Campo Verde — Restaurant in Dalworthington Gardens

(Any photos/menus/reviews earlier than summer 2025 are outdated, as everything is completely different. Details in my review.)

I grew up coming here and always enjoyed it. About two years ago they got new management and the food went downhill. Now they have completely new management and cook, with an entirely different menu. I'm going to be honest, it was not good in any way and the menu is wholly divorced from what they used to have for years. They tried to make the food bougie and hoity toity (along with increasing prices considerably). The rice and beans had so little flavor that I would have much preferred the rice and beans from Taco Bell. I ordered cheese enchiladas with chili con carne, and what they topped the enchiladas with was not in any way chili con carne; it was chili with beans (like, a tomato sauce based chili with ground meat and beans that you'd see at a chili cook-off). After the initial shock of such a sight (sorry I did not get pictures; I was so taken back with confusion), I asked for queso sauce instead; that was much better and actually looked & tasted like what an enchilada should be. That being said, the enchiladas were ok; nothing I'd feel the need to have again. The chips and sauce were... interesting. I did get a classic margarita on the rocks and it was actually pretty good, although it was overpriced. The salsa actually wasn't bad, it was tasty. But the chips...where do I begin? There were two kinds of chips they brought; one was basic corn tortilla chips that tasted like they came from a bag, while the other could actually have been house-made, but they were made from flour tortillas and where really thick, chewy, and not very pleasing to eat. My friend got the beef fajitas, which tasted like they had no seasoning whatsoever. The tortillas that came with them also tasted like they were from a bag. My friend that got the chicken flautas did not like them at all. They were made in the same style as the flour chips; I didn't get a great look at them, but they looked funky. One friend also got enchiladas, but with "red sauce". The sauce that she got was not red in any way. It was more of a light brown, appearing to be chili con carne (unlike the abomination that they called chili con carne here). She said it was ok. One person tried a dessert to see if it could save the meal. Spoiler alert: It did not. She got what was listed in the menu as traditional flan with whipped cream and berries. What came to the table was some layered chocolate thing. It had a crumbly chocolate cake-like bottom layer, with something that was flan-adjacent (but not actually flan) on top, covered with whipped cream, strawberrys, and chocolate sauce. It was horrid; we all tried a bite and hated it.

As for the atmosphere and decor, they kept a lot of the Christmas lights and decor items, although they did modernize the aesthetics a lot. I will say that with so much brown, wood paneling, mirrors, brass colored blinds, and other incredibly dated 80's interior furnishings, it was in desperate need of some modernizing. Personally I think they went a little too modern with lots of white and such; they could have kept some more of the kitcsh, but it doesn't really matter with the state of the food.

The service was actually really good and our waitress did her very best. She couldn't be blamed for the poor choices made by the chef. Although the person that brought the food out (which was not our waitress) appeared to have an attitude and actually made an ugly comment to the waitress (when she didn't do anything wrong).

All in all, I strongly encourage you to do yourself a favor and go almost anywhere else. Especially if you used to frequent this place years ago; you will be immensely disappointed. I think this place could do better in some place like the Midwest or something like that where they don't know what Mexican food or Tex-Mex is supposed to be like; here though, I doubt they'll be in business much longer. It's...

It feels as though the Google reviews are a bit disconnected from what people have been saying in other food review areas about this place. I am going to provide my review that I did a few weeks back in the "Real Arlington Foodies" group on Facebook, as I feel like it would be a disservice to the staff and ownership if they dont see the general consensus for the way people feel, and I would really love to see them do well. I believe that the new ownership, renovations, and menu are a step in the right direction, but there are blaring updates that need to happen in order for Campo Verde to thrive. The below review is from July 6th, I visited on July 3rd.

"I went and tried the new Campo Verde with my wife the other day on a little lunch date. You'll have to excuse the slightly eaten dishes in the photo as I decided to try everything before braving a possible angry mob on here and post about it. All in all, I was disappointed, but am willing to try it again.

We'll start from the top, when we walked in, we were admiring the new decor and renovations, as well as the old stuff that was left over from before, but we were met with an AWFUL SMELL right at the front, that I can only describe as the scent of a run down fish market. As we were taken to our table, the smell seemed to dissipate or maybe we got used to it, I'm not entirely sure. I genuinely like the plant life and the new flooring that have been added as they seem to really brighten the place up. They also have that little model train still going which I (and I'm sure many others are) was really excited about. On to the food..

For starters, they brought us complimentary chips and salsa, and we went ahead and ordered the queso as an appetizer. The queso was great. It had great taste, with a nice spiciness to it. The chips were fresh, and had a slight amount of seasoning, similar to the old Campo Verde, but a much welcomed improvement on their old chips.

As for the entrees, my wife ordered the Garlic Tequila Sautéed Shrimp, and I got their Chicken Fajitas. Both of these dishes came with Spanish Rice and Refried Beans, along with Pico, sour cream, and Guacamole. As for the shrimp she ordered, it was very flavorful, came with a cream sauce that had a nice little zing to it, she really enjoyed it.

The Chicken Fajitas were underwhelming to say the least... the chicken was cooked almost perfectly and they gave me a ton of it, but it had no seasoning on it at all. It was completely bland. Maybe they put some salt and pepper on it, but there was absolutely no flavor to the chicken. Along with that, there were a ton of onions on the skillet, but nothing else, I believe I recall seeing a small sliver of red bell pepper in the mix, but nothing of note. This also came with 4 tortillas which seemed like they were made in house, these had decent flavor. I had debated getting one of the other dishes on the menu, and really regretted getting this one when all was said and done.

The Spanish Rice was solid, I liked the flavor on it, but it wasn't my wife's cup of tea. As for the Refried Beans, the taste was fair, but the texture was really off. They were pureed almost to a point of being a dip, rather than a side dish. We were both unable to eat them, but that may just be a personal preference. They did taste much better on a chip!

Overall, I'd give it a 4 out of 10. We were disappointed, as I dont feel like the price we paid really fit the quality of food we received. I'd really like to see some improvement on the flavors of the food. I think the owner is still working a lot of kinks out both with the atmosphere and the menu being offered right now. I'd be willing to go and try it again, but I cant see myself returning anytime in the...

My previous review was before the update. TLDR: the Christmas was cool and the food was an affront to humanity.

Just got back from the update, how'd they do? Read on dear reader.

So this is Texas. Here, Tex Mex is fierce. You better bring the heat somehow. You've got to have stellar service, and you can choose one of two other choices: 1) food that slaps or 2) an awesome ambiance.

For example: Joe T Garcia's is a staple around here. Not because their food is anything to write home about, but because their garden is absolutely superb and so if the service.

Mariano's is the top Tex Mex around here in my opinion. The food is unmatched. Servers run around with ear pieces, they are coordinated and efficient.

Joe T's and Mariano's are completely different, one leaned into ambiance, one leaned into food and they both have killer service and are legends.

So where does that leave Campo Verde? Well, the food is a definite improvement over the embarrassing microwaved slop they were serving before. Good even. But not good enough. So they're going to need the ambiance and the service to catch up.

How'd they do there? Well...not great. The previous Campo Verde survived because they leaned hard into the Christmas stuff, which was awesome. They still have like less than half the Christmas stuff, but then there's like haphazard rustic stuff. And the tables are the same early 80's style tables and chairs. The train is still there, but the insane Christmas is now like half ass Christmas and plus rustic stuff plus I don't even know what. There was like a rando hallway to nowhere with a broke down piano and like tribal masks on the wall for some reason.

Guys, lean back into the Christmas stuff and go balls to the wall with it. The food is good enough to get away with it, but you need the Christmas gimmick. And guess what? People love the Christmas gimmick. People love Christmas. Embrace it. I was Christmas out the wazoo and something to bring people to and tell them they're not going to believe what they're about to see: no reason, all season maxed out Christmas to the nines.

And the service? The staff is nice and pleasant. But check this out. I ordered a grouper and shrimp ceviche for an app. Lady takes the order and comes back like a couple minutes later and says they don't have grouper. I say fine. Then comes back again and says they don't have shrimp, or ceviche or anything to make it with. And then walks off without asking if we wanted a different app, which I might have been interested in.

Jessica's plate was supposed to have refried beans, but they said they were making more, but they never came out, so she never got the beans.

Food came out decently timely, the chips were marginal at best, some were stale, the salsa was watery. Had water to drink and only got one refill, which was ok. Check came out decently fast.

So the service I would say is middling at best, but that's not going to work in Texas.

The food is good, not great (I had beef tips which was pretty good, Jessica had flautas which were excellent. Can't comment on any appetizers.

So my plea really here is for someone in charge to read this and follow this recommendation: go berserk with the Christmas stuff. It's currently half assed. Max it out. And the service is going to have to come into its own. No chance of survival for this place as is. Service has to be on point, and you either have to have ambiance (which you totally could) or killer food (which you totally could as well). Either one will work, but if both, this could become...