Don Julio Authentic Mexican Restaurant — Restaurant in North Branch

I am from Missouri, where we do not have this restaurant. At least not where I live. I am here for two weeks to work. I accidentally ordered for pick-up at the wrong location. The one i ordered from was 30+ mins away. When the two nice men came back from the kitchen to ask me some questions, worried they messed up, I was able to explain what happened. I apologized and started to leave, they both said, "hey hey hey, just wait a second...." one went to the kitchen and was gone for about 3-5 mins and came back with another man, the manager. He asked me what happened, i explained and apologized for wasting their time. He said "No its not a problem at all. What did you order, may I see your order on your phone?" I gladly showed him and he said, "Wait right here, we will make it up real fast for you." Before I could say a word, he left me with a slack jaw and the other guy told me to have a seat, it wouldnt be too long. It was less than 12 mins and my order was made and steaming hot!! I almost cried. It was 9:00 pm, I had just worked a 12 hour shift and I did not have the stamina to drive another hour for food. Either these nice gentlemen recognized this or they are just wonderful people, always. I am choosing to believe the latter. I ordered the Torta al pastor and a side of chips with guacamole and salsa. IT WAS SO DANG DELICIOUS! GO AND EAT HERE! SPEND YOUR MONEY HERE BECAUSE THEY DESERVE IT! BEST SERVICE I have had in a long time. Good people are still out there, y'all and some of them just happen to serve yummy, authentic mexican food and...

When this place opened years back, it was delicious with a great atmosphere and welcoming staff.

Over the years though, this place has gone DOWN HILL. Their salsa taste like marinara or spaghetti sauce. We ordered the burrito verde there last time and the verde on top was quite gross, very dark, and didn't taste like verde salsa at all. We scraped it all off in order to enjoy our burritos, which weren't much better due to what seemed to be large canned tomatoes inside.

Everytime I order a cocktail here its served different that pictured. On our last visit I ordered the strawberry pina colada and it came with whipped cream, though not advertised in the menu. I dont eat dairy, so it was a bit frustrating to not know what you are really going to get. In addition, the strawberry puree for this drink turned out to really be something reminiscent of Hershey's strawberry syrup.

Their service is lacking too. I often feel like the servers are just trying to turn tables and get you out the door. They havent been rude to us, but I also would rarely describe most of them as friendly either.

I've given this place multiple chances over the past year and unfortunately each time it's disappointment.

There are MUCH MUCH better Mexican restaurants to go to, like Chapala in Cambridge or Fiesta Cancun in Rush City that wont dissapoint like we so often are at Don Julio's.

Perhaps their other locations are better but if you want good Mexican food and a friendly environment,...

We have visited all three locations many times. We LOVE Forest Lake & White Bear for their customer service, friendliness, good food, drinks & nice surroundings. However, every time we go to North Branch we encounter problems. We have given it many "second chances" only to be disappointed each time. We are easy to get along with and don't often bring any issues up even when the waiter asks, however, the last time at North Branch we didn't have a choice. One of our guests had the Fajitas del mar & the fish fillet was old and disgusting. Another friend found a thin coiled piece of plastic in her food. When these were brought to their attention we were treated poorly. They did discount each meal but they should have and, at check out, we didn't say anything but it was obvious from the waiter having written the issues on the ticket that there were issues yet they never said anything and treated us kind of rude. And, if you ever consider buying a gift certificate just know that if you buy from North Branch you can only use it at North Branch. We found this out the hard way as they never told us when we bought it. We highly recommend the Forest Lake location. We've always been super satisfied & when I say "always" it is sometimes three times a week as we are frequent diners there...