Catrina Grill in Dallas Goes Viral on TikTok After Nearly Going Out of Business

Serving great food alone guarantees nothing in the restaurant business. The number of deserving kitchens that eventually wither away and fall victim to the cutthroat nature of the restaurant world is endless. Many of them exist in the shadows of any number of forgettable national chain establishments.

Catrina Grill was headed down that road. Things were so dire that owner Luis Ramirez reportedly struggled to meet employee payroll at his two Catrina Grill locations.

The food was excellent. Ramirez had that part of the formula down. Now he just needed a little jolt of genius marketing. That’s when Ramirez’s daughter Katia stepped in and delivered a perfectly timed Hail Mary pass with the game clock expiring.

Katia posted a video on TikTok making a case for why you should go to Catrina Grill. The plea worked. The video went viral. The next day, both locations sold out their respective menus before closing, and the increase in sales since has been meteoric. After hearing about this comeback story, we had to check them out for ourselves.

@katiaramirezz Heres the address to our Lewisville Location – 383 Huffines Plaza Lewisville, TX 75056 Heres our Dallas address! 3520 N Buckner Blvd Dallas, TX 75228 Thank you so much for the support 🥲 #familyowned #northdallas #lewisville #dallasfoodie #foodie #latinowned #greenscreen ♬ original sound – katia ramirez

Everything (and we mean everything) at Catrina Grill is made fresh daily and in-house, including the tortillas. We did a little scouting before heading over, and a couple of dishes stood out.

The taco birria ($10.99) was repeatedly mentioned in customer reviews. Two intensely orange-hued, cheesy tacos folded over tender brisket with just enough onion and cilantro are served with beef consommé as a dipper. Each taco comes with two tortillas – one holds the main ingredients while the other doubles around the first tortilla with a layer of melted cheese marrying the two. This is finished with another layer of crusted cheese on the outer surface of the second tortilla. Did you get all that? It doesn’t matter if you did or didn’t; the result is the same: cheesy brisket taco bliss.

Chicken is also a big deal at Catrina Grill. It may even be the main attraction. Expectations weren’t just met – they were blown away. Like the brisket before it, the chicken mole poblano was absurdly tender. Sides of rice, salad and tortillas accompany a mole sauce-smothered thigh and drumstick. Make a chicken mole taco if you’d like, or eat the chicken as is, like we did. And at $10.99, the dish is a steal.

Our orders came with both red and green salsa. Take the shrewd advice from @blondeswhoeat (who visited Catrina Grill recently) and stock up on the green avocado salsa, which is amazing.

For dessert, go for a slice of choco-flan ($4.99): smooth, creamy flan atop a layer of chocolate cake. And if you like churros (how can you not?), Catrina Grill’s are made fresh to order and boast a heavenly interior of dulce de leche.

We hear Catrina Grill has killer breakfast tacos too. Catrina Grill has two locations: one in Dallas (3250 N. Buckner Blvd.) and another in Lewisville (383 Huffines Blvd.).

Thanks to a viral TikTok post, they’re finally receiving some well-deserved recognition. But the story arc of Catrina Grill remains to be seen. We hope they stick around for a very long time.

Catrina Grill, 3250 N. Buckner Blvd. Daily, 8 a.m. – 9 p.m.