El Fenix — Restaurant in Dallas

After visiting the Dallas World Aquarium, we decided to walk to El Fenix for a sit and a nosh. There was no significant wait and we were showed to our table very quickly.

Steve, our waiter, came quickly to take the drink order and my niece ordered a mango margarita on the rocks and my sister and I requested frozen strawberry margaritas with sugar on the rims and my 4-year-old great-niece wanted lemonade. My sister also asked for water and Steve offered to bring waters for everyone.

Steve returned shortly with chips and salsa and the waters at which time my sister then ordered a bowl of chili con queso and warmed tortillas with butter in addition to the Botana appetizer sampler.

Steve returned several minutes later with the queso.

Then we waited. To be fair, the restaurant was busy, but appeared well-staffed.

Steve returned with more salsa, the Botana and to inform us that he was still waiting on our drink order.

We could see the cantina area of the restaurant and saw him go behind the bar and make our drinks. He returned shortly with a frozen mango margarita and the lemonade. My niece decided to settle for it frozen.

We waited some more. My sister stopped eating, preferring to have her requested drink with the meal.

Finally, he returned with 2 frozen margaritas. My sister pointed out that we had requested strawberry and he quickly returned to the bar and began remixing my drinks.

By the time he returned we had nearly finished eating our chili con queso and botana platter.

This time he returned with 2 frozen strawberry margaritas with salted rims, rather than sugared as requested. At least he got half of it right.

I asked for the correct drink and my sister passed on having him fix hers, fearing what she would get upon his return.

Since the meal was essentially finished at this point, she decided not the make a third request for the warm tortillas. Instead, we asked for the check.

After he returned with the bill and quickly left. My niece insisted on paying, but as she looked over the check, she noticed that we had been charged twice for the chili con queso. It was tasty, but not worth paying for twice. She decided that since Steve seemed to be struggling to get things right, she'd simply pay our overcharged bill as it was presented.

In over 4 decades of dining in the DFW area, this was my first time eating at El Fenix. I've certainly had worse food and service, but our waiter, Steve, was really the low point of the experience. While he was very pleasant during the entire meal, his impact on our overall enjoyment, or lack thereof, was enormous. We kept commenting amongst us that we'd be much better served if he would simply write down our order rather than relying on his memory. Steve made numerous trips to our table but couldn't seem to remember much of what we'd requested. He made a total of 5 trips just for our beverages and still only got mine and my great-niece's correct. I can't speak for my family members, but I'm not...

My daughter took me here for my birthday. We were treated very rudely. My grandson who is disabled was denied a double order of chicken strips because because he is an disabled adult. Waiter said chicken strips only on the children's menu and that he must be 12 yrs or less to get the chicken strips. We tried explaining to the waiter that due to his disability won't eat anything else on the menu and the waiter rudely told us to get out of the establishment. My daughter went and found a mgr/female who did eventually bring my grandson chicken strips. However, I voiced concern that since we had complained on waiter that something might be done to our food if we order. They changed out our waiter and assured us that nothing would be done to our food because of complaint of being treated rudely and asked to leave. Against our better judgement we ordered our food. The food came out and looked decent. In the midst of me eating my food a bug crawled out from under the sour cream. We immediately notified management of the bug in food. When male/mgr got to our table bug was still crawling on my fork. He the mgr looked at the bug on the fork and said it was only a fruit fly but bug looked like a baby roach. He took my plate and didn't ask if I would like anything else. My daughter asked him to comp our food but the difficulties we had experienced. He however refused to comp the meal after all the insults that occurred. First of all it's against the law for a disabled person not be accommodated due to a disability. There's a federal law governing these type of situations. Original waiter asked us to leave establishment because he wouldn't accommodate my disabled grandson. Next comes the racism in this matter. Original waiter that had been rude was still helping other people but kept giving us an intimidating look as he would pass our table. The whole atmosphere changed by the way employees started dealing with us. This was my 73rd birthday and in my whole life I have never experienced such rudenedf from any establishment. So needless to say please .... Beware...if you decide to eat at this establishment. Oh by the way the original waiter had his pants sagging and he wasn't no youngster. Very inappropriate!!!!! He never introduced himself when he came to table. El Fenix ought to be shame to have such slackness going on in their establishment. I will never eat in any of there establishments again. And I would advise others not to eat here. We as people must all stand together against such blatant rudeness and slackness. When you are spending your hard earned money you should require to be treated with dignity. Hopefully by me posting what happened to us at El Fenix people will be aware of these people. They will put bugs in your food if you voice any type of concern regarding...

I was there around 3pm on 01/25/24. I took my mom out to eat for her birthday. The waiter did not introduce himself and was "sagging". He had to ask for drink the order several times. When placing our order. I asked for 2 of the kids meal chicken tenders. My 30 yer old son has Autism. Therefore, he eats very few types of foods. The server was adamant that he would not do the chicken tenders because he is over 12 years old, even though I expalined my son's issue with food and that he is intellectually disabled. The waiter told us to "just get out then". And then he walked away! I went to complain to the hostess and she said basically nothing. Except that she would get the chicken strip order for us. No apology or empathy of any kind. The manager, Gabriel, came by to ask if we were ok. I said "no" and asked to have a word with him away from the table. I explained to him what had occurred. He said he has an autistic child and that he understood. He apologized but didn't offer to make any remedy. When the Hostess brought my son the order, we expressed concern that if we ordered something, the waiter would do something to our food. She assurred us that would not happen. When my mother got her fajita nachos, there was a baby roach STILL ALIVE in the sour cream. It crawled across the fork as the manager watched. Then he says. "it's just a fruit fly"....I asked him if fruit flies are not considered insects? He took the plate away and did not apologize or offer to remake her food. He sent our "new" waiter over with the check and said he would comp everything but our cocktails. We left the store (like we should have done in the first place). I called the corporate office the next day and left a message. The regional manager Gabriel Salazar, got in touch with me and offered a $40 voucher for us to give them another chance! There is no way I will ever step foot in another El Fenix ever again. $40 for THREE people....Really??!The moral of the story is: DO NOT EAT HERE...especially if you are Black. They are not friendly towards us and will put BUGS IN YOUR FOOD, if you dare to complain. They won't accomodate a disabled person. And then, adding insult to injury, they told us to get out. After that, bugs were in the food. You decide, do you really want...