El Fenix Cafe

Great authentic Mexican food. Chips and salsa were great. Just the right amount of spice. Green Chile chicken enchiladas are perfect!

Best Mexican food in town, and I don’t say that lightly. The salsa is outstanding in both regular and the tomatillo green. The Dora Special is the only thing I get when I go. Order it with a side or rice and you should be plenty full. The carne is made with the red salsa and goes really well with the extra cheese from the enchilada or taco when you wrap it up in a tortilla. Mmmm. Fantastic!

Always a family favorite!!!
Good Tex Mex red chili enchiladas. Best hot sauce & chips! I enjoy sitting on patio at Burro Alley and take out for crowds at home fairly often. Friendly and prompt service, always!!! (Cold beer, no liquor license.)

I’ve tried many, but I’ve never been able to find a full service Mexican restaurant unique to Abilene that’s all around good.
Unfortunately, El Fenix doesn’t change my mind.
There’s a lot of history here, and I really want to love it, but after multiple visits, I haven’t found a plate I’ve fully enjoyed.
Thus, the Stars awarded in this review all go towards the queso, which I’m convinced is a work of pure magic. Easily one of the best I’ve ever had. It’s served piping hot, which scores extra points with me. The queso comes in several variations but we usually go with the one that has ground beef in it. It has a name but it escapes me. This is a serious dip, and I feel it must be experienced by all. The hot sauce is actually pretty good too, but the chips are basically just edible spoons for the queso and salsa. Nothing too special about them, unless you’re into mad grease.
I’m not saying don’t come here, I’m just saying that if you must, get queso. You’re gonna like it.

Great food. Cheap prices. Margaritas are only $ 2 most of the times I’ve been there. I wish I could find a place like this in San Antonio!

We’ve been coming here for at least 17 years. Food is consistent and well priced. Service is always good. Love to sit on the patio!

This is a great place! I notice the locals going here which is a good sign. My favorite is the chicken enchiladas with tomatillo sauce. Don’t know if tomatillo sauce is on the menu but just ask for it. Honestly, the hot sauce is not my favorite but food is good.

The beef enchiladas were made with what tasted like Hormel chili instead of hamburger meat. Very disappointing. The only thing I can imagine is that they are trying to cut costs. The beans and rice were really good. Margarita is made with wine instead of tequila… not good at all. Good atmosphere, but the overall experience was disappointing.

All I can say is that our expectations were far too high. To start with, we ordered margaritas. New to Abilene, my husband and I had no idea that El Fenix didn’t have a liquor license. We received our drinks and immediately recognized that it was not a tequila margarita, but a wine margarita. The food came out and it was bland with no taste. Do not recommend.

El Fenix is one of my favorite Mexican places in Abilene. It is a unique Mexican experience with a very homemade feel. Definitely worth a trip. If it is a nice day outside I recommend sitting out back on the patio. They also have margaritas that are made with wine. Interesting! One of my regular places for sure.

This is a neat place with a great little courtyard/​patio in back. The service was prompt yet laid back. The food was decent texmex, nothing to blow your mind, but exactly what I was after. Recommended!

El Fenix is da bomb! Olivia is wonderful and so are the staff. Chips and hot sauce, keep them coming. Come in hungry, leave miserable. Ha! Only cause you fill yourself with excellence.

For some reason I wanted to like this place a whole lot more than I did. To start with the menu is awkward with the bulk being other customers favorites. The menu states with your meal you get chips and hot sauce. I guess thats a good description because it was almost all liquid and not close to salsa in the slightest. You get red and green ‘hot sauce’ which are both fairly hot. I did like the taste and the quality of the food we ordered but I’ll echo other reviews and say that the portions are small. If you would describe your self as perfect or underweight you might not have a problem. I on the other hand love to eat and still left a little hungry after trying to help with eating plenty of chips. Only visit here if you are a light eater… trust me. Also a big thumbs down for only offering soft drinks from cans so no refills.
From the road the place looks like it should be condemned. The inside is better if you want to try it, but going for sunday lunch took us a long time to get seated despite the place looking less than half full.

I went for the first time last week and was very impressed with the food. I had green chili chicken enchiladas, it came with rice and beans, all of it was very good. The one problem I have is that the portions seemed a bit small on the main entrée.

Wow this was awesome Mexican food. When I first moved to Abilene, I did not have a car so I called a cab to get around. The taxi driver suggested I try El Fenix because that was in his opinion «the best around», that was over a year ago! And, as someone who was worked in a couple of Mexican restaurants and has tried to find the best Mexican food in Abilene by sampling almost every Mexican restaurant I can find, I have to say this is top notch! I had a green chicken enchilada and a cheese and onion enchilada with red sauce. Both the red and the green enchilada had the best homemade sauce I’ve had in Abilene so far. The chips are fried in lard, I believe so if you don’t consume pork, I wouldn’t eat them but they taste great! The rice has the texture and taste of very fresh and homemade rice. It’s such a cute restaurant. It looks like its been around forever! I can’t believe I just barely got around to it. Enchiladas are superb!
Cons: My husband got the Mexican Dinner but he didn’t seem super excited so, its not something I would try. And their queso was pure velveeta, I could hear the waitress microwaving it, I wouldn’t order if next time. They don’t have cocktails other than beer and a wine-​arita, so no margaritas. The only dessert I saw on the menu was sopapillas, fortunately they were only $ 1 each but I wonder what they are like.
Gotta try the fajitas and customer specials next time!

This is one of our FAVORITE hole in the wall places. The owner and the staff are great. Large variety of dishes. I love their fajitas.

I’ve been here a couple of times with my church group. Everytime the food has just been meh. The waitstaff is nice and the food gets out to you quick, it’s just the actual food itself is nothing to write home about.