A Mexican restaurant offering a jaw-dropping happy hour has debuted in North Dallas: Alexander’s Cantina & Cocinaa family-friendly restaurant and bar, has opened at 4805 Frankford Rd. #105, a space most recently occupied by Casa Don Luis Tex-Mex and before that, a Corner Bakery.
Alexander’s is a bigger and better spinoff of Alexander’s Mex Cuisine, a restaurant opening in Plano in 2023 by Bernardo Garduño and his family, featuring Tex-Mex and street food from his hometown of Mexico City.
Garduño worked for many years in the service industry before coming to Dallas in 2015. He developed Alexander’s menu based on his restaurant experience, as well as his mother’s recipes.
Signature dishes include:
- Pambazo – Mexican bread dipped in chili sauce, filled with potatoes, chorizo and queso, then fried
- Alambre – steak, ham and bacon with onion, peppers and cheese
- Bistek a la Mexicana – steak tips, onion and pepper simmered in a spicy tomato sauce until it turns into a stew
Other crowd-pleasing dishes include mole chicken, brisket tacos, birria, fajitas, enchiladas and more. They have a great selection of seafood including salmon and coconut shrimp tacos, as well as vegetarian options such as vegetarian fajitas and spinach enchiladas. A favorite extra: Their chips come with not only salsa, but also black bean dip.
The new location gave them the opportunity to expand in ways they hadn’t been able to in Plano, Garduño says.
“Plano is doing very well, but the site is small and there was no room for expansion,” he says. “We have made significant renovations to the Dallas location, including the addition of a bar, as well as room for parties and entertainment, such as salsa on Fridays and Saturdays.”
The menu at both locations is basically the same, but Dallas is offering a few new dishes such as mojarra frita, a whole tilapia fried and served with rice, carnitas and a few additional tacos, he says.
One item they recently discontinued: soft serve margaritas. Garduño was quick to take cues from this early 2026 trend, and Alexander’s made numerous lists of “soft margaritas,” but the trend proved short-lived.
“It worked well for a month, but people immediately went back to regular margaritas,” he says. “These drinks are fun but they are very sweet. The mix needs to be very sweet to get the texture right. The ingredients and equipment to make it were expensive, which meant we had to charge more – $16 compared to $10 for our usual margaritas.”
Garduño has kept an eye on the trend. “We’re not the only ones who don’t do it anymore,” he says.
Plus, it didn’t fit with Alexander’s generous happy hour, featuring $5.50 house margaritas, $6 flavored margaritas and $4 beer, available from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily in Plano and Sunday through Thursday in Dallas.
“Our happy hour has become one of our trademarks,” he says.
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