Amelia's Restaurant — Restaurant in Rowlett

It takes a lot for me to go out of my way to leave a review, but my experience here was so bad that I feel compelled. Perhaps I am spoiled by an amazing little gem in a few locations in Tarrant county called, Baja Cantina, worth the drive to Grapevine if Amelia's is the 'best Mexican around.' I will start with the atmosphere. Upon entering, a faint but very present smell of sewage.  We were seated promptly. The temperature outside was about 54° and it felt that the air conditioner was on. We were all in our winter clothing and outerwear, freezing. On top of the A/C, the fans were on, conveniently blowing copious dust bunnies that completely coated the tops of these bamboo looking ceiling decorations. Photo attached. Eventually we realized that there were little oscillating fans/heaters by the tables, so we requested it be turned on for us. It helped by 7%. The service was fine, had a feeling our server was new. Ordered queso with ground beef and guacamole. Queso came with out the ground beef, and the guac consisted of three little scoops of guacamole undoubtedly made hours beforehand. Yuck. Two people at my table ordered the sour cream chicken enchiladas. Their review was that the chicken was overcooked and dry. My kids ordered the chicken fajitas for two. It looked so good! But again, chicken was dry, not to mention, the pan was not sizzling in the least. I ordered tortilla soup to be had before my meal (I did say this, although I think it's a given that when you order soup, then a meal, the soup should come first) and enchiladas with spinach and shrimp with sour cream sauce. All the food came out luke warm. Including my soup, with my meal, so my meal got colder as I enjoyed my nearly room temperature soup. Did I mention that I was freezing? One other person at my table, and I, ordered the charro beans instead of refried and they were bland. Absolutely flavorless! My enchiladas were absolutely disgusting. The shrimp was OLD! It literally disintegrated in my mouth, like sand. The spinach was over abundant, and although denied by the manager, seemed to have come from a box in the freezer section. Oh, and we waited a full hour for this pathetic meal that eventually cost me just under $100. There were 4 or 5 tables sat, a far cry from having eaten there 2 years ago when it was a packed house, which is why it's hard to write this, knowing they are a small business struggling through a pandemic. But GROSS. Just gross. Next time I will drive to Mi Cocina in Rockwall or Mi Dia in Plano, as I am in...

We tried this place for late lunch, we were greeted as soon as we entered and seated. Our server Claudia came by and got our drink orders. While she was getting our drinks a gentleman came by and left chips and salsa. Both were very tasty, you could tell the chips were made in house. I ordered the Enchilada which are three house-made corn tortillas stuff with the protein or filling of your choice. I ordered the Beef Fajita, Brisket and Al Pastor. All were very tasty and delicious. I ordered the Enchiladas with no cheese or sauce and tried three different sauces, they were all so delicious, the tortilla made in house and the fillings were so tasty. The beans and rice were very delicious. My partner order the Bistek Ranchero, which was huge amount of food. The sauce and steak were cook to perfection, all of the steak alone was enough to fill you up then you had peppers and onions, beans, rice and avocado with lettuce and pico de gallo. The flour tortilla were so fresh and made in house. The service was outstanding. The manager came by and asked us how the meal was and was so friendly and took the time to explain how they cook everything from the family recipes. They have live music on Friday and Saturday nights. They are closed Mondays but open every other day of the week for lunch and dinner and breakfast on Saturday and Sunday. We found the restaurant clean as well as the restrooms. Cannot wait to return...

I WANT EVERYBODY TO KNOW THEY ADD 20% GRATUITY TO PARTIES OF 8 OR MORE. Remember it and don’t forget it. Doesn’t matter if you didn’t read the fine print on the menu, you have to download on your phone, or the website you never visited. Doesn’t matter if you order chicken fajitas, chewy and not well seasoned, and get the tortillas 10 minutes later. Or can literally drink the queso that won’t stay on the thickest tortilla chips we’ve ever had a Mexican restaurant. Doesn’t matter that the waiter didn’t feel the need to mention that 20% gratuity ($8.20) is included in the total or when he picked up the check and noticed an additional $9.42 on the tip line he might want to make sure that that is what the customer intended. This is not what the customer, myself, intended. The customer who left a 23% tip for mediocre service and average food because this customer was in the restaurant business years ago and doesn’t know how the recent pandemic has changed the business. The customer who didn’t put his glasses on to see every line item but noticed the larger, bolder total that needed to be paid. The customer who spoke with the manager 3 days later and her comment was, ‘Am I supposed to tell the waiter to give it back?’ In the end, did I lose or did the restaurant lose because we will not visit again? Life is too short, go or don’t go,...