Berryhill Baja Grill -- Dallas, Texas

Stumbled in here on a Saturday evening for a quick bite, expecting it to be along the lines of Baja Fresh or something similar. We were pleasantly surprised that it wasn’t. We really didn’t know what to expect though, and we were concerned because the restaurant was empty.

They brought out chips and salsa immediately, and I thought the salsa had a good flavor. It had a good kick, but definitely no bite. Also ordered the mint lemonade, which was surprisingly tasty. I’ve ordered this at Gloria’s a couple times, and the flavors never seemed to blend as well as they did at Berryhill. Very refreshing and cool.

I ordered a variety of their tamales, and my dining companion ordered the corn enchilada, a beef tamale, and the fish taco. He’s from San Diego, so he has high expectations on fish tacos – and he thought they were pretty good. He did comment that it was quite a bit larger than the street tacos that he is used to, but it had a good flavor. He chose to get the fish grilled instead of fried, and is wanting to try it fried next time. He also said the corn enchilada was very good.

As for the tamales – know that they are HUGE. I’ve never seen tamales this big in a restaurant. My only complaint is that the masa was a bit thicker than I like to make them, but the meat seasoning was VERY good. I recommend the pork or chicken tamales, as the bean and beef were a bit bland. The pork was by far the best – very tender, flavorful, and filling. I don’t like to order tamales in restaurants, having been spoiled by homemade ones, but these were very good, all things considered. They are huge though – be warned.

The service isn’t anything to write home about, which is too bad. Our waitress was attentive enough, but she seemed incredibly distracted, and ended up sending someone else over to finish us up when a large party was seated in her section.

As a whole, we were sufficiently satisfied with this experience. It’s in a non-descript strip mall, but they have tried very hard to get away from that image by creating a restaurant with character and a memorable menu. Get the tamales and try the lemonade.