Restaurants in El Paso

Walking into Andre’s Pizza can feel like walking into a home kitchen. As family members chop up veggies for fresh salads and hand-knead dough for pizzas, the smell of fresh bread baking in the oven wafts over the entire scene. The bread is used for toasted deli subs that diners customize with six meats and three cheeses, as well as add-ons such as guacamole and bacon. The aforementioned pizza dough gets slathered with homemade sauce before it’s transformed into specialty pizzas—sun-dried tomatoes and artichoke hearts top the gourmet pie, and sausage, meatballs, and bacon bulk up the all-meat pizza. The rest of the menu includes custom calzones and eight salads that, like the best avant-garde art, can be drizzled with a selection of house-made dressings.

Plumes of aromatic smoke curl from the arms of colorful hookahs as Al-Zaituna’s chefs cook up moist yet crispy falafel and tender kebabs. Stuffed grape leaves and hummus satiate palates alongside gyro meats nestled into pitas that are baked daily, and sips of turkish coffee power up neural search engines.

Elegant white plates serve as the canvases for Pacifica Seafood & Bar’s decadent undersea feasts, holding artfully presented helpings of everything from tuna Shanghai to shrimp quesadillas. Diners enjoy fish tacos, 12-ounce skirt steaks, and roasted chicken amid expansive windows overlooking a picturesque mountainous view. Though it sounds swanky, the restaurant pulses with relaxed vibes, with colorful writing and drawings scribbled across the white walls and bartenders pouring drinks directly into patron's mouths. Bottles of Indio beer fuel game-watching sessions around one of six high-definition televisions, or cool off games of full-contact charades played on the outdoor patio.

As its name implies, Brown Bag Deli focuses its culinary efforts almost exclusively on fresh sandwiches. The shop’s staff stands ready to fashion any meat and veggie-packed sandwich from the deli's menu of more than 30 choices, such as liverwurst and bologna, or genoa and smoked ham. The restaurant also pairs its subs with sweet and sugary sides that range from chips and pickles to carrot cake and cookies, all of which make great bargaining chips for lunch trades that fetch strangers’ savings bonds.

Since the inception of its flagship location in 1973, Golden Corral has continued to load plates with an ever-expanding menu of homestyle fare served in a family-oriented atmosphere. Among the never-ending dinner buffet’s offerings, 15 types of protein, including sirloin steaks cut and aged on the premises, pair with comfort-fare staples such as mac 'n' cheese and banana pudding. At lunch, pot roast simmered for 12 hours and made-from-scratch meatloaf fill the buffet’s ranks, and breakfast promises made-to-order omelets, hearty slices of ham and sausage, and sizzling hash browns. Each of Golden Corral’s locations opens its doors to group events, seating parties of 25 or more, or one house of Congress in recess.

"Luscious" is the word that the El Paso Times chose to describe the Quack Quack, a Square Cow Burgers, Beer & Wine creation that combines duck confit with dried cherries, chicharrones, and blue cheese. The lobster burger was another home run, with butter and chili mixed into the patty for a taste "similar to a lobster tail dipped in clarified butter." These are just two examples of the eatery's craft burgers, which also include bison, lamb, and chicken options—all made from meats that are freshly ground onsite each day.

No matter which meat they're working with, the chefs stick to a format that works: thick, not flat, quarter-pound patties that retain savory juices and stand up to toppings such as whole pickles and homemade mayos. Chefs deep-fry burgers on request and serve them with sides such as onion rings battered with Rogue Shakespeare Oatmeal Stout. Servers fill glasses and milk bottles with 100 draft beer choices, 60 types of wine, and cocktails for patrons to sip while watching sports games or doing jumping jacks to the DJ's tracks.