Don Juan Mexican Restaurante — Restaurant in Roanoke Rapids

Comparable to Taco Bell. By the ratings I thought this place would be really good. To start with, our waitress was not very personable. She wasn't horrible, but just personalityless. The taco chips and salsa were brought to the table very quickly by a gentleman who is very friendly. The taco chips or not warm which I thought was odd. The margarita and guacamole were good. I ordered a salmon dish that sounded really interesting that had some type of honey sauce that was supposed to be on it. But when I got it, it was very bland and the sauce was on the side. The sauce was indescribable. It really tasted horrible and nothing like honey at all. It came with what they called garlic mashed potatoes. These had to be the worst mashed potatoes I've ever had. They tasted like they boiled potatoes and smash them up. Just very watery and bland. The squash that came with it was also just very bland. I decided to try one of my husband's enchiladas thinking maybe his was better, but it literally tasted like I was eating at Taco bell! Comparable to hamburger helper. My husband is not as picky as I am so he did eat his meal and thought it was good. The bus boy had to hunt down my waitress to find her to let her know that I was not happy with my food. She did offer to bring me the menu, but there was no apology and she did not tell me they were going to take it off the bill. I decided to just finish the guacamole and Margarita instead of ordering something else, because by the time I got my food my husband would have been done with his meal. When we got the bill my dish was taken off. To top things off I went to use the restroom before we left and the women's room was a pigsty. Luckily there was one stall that was clean out of like six. Considering their reviews this place got, I was very disappointed. Would definitely not...

One of the challenges of a road trip is to avoid fast and processed foods. So, we were happy that there was a Mexican option very near our hotel that seemed to have good reviews and offer the basics of cheese, beans, rice and variations on the humble tortilla. In theory, it is hard to screw this cuisine up and there is no reason to load it with extra processing or filler. In theory. Our take-out order was easy to call-in and easy to pick up. So far, so good. I ordered the Veggie Combo C (Bean Burrito, Cheese Quesadilla, Potato Enchilada). There was little flavor to the burrito or the enchilada, and both were a rather limp and listless version of these famous foods. It seemed that the potato filling of the enchilada seemed to have been simply steamed into texture-less mush. That said, the quesadilla was fantastic. It was generously filled with both a standard melted Jack-style cheese and a soft, almost fluffy, queso fresco. The tortilla was nicely toasted (or very lightly fried). I wished I had ordered the Spinach Quesadilla, not the combo. It would have come with two pieces and a salad. As I finished eating for the evening and placed the leftovers into our room’s mini-fridge, I would have put this restaurant at 3 stars and never bothered to write a review. HOWEVER… My spouse ordered the Combo #11 (Burrito, Taco and Enchilada --- all filled with standard ground beef). I cannot speak personally to the flavors or textures in these items. What I can personally attest to is the violent puking that I witnessed in the middle of the night as my husband ran from the bed to the bathroom where he spent the next few hours revisiting this meal. Clearly, he got FOOD POISONING,… likely from the ground beef since I did not have...

On our way back home, we stopped in Roanoke to use the dog run at the welcome center. As I was sitting waiting for the dogs, I saw this Mexican restaurant and said, "Let me run over there and order something small to go." When I went inside, the girls at the desk were nice, I ordered my food and asked how long it would be. They told me 10-15min and I said no problem. After about 20 min, I went up and asked about the status, and the girl said everything was ready except the soup. I immediately said to cancel the soup, refund me for the soup, and I would just take the other items I ordered. She left and came back and canceled the order and gave me the receipt. I said to her, Why are you refunding the entire order and she said that because you wanted to cancel the order. I said no, and I said to cancel the soup because you said everything else was ready. She instantly got an attitude, starting rolling her eyes, moving her neck, and acting incredibly unprofessional. Just at this time, David, the manager, came up, heard the confusion and said hold on, brought me the food bags, and said not to worry about the money and to have a nice day. I left, still feeling confused and honestly not even wanting this food. About 15 min later I called back and spoke with David, explained to him the situation, explained how I live 4 hrs from there and while he'll never see me again, he should still address the girl and her attitude. He told me he understood, he hopes I enjoy the food and if I'm ever through this area again to please give them another chance. Overall, the food was very good, David may have saved my opinion of the restaurant, and who knows, maybe one day I'll be through that area again and...