When opening Anna’s Mexican Grill in Colleyville in 2014 with his business partner George Perez, Alfredo Gonzalez filled the menu with cuisine he knew would be popular based on 30 years of restaurant industry experience.
“Basically, we have Tex-Mex because it’s what the customers like,” Gonzalez said. “Everyone wants Tex-Mex paired with a margarita or a Corona. We have skinny and spicy margaritas and a bunch of flavors.”
On the menu
Dinner, lunch and brunch are served at Anna’s Mexican Grill. Fajitas hold the top spot for the dinner menu while enchiladas are most popular with the lunch crowd, said Gonzalez.
“People like the fajitas because it has all the fixings in one dish,” Gonzalez said. “Like the guacamole, pico de gallo, rice, beans and tortillas. You can have everything.”
Brunch, which is served on Saturday and Sundays from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., has a variety of egg dishes, including their popular chilaquiles featuring crispy tortilla chips, tomatillo sauce topped with two sunny side up eggs, panela cheese and black beans.
What’s in a name?
Gonzalez chose to name the restaurant after his mother whom he credits with launching his interest in culinary arts.
“She was an excellent cook and excellent mom,” Gonzalez said of his mother who died when he was 14 years old. “I loved cooking with her when I was young.”
In 2018, Gonzalez and Perez opened Chepa’s Mexican Grill in Allen followed by a McKinney location in 2023. The business partners chose Perez’s mother’s nickname as the namesake for their second restaurant.
Diving in deeper
Gonzalez said Anna’s Mexican Grill has a loyal base of regular customers, some of whom visit three or four times a week and plan their schedules around nightly specials, such as Margarita Monday. With so many familiar faces, the relationship between the staff and customers has evolved into something more akin to family, strengthened through years of ongoing conversations and shared experiences.
That connection can make difficult moments especially poignant, such as when the death of a spouse turns a longtime table for two into a solo visit. But over time, those frequent conversations have created a bond that extends beyond the menu.
“A lot of our service staff has been working for us for many years,” Gonzalez said. “They know [customers] by name. They know their family history and talk about what’s happening in their lives. We chat with them. We pray with them.”
Dining and Cooking