Comments on: Dos Perros

By: shawful

shawful — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 19:38:20 +0000

Last night I dined at Dos Perros without reservations. Luckily we were squeezed in by the very accommodating maitre d’. Unfortunately, the meal was just fair. There were some good points, but one item was particularly bad.
Complimentary chips and salsa were quite good. The house margarita was moderately strong and served in a short glass; it was o.k. In addition, the atmosphere was nice with pleasant décor and jazz on the stereo.
For appetizers my companion and I shared plantanos rellenos and sweet potato soup. Both of those dishes were pretty good.
She had the carne asada and it was tasty but too rare. The potatoes, similar to some that I often cook at home, were excellent. For the bad, My grouper was awfully fishy, bordering on inedible. The restaurant was very busy; it was 25 minutes between appetizer and entrée or the fish would have been sent back to the kitchen
Hopes were high for good authentic Mexican cuisine. Overall, the side items and flavors were respectable but they did not produce quality meat and fish. Sadly, the fish ruined the meal and my chances of returning are 50/50.

By: Beth1

Beth1 — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 02:19:31 +0000

Had dinner here tonight. Ordered a margarita that was mostly just limes and ice. Tortilla chips were good but the green sauce was nothing spectacular. Appetizer was the Platanos Rellenos – excellent. Trucha Rellena was wonderfully fresh but I didn’t see any shrimp in the filling. It was accompanied by rice which was tasty but a very small serving and stewed zucchini which was very good. For dessert I had the churros which were awful and nothing like the tasty ones they serve at Watts Grocery. Service was very good and our waiter attentive.

By: Tooth

Tooth — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 19:50:52 +0000

Regardless of taste, lets just all agree that the beans at Dos Perros are most certainly not prepared in a way that is conducive to their consumption in the presence of polite company. Especially when combined with a few beers.

By: sleepasaurus

sleepasaurus — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 18:31:48 +0000

Wow…the beans and rice were incredible when my wife and I went ( a week or so after opening). Smoky and spicy…probably my favorite part of the meal (I love beans). I wonder what the heck happened in the past few weeks.

By: TSQ75

TSQ75 — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 12:52:29 +0000

Why do places so often fail at simple things like rice and beans? I grew up eating super flavorful beans, and just cant understand when I have a simple plate of rice and beans at a restaurant or eatery and they just have no flavor at all…are people just afraid to season them?

By: xilab

xilab — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 22:52:57 +0000

I also visited Dos Perros with a birthday group of 12 friends and was fairly underwhelmed. The service was excellent and well timed, and the food looked pleasant on the plates, but the food itself just didn’t make me say “wow”. I was really excited to try the plantain fritters. On paper, they are a perfect melding of sweet, creamy, tangy and fried. Unfortunately, the execution lacked either the salt or acidity necessary to make them sing.

For an entree, I had the mole poblano. The chicken itself was very delicious, but as LHG said, the rice and beans were a flavor vacuum on the plate. I also tried the mole amarillo, which was tasty, but unremarkable. The bite of chile relleno I had was very good, however, and this is a dish I usually dislike.

The drink menu is impressive, but at $9 a cocktail, it’s hard to convince oneself to sample more than one. From a business perspective, they might want to do a little market research and adjust the price. If the cocktails were $7, far more people would order at least two, leaving $5 more dollars on the table for the restaurant. Just a suggestion.

I would try Dos Perros again, but probably not soon.

By: enwiebe

enwiebe — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 00:56:43 +0000

Went to Dos Perros last night. We made reservations for 4 for 6:30 on a Friday and this quickly morphed into 6 people by the time we were seated and expanded to 8 within 15 minutes. The staff handled this very nicely. We were seated into their banquet/overflow space downstairs. Nice rustic feel and quieter than upstairs (once they turned the music down). I started with a cayenne and mango margarita that was only a dollar more than the house margarita. My wife and I decided it was definitely worth the extra money. I little heat, but not overwhelming. Our Tostadas de Ceviche was made with a somewhat strong fish but OK. The Ensalada de Sandia y Pepinos was served with an announced substitution–honeydew rather than watermelon–worked out fine. I appreciated the desire to substitute for what was fresh and available. We split the Pollo Rostizado con Papas y Rajas entree which was butterflied beautifully and cooked to perfection. Other folks at the table had the Tamal Oaxaqueno, Platanos Rellenos, Mole Poblano, Camarones al Ajillo, and Tikin Xic Pescado among other things. The friend who had the grouper was concerned it was undercooked. There was not enough light to really tell, so the waiter took it upstairs to check it out and deem it done. In fact, it ended up being a thick, but well-cooked piece.

Total bill for my wife and I with two drinks each was around $70. We are definitely heading back soon.

By: Vinay

Vinay — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 17:54:11 +0000

Used to be regulars at Jujube when we were living closer to Chapel Hill, so we were really excited to hear about Dos Perros here in Durham. Reading the great reviews on this site, we went for dinner last night and the experience was awesome. We had reservations for 8:30 but had to change it to 9 due to a car breakdown and the hostess was really nice and accommodating and we immediately were seated on arrival at 9. Place was packed, lively and I really love the decor. Great job. It just seems so full of life. People here have talked about the fritters and other food stuff which is all true. The slow cooked Pork is a must have there. Extremely tender and my “Pseudo” Vegetarian wife loved it. So coming to the Desserts, all of them are steals at 4$. They were out of Rice pudding unfortunately so we tried the Lime and Jalapeno SOrbet and the Vanilla Flan. The Flan was really good, creamy and delicious. The sorbet is unlike anything I have had before. We were little hesitant initially but all doubts were gone after the 1st bite. It is spicy and has some poblano in it too but it is really Juicy, tangy, spicy, sweet refreshing and a person can easily just keep having it. Great job on this unique flavor. Our waitress was great, service was awesome and everything was as great as expected. Good job Charlie and Co.

By: burgeoningfoodie

burgeoningfoodie — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 17:52:01 +0000

Went here recently and we all enjoyed it with few complaints.

Positives
Friendly waitstaff
Drinks were refilled regularly
Food was for the most part tasty
Tasty agua frescas

Negatives (needs work)
More Plantain fritters
Ceviche we had smelled a bit off but tasted okay and didn’t make anyone sick
The corn pudding tasted like cornbread and so it wasn’t anything special to me.
Noise can be an issue
Thug kids knocking over newspaper stands and then doing stupid dances outside the window where we sat.. (okay can’t fault the restaurant on that one)

The only other thing that would have detracted from my experience is that the Chef/Owner visited every table and skipped over us… so I felt a bit slighted..

Anywho, the restaurant is still young but doing well and drawing a crowd. It will be interesting to see what else goes into that neighborhood. I really liked how you got a clear view of the DPAC (and yes some of the prison). All in all going in without knowing much aside from whats on here, it was an enjoyable experience and I’ll return again in the near future.

By: JNB

JNB — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 13:11:58 +0000

My husband & I ate here Saturday evening and loved it! We arrived around 530p and were told that they were booked up for the dining room but we could sit in the bar area. It was perfect – great space, cozy, friendly staff. We also had the plantain appetizer, chicken mole and the slow roasted pork. We were too full to get any of the $4 desserts (only $4!) but there’s no reason why we can’t go back for some drinks & dessert another night. Both of us really enjoyed the beans that came with the mole – just the right amount of smokiness and ham/bacon flavoring. The mole sauce had an almost peanut satay quality to it but with chocolate. But the pork…WOW. Can’t go wrong with Dale’s Pale Ale, Brooklyn Lager & Mothership Wit on draft either. We both really enjoyed Dos Perros & look forward to trying the shrimp/garlic dish and the desserts soon.