Fernando's Mexican Cuisine

When going to a Mexican restaurant, this restaurant does not bring the vibe of what you might expect. This space reminds you of a business building lobby. It has gray interior, tables, and chairs.We ordered strawberry margaritas while waiting for 2 more people to join our party. The first margarita was not bad. It had decent strawberry flavor. After the 2 joined our party, it took quite a while to get the servers' attention to order more drinks and food. I ordered another strawberry margarita and the Fernando Tex-Mex platter. This margarita had so much strawberry mixer in it compared to the first one. It made it too sweet. The Fernando had plenty of food, and the beef enchilada was my favorite. The meat could have been seasoned more to give it more flavor.

Placed a curbside order on a Sunday evening and when I arrived at the pick up spot and called the restaurant, I was told that the worker was too busy to bring it out and that I needed to come in. When I came inside and waited a bit, I finally was able to pick up the order, but the drinks weren't ready. Waited some more for that, and then was able to get the food and go home. Once actually eating the food, we were all please with what we got. Food was still warm when we picked it up and it was delicious. Despite the waiting that was involved, I'd still go back:)

We've visited Fernando's a few times now and have found our experience has been good and consistent as we've tried different drinks and dishes. The servers have always been friendly and attentive as well.They will start you off with chips and three different types of salsas. It gives a nice variety of flavors depending on your preference for heat and taste. Their Chile Relleno (aka: called Hector) is delicious. It was the right balance of breading and the ranchera sauce added to the flavor of the dish. What was a bit of a surprise was the side of vegetables the dish came with - it was a great medley of zucchini, squash, cauliflower, etc. It was a nice addition to the typical refried beans and rice. I had enough to eat for dinner and left half of everything to enjoy the next day for lunch.My husband has tried their Pollo Con Mole Poblano. The mole sauce had great flavor and the chicken was really tender. At our last visit last week, I went with the Mario choosing chicken filling with the sour cream sauce. It was so flavorful I was having a hard time holding back and not eating it all so I'd have lunch for the next day (the portion again was generous). My husband ordered the Valentino which had the same chicken enchilada with sour cream sauce as in mine and also really enjoyed the flavor. His dish also included a cheese enchilada, and a beef taco. He found all three of the items to be delicious and had no problem finishing it all!

....... CRITIC'S REVIEW ......A hidden gem!!! GO-GO-GO!!! Awesome on everything!! Wow, am I impressed and can't wait to come back!!Atmosphere:Very impressive initial impression. Up scale with black tables and chairs. Soft elegant music (not Mexican) gives an overall very nice and relaxing appeal!! Staff is super professional and accommodating - special requests are welcome. MY KIND OF PLACE!! Frozen Strawberry Margarita:Wow!! One of the best I've ever had. Not too sweet, balanced, generous pour and exceptionally tasty!! GET ONE (or 3)!!3 Salsas:Tomato (red): Really nice, mild tomato flavor, soft heat and great flavors. Puréed and delicious. Score 8 out of 10. Avocado (light green): Not what I expected. Soupy purée and hard to distinguish any avocado flavor. Very, very bland with no detectable flavor profile or spices. Score 0 out of 10. (Spit pea soup has more going on!)Cilantro (dark green): Hummm - actually a good surprise!! Never had anything like it - and it's good! Mild heat and very flavorful. A definite winner! Score 9 out of 10. Fajitas: Moist - not dry!! Generous grilled onions but not many peppers. 75% onion. Tortillas are great! Obviously made in-house. Chicken fajitas - traditionally seasoned, good flavor profile and disguising flavor profile. Not over stated, chicken flavor still comes through. Beef fajitas - Excellent!! Great seasoning but subtle. The beef quality comes through. Moist and perfectly cooked. One of my new favorites!!! (Really good!) I'll be back!Juacamole:Beautiful but a bit hot (7 out of 10). Lingering in the back of your mouth - spicy! But delicious otherwise. A bit to hot for me, but do nice I added it to my fajitas.Enchiladas :Sour Cream Chicken - excellent and perfect sauce. A bit on the small size - actually skimpy. Like a taquito size. Chicken is moist and beautifully seasoned. A definite come back for item. Flavor Score 10 out of 10... portion is a 4 out of 10. (They should double the meat and charge $2 more - definitely worth it!!)Beef - Very good. Meat is moist and not greasy. One of the few places with a chili con carne brown sauce. Very delicious and a unique spin on the flavor profile - in a great way! Gourmet level goodness. I'll be back. Score is 10 out of 10. Chicken Nachos:I didn't have them but they looked awesome. Got photo from friends at next table. Overall:A definite go place! Better than anything in the Richardson-Plano area... or Dallas for that matter. How did D Magazine miss this place!!!! (...Their food critics are asleep!!) Pass the word!! Eat here!! Score 10 out of 10!!

Let me start by saying the service was great!!!. The staff was very nice and helpful.I read some of the other reviews and it is definitely NOT the Best place in Richardson or Plano. There is a reason D magazine has not been to this restaurant. The tortillas are NOT home made. I asked the waiter and he said they have never had homemade tortillas. Taco Cabana has better tortillas than this place. I am ranting here but the other reviews are very misleading. For appetizer we had the queso with brisket. The queso tasted and looked like velveeta cheese. My mother in law makes better queso in her crockpot. I had the Valentino. It was ok. My wife had the Pachuga de Pollo. She liked the vegetables the best. I was anticipating this place being a lot better. It's in a great location. The place looks nice. I think they are trying to be too upscale. Go back to the basics. My white father in law said it best. It's so sad when you go to a white Mexican restaurant.

Not a good sign when a business closes down on Mondays.Must be an overhead issue or staffing issueI hope their business improves , it's a good restaurant

I went with a small group for lunch and we sat on the patio. All but one of us ordered from the lunch menu and the majority of us were disappointed with our food. This place os too expensive to be providing such poor quality food. My brisket tacos were pretty good, but everyone else was very sad about their food- especially my friend that ordered the lunch burritos. It was just chicken wrapped in a tortilla. Service was slow but friendly, my main concern was with the quality of food.I will not be back. Good union or literally anywhere else in cityline is a better option.

Service was very good for starters. The food itself is decent and the drinks were strong. I am yet again blown away at how in the world a place with $20-$30 plates can have some of the worst queso in Richardson. This is not real cheese... there is no way it is. Flavorless and gel like consistency. How hard is it to just make real cheese queso? If you can't tell by now, queso is a make it break for a restaurant for me. Other than the queso it was decent food but I feel the prices are a little too high here.

Service was great food and the salsa was magnificent . They greet you at the door seated us quickly and received beverage service and chips/salsa very quickly the wait was very short

The drinks were slappin, the food was awesome and fresh, the waiter knew his stuff about the drinks I let him pick ! My friend doesn't eat meat so he was able to grab a bite as well, we had a great lunch & it was not a arm n a leg! Very clean too! Hostess was pretty!