our first experience. Our guess is that they either sat for a while or were precooked and heated up. I would expect fajitas to be sizzling or very hot upon arrival to the table - this was not the case. While the food arrived more quickly, it felt like short cuts were being taken to turn over tables fast. If so, it was at the expense of the flavor and freshness that brought us back again.

The drinks…ugh. The one thing that will probably prevent us from coming back again is the drinks. Not good. As a former bartender with 15+ years experience, I’d suggest more training for the bartenders. Fill the glasses all the way with ice and pour drinks with appropriate ratios. The margaritas have way too much Sour mix, that’s all you can taste. There is no spice to the spicy margarita. Margaritas are very easy to make and can be very versatile with a few tweaks to make different flavors. On each visit we each ordered one drink - we didn’t finish our drinks either time. I couldn’t help but notice the couple at the table next to us ordered margaritas and left them half full. If we are going out for Mexican, we want margaritas…and more than one. Honestly, while our food could have been hotter the second visit, we can chalk that up to an off night. However, we’d probably good elsewhere in the future because of the...

Dine in. Pretty lively bar scene for a mid-Wednesday afternoon, so I think this place will survive. I think that will be inspite of the food.

The chips were fresh, but very greasy. Still, they had good flavor. Ordered beef empanadas. Disappointed with their interpretation. 4 very small pockets slightly filled with a loose ground beef. They were greasy and covered in salt.

We barely bit into the appetizer when our entrees were presented, by a manager, who apparently saw nothing odd about not giving you 5 mins between courses. Notwithstanding, I dug right into the main. My burrito was unique as I have never had it served lukewarm warm. I guess they knew I was coming and made it before I left home. Thankfully then, I don’t live 20 miles away.I was not a fan of the taste, but that’s personal preference. It was large, and stuffed full. The side of rice was dry looking, but moist and flavorful. The black beans looked, and were, dry. The chx quesadilla had what meat there was, unevenly distributed. Before we were halfway through the entrees, we were asked for our desert order, if any. Twenty minutes from entering to having our check on the table, which was alongside our half eaten appetizer and mains. I saw at least ten other empty tables, so maybe we were sending subconscious signals to shove us out the door.

Normally I would say I would update after another visit: however we all agreed that everything tasted a little different, and not in a positive way, including the margarita mix. My meal included a week’s worth of sodium, so I won’t be back.

If you want a bar scene with salty snacks, this can fit the bill expensively and nicely. If you want “higher end Mexican”, you won’t...