Pablo’s

The service was not very good. friendly but took 10 mins to initially greet us, then didn’t get our order right, and when asked for the correct item they forgot. Food was ok, got nachos and yes I know that means cheese, but they drenched it in cheese and had a puddles of grease all over my plate, and chips were way to soggy to dip in salsa. I’d suggest going somewhere else, ESP for what they charge.

The service was a disaster, the waiter kept forget our order request had a memory the size a walnut. Had two al pastor had better off a random roach coach. I was asked if I wanted to add a side rice and beans and they end up bringing me two small tacos with a huge bowl beans and a plate of rice as if the sides were my main course and the tacos were the side order lol.
I would try it again but the service makes me stray.

Normally you dont find great authentic Mexican food from big restaurants like this one. Its usually those hole in the wall places that have the more authentic food. This place is an exception to that rule! Great selection of dishes, and awesome selction of beers on tap!
You really cant go wrong here…

We showed up for happy hour with a group from work. We arrived a little early so we ordered a round of beers… we were pretty clear that we where there for «Happy Hour». After our first round the bartender came over to check on us. We were ready to order Food and Drinks off the HH menu.
The Bartender checked the time… said we had 8 minutes and walked away… WTF, really.
When we did finally place our order, the six of us, it took 15 minutes to get our drinks. not the greatest service, mediocer/​fair food and somone needs to teach them how to make Margaritas… This is Souther California — we know a good Mexican restraunt… you cant fake it here. With all this said I will try them again, they are new and this place could be good…
P.S.
How about a chip & salsa station in the bar area… that way the server doesn’t spend all night running to the kitchen for chips… and when you bring me my chips and salsa, think about putting the salsa in something big enough to dip the chip in. I want to dip my chip not wet the corners of it…
This is all Mexican restaurant 101

Went for happy hour. Great tasting food but experience was ruined by shitty service. It took 10 – 15 minutes for the guy to bring me a napkin. Why there wasn’t one there to begin with I don’t know, but it is incredibly annoying to eat tacos and chips and salsa without a napkin!
The tacos were $ 2 each for happy hour. Very small, but tasted very good. The salsas and chips were really tasty as well but the guy never refilled them even though we asked twice because our tacos took quite a while and we ate all the chips while waiting. Margarita was $ 5 bucks and was pretty standard, nothing special. I only had one because the guy never came back to take an additional order from us, so we just said F it.
Prices are high outside of happy hour. I really wish the service wasn’t so horrible because I thought the food was good (at happy hour prices).

Terrible, awful, no good, very bad service.
The food was good, but the service was so bad that I just can bring myself to give anything more than one star.
I was here for an early lunch with coworkers and it seemed like we were the only table around. The server/​bus staff would only refill one salsa, chip basket or drink at a time — it seemed like they never looked around to see what else we might need. We all regretted mentioning that we were celebrating a birthday at the end of the meal, because then it took an extra 20 minutes for them to bring out the birthday dessert (a couple scoops of ice cream) and another 10 – 15 for them to bring the check!
I might check it out again for happy hour and snacks, but definitely won’t be going at lunchtime (or any other time when I want to get out in less than 2 hours).

The Pescado a la Veracruzana is awesome.

Pablo’s is in the former space of the Bistro West restaurant at The District (Whole Foods lot area). Pablo’s has remodeled the interior impressively even though the space is quite large. Wish they had worked so hard on the food. I liked Bistro West but Pablo’s I give two stars. You might rate it higher if you like:
*Overly salty fries
*Weak margaritas
*Bland entrees especially a Mole Pablano that when I closed my eyes I could not identify the sauce
*Inconsistent service
*A limp mess of a taco salad
*A queso that you couldn’t dip with and was also bland
Positives:
*Hostesses were cute
*Bus boy service was better than waiter
*Salsa were very good especially Roasted and Habanero versions.
Other reviews have stated the restaurant is better when busy and not slow like on Sundays. Maybe will give it another try but would be hard pressed to explain why.

I probably would have given this place one star, but the service here was really good. Other than that, it was pretty mediocre at best. When you first walk in, it looks a lot like the restaurant that used to be here — Bistro West. Almost nothing on the interior has changed, except for the décor and menu.
And just like Bistro West, this place is way overpriced for what you get. Expect to pay between 15 – 20 bucks for almost any dish here. Dishes you can get at other places for about half that price, but twice as good. I ordered the carnitas with green rice. Others at my table ordered a carne asada burrito, albondigas soup, nachos, and I forget what the other one was.
The carnitas came in some big chunks along with black beans (you can also get refried), green rice, and some guacamole, onions, and tomatoes. First off, I will say that all of this lacked proper seasoning. And for me to say that something needs salt, it must not have any at all, as I don’t put salt on anything. The meat was tough on the outside and lacked any real flavor. The rice would have been fantastic if it had some salt in it. Otherwise, it was pretty bland.
The albondigas soup, while big, lacked any flavor at all. It was like they blanched the veggies and dropped them in a bowl of hot water. No seasoning in the broth at all. The meatballs were also very bland. It was like eating ground beef and rice and nothing else. No seasoning and no flavor.
Unless this place changes it chef or recipes, I don’t expect them to be here for more than a year. I know me and my friends will not be back.

Ambiance: Nicely decorated, modern and savvy. Great for a date or night out with friends. Bar seating, patio, and family style seating are available. It feels very wide and open!
Price: Under $ 10 and inexpensive during happy hour 4−7pm!
Service: Quick, friendly, and attentative! Our server was nice and made the experience fun.
Location: Ample parking during non-​rush eating hours.
Food and drinks:
~Four different tacos
~Chicken taquitos
.
~Chips and salsa
.
~Margaritas (Beverages came out fairly quick)
The best was the veggie & mushroom taco and the chicken taquitos. The chicken taco was a bit on the dry side and we weren’t feeling the carnitas taco nor the barbacoas taco. Carne asada taco was good, but not as good as Baja Tacos.
Story: I’ve been eyeing this place for a while even before it opened. So glad it is a great addition to the District. Will be sure to drop by for more in the future =)
Tip:
~Drop by for happy hour and don’t leave without chocolate mints!

I’m happy to announce to the thirsty people of Irvine: we can add one more option to our tiny list of happy our places!
We went on a Friday at around 5:30pm and the place was fairly empty so there was no wait at all… Don’t sit in the dining area during the day!!! It looked so dark and gloomy compared to the cantina side. There’s an opening that connects to the outdoor area letting the sun in. It’s so relaxing… perfect to wind down. Good for a date and would be fun to go with a group of friends. And the service was great! Our waitress was the sweetest. She made it easy to order and she was very attentive.
Most of the items we ordered came from happy hour menu. Started off with a couple of margaritas. My boyfriend *muevete muevete* got the regular (which was pretty good) and I got a mix of the mango & strawberry margarita. Omgoodness, after the first one there was a fiesta in my head… and after my second one… I thought I was in Mexico. Haha… just kidding! Sort of! But the point is there’s some extra lovin’ in those Margaritas, and I love it.
Food wasn’t the best Mexican food I’ve ever tried, (It’s hard to impress someone from SD who has tried all the authentic hole in the walls.) but it was good! On Friday, their tacos range from $ 1.50 to $ 2.50 each and they’re street style (small corn tortillas, onions, lime…). We ordered the carne asada and carnita tacos and they were pretty good. Also, you can order a la carte from their entrée items! I love this because you can try lots of different things… I ordered one beef enchilada with red sauce and a chile relleno (stuffed pepper) and both were pretty good. It was my first time trying the relleno and I loved it! Highly recommended if you’re a fan of cheese and tomato! Our waitress also recommended the pozole rojo soup and it was amazing… slow roasted pork mixed with various veggies and spices. I definitely plan on ordering that again next time.
Daily specials:
*Margarita Mondays — House & signature margaritas $ 5
*Taco Tuesdays — pablo street tacos $ 2/​each
*Wednesdays Papa’s & Beer — $ 10 pitchers (dos equis & pacifico) 1.50 potato taquitos
*Thirsty Thursdays — margarita pitcher specials & 5 dollar nachos
*Happy Hour Fridays — 4 – 7 specific food/​drink specials
*Saturday — Kids eat for $ 1. I don’t know how this works, but sounds pretty cool. Too bad I’m not a kid/don’t have kids. Not that I want any. Anyways…
*Sangria Sundays — sangria specials from 2 – 6
DRINK SPECIALS M-​F 4 – 7
$ 4 draft beers
$ 5 happy hour margaritas
$ 6 sangria & house wine
$ 7 signature drink special
HOPE THIS HELPS!

I reserve the right to change my opinion after I come back for happy hour, but my lunch experience this past week was solidly okay. The food was good (it’s on the pricey side, but the portions are generous) and the place had great atmosphere. But our service was slow and the gentleman who helped us occasionally crossed the border between jovial and flirtatiously creepy. On top of that, the service was a bit slow. We were there almost an hour and a half for lunch, and we even came in close to 1:00 to miss the lunch rush. My chicken enchiladas were good, and the other dishes were reportedly good. But unfortunately it was the service that made the impression on this visit.
We do plan to come back for Happy Hour, and we’ll see what happens then!

Well, I gave this place another try on a non holiday. It wasn’t busy at all and unfortunately the service was just as bad. Sorry Pablo’s although your food was still great, the slow and lack of service at times was just a downer. Also, during this experience the waitress had added additional beer charges to our bill that we had paid cash for ourselves at the bar. She didn’t even bother to verify whether she had in fact served us the beer, just added it to the bill. The waiter who was told of the mistake, didn’t believe us and had to have the bartender walk over and confirm it. I mean really?
Again, I will say the food is great, maybe I’ll just order carry out next time…

Meet Scott the bartender. He’s great!
The street tacos are very tasty and well worth it.
Awesome chips and salsa. Ask for the red salsa and if you’re feeling adventurous ask for their spicy salsa. You wont have taste buds after.

If you’re looking for a cheap Mexican food place, Pablo’s is NOT where you should go.
This place is kind of pricey for their plates $ 10-​$ 25, so we ordered off the a la carte menu, $ 3-​$ 8 priced meals and some drinks $ 7-​$ 10.
I ordered:
*Carne Asada Soupe
*Side of rice and beans
*Sangria
I think the only thing I really liked were the chips, not even the green or red salsa (that had a weird texture), but seriously ONLY the chips. My soupe was alright, lacking flavor, and well rice and beans is rice and beans. I liked my sangria it was actually pretty good, but everything else was kind of bland.
Our waiter changed 3 times, and the waiter that was with us in the end was really rude, kind of boring (not that waiter should be fun), but he wasn’t very engaging and when it came time for the bill, he just put it on our table, didn’t say a word. I swear I didn’t want to tip him at all, BUT i figured I should be nice…
I don’t think I’ll come here again, unless my friends wanted too. I need to find some good Mexican food in this area, cause Pablo’s just won’t do. :(

Came here for hh on a Friday. Reveiw based on hh ONLY!
Got here a little before 5 pm, place was quiet, that’s ok… it wasn’t even 5.
The bar area is HUGE! But it felt like the bar was at the center of the restaurant.
I had a house margarita, ceviche (hh portion) and their chips and salsa verde (free) while I waited for my friend.
House margarita was good, it was not watered down like it said on the other reviews. Ceviche was a little bland… but it didn’t have the bad seafood smell. I pouredTabasco on my ceviche and it was ok. Salsa vede was spicy! Love it!
By the time my friend came, I was already full. He didn’t care for their hh menu which had tacos, taquitos, nachos… they didn’t have much selection on thier hh menu. My friend decided to get thier burrito $ 13 carne asada burrito. It was good, but nothing fancy.
I wanted to get desert but opt out. The crowd was ok, ages from 20’s (students) to 60’s (business).
Their mneu and prices reminds me very much of Javier’s, but the quality is not. I would go their for their hh only… unless someone is paying.
We left around 6:30, there were a lot of empty bar stools… but agin, the place is huge. They have not done any marketing on this place which I think they should… fast!
See pic of carne asada burrito.

I’ve returned since that first visit; this time, I sat outside, on one of those tall, festive tables. It felt vacation-​y, basking in the warm sunshine and enjoying the comfortable breezes on a gorgeous afternoon.
I thought the Queso Fundido con Chorizo was just OK, and the «hand-​made» tortillas flat and unimpressive; however, I did enjoy my Bellpepper Martini (although wished it was shaken a bit longer; ‘wanted it served cooler) AND my Cucumber Margarita (in it’s attractively large, thick-​walled glass).
This visit, the timing-​issue experienced during my 1^st visit was resolved (thank goodness). Our server (Derrek) was… exceptional! He was extremely professional, made numerous visits to check on us, and patiently put up with people (all women, at that) in the group coming-​and-​going. It’s fun in the bar!

What started out as a nice night out with my sister and her boyfriend, ended in a very unfortunate customer service experience. Raul was our server, he seemed nice enough, he was kind of slow to bring out our drinks and food, but he was cheerful and kept checking on us. The food and drink was good but was overshadowed by the way the night ended. We split the $ 95 bill 3 ways. My part was $ 24 so I said «put $ 30 on my card», my sister gave $ 40 which included her tax and tip as well and the remaining went on her boyfriends card. We were deep in conversation and made the mistake of not telling him he was writing the entire tip on his bill, so he mistakenly just wrote a few dollars for his part.
The waiter comes back to our table and says in an incredulous tone~ «3 dollars for a $ 95 bill???» we had all been drinking and having a good time, so it took us a minute to register what he was saying to us. He stood there glaring at us to which my sister and i quietly explained to her boyfriend the way we had split the bill, to which he said, «oh i’m sorry and corrected the tip». The waiter snatched the receipt from him and said it again «$ 3 for a $ 95 bill???» and stormed off. We sat there in silence for a minute~ there was a better way to have handled that on the waiters part.
Then as we are sitting in the booth, relaxing a bit and talking, our waiter walks by with 2 other servers cussing us out in Spanish (yeah I understood you!) and said in English «$ 3 for a $ 100 bill» AS HE WAS PASSING OUR TABLE WITH THE OTHER WAITERS! Sorry Raul, you picked the wrong table, I yelled «HEY!» to him and my sisters boyfriend took off after him to talk to him. I went to the hostess to request the manager.
My sister’s boyfriend told Raul that his harassment wasn’t necessary and that it was a mistake that we corrected. He then spoke to the manager who just said «sorry» and that she would talk to him… THANKS HILARY, you’re a GREAT MANAGER! No offer of a discount or free meal. I eat out ALOT for my job and for fun and have NEVER had such crass attitude from a server. Do they not understand that there are so many other restaurants and that if you work in a hospitality industry, you need to ensure that your customers are having a good time? At Starbucks, when they mess up my order, they remake it and give me a coupon to get my next drink free, THAT is service, and THAT is why I go to Starbucks EVERY MORNING.
Sorry Pablo’s~ I will NEVER eat here ever again~ you’re just a sorry knock off of Javier’s anyways.

Went for the 1^st time last night arriving at around 6:15 and was pleased to see that that their hh went till 7:00. Yay! What’s up with most places stopping at 6:00? Cheap bastards. Or am I the cheap bastard cuz I am calling them cheap for not giving me cheap eats and drinks for another hour? Sorry, digressing here.
Anyway, great hh: $ 4 wine and beer inc a couple of my favorite imports, like Stella and Dos Equis Amber. Sweet. One of my buddies got a huge Margie for the hh price of $ 5 and reported it to be dang good for the $$. We tried the $ 2 tacos and they were the smallest street tacos that I have ever seen. Even smaller than the ones from the El Chavito truck in the Slater Slums. I had the carnitas and for the 2 bites of each the meat was excellent, nice and juicy and very flavorful. I loved the tomatillo based salsa, very bold flavored but really watery.
The btender/​servers were all eager to please and very cheerful, same with their bar-​backs and food runners. The food came very quickly, as in… damn, here already?!?
The décor is a bit spartan but they have some really cool Dia de los Muertos figurines placed around and over the bar and throughout the spacious dining room.
Will head back soon to try some lunch and dinner entrées and see if I can bump em up to 4 stars.

I love Mexican food. I love it so much that I kind of feel that even bad Mexican is still pretty good Mexican. But I have to say that I was pretty disappointed with Pablo’s Cantina. Even with my already low standards, this newest eatery in The District really falls short of anything I would consider pretty good Mexican food.
Having said that, the $ 8 margaritas may be the only reason worth coming here. They are huge! And strong! You could easily get your liquor on for a mere $ 24. I tried only two on the day of my visit (it was lunchtime after all): the Skinny Margarita uses good Corzo Silver tequila and tastes bright and refreshing. The Mango Margarita was just OK, the fruit being overpowered by so much booze, but at least it did not come across as too sweet. Overall, thumbs up in the drinks department!
For my entrée I ordered the Pescado a la Veracruzana, which is the catch of the day (halibut) in a sauce made from tomatoes, onion, red and green peppers, olives, and yellow chili peppers. It comes with green or Spanish rice, black or refried beans, and corn or flour tortillas. When the dish arrived, I was disappointed to see that the fish has been fried. Now why would anyone take a good, fresh, expensive piece of fish such as halibut and just fry it? On top of that, it was overcooked (dried out) and way too salty — and I like my food heavily seasoned. It was so salty in fact I that needed to alternate bites between the fish and the bland beans and rice just to keep my palate from getting burned.
For dessert I was intrigued by the Coconut Flan, but that ended up being a mistake. The flan was so dense that it could have passed for cheesecake. When I alerted the server, he suggested that I try the regular flan instead, which he brought out without hesitation. But whereas good flan is supposed to have the texture of silken tofu, this flan was like scrambled eggs. When I told the server of the second gaffe, he said he would let his manager know. But there it appeared on the check. Maybe they decided not to comp us because we took more than two bites, I dunno.
So come for the margaritas (especially during happy hour) but skip this place when you want just average Mexican. For it fails to live up to even my very humble expectations.

I came here last night right after getting my hair done — how can I not go out? My hair was looking fabulous!
Anyways, I wanted to check this place out since it just opened, and I love to scope out new restaurants. When we got there, the hostess let us know that it would be a 15 minute wait, which wasn’t so bad. However, when we were on the way to our table, we saw that there were at least 3 tables open.
I should have expected the food to be A-​OK. It sure doesn’t measure up to the taquerias in Santa Ana. Between the two of us we had:
–2 House Margaritas
–2 beers on draft
–2 Sopes, lengua (which isn’t on the menu) and chicken (open faced sandwich on a piece of bread the size of an English muffin)
–an order of ceviche (which was a bit lacking in flavor)
–1 Al Pastor torta (which I also did not enjoy even though I’m a big torta fan. They used the correct bread, but it too was lacking in flavor).
I know I mentioned that the food was lacking in flavor, but that’s because Mexican food is supposed to be bold — heavy in the lime and spicyness! I did not quite get that here. The food was pretty bland.
In addition, the music kept going in and out where we sat. After the first 15 minutes, it got pretty annoying. On the up hand, our server, Raul, was great. He was very attentive and conversational, played along to the little Spanish that I know.
I had a fun night though, but did not so much enjoy the food. Margaritas, beer, good company, and a fun server will make your night enjoyable!