El Fenix Mexican Restaurants

The service was absolutely horrible. Just horrible. Food was good, chips were great, but it’s hard to leave a better review.

Great location and right near the new
Train stop. Loveeeee the fresh chips and the enchiladas specials. The server we had was great and replaced my food with a pleasant smile when I was not happy with my salad selection. I hope they keep up the good work.

Good people but, I don’t think they know what Mexican food is, unless they got lazy, ordered a Chalupa and received a tostada. I asked if that was a Chalupa, she said yes, apparently they don’t know what a Mexican cuisine or plate is, would’ve had a better food response of a correct plate at a Taco Bell.

Definitely a hit-​or-​miss restaurant. For example: the guacamole is excellent and always fresh; however, I imagine they call it «queso dip» because it’s a small tub of water where a cheese took a dip once or twice before serving it to you. The quality of the food is consistently okay or better. The portions have gotten a little smaller — even the rice and beans. Not halved or anything but enough to notice. The quality of their chips is always excellent. It might be a little loud if you sit too close to a speaker. As for the clientele, you get your regular wheel of restaurant goers. Including, but not limited to, that family that complains about the service and treats waiters like garbage but brings three or four kids that run around and then leave their mess and napkins all over the floor — but that’s none of my business.

My mom and I visited El Fenix on Friday 10÷9÷15, we were seated right away. A few minutes later someone came to take our drink order. A lot of customer came in about 10 minutes after we were there. No one came to our take to take our order for about 25 minutes later. Finally I called the business from my cell phone at my table. I asked can someone come over and take our order. Finally we had a chance to place our food order. By then we noticed that 2 other tables received their food and they walked in after we did. Wow, no I’m sorry or anything from the lady that came over to take our order by writing on her hand. The food ok, but the crazy nachos had cheese packed upon them. It will be a while before we go back here if ever

The waitstaff are slow, rude, and have an attitude. I was disappointed even though my expectations were incredibly low to begin with. When I said something about the bugs in the food, the waitress said they came «from the air.» That’s great. But… No matter how they got there, I prefer to not have them in my food.

I rode the Dallas Street car and for now the only place it goes is to El Fenix so I decided to stop on by. I’ve been going to El Fenix from time to time since at least the 80s’ so I’m very familiar with their fare. But They’ve added some really good fish taco’s (I had mine made on Corn instead of flour tortillas) with a skinny Marg (2) all for $ 22 with tip. It was a really great lunch actually. It’s old school TexMex but sometimes (us Texans just get a hankering for it). So hop on the Street Car and give El Fenix another try.

I live by this location and eat here a lot.
Sometimes, I think too much… but I digress.
You really cannot go wrong with most selections
here…and believe me, I have had most. The
chicken tortilla soup is really good… if a little
pricey. The brisket nachos are also really
good.

This is my first visit to this El Fenix restaurant. I have driven by it a hundred times and decided to give them a try today for lunch. And I am so glad I did. With new, fresh menu options, it seems flavor is back in their kitchen.
My grilled Tilapia soft tacos were melt in your mouth tender. The crisp slaw and light lime vinaigrette perfectly pair up with this new El Fenix entrée. Rice pilaf, pinto beans, and a few slices of avocado round out this well thought out dish. ****Foodie Hack****-add fresh chopped cilantro and extra lime juice. Both are healthy, as well as adding instant freshiness to any Mexican meal.
I will be back for additional visits. Perhaps if you haven’t been here in the last six months, it’s time to check them out again.

I am going on record to say tex mex is truly garbage. This place had pace picante as their hot sauce, I asked them for real hot sauce and they told me all they have is tobasco. Food was ready with in 4to5 minutes tasted like microwave meal. I would say overall this place was not good.

We had a party of 15 at 8pm, no one was in the restaurant yet the service was incredibly slow. We started out with Margaritas which tasted so sour the roof of my mouth peeled the next day. They were so sour we asked for a tequila shooter, which didn’t help much either. I opted for beer instead. We got two quesos which honestly tasted like nothing. it was just warm. It was a jello like substance. It is not real cheese and I felt so sick immediately after eating it. I didn’t even order anything because nothing looked good, but my friend next to me got beef quesadilla and the tortilla was crunchy and there was barely and meat or cheese filling at all. My sisters boyfriend ordered the fish tacos and when they got to the table it was so foul smelling he had to walk away from the table. He didn’t even touch them because they smelled so disgusting. The majority of the table opted for tortilla soup and they said it was pretty nasty as well. The meat was chewy and they didn’t give you enough broth. The only thing that was remotely good were the chips. The salsa… not so much.

Great for a couple’s date. Been here for that and it went well the few times here.
Sadly, they have insanely slow service for party events. They had one waiter to service 5 parties with more than 14 people in each group. I seriously understand patience for big parties but they should bring in at least another waiter to help out. Spent almost 3 hours here. Chips, salsa and water were always low or not filled.
Food is good but it was on the cold side during the big party event.
I had the brisket nachos. I would try the meal again as a party for 2.

Yuck… I don’t know what all to say but just not good. The meat is low quality the food is greasy but not in a good greasy Mexican food way. But in the oh look my dinner is swimming in oil way. The chips are tasty but again greasy and the salsa is meh like upgraded pace. Don’t waste your calories.

Very slow and poor customer service took about 20 minutes to get my credit card back after I was done eating sorry but I will not be back here again.

My wife and I ate lunch there yesterday and, again, were disappointed. The food is pretty good and a very fair price, but, there are more El Fenix locations so much better.
This location suffers from very poor service. This was our fourth visit and all four have suffered from bad service, crowded or not. Our server was one dimensional; one task at a time, no more. Bring the chips, take order for drinks, bring drinks, bring flatware, take order, etc. All of those were separate visits, widely spaced.
The cashier was unpleasant and didn’t smile. I guess she ran the register out of change but wouldn’t restock. My check was $ 30.04. Submitting $ 31.00, I got $ 0.96 back in nickels and dimes. Yes, got my change, but why 10 – 15 coins. Why not simply restock the register?
I spoke to the manager and general manager, both very friendly. I told them I could have gone downtown, five minutes more each way, and still spent 20 minutes less time. We go to El Fenix locations at least once a week and this one has inefficient, unfriendly service employees.
I would prefer to spend a few more minutes and go to one of their other locations.

This restaurant was pretty good. They do have the best margaherrita in town and their appetizer chips are thick yet crispy and delicious. The service was quick yet mediocre (they gave us chicken instead of steal and we had to ask twice for a straw). Overall a decent value and I will come back again if I am in the area.

This location always gives the BEST service!!! The staff is really friendly and very attentive.

I don’t like when my lunch makes me think of existential nihilism, but honestly it was what came to mind. The past few years I’ve eaten here has been awful every time which is sad since this place is– well, was a Dallas institution. The bland and pointless train started with the queso. It literally tasted of nothing and disappointment. Supposedly there were chilies in there, but I could not taste ANYTHING. I was wonder maybe it was just me, but even my friend found it super bland. While the chips and salsa were pretty good, it was still nothing really amazing.
For lunch I ordered the Chicken Chipotle Enchilada and Sour Cream Enchilada platter. Everything about this meal was flavorless and disappointing. Even the beans and rice were a big no for me. By the time I was through eating I seriously began to question everything and realized that no matter what I thought, this place would always be here selling bland food, and while my random thoughts may have been meaningless, thankfully I can find meaning and purpose by warning the rest of you to go anywhere else but here. Trust me, you can find much better in this city.
PS, I can’t fault this place when it comes to customer service, hence the two stars, but seriously, just go somewhere else until they get their mojo back. Also, I suggest not coming here on your lunch break if you only have an hour. The service is pretty darn slow.

The lunch combo fajitas were good, as always at El Fenix, but the portions were the smallest I’ve ever been served. The service was good, but when I asked for a to-​go cup, she brought me an empty one.

I had never been to this El Fenix on a Sunday afternoon annnnnnd I probably won’t do that again! There wasn’t a long wait for a table since I was by myself but the service was incredibly slow. That would be my only knock on the place, which, I’m very understanding when it comes to service being slow on a busy day but this was too much. I was seated and it was 12 minutes before my waiter came to check on me. By that time I knew what I wanted to eat but he was trying to rush my drink order. Um, no, I’ve sat here for 12 minutes I know what I want – thank you. So he took my order – granted my food did come out quickly – matter of fact my food came before my chips and salsa did. I ordered the chicken & spinach enchiladas and they were very good.