I don't like doing 2 star reviews, but sometimes places are just deserving of it. This is one of them. I went with some of my friends for lunch because it's nearby and it's not fast food. We were all looking forward to getting out of the office and trying something new. However, as soon as we walked in, we knew it wasn't going to be what we were hoping for. First off, it's big and open. The high ceilings don't mesh with the typical tacky Tex Mex decor. There was a strange odor of bathroom cleaner wafting in the air. The floor is bright blue. There was a large projection screen in the back of the dining area. We were promptly seated and started to browse over the menu. It's quite extensive in typical Tex Mex fare, tacos/chimichangas/tamales etc. I was surprised to see a seafood section. The prices for some of the plates seemed a bit pricey, others were cheap. The tacos plates were between $10-12 which seems like a lot for 3 tacos. My friends each went with a combo plate and I chose the carnitas burrito. We all had the same reaction, kinda blah and a bit on the icky side. Everything lacked flavor. It was all so bland, and that's not what you want when you're eating "Mexican". I desperately needed some sort of hot sauce (there wasn't any on the table) and our server never came back after she brought us our plates. Finally my friend flagged someone down and they brought a cup full of salsa that, guess what, had no friggin flavor! No spice, no heat, nothing. So, strange ambiance, bland/lackluster food, and poor service= 2 stars. read more

Don Emilio's Mexican Restaurant - don emilio's mexican restaurant - Mexican Near Me - Aurora, Colorado

Not great, not awful. We went for an early dinner, the place was mostly empty. Server was ok. Food was ok, not great. Kind of small portions. Seems very 'chain-ish'. I don't think I'd go back. Oh well. Just found this unpublished review. I haven't been back, can't even say if they are still there. Don't care. read more

It wasn't terrible, but it wasn't that great either. the house margs were a joke the salsa was good, had some heat the chips seemed burnt they poured my dad a blue moon instead of the coors light he asked for and it was luke warm. Serivce was just fine. Not busy, very open. the food was just OK. I liked the rice and tacos. read more

Don Emilio's Mexican Restaurant This weekend was my husband's birthday. We were invited to go to dinner with my parents to Don Emilio's Mexican Restaurant. They had opened in January but they didn't receive their liquor license until the start of March. They had their grand opening back on March 11th. We met up with my parents about 4:30 pm. When we walked in we were met with bright colors and whimsical décor. There were plasma televisions every where you looked and a giant screen at the end of the dinning area. Under the screen was a stage for the bands that come in and play. We were seated right away as they weren't busy at that time of day. When we first started looking over the menu, we were surprised that they also serve breakfast until 2 PM. They have an extensive menu to where even the pickiest eater would find something to their liking. For Appetizers, my parents ordered the Fresh Guacamole Salad and my husband ordered Chicharrones. The guacamole was fresh and home made. You can see chunks of avocado mixed in with the lettuce that made up the salad. It was served in a taco bowl. My parents and Simon loved this dish. The Chicharrones were all Simon's. For those that don't know what it is, it's pieces of pork deep fried, like pork rinds. The small one that I had didn't have any flavoring but then, I don't know what they are suppose to be like as it's something that I usually avoid. Simon gobbled them up like chips. They also had the standard chips and salsa. The salsa packed a punch if you ate the thick parts of it, if you dipped the chip just into the juice of it, it had the spiciness without the burning. For dinner I ordered a Shredded Beef Burrito smothered in red sauce. It was very good. The meat was flavored perfectly and there wasn't a lot of fat, if any mixed in. The red sauce wasn't very spicy and added to the meat. The flour tortilla was nice a soft and tasted like it was home made. My dish came with beans and rice. I don't eat beans so I can't say how they were. The rice wasn't anything special and was either under cooked or it crisped up under the heating lamp. Simon ordered Buffalo Fajitas with flour tortillas. Shortly after taking the order, one of our waitress came back advising that they were out of buffalo and asked if beef would be fine. He said it was but was a little disappointed that they didn't have buffalo. When he received his plate, everything was still sizzling on the iron plate and it smelled wonderful. I had a bite of the meat and I have to say the spices they used were perfect. The pepper and onions were cooked perfectly. My Dad ordered the Carne Asada Burrito. He didn't say much other than that it was good but had the same issue with the rice. He said that the beans were just beans, not really standing out. My Mom ordered a Chimichanga with ground beef. She said that it was very good and not to spicy. Over all, we all agreed that the food was good and the pricing good for the amount of food on the plates. The one thing that Don Emilio's need to work on is their service. The waitresses that we had were pleasant but they seem inexperienced. My mom had asked which chili sauce was hotter, the green or red as it varies from one place to another. She couldn't answer the question as to which one was hotter. My mom ended up asking for the green chili sauce but ended up with red chili sauce. The second waitress that helped us had to ask Simon three times what kind of tortillas he wanted with his fajitas and we still had to ask for them after everything was served. The man who we assume is either the manager or the owner seemed horrified that he hadn't received the tortillas and apologized. It also seemed that once the food was delivered, the waitresses disappeared and we would have to wait for refills on drinks and when they were refilled, it was by the man who was the manager or the owner. We feel that with time, their service will improve and we hope that their waitresses/waiters will at least sample the items on the menu so that they are familiar with everything and can answer customer questions. We are planning on going back to give them another try and when we do, I'll have a follow up review. Don Emilio's has a Children's and Vegetarian dishes. They even have hamburgers for those that don't like or not in the mood for Mexican. They also offer a 10% discount for the men and women in uniform and Veterans. This includes Police and Firefighters as a thank you for what they do. You can dine in or have dinner delivered. Hours: Monday-Friday 10:00AM- 9:00PM Saturday- Sunday 8:00AM- 9:00PM read more

This is my new favorite Mexican restaurant!! The best in town!! The food is great with wonderful service. It's a fairly new place so we don't have to deal with long waits to be seated, but once the word gets out about this place I'm sure it will always be packed. Maybe I shouldn't be writing this review... but it's just too good to keep a secret. The food is great and the prices are very reasonable. I always go with a combination plate, for the money you can't go wrong. It's not your typical Mexican spot as they have plasma TV's and music but that's what I like about it. Great place to go eat and hang out with friends. It's family friendly as well, my three year old always wants to go because they always give her a balloon. We will be back, often! Thank you for finally bringing and great Mexican restaurant to Aurora!! read more

This is the best Mexican restaurant in the area! The seasonings are a completely unique blend containing flavor waves to entice the pallet. Most Mexican restaurants have a very recognizable (and often commonplace) set of spices and flavors that drop them into a Mexican or Southwest flavor category. Don Emilio's has left this standard far behind! I now have a new gauge with which to compare any restaurant calling itself into this category. The ingredients that go into each dish are as fresh as imaginable. I have tried something different at every visit and have never been disappointed with any main course or side. The food is also amazingly filling. Good price, great staff and food that is out of this world. read more

Don Emilio's is a fairly new restaurant so business is pretty slow, but I think once word of quality of the food and the attentive service spreads it will be a busy place. When my husband and I ended up staying in the extended stay hotel across the street we gave Don Emilio's a try. The waitress and the manager were great! We enjoyed the food so much that we've been back twice since the beginning of the month. The prices are great, as are the drinks - they make an excellent classic margarita. Tonight, when we got back to the hotel a couple of other guests asked if we just got back from dinner - we were happy to point them in the direction of Don Emilio's. The decor (including the restrooms) is a lot of fun. The only negative is that in a crowd this place could be really noisy. read more

Very excellent food, the atmosphere was great, everyone was friendly. The spices in the food were phenomenal!!! It was almost as good as my grandma's and brought back wonderful memories!! I will definetly be back! read more

We tried it last night, we heard about it on 1430's the restaurant show . When we walked in the door we were blasted with extremely loud music from the mariachi band playing. The decor was ok, just kinda thrown together. Pleasant enough. The band was so loud we couldn't hear our waitress or the hostess. They did take frequent breaks for which I was thankful. Being from Texas, we are always looking for good or halfway good Tex-Mex. Don emilio's isn't really that, but it was good for Colorado standards. The portions were big and the salsa with the chips was a nice surprise. It was fresh and spicy. The waitress was pleasant. And attentive even though we couldn't hear her. Not sure we will be back. But the price was right, 20$ for two full meals for dinner. read more

Not coming back. Ordered the stuffed mushroom appetizer. They were out of them. Ordered a combo for dinner. It was ok. Nothing special. Changed the appetizer to the beef nachos. It came a half hour after we finished our entree. We wanted to get it to go if we could have went. They asked us to wait cuz they don't know how to run the computer program for credit cards. It's been two hours now. Wish I had cash so I could just go home. After they figured out how to charge my credit card, they asked us to wait again so they could cancel the transaction and add my iced tea because they forgot to charge me for it. WHAT?????? The least they could have done is comped it. My favorite Mexican in Aurora is Guadalajara on Abilene and Mississippi. Guess I'll stick to what I know is good. read more

We were actually going to have Italian foor and said lets try this Mexican place, we both adore GOOD mexican food. The service was good, the margaritas were very good, we each had 2~~But then the disapointmnet came :-( We ordered Enchiladas and they were OK, beans tasted being raised in San Diego was BORING to say the least, who does not marinate Carne seriously. I even ask the waiter to go ask what it was marinated in since it was so tasteless, he comes back oh they dont marinate it at all, WHAT???? Should a gone to Outback. So if you want food with taste, this is not the place for you. Oh yeah the mariachi band was good, but so loud you could not haver a conversation. read more

My wife and I went there recently just to have a drink during happy hour. My wife had a glass of house wine and I had a house marg. We got our bill and it was $10.75. Either he didn't have a clue or got creative on the bill. Either way it was only a happy hour for him. P.S. the margarita was one of the worst I have ever had. It tasted like it came out of one of those slushy machine and it was a premix of some sort. If you want a great house marg and food go to Senior Sol on South Yosemite. read more

I was a little skeptical about this place from reading the reviews but was pleasantly surprised. This place is huge on the inside and no matter where you sit, you feel like you are in a private room and not trying to tune out the next table's conversation. The service was great, although I think they wanted us to pay after having so many drinks and they even suggested certain items for us to try. My friend and I ordered mango margaritas (which I guess was the first time someone had ordered them). They were good. I will say that the server came back several times when we placed the order for margaritas as he forgot to ask us for ID's and then forgot to ask if we wanted them frozen or on the rocks. His manager was close by so he was reminded very quickly. I had the chile rellenos and a beef soft taco. The rellenos were made a little bit different than I was use too but they were delicious. The beef taco was okay as there was nothing special about it. It needed some salsa or something to spice it up. It's a great place for families to go that is inexpensive but it definitely wouldn't be the first place that comes to mind for Authentic Mexican food. read more

The place has a great atmoshpere....but thats about it. The margaritas were very weak (but during happy hour it was only $9 for 4 of them). We went at about 5pm on a friday and were seated right away. Someone brought us a very nice and very fresh basket of chips with homemade salsa and for lack of a better word- a cabbage pico. Very impressed with the freshness and authenticity so far. we ordered our appetizer before we even ordered the meal but all came out together, great if you're in a rush....not so great if your not. All of a sudden everything changed! We felt very rushed by the server, who's service was less than poor. The food's quality was ehhh ok, i guess. It wasnt horrible but nothing stood out to me. Everything was fresh it just had no taste. Most things were pretty fair priced but some things were ridiculous! A side of guac is $3, and they brought out a 2 oz ramekin half full. I had a chili relleno that was FULL of grease, when i put my fork in it the rest of my plate literally filled up with grease. the enchilada sauce tasted like watered down hot wing sauce, yuck. So all in all, not a horrible place to go have a beer and appetizer with friends, but not the greatest to go if you are hungry and want good food and good service. Hope this is helpful to anyone! read more

Don Emilio's is the perfect family dining with something for everyone as well as the feeling you are dining with family. The tacos are fabulous, the guacamole fresh and the chicken in any form the best I have ever tasted. If you get the chance try the charro beans they will pleasantly surprise your taste buds! The owner Victor comes by and visits when you are there and loves to get your feedback on what you like or what you think he can do better. My husband & I have been back multiple times & have yet to find something we don't like. My husband likes his food hot & spicy and I like mine mild but savory. Overall one of the best dining experiences ever! read more