avila's restaurant

a favorite. i love this place. the food is amazing, the drinks are really good, and the staff is wonderful. parking is a bit tricky and some might think the area is a bit more urban than they like, but i would highly recommend anyone who lovesgoodtex mex come here.


-----19 apr, 2014-----

this is the best mexican restaurant i have ever enjoyed. the food is simply amazing, with many wonderful options. the service is also friendly and excellent. the margaritas are also wonderful. love this place!!!!

went on a saturday night. kept it simple as we both had the chicken rellanos. excellent tex mex. service, considering the crowd, was attentive and polite. agoodvalue for a wonderful evening.

very good, very, very hot pico! goodmargaritas & service! brisket was odd to see on the menu and was not like a southern brisket but good.

amazing! the best mexican/ tex-mex i've had thus far.goodprices and great atmosphere. fajitas were great and flour tortillas were made in house. my husband got the triple d combo and loved it! don't think about it, just go!

bad tamales!!!. went there because triple d was there. uuugghh. tamales were old cooked and probably recooked. rice was old, beans had a lot of grease. only thinggoodwas the warm chips.

chicken mole notgoodat all. sorry to said this but i did not like the chicken mole a was very simple no flavor on the chicken just the mole sauce a was not that great

good. fresh hot chips and salsa: my girlfriend has just said she wanted something spicy and thegoodlord delivered. not for the weak.
tortilla soup: i'm not into celery and no lime and cilantro, but it was pleasant nonetheless.
guy's brisket tacos: these were actually totally great.
fish tacos: skip these. it's tilapia fish sticks really, but ask for a side of the jalapeño cilantro dressing that comes with them (yummmm) to put on your brisket tacos

tex mex dallas. small clean nice placegoodfood excellent service.

great experience. saw this place on diner's, drive in's and dives and thought we would check it out. loved the salsa. very hot but couldn't stop eating it. the margarita's weregoodbut a little sweet for my taste.

verygoodmeal. this place is in a small house, obviously family run (the guy manning the register said "grandma, where's the to-go order"). i got the brisket tacos, which come with rice, beans, white-corn nachos, and salsa. tacos were excellent, brisket tasted like what i used to eat as a kid. beans and rice were good, if not particularly special. nacho were good, and the salsa was quite tasty & spicy. i called ahead of time and they had my order ready within five minutes. value is ok-to-good, you could certainly pay less elsewhere, but likely with lower quality. certainly enough food for lunch, probably dinner for most people.

definitely recommended.

every time i'm in dallas, i head to avila's. relleno with brisket is outstanding.


-----20 oct, 2009-----

ignore the 'diners, drive-ins & dives' hype. i get a kick out of guy fieri's show on 'the food network', so while in dallas last week, i headed to avila's mexican resturant. the overall experience was verygood(fresh, tasty food, friendly service, funky ambience) but fell short of the 'triple-d' hype. i'd definately go again, but i'd lower my expectations a notch.

a true tex-mex standout. i've mentioned in previous reviews, that i believe dallas is sorely lacking ingoodmexican restaurants, particularly tex-mex. in fact, i can only think of 3-4 local tex-mex restaurants that are actually above average. avila's soars past average in a way that can change minds about howgoodtex-mex can actually be.

avila's menu is populated with all the standards you expect and honestly, few surprises. pick your favorite dish and my bet is avila's preparation of it is asgoodas you've ever had. from enchiladas to tacos, gorditas and others; i almost have a hard time pin-pointing what makes these common tex-mex plates so perfect. quality of ingredients? uniqueness of recipes? balance of spices? i'm stumped. somehow, they all just "work." perfectly.

oh, and the atmosphere is perfectly quaint, authentic and comfortable. a nice mix of clientele, reasonable sound level and an always-present ms. avilla makes sure everyone is happy and full. don't miss the mole sauce, mango margaritas and the white chocolate bread pudding.

dallas observer's critic's choice. we tried this place after reading that it was chosen as best mexican restaurant by the dallas observer. we were not disappointed. the spinach enchiladas are wonderful. my husband ordered the tamales and loved them. the margaritas weregoodand strong. the place has a cool and clean look. the wait staff was very friendly and competent.

disappointed. i was in town on business and decided to try this palce since i saw it on food network. i think guy was way off base on this one. the queso was tasteless. it was the worst i've had. melted velveeta would have been better if that gives you an idea! i had a beef taco (it was good) a cheese enchilada (average) and beans. everything seemed a bit blah. i did like the salsa. i thought it had the right amount of heat and it tasted fresh. my service was fantastic. i wish the food was asgoodas the service.

the posole was verygoodhowever, the chilie relleno as well as the brisket gorditas were very bland. seemed over priced everyone at our table would have preferred to go to on the border.