avila's restaurant

this is a small restaurant tucked away on maple avenue. you could easily miss it if you weren't looking for it.

i came here as it was on my to do list as recommended for the brisket tacos.

i was greeted warmly at the door and sat down straight away. a bowl of corn chips and spicy salsa was plonked down in front of me straightaway. i had a soda and it was constantly topped up for me. i ordered the briskettacos(3) (flour tortilla filled with brisket, served with pico de gallo and guacamole). the server advised i could have flour or corn tortillas and chose the flour ones. it was also served with rice, beans, and lettuce too. the portion was generous and the brisket was soft and tender. i just wish there was more seasoning.

a bit out of the way from central dallas there may be slightly better choices if looking for tex mex food.

it's been years since i've been to avila's. as we sat down today, i began to think that things had gone downhill. no chips, no salsa and no menus. luckily, the owner noticed, swooped in and took care of business. enchiladas for me and shrimptacosfor my son. their salsa is some of the best around. my favorite meal here is the brisket chile relleno. thanks guys for a great meal!

while i felt bad that my colleague didn't appear to like his lunch while he was eating, he's since assured me that he's had time to figure that he really liked what he had to eat that day.   i have to say that my lunch at avila's was simply outstanding.  it was one of the more interesting and great tasting mexican restaurants i've ever visited. everything was so fresh and authentic, so much unlike chain restaurants that "american-ize" mexican food most of the time.  the brisket enchiladas and the briskettacoswere tremendous.  i love little family restaurants like avila's and even with the turmoil that ensued a few years back, this  was one of the best mexican meals i've ever had.  cedia will be back in dallas in september and i will definitely be going back to avila's - even if it's just for the beans!

great food!! briskettacoswere excellent and the hot sauce was amazing!! bread pudding was also sweet!

solid tex mex. after a long day travelling we stopped in an hour before closing on sunday night. friendly service with chips and a nice spicy salsa was brought to the table promptly. got some guac which was very tasty the way i make mine. we shared a steak quesidilla and brisket taco plate. the top seller the two beef briskettacoswas great with shredded tender brisket nice beefy flavor all in a soft flour tortilla accompanied by refried beans and rice. the steak quesidilla was perfectly seasoned with sauteed peppers and onions all between a crisped up flour tortilla. the kicker was the white chocolate bread pudding with cinnamon liberally sprinkled about if anything a special trip just for this treat..

very good meal. 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.tacoswere 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.

just... okay.. we love ddd, so on our latest jaunt to the big d, we headed to avila's for lunch. we went around 2:00, so it was after the rush. the service was... annoyed by our presence? i can't explain it- i didn't feel welcome, though we were clearly very happy to be there and tried to be friendly and appreciative to the waitstaff. my husband had fishtacosand said they were very good, but my fajita enchiladas were just okay. the beef was tough and the queso sauce was lukewarm. i liked the tender-crisp onions and peppers inside, and the chicken was okay.

however.... the salsa was awesome. i would give the place another try if there weren't so many other places in dallas to explore.

very good food. *update* stopped here last week for dinner at the original place now run by the family, and the briskettacosremain delicious and divine, service is vastly improved, and salsa is still tasty. kudos to all involved.

quality meals, not overly large portions, briskettacosare delicious, so are the many specials on the board. the tamales are dry, and service, when the place is busy, can be spotty. this place is best of all the maple mex eateries, unless you really want to go "authentic".

the briskettacoswere the best, but they only had margaritas on the rocks. slight disappointment there.