A look inside at thedecor at Don Agustin, which is open seven days a week and serves dine-in, carry out and drive thru orders.
From food truck origins, Don Agustin opens in Clinton
Another view of the inside at Don Agustin, the newly opened authentic Mexican restaurant in Clinton.
Don Agustin in Clinton is now open at 125 Southeast Blvd., Clinton, the former Carolina Fish Fry location next to Pizza Hut.
The Romo family and proud owners of Clinton’s newest authentic Mexican restaurant Don Agustin. Pictured, from left, are Julisa Romo, Jose Agustin Romo, Juana Covarrubias, Migel Angel Romo and Francisco Javier Romo.
One of the many dishes at Don Agustin.
CLINTON — Access to authentic Mexican cuisine in Sampson recently grew as the once popular food truck Tacos Explosión expanded its success into the newly-opened restaurant Don Agustin.
The restaurant is located at 125 Southeast Blvd. in Clinton at the former location of Carolina Fish Fry. Now as Don Agustin, the spot has become a place to enjoy Mexican dishes prepared fresh daily seven days a week. They are also a full restaurant that accommodates dine-in, carry out and drive thru orders.
The menu is massive with easily over 50 dishes and includes everything from fajitas, quesadilla, tacos and burritos to steak, pork chop and shrimp dinners, even complete vegetarian meals. Dessert include fried ice cream and churros, among others. They also have a children’s menu that comes with chicken nuggets, hamburgers and fries. Plus, the full food truck menu they’re known for is still available.
Don Agustin is a family owned and operated business started by Jose Agustin Romo with the help of his brother Francisco Javier Romo. After running Tacos Explosión for about a year, from Feb. 12, 2021 to Jan. 2022, the family decided it was finally time to take a chance at owning a restaurant, achieving a life-long dream of Jose Romo and his wife Juana Covarrubias.
Jose Romo’s daughter, Julisa Romo, helped translate for her father and shared these words on his behalf about what encouraged them to take that leap from food truck to restaurant.
“Basically, it was always a dream of my mom and dad to have a little restaurant,” she said. “They wanted to test the waters first with the food truck to see how business would go and based on that they felt ready to try and open a restaurant. Thankfully, they were very blessed and the timing was right for them to try.”
“It’s just always been a dream of his for his whole life to own a restaurant,” she continued. “He’s always loved being in the kitchen since a very, very young age, where’s he’s been since he was 6 years old. The food truck basically opened many doors for him to be able to have a restaurant.”
Now 50 years old, Jose Romo has been cooking for practically his entire life and has worked in nearly every facet of the food industry for the past 30 years. He’s brought that experience to Don Agustin and the menu is full of recipes he and his brother created.
“The menu is personal recipes that he and his brother, who’s also his partner, have made,” Romo said. “Especially the salsas, the specific seasonings and ingredients used is all their creations.”
Running the business as a family, even when it was a food truck, has always been important to the Romos. Now in their own restaurant, Jose Romo expressed these thought on being able to continue the business with them.
“He still doesn’t believe it,” Julisa Romo said, translating for her father. “It may still be hard to believe sometimes, but we’re here giving it 100% together and the biggest reward from all this is seeing people enjoy the food. Since we’ve started we have yet to have a day off but that’s an award in itself. It just makes all the sacrifices made to get to this point all worth it.”
“It’s been amazing and we’re still in awe at the fact that it’s actually happened now,” she said. “The first night we opened, when we got home that night, my dad and mom just burst into tears — it was just super emotional for them.”
Jose Romo and his family have lived in Sampson for more than 20 years and formed many bonds since being here, relationships that helped grow the business to where it is now. In their thoughts, Jose and Julisa Romo both gave thanks to all the people who helped them achieve this dream.
“This all started out with the help of really good friends and people who were really close to use that wanted to helps us out and had faith we could successful in a restaurant setting,” Julisa Romo said. “If it hadn’t been for those friends we wouldn’t have been able to be here.”
“We are always happy to see people’s positive reactions and we are always here to serve the people as best we can with a smile and thank them for everything,” she said. “Because again, if it hadn’t been for them we couldn’t have made it this far, so thank you.”
Don Agustin is open from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday. For more information, call 910-299-0342.
Reach Michael B. Hardison at 910-592-8137, ext. 2588. Follow us on Twitter at @SamsponInd, like us on Facebook, and check out our new Instagram at @thesampsonindependent.