DK Maria's Legendary Tex-Mex

Stopped in on a Friday about noon. It wasn't busy. It's a hole in the wall type of Tex Mex place. The first thing I noticed was the strong smell of fabuloso cleaner. It was very off putting but I was hungry so I decided to deal with it. I was greeted pretty fast after I was sat. Breakfast is served until 3pm. I ordered the Las Guisadas Migas breakfast plate. A chorizo, egg and cheese taco and a Diet Coke. Unfortunately I took most of my food home after filling up on chips and salsa before I got my food. The food was really good. 9/10. Everything was seasoned perfectly. I would have liked more beef in the guisada but the migas made up for that. The chorizo was prefect. Really good food. I'll be back!

I have officially learned my lesson coming here. So many chances. So many poor reviews and experiences. I ordered food online for pickup, as I usually do. When I arrived, the food was delayed. As I pulled away, I knew to check the order as often it was incorrect. As I sat in my car I realized they didn't give me tortillas for my fajita meal. So I went back in, ask for some, and waited. Since I was waiting, I decided to check the rest and realized, instead of chicken and beef for two, I had beef and shrimp for one. When I brought this to the staffs attention, the waitress was very apologetic but the owner, I'm presuming as he is older and bald and super apathetic, seemed to not care. When they showed me it came in as shrimp and beef, I checked my receipt and realized that it shows the same. This was odd as I never in my life have ordered that. So I went to the website and evaluated the workflow. I found that no matter what I chose, it defaulted in the system to beef and shrimp. When I brought it to the staffs attention, the waitress again was apologetic and confirmed they were having site issues. The owner, again presuming based on his behaviors, did not care and said I would be paying the difference for the second portion. I honestly didn't care about having to pay. What I did care about was his apathy. If it was my restaurant, I would have apologized, maybe said who cares about the extra 12$ and said they would investigate the site issue. But no, he went and hid and made his staff deal with it and still gave me an incomplete and incorrect food. Moving forward I won't be coming here. Just not worth the hassle. Despite this place being literal blocks away from my house, I will be going out of my way to find another place to patron.

Back in 2019 I gave DK's three stars. The salsa was memorable but the puffy tacos were not. Come to think of it, I have a bad history of not liking them. So, here's the redemption visit brought to you by a long wait at the Discount Tire a few hundred yards away.Seated immediately and the chips/salsa made it to the table quickly. Combo fajitas with shrimp and beef being my dish of choice for the day. Didn't take long and I was assembling my first taco. Props on the poblano strips where most places use boring bell peppers. I did wish the onions had a little better treatment in the dish. Caramelized maybe? Seems they were barely cooked upon arrival. The skirt steak had a nice flavor as did the shrimp. Both flavors paired well with the condiments provided. Nice portions of guac and sour cream for the price.Pico was also abundant and fresh. Rice and beans rounded out the experience; the skillet is empty and my tummy is bulging! I was even offered a beverage togo. Nice redemption DK's; and I'll be back since my fave tex-mex place canned half the menu during covid!

Bright open spot. Clearly some regulars at the bar. Fast service and fresh food. We visited on a Friday and surprised at no wait. Cheese quesadillas were amazing. Ruben was our wait staff and he was truly a rockstar. We will 100% be back.

Best beef & chicken fajitas lunch special in South Austin. It comes with grilled poblano peppers, grilled onions and queso fresco starting at $ 11.99.

If you are a Yelper, and you take the history of Austin food seriously, This is your Museum of the History of Austin Tex-Mex cuisine.This is a restaurant dedicated to documenting and re-creating the great signature dishes of the most important Tejano cooks who did their work in Austin.There are other restaurants in the world which re-create traditional dishes. But almost none have the commitment to identifying the historic cook and crediting them with their individual innovations and masterpieces. A "runner up" on historical commitment would be Rules in London, an upscale establishment which itself dates back to 1798. Rules goes out of its way to preserve the great dishes of Victorian cooking - even to the point of maintaining a game farm to obtain fowls and roasts that would be otherwise unavailable on a modern table. Unlike DK Maria, Rules draws its history from its own ancient recipes.DK Maria follows the Austin Mexican community as a whole.Another difference: Rules will "cheat" a bit to reflect modern tastes.That is less of an issue with DK Maria - because only a subset of the dishes are historical legacy dishes. (These are clearly identified on the menu.)Most of the dishes are the cook's own take on the basic repertoire of Tex-Mex cuisine.The cook's personal interpretation dishes are in most cases outstanding.* * *DK Maria's has the best Queso Fundido I have had anywhere on the planet.This is an easy competition to win.Most Queso Fundido is awful.What you typically get is a hot platter with a cheese blob on top with the consistency of half-chewed bubble gum.The cheese does not want to separate itself from itself Making eating the dish almost as much of a pain in the a** as eating crab.The cheese itself does not typically taste like much. (We ain't talking baked Gorgonzola here.)So the dish depends on the ingredients mixed in with the cheese. In most cases, the mix-ins are nothing special ... Making Queso Fundido the world's most inconvenient way to eat plain old onions.* * *DK Maria's El Flamedo is of another order of magnitude entirely. It is crammed with grilled vegetables. The grilled vegetables are bursting with flavor. I am guessing the vegetables are bursting with flavor because DK Maria's has a very very good vegetable vendor. These are much better mushrooms and peppers than one usually gets in an Austin restaurant.The flaming is precisely enough timed to give a lovely charred taste to the vegetables without blasting the life out of them. It is not easy to get the timing right on a dish like this.Too little time under the flame and you get no char.Too much time under the flame and your vegetables are casualties. So what you are getting is kitchen skill at work.Add to this a fine fine chorizo at the bottom of the cheese and you have great eating.* * *I am not convinced that every single solitary dish that comes out of the kitchen will be legendary.The chips and salsa at the beginning had wonderful puffy chips and an utterly indifferent salsa.How can a "Museum of Great Texmex Cuisine" have a mediocre salsa?Didn't any of the great cooks have an extraordinary salsa recipe?But everything else about this place is outstanding.Plus - reading the menu is as entertaining as eating the food.You can learn a ton of history from that menu.Some of the claims in that history are a little eyebrow raising.(Did DK Maria's ancestors REALLY cook for the armies on both sides of the Battle of the Alamo? I need to have that one explained to me.)Overall, however, this place is fascinating.Worth many visits to explore what they have to offer - even if a handful of the visits come up with duds.

We sat at the bar and our order was taken for drinks and food when we sat down. However, after the food and drinks were delivered there was no one in sight. My order was incorrect and the margarita was terrible. No one came to ask if everything was okay. There was no one behind the bar or insight. Finally the original waitstaff showed up to give us our check.We won't be back anytime soon.

Probably should have read the reviews before deciding to eat here. Other than poor service and bad attitudes I don't like dining in a dirty restaurant. Asked our server to take a look at what's on the wall next to me. She giggled oh it's a cricket. It was dead and there were other dead crickets in the place. Our server grabbed a napkin to remove the cricket on the wall. Light over our table also needed dusting.

Ordered one chalupa, charro beans and two breakfast tacos to pick up. Went to the car - no salsa! Chalupa was SOGGY. Went back inside for salsa , the waitress said that's extra. Really? In a Mexican restaurant? Well, I said that should have been explained at ordering time. I called to order on my way, let it ring many times. It was one o'clockOK maybe they're busy. NOPE one table with two guests. I mentioned calling to waitress and she insisted I did not call! So now you're calling me a liar too? There was a baby in a car seat alone at the back table, so maybe she was unavailable. That's fine just please don't argue with the customers. I'll reconsider this restaurant in the future. Looks like many others are too. Sad. Sure enough my phone record shows an unanswered call to DK's.

Went to this place while visiting my friend in Austin. Started the meal with a house frozen marg and it was standard. Got the queso and it was pretty good and liked how sturdy their chips were. Got the One and Done marg next and girl it's like a shot with every sip. The highlight of our trip was definitely the churros with chocolate, warm and delicious.