It was a great place to eat. I ordered the top shelf margaritas because usually house margaritas suck with the alcohol content. I need something stiff lol! We ate chips salsa and queso and the salsa was good. Queso ok. My husband had a bacon burger and was ok he said. I liked the atmosphere. Would like to go back! Oh we brought sopapillas home and they were great :) read more

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Great place with good food. Margaritas are the best in town. Ice cold beer. The tortillas are to die for. Ask for the extra extra hot green sauce. Not for those who can't take the heat. read more

El Arroyo - Mexican Near Me - Arlington, Texas

Points for being REALLY close to my house. Like within a mile or so. Points for having a pretty good-sized patio. They have roll-down plastic curtain-thingies for cooler weather, but I've only eaten outside while it's warm. Negative points for the food being not terribly Mexican. Not to be snobby, it just mostly isn't. Although, the fajitas are decent-ish, so there's that - as long as you want to smell like fajitas for the rest of your day! They have $1 breakfast burritos on weekdays, but I'm kind of askeert. But really, for dollar margaritas on Wednesday... well, one can give a lot of leeway for that kind of bargain. They're not the very best margaritas in the world, but, um, I did mention the DOLLAR thing, right? They are good, they are a ridiculous deal, and they're a fairly decent size. Thank you sweet baby Jesus, I love you too. Turns out that two margaritas and a split order of queso is a perfectly satisfying dinner option. Just sayin'. read more

I used to live nearby and subsequently came here all the time. They've really built up the outside patio, which was always my main reason for coming, anyway! The food is average to decent. I was never unhappy with it and always got the spinach queso and either the shrimp diablo or the enchiladas del mar. I don't know if the management changed or what, but the menu is completely different now in that everything has a different name but is basically the exact same. (So both those things are still there but called something else I don't recall...basically, the first is the bacon/jalapeno-wrapped shrimp, the latter are seafood enchiladas. Both are solid.) A LOT of people come for margarita Wednesday, which does at least make for interesting people watching. A mildly diverse crowd tends to show up, from bikers to frat kids to families. Margaritas are definitely decent. I've never really had a problem with the service but it can be a little on the spotty side. Again, mostly decent service. Something seems to have happened over the last few years to where the whole place just seems to have lost a little charm somehow. if I lived nearby again I'd probably get a hankering for that patio, but the rest of the place manages just to be somewhat forgettable. :/ read more

El Arroyo is a fun little joint. It's not the greatest Mexican food in town, but they've found their niche and worked it well for themselves. Decor is what you would expect. It's a little cramped in the back room tables, but other than that, it's a fairly nice place. "Ditch" jokes are fairly common. Service can be pretty hit or miss. Lots of young kids working, which is nice to see, but sometimes they can be downright bad as servers. Luckily, there are also some kids in there that will pull up the slack and take care of your table as well as their own. Food is pretty decent. It's comparable to the Tia's we used to have or an On the Border. Like others have said, it's not super standout, but there's nothing wrong with it. The tortillas and the salsa are actually pretty good. I think what keeps us coming to El Arroyo is the patio, music, and margaritas. The margaritas are pretty good and there's usually a nice bar special going on. The patio is great on a nice day. Combine with a drink and some music and it's a nice way to spend the evening. read more

I was there yesterday for lunch with my daughter. It took over an hour and people literally came and went before we got our food. I was late for an appointment and my daughter was late getting to class. The waitress brought the ticket before the meal. The food was cold and nasty. It was so bad and over priced. We had no alcoholic beverages. I had water my daughter had a soda. No desserts we did have a small cheese dip. I ordered off the lunch menu and my total bill was $41 before tip. The manager said he would make it right the next time I came in but refused to take the meal off that I could not eat. NEVER again will I step foot in that restaurant. I have actually been there many times over the last 20 years and the service and food has never been this bad. read more

This is one of those Mexican places that you either 'love' or you 'hate'. The service is OK, but the last two times I've been there, the place wasn't very clean. They have an excellent patio and entertainment.... It is convenient if you have kids in sports (right across from the Harold Patters Sports Complex)... good to go to 'after the game'. The food isn't that great though. It's 'just ok'. read more

Location: not bad, easy to spot and remember Service: hit or miss, nothing to write home about food: Quesadilla and nachos are great, Fajitas are basic, Tacos blow Drinks: Margaritas are huge, go down easy at first, but always end of being super acidic by the end of the night and catch up to you. the patio is always fun and poping, wednesday is their crazy night for their margarita special. read more

Usually Good food but I order fajitas Togo and by the time I got home to eat and check the food I found a piece of hair which is a big deal but instead of complaining I felt like it would be more effective leaving this review read more

I have been coming to El Artoyo for years. we went today for national margarit day, 2:/22/2022. We arrived at 5 pm. When we received our bill, I was very disappointed to see that our margaritas were $11.95 each! Happy hour ends at 6 pm. No discounts. We will not be going back. I could have gone several other places and gotten drinks for less. VERY DISSATISFIED read more

Always a good time here! Excellent food and great band playing on the weekends! Tried the stuffed zucchini today and it was amazing! Yum meh!! read more

El Arroyo - Stuffed Zucchini - Mexican Near Me - Arlington, Texas

I can't believe they are charging the customers their credit card fees on the bill....this is total bs. This is part of doing business. Totally unethical!!! I won't be back. Nothing posted in menu or anywhere regarding this which is illegal read more

I must first note it's been a couple years since we dined here. At the time our experience was excellent. Great food, good service and I love their live music events on the patio.. If you're a dessert lover I highly recommend their skillet brownie with vanilla ice cream. Yum! read more

This restaurant was my most favorite in Arlington. THEIR food quality is good & tastes good but I'm concerned what's going on. They started charging for tortillas that we got every time we went there. Their prices were higher but I thought quality was better & let it go. Tonight I was seated at 9pm on a Sunday night then was told the kitchen closed at 9. Could not get in to eat! On the Border & Uncle Julios were open & both serve hot tortillas all time. Not sure with changing hours unannounced & all that we will go back soon! read more

Food was good as usual. The only upsetting part was them bringing our checks to the table. I give the server my card to pay and she returns with the bills saying the manager just realized we had a group of 6 and a gratuity was required to be added. This is one of the few times I have come here and not seen the manager check once on customers. He make sure and charge the group gratuity and sent her instead of coming himself to explain why my check that had already been given to me is being changed. We still tipped the $20 to the waitress on a $72 dollar check even after he added the extra automatic $12 gratuity. She was very good. His skills need great improvement. read more

My family loves to go to El Arroyo and sit on the patio; while listening to live music. They just expanded the patio so now there is more room and less wait to sit on the patio. The patio is a great place to take folks from out of town. Pros: The drinks are stiff and the food is good. Prices are OK, but the big value is hanging with friends on the patio, enjoying a band, and good drinks. They have kids meals, but if your creative can save some kash with splitting adult meals among kids. Cons: The price is a bit expensive and wait for the patio can be an issue unless you get there early. Service is par and expect them to be busy. Overall this is a great place to visit if sitting on the patio and enjoying a cold beverage. ;-) read more

OMG! Not sure if it's because I was famished when I had lunch here or not, but I swear I just had the best fajitas ever! Chicken and Beef combo came to my table quick and sizzling hot. These were steak fajitas made from real steak and not some mystery meat too. The sides complimented the meal well, and the portion was so big, hungry as I was, I struggled to finish! But I somehow managed. :) I can't wait to bring some friends here and see if the second time is as good as my first. read more

This is my very favorite patio!! The service is ok depending on what server you get. Tip the good servers good, they deserve it! My fave is the pescada fresca! Their queso is better than any other place I've tried. The beer is cold!!!!! read more

Patio was nice, place was packed and we drove an hour to get here because we had seen the place packed a few nights prior with live music. Look like a happening place. Food, ehh Sent back the daiquiri, sent back the ceviche. Food overall was boring. The Mexican rice was flavorless. The service was friendly, fast and pleasant. Go for the atmosphere not the food. read more

As far as Tex-Mex goes, El Arroyo isn't bad. If you check in on Yelp they give you a free shrimp diablo appetizer. The flavor is decent, it's a bacon wrapped jalapeño stuffed shrimp. It was a little over cooked. The tacos al pastor are the most Mexican thing on the menu. They are tasty and would be fairly passable at a real Mexican restaurant. The fresh tortillas are delicious, probably the best thing here. For what it is, it isn't bad. One piece of advice though: stay close to a restroom for an hour after eating here. read more

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El Arroyo provides very delicious Mexican food at reasonable prices. My family and I have been going here for over three years now and it is one of our favorite Mexican places to eat. In the summer, Saturday nights are host to live bands on the patio - a fun environment. The full service bar has some great drink specials. The only negative I could give El Arroyo is inconsistent service. If you go there five times, three of those times you will enjoy great, friendly service. The other two visits are horrible service. Wish they could get everyone on the same page. All in all, the food, the fun, the drinks, and mostly good service make El Arroyo a nice Mexican eatery. TIP: ask for the burracho beans rather than plain old re-fried. read more

Have been here a few times. The outdoor patio is a pleasant experience and I was surprised, on day while visiting for lunch, how they had the music tuned into 92.5 Classic Rock...lol. I love classic rock so I enjoyed hearin' the old tunes. I was just like.."they're playing classic rock at a Mexican restaurant?" Lol. Anyway, the food has always been satisfactory. The salsa is very good and unlike anywhere I've tried before. Service was prompt and pleasurable. I'm thinkin' they do okay because, even in the middle of a weekday afternoon, I've seen the parking lot full of cars. Will certainly be returning. read more

Loved this place. The food isn't the best I've ever had but it was damn good! Our server was awesome and our wait time wasn't so bad for a Friday night. Live music outside if you want to listen and you can barely hear it in the inside so that was great. The only negative was the parking but again...Friday night. They had a parking attendant that helped but still had to park far. read more

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Chips and salsa suck , food was bland , waiter was rude , maybe that is the attitude you want to project . I will take my Tex-Mex cravings somewhere else. read more

Great atmosphere! Awesome patio best patio in Arlington by far! Great Tex Mex love the food. Strong drinks and good value. read more

We ate there today my wife and me we thought it was overpriced and we had enchilada plate with the ash tea and it was over $30 in the food we just I've had better Taco Bell read more

The food was delish! But the service, Cody, was amazing!! Thanks Cody for teaching Morris how to give a+ service! You are the reason we will be back! 5 stars! read more

El Arroyo - Mexican Near Me - Arlington, Texas

Food was good, but if you can avoid this place do it. Or do take out. They're not COVID safe. We were sat in a dirty table, didn't even bother whipping anything down. We asked our waitress if she could wipe it down, never happened. We weren't the only table this happened to either. Makes me question how many people had sat in our table before me. Service was just straight ass read more

Nothing special about the food here... Mediocre...lack of flavor The only thing pleasant about my visit was the barmaid dark hair , wearing a black soft cast ....she was very attentive, and pleasant read more

Had lunch there today (Saturday 2/6/16) with a friend. Service was fast and friendly, restaurant was clean and bright. Most of the food was excellent. He had beef burrito, I had chile relleno. Very good flavors, definitely a step above the typical "chain" Mexican places. Plenty of meat, good sauces, and well prepared. The only real missteps were the queso with the chips ... it was so thin and runny it was more like a cheese broth .. not even cheese soup. It needed more cheese to thicken it up a little. The other problem was the butter ... they obviously store it in a warm spot - the little plastic tubs of butter were filled with semi-liquid mess. Not quite liquefied, but way past "room temp" ... and that wasn't really successful. Prices were a little high for lunch ... the two of us, 1 small queso, unsweet tea, and our dinner plates came to over $30.00. Not REALLY bad, but still a bit expensive for the lunch size portions we received. read more

Amazing service one of my favorite employees is Hanna She is always giving great service and very quick with refills Great environment and atmosphere read more

Love this local place! Patio is amazing and if you sit at the patio bar Allen has the BEST service! He went out of his way to loan me his personal phone charger AND was so attentive that our glasses were never empty! Then you get Wil! , Manager! Great personality and always checking on the service for the customers!!! Love this place and the service!!!!!! read more

Patio is amazing. Food and service never disappoint. Some of the best margaritas in DFW. A favorite for sure.

I went back to this restaurant after almost a year and a had a very bad experience. This place doesn't seem to care for hygiene. The silverware were unclean, water glasses were unclean. Server was not attentive at all, though most of the tables were unoccupied. I have had good experience here in the past but this time it was too bad. And I can surely say that this place is not worth the price. I would have rated but I additional for past experiences. read more

My wife and I love Tex-mex and we eat the stuff at least once a week. We recently just moved to Texas and so far, we've found some great places. That is until we went here. We were looking for a another location and we'd passed this location a few times so we thought we'd give it a try. They had live music so we figured even better. It was quite crowded and we were told it would be a 30 minute wait for a table but that the outside bar portion was open seating. Great. We decided on that until our table was ready. It was in the bar area but not at the actual bar. Here's where the fun started. The server rolled up and asked if we'd like a drink. We ordered the healthy margaritas, which were quite good. We didn't get a menu, were not asked if we'd like water and received no chips and salsa. The server did take our name off the wait list for a table though, telling us this was a good place to sit, and also the warmest. About 10 minutes passed and we asked the guy who brought our drinks if we could have chips and salsa. Another 10 minutes passed. Still no chips. A few spots opened up at the end of the bar. We figured we'd move because we could see the band (2 guys and they were quite good. Best part of the night), it may be warmer, and maybe we'd get chips and salsa and maybe someone would actually bring us a menu. We sat there. It was warmer, crazy enough. We finally got our chips and salsa (chips were stale and salsa was mediocre) and ordered the bacon wrapped shrimp as an appetizer. It came fairly quick, brought to us by one of the dozen servers standing around. With so many servers standing around, we wondered why things were taking so long. The server who brought our appy, initially passed us. We had to grab him. We ran out of salsa. Of course, that wasn't refilled or asked about. We asked it to be refilled and 10 more minutes passed. We asked again and the bartender apologized and brought us some. Kudos to him, he was trying, at least. We also ordered our food. I got the mixed fajitas and my wife got the lite zucchini with chicken on top. Again, came out in a reasonable time. My fajitas came as only chicken with no beef. It also has 3( yes, 3!!) tiny strips of mostly raw green pepper and some onions. I asked about the beef and the bartender again made it happen and the beef was brought out. My wife's food was decent. Mine was slightly average. minus having decent veggies. As I was eating I bit into something weird. Told my wife when it happened. Needless to say, my stomach has been gurgling since last night. Bottom line. Quite sure we won't be going there again. That's too bad. The atmosphere was cool, with live music and we love Mexican food. But the service was atrocious and the food was barely average. 2 stars because of the music. read more

Visiting from out of town and were looking for a place for breakfast Mexican style. We looked up Mexican in the area and el arroyo popped up. Since we were close by we stopped in and asked if they served breakfast, staff said yes. Staff was friendly and attentive we ordered huevos rancheros, chilequiles and an my little girl ordered pancakes. My rancheros were over cooked, my daughter had to use a knife to cut the pancakes! None of the plates came with beans or bacon and instead of tortillas they serve toast! Definitely not a place for Mexican breakfast. Definitely over priced. Experience might have been better had we come for dinner. Place was clean and again wait staff were friendly. read more

We threw a surprise 30th birthday here and it was perfect! The staff was incredibly helpful and so nice leading up to the event and the day of! The food and drinks were great- we did a taco bar and had a signature drink to celebrate the birthday girl. We brought a piñata and the staff helped us find the perfect spot for it. We had room to do a selfie station which was a hit with everyone including the kids! We had the entire patio for the party and it was perfect for the occasion and was a great space for the kids to play. Everyone had a great time! read more

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The food here was good! Service was fast and friendly! I had the nachos which were a little on the greasy side as were my sons soft tacos. I just think the ground beef in general is just greasy! My fiancé had the chimichanga and he said it was good! Got our cup of queso for checking in and it was yummy! Parking here was a little crowded and its a pretty lively place at dinner definitely not for someone who wants a quiet dinner! We liked it!!! read more

El Arroyo - Leftover nachos..... They give you a lot!! - Mexican Near Me - Arlington, Texas

Worst food I have ever had from a Mexican restaurant. Nachos looked like they were cooked in the microwave. The steak and chicken that came with the fajitas looked and tasted liked precooked meat that you buy at Walmart. The flour tortillas were crunchy on the edges and cold. Also, they charged me $4 just to pay with my card. I will never be back. If I could give 0 stars I would because one star is too good of a rating for this place. read more

This is definitely one of our favorite places to go but not tonight! Server was unattentive and just made us feel like we were not a priority as a customer. We asked for tortillas and butter and 15 minutes later I had to ask the server about the tortillas and butter and he acted like I was bothering him. My beer was already empty when he brought my wife and son the things that were left out of their dinners and didn't bother to ask me if I wanted another beer. Finally 10 minutes later he came back and asked if I needed another cold one and I told him I needed one 10 minutes ago. Atmosphere has always been good here but the last 2 times we've been here its been the same ( lack of unattentiveness) SMFH! We possibly need to look for another establishment to start frequenting!!!! read more