Average sort of restaurant with average Tex-Mex food.

I’m thinking Agave Azul might be a more attractive restaurant in the evening. During the day, the bright sunlight streams in through the front windows and makes everything in the restaurant look as though it’s in shadows. Seated at a table in the back of the restaurant, I felt as though the power had gone out.
I know for certain there was no electricity in the food. I had the enchiladas rancheras, two enchiladas with a soupcon of pork, chopped onions and bell peppers. They were topped with melted cheese, which had actually started to recongeal, and sauce. It was accompanied by a bit of rice, lettuce, sour cream and guacamole. And there wasn’t a thing that was memorable about it. Service was perfunctory.

A second location for this Mex (with a lot of Tex). The food is inventive and flavorful if not entirely authentic.

It’s a chain, and it’s stereotypical Tex-Mex. But if you’re in the mood for big, gloppy portions of acceptably good food, you could do worse. Have the macho burrito if you’re feeling really manly.

Located in the Marketplace at Dr. Phillips, bartaco, which insists on being lowercased, offers light bites and “upscale street food” in what it calls a beachy atmosphere, if photo collages of Arnold Palmer and other golfers make you think of catching some waves.

Upscale tacos served in an unassuming atmosphere by a welcoming staff.

It’s refreshing that Cocina 214 doesn’t claim to be authentic Mexican and try to hide its Tex-Mex roots. In fact, it’s right there in its name: the 214 is a reference to the area code of Dallas. (That’s not the city I think of when I think of Tex-Mex, but there you go.) I liked the huevos rancheros I had on a brunch visit, and the carnitas tacos were delicious on a dinner visit. I also like the big open atmosphere. It’s nice to have the Tex-Mex flavor on Park Avenue. (Or just off Park.)

This is a second try for this Tex-Mex eatery. The first, in Waterford Lakes, didn’t go so well and is now closed. They apparently learned some lessons from that one and now are serving solid Tex-Mex fare in a fun atmosphere.

F&D, the food and drink restaurant group, has opened its second, or maybe third, Mexican/Tex-Mex brand, F&D Cantina, in Thornton Park. The restaurant moved in to the space that was Jax Thornton Park since 2017. Prior to that in was Baoery and more famously Cityfish. It began its life, in the early 2000s, as Central City Market when the mixed-use building was new.