Don Juan's Mexican Kitchen — Restaurant in Tenino

Bland food by comparison. If you’re a local and just want food that tastes like what you think Mexican food should taste like, then eat here. I think that explains all the good reviews; people wanting big, bland portions at low prices.

But If you’re like me and you’ve had real authentic Mexican food, this place doesn’t even make the list of why good Mexican food is.

They say that’s how their grandma cooks it. Well, then your grandma can’t cook authentic Mexican food. Sorry abuelita.

The point of going to a Mexican food place is to taste a culture’s authentic cuisine, not altering authentic cuisine to pander to bland palettes.

Not all Mexican food places serve great Mexican food. I’ve been here twice over the span of 9-10 months and the food and service was the same - lacking inspiration.

The salsa tasted like you blended in canned carrots or something canned. It had a canned flavor of some sort. Same with your refried beans. Fresh salsa is incredibly easy to make and should have lots of colors and flavors.

Your salsa lacked everything; color, flavor, spice, and heat! Just make it fresh, show your customers what your culture calls salsa, not a refrigerated cold bowl of salsa that only had two colors - red with black charred bits. Now a cooked salsa is fine, but freshness is still key.

The salad with carne asada was bits of meat on top of a bag of spinach and bits of corn and dressing and that’s it. I tasted the dressing by itself and no way can you even say that’s good. It was oily and lacking any flavor. It was hard to tell what it was. Just tasted oily is all. So pouring it onto the already bland salad didn’t help. Remember the salad was corn, bits of meat, and a big plate of raw spinach.

The carne asada that came with it was poor quality meat and you know it. I asked the waiter about it and he just got upset and offended. He was the owners son (shocker). My wife didn’t eat her Chile relleno. I tried it and didn’t want another bite.

So, needless to say we won’t be coming back. I’m sure this Mexican food place will get all sorts of business from bland pallets coming in for big meals so they can stuff their face and still save half their food for...

Little disappointed today. Food was smaller in portions than the last time, chicken was still slightly pink inside, fajita pan was not sizzling and the dish was mostly red peppers with a small amount of onion and green peppers and chicken. The beans and rice were small portions and pretty tasteless. There were not any sauces to put on the fajitas like salsa, guacamole or sour cream, only beans, rice and dry iceberg lettuce. They brought us a plate of tortilla chips but when we went through them and asked for a second plate, we were surprised to see a $5 charge for the second batch of tortilla chips on the bill. $19 seemed high for a chicken fajita plate, and when I payed with my debit card, I found out that they added an additional approximate .90cent charge to cover the use of the card rather than paying with cash. I certainly did not notice that there was a surcharge for paying with my debit card prior to paying with they card nor was I told anything thus it was a surprise. Finally, the staff was overworked and we only saw our waitress, once we had our food, one time while we were eating. During that single visit, I had half a plate of beans, rice and lettuce left along with peppers and onions on the fajita pan when she was trying to take the plate away. I had to stop my half full plate from leaving. It felt like they were trying to get us out of the restaurant to serve the additional people in line. I recognize they were busy but I waited for my turn and did not want to be pushed out for the next person. I think for me at least, it was not worth the drive from Olympia. Hope your...

This is by far the best Mexican food I have had in the Pacific Northwest (even including Seattle and Portland), coming from someone who grew up on this kind of food. I was a little surprised to learn the family matriarch was from Guanajuato, as this cuisine really did remind me of some of what I grew up with (mostly Chihuahuan cuisine).

Their chips are nice, thick, and very crispy, and all 5 of their salsas are good, but the verde & habanero salsas are exceptional, with the verde being the best green salsa I have had anywhere, period. The Aztec soup was fantastic (recommended by an acquaintance and our original reason for visiting).

I'm obliged to always try the fajitas at a new Mexican joint the first time I go, and they held up well against what I grew up with. The accoutrements differed a little (no cheese, guacamole, sour cream, or pico de gallo; I got what I wanted on the side), but they hit the important marks; refried beans (only mentioning because there's a terrible epidemic out there of black beans being served with fajitas), the correct cut of beef, and relying on char to give the meat flavor. If they use a marinade at all, it's very mild, which is pretty traditional to the original vaquero style. Next time I come I'll probably see if they can add some serranos to the skillet.

Their margaritas are generously sized for the price, though mine wasn't particularly strong. Very tasty regardless.

Service was also stellar.

Y'all are great - will absolutely be...