Regular Joe's Guide

Latest visit: Jul 2016 First visit: 1989 Avila's has become all the rage since Guy Fiori featured the little place on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives - a favorite show of the RJG as well. This lead to a lot of business for Avila's, and thus they made some changes to the restaurant itself. The good: They opened the fence next door which allows for much more, and easier, parking. They also now have some outdoor patio seating (nothing more than a couple of park benches, but it's still cool). On the down side, they changed the dark red painting to a lighter blue shade. It doesn't feel as intimate as before. And, as with any place that gains notoriety, the neighborhood feel of the place has deteriorated somewhat. There's more of a wannabee yuppie thing going on. "Slumming on Maple with the Wilson's" just ain't for the RJG. I felt the food quality held serve (and on this night the salsa with the chips was really kickin'!), but Mrs. RJG said it was greasi...

There are currently 10 Fort Worth area locations with two of those "temporarily closed" including Keller. Latest visit: Jul 2016 (Keller) First visit: Nov 2011 (Bedford) Jan 2014 update: The good news is that Mexican Inn is back in Northeast Tarrant! They built a new structure only a few hundred feet from their old one that had to be demolished due to the construction. The 121/183 road expansion continues, so it's still a bit of a challenge to get here, so I recommend for local travelers anyway, to take back roads to Bedford Rd. It's nice to see that this Mexican Inn is continuing with the full menu, and as such, I replicated the meal that I had below, since it's been well over two years since I last had it. The trademark greasy fritos styled chips, house salsa, frozen margarita, and chicken / shrimp dish were excellent, as last time. The rice was very disappointing this time, and was slightly mushy in texture. The beans lacked the sharp bacon flavor, and seemed a...

So it looks like Baja Cantina finally put together something that looks like a corporate structure. They renamed Funky Baja's in Keller as well, and we still have that entry up on its own. Currently there are 4 locations, all in NE Tarrant or SW Denton: Keller, NRH, Watauga, and Roanoke Latest visit: Jul 2016 (North Richland Hills) First visit: 2004 Baja Cantina is the latest entry for the loosely knit local Baja chain that is slowly proliferating throughout NE Tarrant County. We recently updated the Funky Baja's entry, and if you search further into the blog, you'll find entries for Peace Burger and Dive Bar in Grapevine, as well as Baja Mex Grill in Watauga, both of which need updating. We've also been to Baja's Bar and Grill in Southlake, but that was many years ago, and we never reported back on it. Let's see how the new place stacks up. If you've been to any of the Baja's elsewhere, then you'll find Baja Cantina is right in line with the othe...

As of 11/29/24 they are only open in Bedford. First visit: Jul 2016 (North Richland Hills - closed) We've driven by Los Jimadores a number of times, curious what had taken over the old Antonio's spot, that at one time we enjoyed immensely. When my wife first pronounced it to me, I thought she said something along the lines of "Humidor".  I thought it was some sort of vape place! Or an extension of the cigar bar next door at the very least. Well, apparently not. So finally the day arrived for us to try it. Let's venture in and see what we find... Can I start with a pet peeve? You know we don't talk about service at the RJG much, because we realize that workers in this industry tend to be transient, and on "any given day" you might get great service or terrible. But what drives us nuts are these waiters who don't write the order down . What is the problem? Are they lazy? Are they trying to be some sort of 5 star restaurant waiter? Are they work...