Dos Arroyos Comida Casera — Restaurant in Richardson

Dos Arroyos is a fantastic local business in a weird location - worth driving to! Best happy hour margarita I've had!

FOOD - the food is fantastic. And I need to describe why. The most important piece is that items are freshly (scratch) made rather than using bags of precut cheap items. For example, I asked for vegetables instead of rice/beans. Most places would bring me the same cookie cutter frozen veggie mix you see over and over at places. Dos Arroyos gave me something special with a freshly julienned mix including zucchini, cabbage, mushrooms, and corn. The salsa gets its own section below so I won't discuss here but then I had the chicken mole and the taste of the sauce was delightful with a healthy mix of flavors without being spicy. Delicious!

SALSA - oh yes!!!!! Serrano salsa!! The Serrano is a fantastic pepper that sits on the sideline too much as so many salsas go for the jalapeño. There's a different spice note to a Serrano but my favorite part is the unique oil it adds to the salsa mix that gives a round character that buttresses the spice into a small delightful tongue cocoon.

HOUSE MARGARITA - clearly made in house without using a mix. Again, almost every Mexican place I go to uses a cheap salty mix for their house margarita- it's rare to find a place that offers a house margarita this good. And super duper rare (yeah, I said "super duper") to find a place making a delicious, scratch, house made margarita for $4.25 (Happy Hour pricing 11a-6p). The quality value proposition here is staggering. There are some people that would prefer to go drink a garbage house margarita for $3 down the street because it's cheaper, but be better than that and go have this house excellence. Give your server an extra dollar because they are working hard and your margarita is worth more than you're paying.

ATMOSPHERE - quite enjoyable with music playing, low lnterior li

STAFF - the staff is delightfully friendly and knowledgeable while being attentive! And, while I was sitting at the bar (my favorite place to sit and get the whole vibe of a place), I saw a woman taking a gently through things behind the bar - it was clear she was training a new bartender on items in the house as she explained where things were and what they offered. Although at the other end of the bar, she stopped for a moment and came over to ask if I was doing well and if I needed anything. That's rare! Typically, managers that are training use that as an insulation bubble to avoid interactions - "I can't talk, I'm training someone" - but Zelina and her staff takes a customer focused approach. I'm pretty sure it's in her DNA because you can't fake that

HAPPY HOUR - long hours and great prices on a vast selection cement this happy hour firmly into a top tier. Enjoy the savings - get the house rocks Margarita - it blows away almost every house margarita I've tried elsewhere!

OTHER - I believe the reason this place has "only" 4 stars on yelp is an American problem. Most Americans have been mouth-washed into believing good food is something else due to chains pushing lower quality, salt laden products to our country. This place "gets it" but if your palate is used to general consumption garbage, it's a bit of a shock. The detail to finer points here cannot be denied by this reviewer, though. The vegetables showed a perseverance to go above the norm when it's be a lot easier to use a cheaper option and most people wouldn't even notice. I love the attention to detail and am a lifelong fan!

PARTING - if you think of it, ask if the GM Zelina is working and tell her how special this place is, and how much you enjoyed it. It means a lot to them to hear your feedback and she really cares about you and your...

The owner/manager of this establishment, treated me like I was lower than human, when I returned to his restaurant 5 minutes after we left from our family meal there, on 08/09/2019, to ask for help with finding/retrieving my daughter's blanket that she believed she left on her chair inside Frankie's on Custer Road in Richardson, TX. His son Junior, who was working as management also, as well as other staff were willing to help look for the blanket, but the owner/GM went out of his way to be rude, belittling, insulting and downright outrageous in the manner he treated me as his customer. When I told him that we had only left 5 minutes prior, and that if the blanket was not found, my daughter wouldn't sleep tonight as she has had it since she was an infant, therefore I could not leave without it. I tried to help him to understand that she was exceptionally attached to it. His response to me was: "That guy over there moved your table, and he hasn't seen it." "The waiter hasn't seen it!!" "Would you like to take out your flashlight, and get down there and find it yourself in the dark? It isn't here!!!" "I don't know what you want me to do!!!" He quite loudly and obviously made it clear I was not welcome. I then asked if I could leave my number for them, in case the blanket was found. He promptly dumped me off at the hostess stand with Junior to leave my contact information. The manager, Junior, was more polite, and took my contact info, allowed that I could use the restroom before I left. Upon entering the restroom, it occurred to me that my mother (who met us at the restaurant straight from work in a different vehicle, and therefore left in her own vehicle) might have noticed that my daughter was about to leave her blanket behind, and grabbed it. Therefore, I called her from the restaurant bathroom and asked if she had picked up the treasured, Favorite Blanket. When she confirmed indeed she had picked it up for her and had the blanket with her, I decided I needed to let my daughter know, who was waiting out in front of the restaurant in the van with her Papa, as well as let the restaurant know it had been found. I apologized to Junior, the second manager that I had talked to, and let him know that there had been a mix-up and about my mother picking up my daughter's Favorite Blanket when she saw my daughter leave it on the chair as we were leaving. Junior was understanding of my mistake and expressed his apologies for the general manager's rude behavior toward me. I thanked him for his professionalism and politeness, and though I refused to speak to the owner/GM again at all, I told him that he could express my apology to his father, the GM as well. Well, we couldn't even get home from the restaurant before The OWNER/GM of Frankie's himself was calling me to continue berating, belittling, and insulting me, just like he was in the restaurant in front of the other customers for advocating on behalf of my daughter, and then admitting to my own mistake. He insisted he was calling to THANK me... Not sure what for? It made me wish I had not left my contact information to fall into the hands of this power hungry, angry restaurant owner/manager.

Customers, and anyone who does not appreciate being disrespected, or insults being served with your Mexican food dinner, beware!!!!

I am only giving a 2* review, because the second manager was BY FAR more professional and polite to the customers (including me) than the owner/GM was. That does deserve a little redemption.

Too bad he is not...

We’ve been visiting this location as well as other restaurants in the same family for years. We were in town on Friday and visited looking forward to our favorite meals. We love the charm and ambiance of this location, tucked in a corner, multiple dining rooms, authentically themed. We arrived at dinner time around 5:30pm. Despite being crowded, we were seated right away at an indoor table. They have two covered patios and one that is basically enclosed as well. I’m always glad to see so many people at our favorite places, as I know we’ll continue to be able to visit! One of the highlights of our visit is always that our drinks remain full, for the entire meal, no matter how long we stay. Frequent refills of iced tea cannot be understated – if you know, you know. The salsa is also fresh and regularly refilled. We started with a cup of queso, jalapeno cheese with spinach. Chips were refilled a couple of times so we could finish it. The queso was rather thin on this visit but is typically thick and gooey melty yummy. My husband ordered crispy tacos, not his normal choice, but he cleaned his plate in record time, so I think it’s safe to say he loved it. He went with ground beef tacos and black beans. I ordered Agustin’s enchiladas sub street corn for beans, my go to at this location as well as their sister locations. Delicious as always and excellent service!! I wish the parking situation was better, but again, I think it’s indicative of just how good...