Chuy's has arrived in Abilene--get ready for the creamy jalapeno sauce!

Chuy's Tex Mex has arrived in Abilene! I usually do not focus much on chain restaurants but the arrival of Chuy's has been much anticipated locally and since they opened they have been swamped with customers since they opened almost 3 weeks ago.

Pico de gallo or salsa? Something is off.

My first visit to Chuy's was about 30 years ago at the original Barton Springs Rd. location in Austin, TX. This was long before their acquisition by Darden Restaurants (owners of Olive Garden, LongHorn Steakhouse and others) in 2024. It was  positive experience and I do recall the cart with all the salsa and chips. The last time I went to a Chuy's was in Waco about 8 years ago. From that visit, I remember eating a lot of the creamy, spicy jalapeno dip with my chips and having a meal with the famous Boom Boom sauce but what I most remember is that I was tired that evening and so full after dinner that I went to bed almost immediately after getting to the hotel. 

Yesterday (Sunday), I went to Chuy's at 2:45pm to meet a friend for either a late lunch or early supper...lupper? It was a 25 minute wait for a table for two. Even at that time of day there were still several people waiting to be seated. Abilene folks have a tendency to overwhelm new places in town, especially when they are chains that people have been looking forward to having locally available. It was a nice day to sit outside, so the wait was not terribly inconvenient. There was not a lot of space in the entry for people to wait but there are benches outside and they had also put out dining chairs on the sidewalk as well.  Once you are on the waiting list, you get a text when your table is ready. The waitlist option on the website is not active for Abilene yet.  

Chicken Flautas dinner

Once we were seated, we were greeted fairly quickly by our server and the chips and salsa arrived. The salsa looked very anemic. It was more like a watery pico de gallo rather than salsa. It was a disappointment. When we asked our server about it she said that it looks that way when it comes out of the freezer before it has a chance to thaw and get more red. I am not sure about that. Perhaps they ran out of regular salsa and had to substitute something similar. By the way, it is absolutely not uncommon for there to be supply issues when a new place gets hit as hard as they do when they come to Abilene. The demand here is unexpected.for most of them. However, once we asked for the creamy jalapeno dip, that helped us have something better in which to dip the tortilla chips. It is very tasty with a nice kick. 

For my meal, I ordered the chicken flautas dinner. It came with six good sized flautas, rice, refried beans, sour cream, fresh guacamole, and chopped tomatoes. You can choose between the traditional Spanish rice or green chile rice. I went for the green chile and it was perfectly fine but a bit blander than I expected from something with green chili in it. The refried beans tasted like they came from a can. I was put in mind of either Old El Paso or Gebhardt brand canned beans by the color and consistancy...will not be ordering any bean based dishes at Chuy's in the future. However, I was impressed with the chicken flautas which had cheese as well as white meat chicken on the inside. The outer part was perfectly fried. The chicken was moist and there was plenty of it. Frequently, flautas come out dry and overcooked in a lot of places. I was only able to eat 4 of the 6 on the plate so the portions were generous and worth the cost. The guacamole was also a standout. Not too much onion or lime, very fresh and flavorful. 

Enchilada (no cheese) and taco plate

My friend ordered the enchilada and crispy beef taco dinner. It also came with rice and refried beans. She opted for the traditional Spanish rice. Since she is lactose intolerant she substituted a beef enchilada for the default cheese one and got the regular ranchero sauce on top. She liked the taste of the ground beef in her taco and enchilada but was not crazy about the sauce on top of the enchilada. The dinner was adequate but nothing to "write home about" in the end. 

Both of our dinners were between $11-$12 each which was at the lower end of the cost spectrum. The price point was very reasonable for the amount of food we were given. Menu prices on the website for pick up or delivery do not match the printed menus inside. Dine in was a little bit less expensive. There is a weekday happy hour from 3pm-6pm with drink and appetizer specials.

Service was just fine considering how busy they were in the middle of the afternoon and considering most of the servers were likely new hires. There were plenty of workers on hand to keep things moving along. The inside of the building has fit as many tables as possible so it does have a bit of a cramped feel to it and there is the usual eclectic Chuy's decor. 

All in all the experience had some hits and misses. They deserve some grace since they have not even been open a month. As I love Tex-Mex food, I am sure I will return once the hub bub has died down and the wait times are not as long. I just hope they fix the salsa situation before next time but at least the creamy jalapeno was as good as I remember. 

Chuy's

4104 S. Clack St.

Abilene, TX 79606

325-237-1113

Located at the Mall of Abilene

Website: https://www.chuys.com/home

Hours:

Sun-Thurs 11am-10pm

Fri & Sat 11am-11pm