South Dallas Cafe

Duncanville

Lunch & Dinner

$-$$

First and last experience

Just off Hwy. 67 and Wheatland sits a buffet-style restaurant called South Dallas Cafe.  As you see from the picture of the outside, it looks like your normal run-of-the-mill cafe, but inside is a very different picture.  Imagine walking into a New Orleans-style eatery full of eclectic wall hangings, huge mirrors and chandeliers.  Booths run along the sides of the inside, and tables in the middle are reminiscent of the Grandy's restaurants which it probably was at one time.  There are all sorts of nick-nacks around every corner with no particular theme, just something that might interest collectors.  There was a stark contrast between the eating area and the cafeteria-style, food line buffet. This made for a visually-"interesting" experience but unfortunately that was the best part of our meal.

   

Moving on to the food.  They have a lunch special where for $5.95 you can get one main entree and two sides as well as cornbread. One of us got meatloaf with a side of mashed potatoes and sweet potatoes, and the other fried chicken with a side of mashed potatoes and macaroni and cheese. The meatloaf was smothered in ketchup, which if you like that sort of thing is okay, but it overwhelmed the taste of the meat. The mashed potatoes and gravy were good, but the sweet potatoes tasted like they had been reheated for days. The fried chicken was all fry and no chicken. The macaroni and cheese was crusted over and would make Kraft look like gourmet. Getting hungry yet? 

  The silver lining and probably the most memorable part of our lunch was the service. The ladies at the buffet were very nice and helpful in letting us know what food choices were available. Although it was a buffet and you had your food before you sat down, there was also a charming man that refilled our drinks, brought us anything we needed at the table, and was so kind to us. At first it seemed a little overdone, but by the end of our meal he had won us over with his thorough service. So all in all it's safe to say we won't be back for lunch, but we would be willing to give dinner a chance, especially during Karaoke night!

Beto's Tex-Mex

Grand Prairie

Lunch & Dinner

$$-$$$

Best in the Southwest

Since we posted a picture on facebook of the food at Beto's, we've had quite a large response to people who have never heard of this restaurant. Initially, we decided to go to Beto's just to blog, but after getting caught up in our experience, we opted to go ahead and review it because we really enjoyed the food...and needless to say there was no blogging going on that day.

  Beto's is a pretty large venue, which you can't really tell from the outside.  Filled with high ceiling rafters and plenty of booths and tables, the place was jumping; especially considering that it's off by itself on Great Southwest Pkwy. One note about the location: the map we followed had us go too far on I-20 (slightly wrong address listed some places online), so be sure and get off at the Great Southwest exit.

 First off, they served us a hearty bowl of chips and salsa. The chips were delicious, thin, and crispy and the salsa was good as well. Pictured here is the "Grande burrito", which is a dinner size portion. They do have lunch specials, but because we had a Groupon, we could only order from the dinner menu. As you can see, it lived up to its name. We ordered it with the mexican potatoes instead of rice, which were excellent. The burrito was packed with beef fajita meat, rice, cheese, onions, bell peppers, tomatoes, and was smothered in queso. There were plenty of leftovers to take home and share. We also ordered the classic chicken fajitas. The chicken serving was massive (dinner portion that could probably feed three), and was both moist and flavorful. This dish was an amazing $12.99, which is a steal for such a huge meal. The burrito was $10.99, and considering that two people could easily share this, it makes the price per person very reasonable. 

   Overall, we were extremely impressed with our experience and with the food, and would highly recommend making the drive if you like good food and a great deal. It was a nice change of pace from the well known chains in South Dallas. Please make note this is our first rating of "Best in the Southwest". We hope you feel the same!

Tons Palace Chinese

Lancaster

Lunch & Dinner

$-$$

We'll Be Back

   Those familiar with the Lancaster area may have run across this restaurant without even knowing it.  It is tucked away off of Hwy. 35 to the left of Lancaster Movie 14.   We were excited to try Ton's because there aren't very many privately-owned Chinese restaurants in the Southwest Dallas area.

   The restaurant is relatively small and to put it nicely has lots of "character" it won't bother you if you don't mind a little dust here and there.  You can't get much more literal than calling it "a hole in the wall."  Despite the skeptical first impression, the food spoke for itself and we've already been back since our first encounter.

   Moving onto the meal, we ordered the Sesame Chicken and the Chicken Cashew lunch specials.  These meals include an egg roll, soup, steamed or fried rice, and an ample portion of the main dish for under $6.  We loved the little bowl of crunchy egg noodles that they served complimentary as an appetizer.  I even put them in my Won Ton soup for a delicious texture.

   The Sesame Chicken dish was one of the best meals we have tried to date.  It came with a large portion of chicken in a sweet glaze that was fried to perfection and sweetened with the right amount of sauce.  The egg rolls had a unique taste that was different from the traditional egg roll flavor.  The Won Ton and Egg Drop soup were served hot and tasted good.

   The Chicken Cashew dish came with plenty of chicken in addition to a hearty amount of shrimp and mushrooms.  With this particular dish I would have preferred a sweeter sauce with more flavor, but for those who are all about the meat, then you might like this.  If you really enjoy cashews in your Chinese food, you might want to request extra nuts because there were too few in the dish.

   Overall, we were pleasantly surprised by the quality and portion-sizes of the food.  For both of us there were plenty of leftovers to bring home and honestly we could have split one lunch portion between us.  The dinner portions are twice as much but you also get twice the food; enough to feed 3 people.  It's hard to find Chinese restaurants in this area, and despite the fact that it was aesthetically lacking, it was well-worth the trip!

Delta Charlie's

Dallas
Lunch & Dinner
Worth a shot
$$

   If you're familiar with the Dallas Executive Airport then you know right where this aviator's special is located.  Tucked back off of Hampton off of Challenger Drive is a well-polished diner with bar, quaintly decorated with propeller ceiling fans and a picturesque view of the airport runway along one entire side of the restaurant.  This was one of our more interesting lunch excursions because little known to us there was a major tornado just miles from us while we were dining!  On top of that, it was police training day on the premise with all the officers deciding to come in and lunch minutes after we arrived.  At first we felt safe from the tornado knowing we were surrounded by the trainees until we discovered that they were just as scared as we were!
   Getting back to the restaurant, the menu ranged from $6.99 sandwiches to fish and steak in the double digits.  We were pleasantly surprised by the large portion-sizes.  We ordered meatloaf and a cheeseburger, both paired with waffle fries.  As you can see by the picture, the meatloaf was 1 1/2' thick and was enough to feed 3 people.  It had a good flavor, not too dry with the right amount of ketchup & finely-minced onions for those who don't care to taste the texture of onions in their meatloaf.  This sandwich was butter-grilled with cheese.
    The cheeseburger was juicy and delicious with a butter-toasted bun with all the fixings.  This was ordered medium on the meat and was cooked-through.  The waffle cut fries were HUGE and special- seasoned to perfection which gave them extra flavor to go along with the great texture.
   Be careful about going during peak times as this place is usually slow but when it fills up the servers may not have enough time to get to you quickly if you're in a rush.

   Overall, it was a fun place to go somewhere slightly off the beaten path in a location that provides its own unique atmosphere.  Give it a try!

Roma's Italian

Duncanville
Lunch & Dinner 
We'll Be Back
$$

   Roma's is a delightful, small, Italian restaurant located in the heart of Duncanville off Main Street next to Toshio's.  We were impressed by the hand-painted wall art and the detail that went into the authentic atmosphere.  They have a patio for outdoor dining and a bar located directly as you walk in. Their seats are nicely personalized with their embroidered logo.

   Roma's has a broad menu of Italian dishes ranging from pasta fare to meat and vegetable entrees.  If you want to try a dish that gives you a taste of more than one of their specialties, then you might want to order what we had which was their pasta trio comprised of lasagna, cantelonni and manicotti.  There is an authenic flavor with their food so if you're expecting Olive Garden or Macaroni Grill, it might surprise you.  The garlic, round bread was light in flavor and complimented the meal as a whole.  The caesar salad was a nice mix of romain lettuce and crutons with the most delicious, homemade, caesar dressing.  Since the  main dish comes with all 3 entrees served closely together and covered in sauce, it was difficult at first to distinguish which was which.  We soon found our favorite to be the manicotti with it's tasty shell filled with a plentiful mix of cheeses to satisfy our palets.  Of course we had to finish this big meal off with dessert so we chose the Tiramisu which turned out to be the best choice of the day.  It was light, flavorful, and had the perfect mixture of ingredients for a fitting Italian delicacy.
   This is a perfect place if you want to try something off the beaten path of mainstream Italian cuisine.  We found the flavors sometimes surprising but always delicious and a place we would like to try for an evening meal experience.  It was fun to find a privately-owned Italian restaurant in this part of south Dallas and we hope you'll give it a try!
  

Watch Ya Fingas BBQ & Catfish
DeSoto
Lunch & Dinner Wed.-Sun.
We'll Be Back
$$

   Tucked back off the main drag off Hampton after crossing Belt Line sits this little BBQ & catfish eatery that used to be a drive-in of some sort turned take out.  There are a few 50-style, soda fountain stools inside, but this is mainly for take-out and delivery.  The owners are area locals and have put a lot of work and care into this clean establishment which opened just last November. 
   One of our orders was the $8.99 1 meat ribs plate w/collared greens and potato salad.  The ribs had a good flavor but had a little more fat than what we would have liked.  The sauce was very good though, and the collared greens were delicious with shredded pieces of pork throughout.  The potato salad had a good mixture of onions, pickles, etc... minced in small pieces as to make for a smooth texture.   The extra sweet peach tea was tasty but not for those who are watching their sugar levels.
   Our second order was shredded, bbq beef sandwiches and macaroni-n-cheese.  The small but satisfying sandwiches were a steal at $1 a piece and the meat was tender but definitely needed to be topped with BBQ sauce to finish off the flavor.   The mac-n-cheese had lots of cheese but could have been more fresh.
   Probably the dish we enjoyed the most was when we topped the meal off with their homemade peach cobbler.  The lattice crust was flaky and crispy and complimented the sweetened peaches perfectly!

   Overall, we really enjoyed ourselves taking in the painted artwork, laughing with the owners, and reading the fun slogans placed around the building - one of which describes the reason for their restaurant name:  Watch Ya Fingas! 
  

Machete Bar and Grill (Amaya's)

Duncanville, TX
Lunch & Dinner
Overall Rating:  We'll be back!
$

   Our first impression walking in was that it was spacious, quiet, and had a nice ambiance.  The business currently goes by 2 names.  "Machete's" is the online listing, but the sign outside the restaurant says "Amaya's"; perhaps it has multiple personalities.  The chips were thin and crispy and the salsa was good as well.  The waiters were very attentive and helpful and the food came out very quickly.
   We ordered chicken fajitas and a pork sauce dish with rice and beans.  The fajitas were plentiful, flavorful and as good if not better than a well-known tex-mex restaurant.  With a cost of around $7, it was a good meal at a good price.  The pork sauce dish was delicious!  The cubed meat pieces were extremely tender and the gravy-like sauce wasn't too bold or salty.  Even if you're not a meat-eater, you would like this dish.  I was actually wanting more meat when I had finished the meal.  There were 6 featured meals on the lunch menu which were all under $7.
   To top it all off, we used a "groupon now" that we found online, and ended up paying only $8 for both of our meals, which included two entrees, two sodas, and the tip. What a deal! If you enjoy mexican food for lunch in a quiet atmosphere, this is the perfect place for those on a budget. We will definitely go back again, and just hope they finally decide on one name!