Rivera’s Salvadorian Tex Mex

Wow! Fabulous food… not a traditional «Tex Mex». They have many unique dishes and I haven’t had a bad one yet! A MUST try, you will not regret it!

Our party had pupusas, the sonora burito, crispy tacos and some margaritas. I got to say all the food was great. The service was also great and on point. They were very attentive and even invited us back for their kareoke night. Definitely recomend you dropping by to check it out for yourself. Home made and flavorful

Stopped for Saturday night dinner and WOW. The food and service were impeccable, margaritas were perfect. Nice, quiet joint with a mom-​and-​pop feel.
The fajita tacos were great. Nice chargrilled flavor, tender steak. Salsa is very fresh, chips are good. The chorizo stuffed chicken was amazing, and the brisket burrito and chili relleno were fantastic. We were all stuffed and extremely happy for a really low price.
It was very quiet… Just a private party in the back room and one other table. I really hope they get good business and stay open because we all loved it!!! DEFINITELY coming back.

This is my experience, my first time here: walked in for weekend lunch and seems to be about the only person here. My instinct was to walk out but the place was clean and waiter was friendly so I hung in there.
I ordered the Parrillada Especial: special price today too. Think «fajitas» with beef, chicken, pork sausage and Asian-​style ribs (with a huge side of delicious refried beans, rice, guacamole, and more) and tons of veggies. Dang it was all flavorful and delicious. Nice place.

Stopped in to Rivera’s for lunch a couple weeks ago while running an errand nearby. Service was good. Food was not. I was the only one in the restaurant so I should have known better. I ordered a chile relleno and everything just seemed tasteless. Like it had been sitting a while. As I was eating my stomach started making bad noises and I couldn’t tell if I was going to be sick or not. I like to support small, local restaurants but I just couldn’t find anything redeeming about this place that would make me want to give it a 2^nd chance.

Old location of Tia Juanitas. Virtually no change in décor or layout. Came in a large group — they have free margaritas (watered down) that they reluctantly give you more than one of when you order. The place was empty so service was decent. First of all, the dinner menu is ridiculous. They don’t have any of the traditional items (which are available for lunch) yet they have hamburgers, Philly cheesesteak, and Chicken Alfredo. Why would I come to this place for any of those items? Second, people in our group wanted enchiladas, fajitas, chimi, taco, etc which we were able to order off the lunch menu. Food was average. Nothing bad, nothing good. No difference from other tex mex locations. Didn’t see a huge Salvadoran influence except for pupusas.

Simply stated, our takeout meal tonight was just not very good. For every one thing we liked, there were two or more things we didn’t like. We had the queso flameado & the Rivera’s dinner.
Break it down:
Queso flameado is usually a yummy gooey melted cheese dish heavily sprinkled with sauteed chorizo or fajita meat that you can wrap a tortilla around. Here, it’s more of a melted processed cheese «sauce» with onions, mushrooms & beef chunks. I thought that it would go better on some egg pasta if not for the consistency of the sauce. So this is not what we ordered or expected. We couldn’t eat this and threw it away.
Since it was not a gooey cheese consistency, it leaked all over the bag and caused a mess. Hint: if you’re going to pack this to go, please put it in a leak proof container or wrap cling film around the Styrofoam box.
**************************************************************************************************************************
Rivera’s dinner (consisted of a beef and a cheese enchilada, grilled chicken, rice & beans): The enchiladas were hard to cut through with a knife, much less a fork. The beef enchilada had an off taste so it was thrown away. The grilled chicken was the best part of the dinner, but not enough to rescue the poor enchiladas or below average rice & beans.
Oh, there weren’t any chips & salsa either. Say whaat?
My late grandmother-​in-​law would say, «Puro murero.»

Great food, great service, and reasonable prices. Definitely get the flan… probably the best I’ve ever had!

Love this place more than any other Tex Mex restaurant!
I’ve been here with my family and boyfriend over 5 times in the last couple of months and am always super satisfied with the food, margaritas, and service.
There have been many other Tex Mex style restaurants in that location, but Rivera’s is by far the best!
Would recommend you order one of everything because life is short and precious…

I had the huevos a la charra, was really good.
We will be back!

What a pleasant surprise!
I didn’t know what to expect since there are never any cars in front of Riveras. The inside is the same as when it was Tia Juanitas but the food is so much better!
I had the cheese enchiladas covered with a seafood cream sauce. Oh man was this delicious!!! Two very enthusiastic thumbs up for this dish.
My partner had the stuffed avocado halves and he said they were also really REALLY good.
I’m not a fan of hot salsa with my chips so I loved their salsa. Fresh and mild… and damn tasty!
A word of advice. This is not typical Tex-​Mex. it is however some really tasty food! Give it a try!

Not the best salvador restaurant at all… You have to wait a lot to get service and normally they are not nice

Excellent food & choices. Excellent prices. Excellent service. The decore could use some work but not a factor for the two of us. They’re happy to see you and with the food, prices & service, I’m happy to be there.

So glad we did not let the mixed reviews keep us from trying this place out. Very good food. Very fresh. Huge portions. Friendly service. I want to come back.

No major food flaws.
(Waiting for liquor license so = Free margarita.)
Food flavorful and generous portions.
Server slightly distracted. (Inexperienced)
Could have been trying to give privacy. She was polite. Knowledgeable of products.
Décor a bit divey.
We were only ones in dining area for over an hr.
10% off for Unilocal reviewer.
Will come back another time.

Tried this place a few weeks ago for lunch with a friend.
* This is a solid little spot for good Mexican food. Salsa is always my first impression of how the rest of the meal will do with my taste buds, no complaints! The salsa had good flavor and substance.
* Food — My meal was tasty as well. I went with the traditional taco and enchilada.
* Service — Our server was attentive and friendly.
Atmosphere — Basic and casual.
That something extra — Nothing to speak of in this visit.
Did it make my «faves» list — If I lived in the area, I would go back.

My wife is Salvadorean, grew up there and moved out when she was 21. She knows pupusas (and I have learned, too).
The pupusas here are *big*. Usually I’ll order 4 at other places, with 2 here I am stuffed. BONUS: They are *delicious*. The tomato sauce is not spicy, but is quite good.
I’ve also had a plate with 3 avocado halves stuffed with meat, cheese, mushroom and onion, topped with a creamy sauce. Very good.
They have juices! Natural melon and homemade horchata. So good.
My wife had the plato tipico. She gave it a thumbs up.
Wife and I tried their homemade tres leches. It’s slightly sweet, very juicy. I hate it when other places dump a pound of sugar into their cakes, but Rivera’s seems to have gotten their recipe down right.
We’ll be going back again and again, nice to have authentic Salvadorean in west/​central Plano (the other one we know about is La Morenita off of Parker/​K Ave).

I have eaten there once and will definitely go back!
Salsa: very good but not spicy, if you like it hot, then you can ask for the hot stuff which is excellent.
I had the Beef Enchiladas, rice and Refried beans and they were all excellent!
My wife had Chorizo and Pork papusas and they were also very delicious!
They are waiting for liquor license but it’s Byob or you get a complimentary margarita which are pretty tasty.
The only other draw back was no chile con queso on the appetizer menu. Hopefully they will add.

We live very close by Rivera’s and decided to give it a try tonight. Am I glad we did! It was a wonderful experience.
We arrived around 7:30 on a Thursday and were the only diners. The two employees we saw welcomed us graciously and were incredibly friendly and attentive. When we ordered our drinks (4 waters a 1 coke) we were pleased to see they offered really huge drinking glasses (this is kind of a thing for me LOL) and instead of coke from the fountain, they offered Mexican Coca Cola, which was a nice treat. If you’ve never had it before, it’s so much better than the high fructose crap we get domestically. They promptly offered chips and salsa, and we were pleased that the chips were warm and perfectly salted, and the salsa was fresh and had wonderful depth of flavor with lots of cilantro and a perfect amount of garlic. And they kept the refills coming for everything!
I ordered Mexican shrimp cocktail and the guacamole appetizer with warm corn tortillas and they were all delicious and tasted incredibly fresh. This clearly was not out of a can tomato cocktail sauce, nor thrown together. And when I commented on how fresh everything tasted, the waiter confirmed that everything was made fresh in house. (I don’t know if that included the tortillas).
The other members of my party had quesadillas, beef enchiladas, nachos, and Philly cheesesteak. Everyone really enjoyed their food. The nachos were huge and appeared to be cooked perfectly. The person with the cheesesteak commented on how deliciously seasoned the steak was. The enchiladas were extra cheesy but not greasy. The quesadilla was grilled perfectly and again, no grease.
We will definitely return to this restaurant. The service was impeccable and the food was surprisingly wonderful. What a great find!

This used to be a nice little Mexican place called Dos Charros, it shutdown and reopened, then shutdown again and is now open as Rivera’s Salva Tex Mex so decided to stop in for dinner.
There was nobody else in the place so not much atmosphere to talk of. There’s a couple of TVs (I’m not sure why you need a TV in a restaurant but there you go).
Looking at the menu, it seems like this restaurant has a bit of an identity crisis. Under the «Lunch» section was more of the Tex-​Mex style foods, while under the «Dinner» along with the regular fajitas were such things as chicken Alfredo and Philly cheesesteak. I went safe and got the beef fajitas.
While I was waiting, I had some queso. It was ok, but it was sort of artificial bright yellow color, but it did taste cheesy so I’m not sure if this was something home made with a really yellow cheese or something out of a can with over done food coloring. I’m afraid it was nothing special.
About 10 minutes later out came a sizzling plate of hot beef and onions (no green peppers), 4 flour tortillas (I was offered flour or corn), a side of beans, and a plate with sour cream, pico, and hardly any cheese. With that said, the meat had a really nice flavor to it, but that was about it, it was a little tough and fatty, and I would have preferred my onions cooking a little more. The beans were nice and spicy and the salsa not too bad.
Overall, not much atmosphere, odd menu that will probably either make or break it, friendly staff, good tasting fajita meat, but it all just lacks a little something for me.
This is a new place so probably has some teething issues to work out and tweak. I’d like to go back in a couple of months and see how things have changed.