Dulces

Was never impressed with the high prices and limited menu, but the food was o.k. Doesn’t matter now though, because it has closed wiithin the last week and is no more…

More like 3.5 stars. (I wish I could give half stars, cmon Unilocal; step ya game up!)
Very decent food, at slightly high prices. The décor is nice, even if PF Changy as mentioned before (never been to PFC so can’t confirm); you definitely don’t feel as you are in a mall.
The 3 dips that come with the chips are nice; tomatillo, a slightly spicy bean dip, and a roasted veggie red dip. The red and the bean were our favorites.
The entrée’s were good, if unconventional. It’s not Tex Mex, it’s not Interior Mex. It’s a mix of the two I think. The presentation was above average.
I had the chicken/​spinach/​mushroom enchiladas. The sauce looks like a cheese based sauce, it’s described as sour cream based, and is slightly sweet but I thought it was good.
SWMBO had the blue corn beef enchiladas; covered in a typical red sauce. They were nice too.
The Girl had the fajitas off the kids menu. They were beef and very tasty. They came with rice/​beans and some queso. No veggies.
The rice was very tasty; tastes like its made with chicken stock and a goodly amount of garlic. The only downside was the serving was small; about 3 – 4 tablespoons worth if that.
The margaritas were large, fairly priced at $ 6, and decent.
The tres leches cake was impressive to look at. Ours was a bit dry, and lacked flavor. The whipped cream on top was good though.
Our server must have been new; service was slow. There was one table with 12 ladies at it, and 2 or 3 other couples there and our meal took a good hour to hour and a half. I saw three waiters total, so maybe they were understaffed.
Regardless, we would go again if in the area, but it’s not worth the drive from Manor.

I’ve eaten at many Mexican restaurants in Austin and vicinity, and Dulce’s is one of my favorites! Don’t let the fact that it’s in a mall throw you off. It’s a full-​service restaurant attached to the mall, but in it’s own building separate from it.
The service is always good to very good. Best of all, the food is fresh, authentic, and delicious! As an added bonus, the presentation is beautiful! It’s obvious there’s a great deal of attention paid to the presentation as well as the taste and quality of the food.
The décor and the ambiance is perfect for a relaxing dining experience or a romantic date. I enjoy the low, indirect lighting and the interesting artwork by Mexican artist Sergio Bustamante. There is a live music trio every weekend, playing Spanish and American classics and folk songs.
The restaurant is always *very* clean (and I’m picky) as are the restrooms, which I consider important. (My dining companion reported back to me on the consistent cleanliness of the Men’s Room). When I see dirty restrooms at a restaurant, it kills my appetite. That’s not a good sign or a good experience. They stay on top of it here.
This is NOT greasy, gooey, globby, orange cheese laden Tex-​Mex however, so if that’s what you’re expecting, you will not find it here. (I fully agree with reviewer Christopher S. in his take on that topic). Even the complimentary chips are light, crisp, clean, and tasty… not heavy, «corny,» and greasy. The salsas are always outstanding.
This is fresh, hand-​crafted, high-​end Mexican cuisine. It is NOT Tex-​Mex. Their slogan is «The Art of Mexican Cuisine» and they live up it!!! I dine here frequently and I’m always impressed with the quality of the food, their attention to detail, and the presentation.

So many poor reviews crying about how this isn’t authentic at all. I suppose I agree, this isn’t super cheap greasy food that all seem to blend together on the plate. So if you go here expecting a normal Mexican restaurant experience you will be disappointed. However non authentic doesn’t mean bad, it means different. I would suggest this is «gourmet» Mexican food if you will. While that does seem ridiculous as Mexican food and cheap usually coincide, it doesn’t take away from the deliciousness of the experience. Many different salsas are brought to your table, and expect to leave with a «clean» feeling palette.

Friday night, good food, great presentation, however the service was absolutely pathetic.

I placed an order for pick up, so I can’t say too much for staff and wait times. The little contact I did have with the staff was quite good. They were friendly and courteous.
I ordered the enchiladas de pollo, crema y espinaca. The online menu didn’t mention they would be covered in mushrooms which I ended up having to pick off. Wouldn’t normally be an issue but I was having an anti-​mushroom day. They also had a bit too heavy of a black pepper flavor, reminding me of over-​spiced scrambled eggs. The refried beans were better than normal, however, and the rice had a nice light flavor.
I also ordered the tres chocolates con fresas to nibble on for awhile. The cake was very moist and super chocolatey, but nothing to write home about. It was a bit like a giant Zinger. It came with two small churros which could have used more cinnamon, and two strawberries.
All in all it was good, but not great. I might consider trying another dish in the future to see if they have something more to my tastes, but for the price I’ll be a bit hesitant.

First, I don’t know why Nora and others don’t recognize this as an authentic Mexican place — it is. At least everything I tried. Mexico has a very varied cuisine. Every one of the 32 states has a different cuisine and I did not see a hint of Tex-​Mex at this placce: cummin, orange cheese or soft shell tortillas.
As I walked in, my first impression was that this is a really nice place to be located in a mall. The décor is a bit like P.F. Chang’s: indirect lighting, statues, a big horse statue behind the bar, etc. The statues and décor art is from an excellent moder Mexican artist, Bustamante. Really nicely done. The silverware is very nice too. They spent a fortune on this place. On this Friday there was a small group playing live music.
To be fair, service was OK. Maybe a small noth under the average. Still food came out in a reaosnable time and ther were no mistakes.
The salsas were excellent. Our group of Mexican friends asked for refills more than once. Queso with Mushrooms was good. The hand made cord tortillas were delicious. My mojito was OK.
The food was very good. Not amazing but very good. My wife had Tacos al Carbon I had the Shrimp with Garlic. Very nice flavors, and yes, very authentic. Our friends at the table also enjoyed their food.
We tried the Tres Leches for desert. It was probably a solid 8 out of 10. Good but not particularly good. We ordered coffee, which was brewed by our table in one of those brewers where water goes up into a ontainer when it boils –like the ones at Blue Bottle in San Francisco. The coffee was fantastic. really good coffee.
Overall, we had a great time. Good food, nice place. And at $ 25 per person (with a drink and shared desert) it is quite amazing value.

This place is delicious! This is not your typical ‘Pappasitos’ or ‘Chuy’s’ kind of Tex Mex. Every plate is beautifully decorated and the food is phenomenal! Also, we haven’t had service this good in quite a while!

BF suggested trying Dulces. He actually said, I know you don’t like Mexican food but their commercials looked good. I agreed and then start trying to find exactly where they are. Don’t believe the maps which show it in the Target shopping mall. It is where the Brick Oven used to be inside the Lakeline mall.
We were seated in the way back area. I think they suspected we would cause trouble so that explains the seat placement. The restauant was fairly deserted so there was no other excuse. The waitress was a cheerful young girl named Caira. She took are drink order and came back shortly to get our entress order. She was good but wasn’t as attentive as we would have liked. Glasses left empty for too long. BF goes with a Margarita and I selected the Sangria. He enjoyed his and it was potent. I, on the other hand, have had better. All you could taste was the Merlot and vodka, not a lick of fruit in the Sangria. It was the first time I was glad when the ice melted so it was drinkable.
While waiting we snacked on chips and the three salsas. The chips must be homemade as I bit one and it was bland. The second bite on the same chip had salt overload. The three dipping sauces were good. My favorite was the bean dip, texture and flavor. Tne red sauce was okay just standard fare. The green was tasty but then the heat crept in. The more you ate the hotter it got.
I ordered the Fajitas de Res, wishing they had chicken or shrimp to choose from. BF ordered the Rollo de Puerco, pork with almond, raisen, rum sauce. The beef on the Fajitas was perfectly seasoned and tender. The veggies were good too. The salsa served with this plate was like Hell fire. I tasted a drop of it before adding it to my fajita. Glad I did, because I finished off all the water on the table and my mouth was still burning. Seriously Dulces management, if you season beef that weel, don’t ruin it by serving a sauce that burns your taste buds off. Bf liked my beef as he kept reaching over and eating it. So I reciprocated, by stealling a piece of his pork tenderloin. The almond, raisen, rum sauce makes this dish. The pork alone was okay but dipped in the sauce… Heaven.
What dinner is complete without dessert. Francais, who was clearing our table, recommended the TresChocolates con fresas. So we rolled with it. Chocolatety, moist, and filling, BTW, if you order one for yourself only. Be prepared for a sugar overload.
Unfortunately the price does not justify the food. Seventy dollars for a mexican restaurant in a mall, No, too much.

Dulce gets an A from me for presentation. The décor was artistic and well-​appointed. Linen napkins, triangular plates and fancy silverware were a nice touch.
The service gets a B. Our server was attentive, if actually a bit overly so. Several times I told my wife I wished the server would give us 5 minutes’ peace before popping over.
The food gets a C+ or a B minus. In short, it was rather typical Mexican (not Tex-​Mex though) but just gussied up a bit. The portion sizes were quite large and the prices were not out of the norm, honestly.
Would I go back? If I had a coupon or a gift card in hand and I was near Lakeline Mall around lunch or dinner time.

This place gets one star for décor and a pretty menu. Too bad the food does not deliver. I am a native Mexican, and I have never had food the way they prepare it here. I have had refried beans out of a can that were more authentic than what they serve. I ordered a fish dish that contained achiote, which is a spice used in Mexico. The fish was sweet, which is not the flavor profile that one looks for in fish. Trust me on this one. It was inedible. According to the «chef», it was supposed to taste that way. My table companions had food that they were able to choke down, but nobody enjoyed their food. The coffee service was nice, but that wasn’t what we went there for.
I would be really surprised if this place manages to stay in business for much longer. Taco Bell would have been a much better choice than this place for Mexican food.

Two visits to Dulces yielded odd results, and I didn’t fall in love.
The first trip was on a pleasant spring day, right at happy hour, so we asked to sit outside. Two gals, all alone. We ask for the drink menu, we’re feeling girly and indulgent. They say they don’t have one, they’re «a new restaurant,» but they’ve been here for months. When we ask if there’s a house special, the two waiters shrug and offer us a mojito. Uh, sure, ok? At least it was well-​made. We remained the only people on the patio all afternoon.
That time, I had chicken enchiladas, but they were served dry inside. Like, no cheese or sauce, just chicken in the tortilla, with sauce on the outside. It made for dry chicken.
The second time, I knew to skip the drinks. Again, with a girlfriend, we dashed inside during a sudden rainstorm. Our afternoon of shopping just became an evening out. Despite it again being happy hour, there were no free snacks or cheap drinks or cheap apps. But they let us split an order of fajitas, so that was easy enough. The kitchen was swamped by a not-​full restaurant, but maybe 5 tables all came in with us, to escape the rain. The fajitas were decent, but again, not outstanding, and took ages to arrive.
No stale chips (yay?), but I agree with Keri — one of the salsas tastes like dipping your chips into warm Salt Lick BBQ sauce.
I wish they had more tapas or small plates for the mall shoppers. I’d have no problem stopping by for a prix-​fixe treat.

Yet another hard to write, a-​ok review. Lemme start with an ode to Dulces guacamole (the best thing I ate there):
Sweet green mound of cream
Buttery simple yet divine
Beautifully unadorned
De-​constructed, de-​evolved, de-​licious
No nasty iceburg nest
Modestly, you chose a stale chewy chip as your chariot
Brilliantly, you knew that would make you more transcendent
Get in my belly
Fini
(snap snap snap snap)
I convinced my hubby to try this place out by telling him it was interior Mexican. Imagine my disappointment to find basically tex-​mex offerings dressed up in fancy sauces, written in fancy cursive writing in a very heavy menu, and costing fancy prices. No mole to be found in this joint. Mainly your basic quesadillas, tacos, fajitas, and enchiladas with a few specialty dishes thrown in.
Hubby made the best choice with the pork loin dish. Salty pork covered in a sweet almond raisin liquor sauce. It was delish and seemed to be an entire pork loin, leaving him with tons of leftovers. I opted for the spinach chicken enchies which came in an oddly flavored cream sauce. It almost had a sweet, fruity flavor to it? It was something I couldn’t well describe but didn’t care for either. I had to dress em up with tangy green salsa and cilantro and guaca. And my third leftover enchi is still sitting forlornly in my fridge.
Speaking of salsa, as mentioned they do bring out a nifty device with 3 «salsas» on it, a red, a green and refried beans. I discovered I am NOT a hot salsa girl, and by that I mean temperature hot. The red and green sauces are served as if just taken off a boiler. I know some salsas are cooked, but apparently I don’t prefer them still warm to eat. And the red was so smokey as to taste like barbque sauce. The chips as noted, were stale.
Another huge pet peeve of mine is, as a waitperson, when you bring chips and salsa to a table, you should automatically bring water as well (I have no self restraint to wait). Our waiter did take our drink orders immediately, I ordered water and hubby a mexican martini, but about 12 minutes later and half the chips and salsa gone and my tongue shrivelling up like a slug in salt, hubby got his martini first! And this was a different server who brought it out, so he asked if we wanted anything else to drink. I think he saw the salt crystals forming in my eyes and hurried back with some water.
The restaurant is surprisingly beautiful for a mall place. It was interesting to look around this fancy joint and see all the mall shoppers in their shorts, with their rowdy, no doubt shop-​grumpy kids. It just drove home to me that this place may be trying too hard to dress itself and it’s food up.

Went to Dulces yesterday for lunch and was pleasantly surprised. As far as price point; their lunches are ideal everything is around $ 8. Complimentary chips and salsa to start, but not your standard rojo salsa, they offer a selection of verde, bean dip and smoked chipotle (all served warm).
The food quality and portion size was very good. I can say that they gave me nothing to complain about. I do believe that Dulces just made it into my regular lunch rotation.

There are some mixed reviews for this place, and I was pleasantly surprised that I didn’t hate what I got to eat here. In fact it was just the opposite.
I have eaten at many mexican food places in my 40 years, but mostly I’ve eaten my mother’s cooking. Her recipes are some interior and mostly texian which is a combination of ranch food, and spanish with early mexican influence, nothing fancy. I discovered that there is no substitution for some traditional ingredients, lard, I’m looking at you. Lard made his way into my refried beans and the result was the creamiest frijoles refritos I’ve had since my mother’s cooking in its heyday. Their rice is amazing, it has a light and fluffy texture, and is slightly limey. This is not tex-​mex, so I’m sure that some of the reviewers are comparing apples to oranges when they reviewed this place, but I will give them the benefit of a doubt and presume they were here on a bad night.
The beef tacos were inspired. They are made with a melt-​in-​your mouth steak that is lightly seasoned. The tacos are tied with a cooked green onion that I quickly gobbled up and the tortillas were made fresh on site. There was no mistaking those tortillas.
This place will see me again very soon. I gave them a five star review for ambiance, décor, service and sabor! Forgive them the fact they are located in a mall and give them a try. If you do find yourself hungry at Lakeline mall, consider yourself lucky to have a such a delicious option for interior mexican food located conveniently at their main entrance.

While at the mall with my 9-​year-​old son recently, we wanted something to eat, but we certainly didn’t want the food court. I remembered seeing some new Mexican place so we set off to find it and came across Dulces. We were dressed in t-​shirts and shorts and when we went in, we noticed the décor is really nice, warm and welcoming. While I would feel comfortable coming in for a nice date night with my husband (and did!) I also felt equally comfortable showing up in my shorts with my kid. The staff was exceptionally welcoming.
When we were seated, they brought a chip tray with 3 different dips — including a verde, red salsa and bean dip. All dips were OUTSTANDING, however the chips were a little too thick for my tastes. I prefer light and crispy chips. They weren’t horrible, but not what I would have chosen. They lose a star for that, but that’s the ONLY one they lose. My son ordered a sprite and it came with gummy worms floating in it. Sold! as far as he was concerned :) I ordered the most amazing chicken enchilada verde I’ve ever had. They were fresh, tasteful, perfectly made and absolutely beautifully presented. My son had empanadas from the kid’s menu and loved it. We left full and in love with the food, the service and the atmosphere.
I returned several days later with my husband for lunch. I had the chicken tostados and he ordered the steak quesadillas. He is in love with the place too. The thing he loved at the quesadilla is that it wasn’t pieces of cut up steak, it was a think piece of steak, all one piece. He said the flavor was amazing. My tostados were also amazing.
Don’t miss this gem! We’ll be back again and again!

I went to Dulces for the first time at the end of Jan 2010 so I’m not sure if the bad reviews came from them working out the kinks but I definitely did not find the place to be even close to appalling.
First of all, the chips were light and crispy and perfectly salted. The three salsas were delicious. I was skeptical of the refried bean dip but it was my favorite.
I had the cheese and enchiladas and the presentation was outstanding and the flavor definitely held up. The sauce seemed to have been made in-​house and was a rich, complex deep red sauce as opposed to the thin orange stuff from cans. Really good.
My husband had the Rollo de Puerco and loved it. The pork was perfectly done, tender and juicy, and the raisin rum sauce was perfect. He loved the interplay of flavors and unique recipe.
We were so full that we took a piece of chocolate cake home and it came with some churros and chocolate covered strawberries. My husband devoured it.
Dulces is highly recommended and one of the better options in Cedar Park. I agree with the review that said it’s like Maria Maria downtown. The ambiance is gorgeous and warm and the food is great. You can dress up and celebrate a special occasion there or just walk in from the mall and not feel out of place while enjoying a nice meal. Definitely worth at least trying once.

I had lunch at Dulces after the recommendation of a foodie friend who said the food was awesome. The décor was great and we were seated in a very comfortable booth. The hostess and wait people were very polite and attentive. We were asked several times by the hostess, two different waiters, and someone who appeared to be the owner or manager if everything was to our satisfaction. We nodded and politely said yes each time, when in reality the food wasn’t all that good. At the end of the meal my friend and I debated on whether we should be honest and say what we really thought. On the way out we ended up having a conversation with the owner/​manager (?) who encouraged us to come back another time and try some other dishes.
So what was wrong? You can always judge a Mexican restaurant by its chips and salsa. Normally, when faced with a bowl of chips and salsa, I can’t stop eating them until they’re all gone. These I barely touched. We were served a trio of salsa (actually, red salsa, green salsa, and a bean dip). The chips were thick, crunchy and saltless (which is probably just a matter of preference) and none of the salsas really got my attention.
My lunch partner ordered quesadillas, which were really like mini tacos with a very mild cheese. I noticed she kept opening them up and filling them with salsa. The description she gave was «tasteless.»
I had chicken enchiladas verde with refried beans and the worst rice I’ve ever had. How can you mess up rice? For one you an cook long grain rice within an inch of its life so that the grains fall apart and form a sticky mess. The beans were okay and actually, the chicken enchiladas were okay, just nothing to write home about. Definitely not worth the $ 12 for lunch. The one thing I can say is the presentation of the chicken enchiladas was very good.
Perhaps the dinner menu is a little more sophisticated, thus the varied reviews, but unlike another reviewer, I don’t think this restaurant is anywhere near a Fonda San Miguel.

I can’t say that I saw any roaches there and we were really looking for one too. If there were any roaches here then I would think that the Health department probably would’ve shut them down by now… just sayin. The address is 11 200 Lake Line Mall, however, Google map puts it on the wrong side of 183. Dulces is actually located at Lake Line Mall where the old Brick Oven used to be. You can enter through the front entrance or from inside the mall.
This place reminded me of Maria Maria (Santana’s restaurant) on Colorado St., nice décor and nice food presentation. Dulces is like one of those restaurants that you pay for the location, scenery, or a well known chef or rock star co-​owner, (yes, one of my favorite bands). I will start off by giving them one star for all the cool artwork in the restaurant, but we can’t eat the artwork now can we. Sometimes, however, a cool décor and nice clean place does seem to help the food taste better.
My husband and I went there at lunch time hoping for a lunch special, but we were disappointed. We thought since it is at the mall at least they might have a lunch menu. They’ve only been open for about 3 weeks so I hope they will come up with a lunch menu soon. They do not have a large selection of menu items to choose from, like most fancy restaurants. My $ 11.95, 3 chicken enchiladas stuffed with chicken and spinach was served with sour cream sauce and was very good; it also came with rice and beans. I really wanted shrimp enchiladas but they couldn’t make them for me and said that it wouldn’t taste right, ok, he’s the chef I trust him. My husband’s garlic sautéed shrimp with herbs and creams was great too! But for $ 18.95 I would think they could give you a bigger size shrimp for that price. Maybe it’s because of the special herbs that they sautéed the shrimp with but my husband sure didn’t feel it though. Ha ha.
Dulces, we will be back because the jury is still out on whether you’ll make it into our regular rotation. All in all, a very pleasant atmosphere, nice service, delightful presentation, and good food that’s worth exploring the menu about. We’ll just have to wait and see if you can warm our hearts and wallet.

Finally a place like this opens in Cedar Park! Dulces is fantastic. I consider Fonda San Miguel the best «fancy» Mexican Restuarant in the Austin area follwed by Manuel’s. I rate Dulces a notch above Manuel’s and a notch below Fonda San Miguel. Believe me this is high praise. Like the two restuarants I just compared them against they have all their bases covered. The quality, presentation, and taste of the food is first class. The service was excellent. The ambiance was both wonderful and unique. To top it all off their pricing was very reasonable. That will likely change as the word gets out about this place and the prices go up.
Last Wednesday I took my parents who were visiting from out of town to try it out.
They wanted to eat light so we shared appetizers. We had queso con chorizo, guacamole, chicken quesadillas, and banderillas de carne. The queso con chorizo was as good as any of the «queso flameado», as some restuarants call it, in the Austin Area. The Guacamole while fresh and presented well is actually a little bland. I would have preferred it more spicy. The chicken and chees quesadillas were fantastic. The Banderillas de Carne were actually strips of skirt steak served on skewers and they were absolutely delicious. I haven’t had their fajitas yet but the Banderillas give me the idea that they will be top notch. We topped it all of with a Tres Leches Cake that was out of this world delicious.
I liked it so much that I rushed my wife over the very next evening for dinner. We shared a succulent empanadas appetizer. She had the Spinich, cheese, and chicken enchiladas which are better than most I have tasted in this town. I had the garlic shrimp which I believe could stand up against any shrimp dish from any of the nicer seafood restuarants around Austin. My wife left as pleased as I was at the end of the evening.
Eat here. You will be pleasantly surprised.