El Fenix Mexican Restaurants

Awful. We’ve lived very close to this location for 5 years and recently things have turned for the worse. In the last 3 visits (one dine-​in, two takeouts), the food has been completely cold – not even lukewarm. When you can get Taco Bueno home hot and can’t get home a $ 40 dinner for four, it’s not worth it. Would rather spend the money on Mi Cocina down the street.

This was my first visit to an El Fenix restaurant. Service was good. Chips and salsa were good. The rice was crunchy. You are kidding me, right? They couldn’t find a chef who knows how to cook rice? Beans tasted weird. The brisket in my taco was good. Not sure I’ll be back.

We placed an order of 3 fajita nachos. The nachos were about 10 nacho chips, inundated in cheese with maybe 5 pieces of dry bland chicken. The guacamole was bland, and did not look fresh. It looked as if it came from a can/​container. There were no real veggies. The pico de gallo was all onion. Nachos should contain, lettuce, tomatoes, FRESH guacamole, SEVERAL chips, grilled chicken. They should be embarrassed to serve this and then charge $ 10.49 for this «plate» of food and call this «mexican or tex-​mex». I really wish I could have my money back. I will NEVER visit this restaurant again, and I will make sure to contact corporate offices as well as post my review on Unilocal.The quality of food is offensively poor, and the prices they charge are insulting.

In my wife’s family, El Fenix is a Dallas family tradition.
So, our neighbor El Fenix is our go to Tex-​Mex choice.
There are many more, newer… dare I say exciting… Latin choices near us.
But this is where my family can enjoy a good meal with good service.
Let’s face it, if you are reading about El Fenix for the first time… you are not from around here.

On two different times I have gone their beef fajitas where nothing but nerves and not tasty, will not be coming back again

El Fenix never fails to satisfy my craving for Tex-​Mex food. It may not be the best, but I am always happy I ate there. The lemon ice box pie is nice and lemonly. Excellent chips, but the salsa is lightweight.

I live less than 5 min. from this El Fenix. The only time I will use this restaurant location is for a to-​go order. I f I want want a great Mexican food experience, I will drive to the Northwest Highway location (El Fenix). I just don’t understand how this one (Skillman St.) could be so below par compared to their other restaurants. When I first moved into the neighborhood I gave it several tries and just got tired of the inconsistency of the food quality, service, and overall lack of cleanliness of this restaurant. I would much rather drive 25 min. and have an overall enjoyable atmosphere and dinner.

Friday March 20, 2015, was my birthday and I have always loved El Fenix. This time was no different. My server, Lucy, surprised me with a Strawberry Sopapilla for my birthday, along with having the staff sing Happy Birthday to me!
Love love love this particular El Fenix!!!

I stopped by early in the week and had a great lunch here. 1 Marg and the chicken hatch chile enchilada and more chips and salsa than you could imagine and I got a sopapilla. It was AWESOME! So good that I brought my love interest for his first taste of El Fenix. And it was hit and miss. Chips and Salsa: Great. My Meal of Hatch Chile Chicken Tamale was great. My guy’s Shrimp and Beef fajita’s were not good. I tasted it and it was just nasty. Not sizzling and the shrimp were small and from frozen with a strange coating, also everything had an unfamiliar taste. The Margs were weak but tasty. The Sopapilla’s were delicious but I don’t think I’ll be able to drag him here again. And It’s a shame because this has been my only bad experience here.

Absolutely PERFECT ! Great service. Friendly, respectful, professional. Oh, and the food… Couldn’t have been better. I’m buying chips to go. Can’t wait to come back.

$ 2.95 margariates and $ 5 enchilada plate on Wendesdays. What more can I say?

This is a cute little neighborhood restaurant. The staff is incredibly friendly every time we’ve gone in. When you enter you have to wait to be seated. No matter how busy or dead it is, you always end up waiting for about 5 – 10 minutes for someone to acknowledge you and seat you. Once seated a waiter will greet you in a friendly manner and take your drink order. My advice to you is to order your drinks and food all at once because it may be the last time you see your waiter/​waitress. We spent about two hours here the last few times we came in. We don’t mind sitting that long since our family tends to chat for hours as it is, but in this case its due to the slow service.
The brisket tacos and brisket nachos are unbelievable. Definitely a must try. They’re pretty large portions too. I always end up taking some home with me. The stuffed pepper appetizer is average. I probably wouldn’t order it again. It wasn’t very spicy, and just kind of boring. Their salsa is wonderful but they always put it in these tiny little trivets. Its barely big enough to dip a chip in. They really need to upgrade to big kid bowls. As for drinks I would stick with beer or a classic rocks margarita. Their skinny margarita is horrible. Make sure to specify what tequila you want in it otherwise they use a really bad cheap brand that ruins the flavor of the drink. Their frozen margaritas are made with the same cheap tequila so the flavor comes out really sweet but almost like a stale liquor flavor. Not appetizing.
Overall this is a decent neighborhood restaurant. Come for the food and the friendly staff but expect to sit for a good amount of time against your will.

For a Dallas kid, THIS is Tex-​Mex to me. Nothing fancy or «in» about this place — and what’s wrong with that? Don’t change El Fenix — my folks, TX-​ex patriots in Ohio, hit this place at least once to twice a week when they come back to Dallas for their annual month long stay.

ya know — its just good. Nothing fancy about it — Hot fast fresh food — friendly service and the best part — there has never been a wait to get in. Love their chips, and how can you go wrong when they are always sending out coupons? Tacos, enchiladas, good stuff. I’m not personally a fan of the queso, but hey — salsa is good and so is the guac. I’m not saying this is the best I’ve every had — but consistency is really good. Buen provecho!

I have enjoyed eating at El Fenix for years but I will not be dining at this location again. I keep trying to give it another chance but no more. The service is slow and the food barely adequate. Last night I waited 10 minutes for my drink and 15 for my check. My tamales were lukewarm and sat like a stone in my stomach. Im still trying to figure out why the uneatable corn shucks were
on the plate. The chips and salsa are the only saving grace to this restaurant but not enough to convince me to go back. I’ll have to stick to the McKinney location as they have great staff and serve great food. Dallas could learn a few things from them. Avoid this location like the plague, your stomach will thank you for it.

Nothing about El Fenix is fancy. Leave fancy at the door. It’s just about well priced hefty portions of TexMex comfort food.
If you look around this location, it’s mostly a place for families to come out and enjoy a meal that won’t break the bank. The traditional Mexican food troupes are in play, baskets of chips, frescoes painted on the wall, servers in costume. Honestly, when I’m hungry and want some cheese and onion enchiladas, that’s all I need.
Tuesday night is the enchilada special. Place gets packed.

Always consistent, good food, great chips and salsa… GREAT comfort food and good service.

Sweet jesus, people… you’re in Dallas, you have some integrity… stay away from the big Tex-​Mex chains!
I have been stomaching boring chains for years to accommodate family. I’m sorry, but my 87 year old grandma doesn’t want to drive over 10 miles to check out that hole-​in-​the-​wall with killer salsa and barbacoa.
So, today’s Easter and we go to El Fenix… I had vague recollections of this place being tolerable from my youth. Goes to show me. The atmosphere, the food… was just awful. Horrible, flavorless salsa and enchiladas. Queso that tastes like Tostitos. I’ll stop complaining.
Here’s the breakdown:
Good Tex-​Mex: Mia’s, Fernando’s, Cuquitas, etc. (small chains or non-​chains)
Bad Tex-​Mex: El Fenix, El Chico, On the Border, Don Pablo’s, etc. (big chains)

Came here with a large group and the room they had for us was perfect. It holds about 75 people and is private. The menu was set and we had margaritas and fajitas. The Queso sauce that they provide with the chips is most excellent. The beef on the fajitas was bold and tasty. The tortillas are nice and thick.
Yes this is a chain restaurant, so what can you expect, it did feel mass produced. The service was satisfactory and everyone was nice. Minus stars for the fact that they do not have a bar with a TV anywhere on the premises.

Just read Nalin’s review. Nuff said.
We’ve gone here for years because it’s convenient and my wife likes it. I think it’s overpriced Taco Bell. The service is almost as bad as the food. The ambiance is outdated, but then again it’s cool to have a ‘river’ in a restaurant if you could call it that.
Needless to say, I’m not a fan.