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On June 17, 1994, my soon-to-be inlaws hosted a rehearsal dinner in the bar of Marianos. It was a beautiful summer day. All of our friends and family were in town for the wedding (June 18), the sky was clear, and love was in the air. We had all settled in for an evening of great food and margaritas, toasts, laughs, and a few tears. That is, until the TV in the bar went on... After the first few toasts, I noticed that we had lost a number of our college/grad school aged friends to the TV as it was the NBA playoffs. They pretended to listen to the toasts, but the room seemed to get much louder when there was a good play. The bartender's enthusiasm for the game was also quite palpable. Everything was running smoothly until there was a 'breaking news' interruption. Yes, the OJ slow speed car chase was now being nationally televised. All during my rehearsal dinner. So here you have 1/2 the guests cheering for the game. And now we have the OTHER 1/2 focused on the picture-in-picture images of the car chase. So much for toasting! The wedding went off without a hitch the next day, we are still very happily married, and I have pictures and news cut outs of our 'evening with the NBA and OJ.' Thanks for memory! - Tim and Scottie Ann It
was the summer of 1988 and my husband, two small children and I had
just moved to a Chicago suburb. It was unbearably hot for "Northern"
standards and I was just a wee bit homesick for Texas. You see, I am
a native Dallasite, and summers in Texas are much more bearable when
you have access to that wonderful concoction, the frozen margarita.
Needless to say, there was no Mexican food in the area, much less a
decent margarita. As I returned home one afternoon, I found a medium-sized
package sitting on my doorstep. It was from a close friend and fellow
native, Cindy Boyles; but I couldn't imagine what she could possibly
be sending me. It was nowhere near Christmas. As I carefully opened
the package, tears came to my eyes. It was a large bucket of Marianos
Margarita mix. Never has a margarita brought such deep emotion - her
kindness, her thoughtfulness were overwhelming. It was like Christmas
in July. But, the best part of all was when I got to share my gift from
the ! This may not seem like the funniest story, but it really was the funniest thing to witness. Those around me would often get confused, because I had said nothing. Was it their turn to order, had I been wrongly bypassed, was my hearing impaired, or was I on an extremely strict diet? My coworkers or I would begin explaining or reassuring them that it was in fact their turn. Now the joke's on
me, because I'm once again left to fumble. But this time it's not for
the words to place my special order, it's in recalling the memories
of that special place with its extraordinary employees. When my husband and I moved to Dallas in 1999 we didn't know anyone or our surroundings. We took an apartment in the Village on Southwestern in August of that year. After a whole day of unpacking I didn't feel like cooking. We decided to go out for dinner, but the question was where? At the time we didn't have a car so we started walking around the neighborhood. After 20 minutes of walking around we heard Spanish music coming from a building. I started dancing in the street, while we tried to find where the music was coming from. We stumbled upon Mariano's and decided to give it a shot. Since then we have been regular customers there. Even after we moved we continued to have our weekend dinners at Mariano's. In the four years we have celebrated our wedding, our first anniversary, my birthday, his birthday...well you get it. Some
of the evening staff knew us by face. Although we never got his
name the bartender made the best drinks. I am sad to see Mariano's
move and do a name change, but I understand business is business.
Thank you Mariano's for all the wonderful memories and excellent food and service. - June Me, a recent divorcee, accompanied my sister and brother-in-law for a happy hour drink and good music to lift my sagging spirits. Mariano's Cantina - was definitely the place to be. A terrific Frozen Margarita and the best Spanish music around - that ought to do the trick! In the Cantino, he sat alone in the leather-skin club chair, underneath a palm. Silver hair and beard; silk suit and tie, dark skinned, mysterious - he seemed to exude the atmosphere of Mariano's. My sister and her husband and I discussed him as we ate nachos and sipped our margaritas. After a while, he approached our table and said to me, "If you will dance with me, I would like to teach you the Bolero." I did...and that was the beginning. The lead singer in the band at Mariano's that night, Ranon(aka Coochee Coochee)knew him and introduced us. There followed two years of dating, marriage and a beautiful daughter. And always we returned to Mariano's to dance the night away to Latin music (that you just couldn't find anywhere else at that time) and to have our margaritas. Years of laughter, meeting with other Spanish people, feasting on the cabrito; celebrating out first meeting and our union. Fifteen years later he passed away; our daughter graduated high school and then college and married last year. So much time gone by. But this year, 2003, I told my cousin, "I want, or need, to go back to Mariano's in Old Town where I met him". And so we did this past summer for lunch, never realizing that it would be the close of another chapter in my life. Mariano's in Old Town may close, and I may not have "him" anymore to dance away an evening in that lush, tropical cantina, both gone forever in our present world. Though relegated to history, the fondest "Memories" of my life will burn brightly - forever - in Mariano's Cantina. Thank you Mariano Martinez for those memories - Annette I wanted to let the staff (and Mariano) know how much I have appreciated their kind attentions over the past years. My brother-in-law was diagnosed with cancer nine years ago. While we were not able to save him (he died in seven years ago), one of the few things he continued to enjoy eating was the very fine queso made by your restaurant. The staff made sure the queso was well wrapped so it would remain warm until I could get it to him in the hospital. It was a kindness none of my family will ever forget. I hope you will, sometime soon, find a new location in this area of town. I will miss you guys tremendously. Thanks again for everything. - Brenda On November 5, 2003, my husband and I will be celebrating our 20th wedding anniversary. It all began at Mariano's in Old Town. I was working in an office a few miles away and a couple times a week, a group of 8 or more of us would go to happy hour after work. We had so much fun, drinking margaritas, eating chips & hot sauce, and laughing a lot. It became a ritual and we started inviting more friends to join us. One of the guys in our group and I were becomming more and more infatuated with each other each week and we would plan the happy hours as frequently as we could to be together. It finally got to the point that we started inviting less and less people until we eventually were meeting there ALONE. Well, we fell in love over a couple of frozen margaritas and got married in 1983. Two kids and twenty years later, we still love the food and margaritas, but now we go to LaHacienda Ranch in Frisco. Thanks for all the great memories and for expanding further north ! To accommodate us! - Mike & Connie After moving to Dallas in 1981 to pursue a career as an actor and a magician, Mariano’s became the place for me to take clients and do business. One advertising agency that I worked with at the time was known as JHIII Communications and was owned by Jack Hodges. When the word came that the Advertising Executive (A.E.) that I worked with was leaving, I was worried. I had developed a great working relationship with him. Even worse than that though was the news that Jack’s daughter Cinde Hodges was being hired to take his place. I was sure that the bosses’ daughter wouldn’t be able to do the job that Gary had done—but I was just the talent for television and live shows, I didn’t have any say in the matter. When I finally met Cinde I was floored. She was without a doubt the most beautiful woman I had ever met—and this included the actresses from the television series Dallas where I had a small reoccurring role. As I worked with her I realized that she was as smart as she was beautiful. She was an incredible businesswoman and we quickly developed a strong working relationship. Every time I was in her office she looked better and better. I started inventing reasons to drop by so I could just drink in her beauty and her personality. I knew I was falling in love, but that just couldn’t be. This was the bosses’ daughter. If anything went wrong I would loose my biggest client. My income and lifestyle was in serious jeopardy. Finally, after 10 ½ months of infatuation, I had to make a move. It was the time of year when we had to plan the budget for the next year so I decided to ask her to Mariano’s for a “business dinner”. Cinde’s presence was a thousand times more intoxicating than the “Frozen Mercedes Margaritas” we were drinking. I found myself staring at her face and wondering what it would be like to kiss her lips. Finally I couldn’t stand it any longer. I said; “Cinde, there is something I’ve wanted to do for a long time”, and with that I leaned over and I kissed her. This wasn’t just a friendly peck on the cheek. This was a long slow wet kiss that lasted three days—the kind of kiss that you only see in the movies. This was the kind of kiss that girls dream of when they are in junior high. This was the kind of kiss that communicates perfectly that you are interested in taking the relationship to the next level. I figured that if I was going to dare to kiss her, I might as well do it right. After we finally broke that kiss Cinde leaned back in her chair and said, “Well this isn’t exactly a business meeting is it?” I couldn’t believe what I had just done. I had kissed Jack Hodges’ daughter, the bosses’ little girl in the middle of Mariano’s. People were watching us. I figured that the next thing she would say was that I was fired and that I was unprofessional. Instead she said, “You are the slowest son-of–a-bitch I have ever met. For the past 10 ½ months I have done everything I could think of to get your attention. I would wear short dresses with high heels. I would wear things that were low cut and pushed up. I heard you joke about “Big Texas Hair” so I did my hair as big as it would go. I finally decided that anytime a man who looks like you doesn’t ask out a woman who looks like me there must be something wrong—I decided you must be gay.” “No, I’m not gay—I’m just slow” I told her. That was 18 years ago and we just celebrated our 17th wedding anniversary (at Mariano’s of course). We have two sons who have grown up in Mariano’s and Cinde and I still enjoy the Fajitas and “Frozen Mercedes Margaritas”. I often wonder though if she fell in love with me or if she just loves my taste in restaurants. - Dal Story: IT'S A FAMILY TRADITION. Beginning in 1963, when we moved to Richardson, Texas we immediately found our favorite Mexican Restaurant - El Charro, near Sun Drug in the Richardson Heights Shopping Center. There we looked forward to our weekly fix of Mexican food and it was truly the best in town. Mr. Martinez, Sr. greeted us and always made us feel welcome. The family tradition of hard work, dedication, and service was apparent. We moved from this area in 1965 and then returned in 1970. In
1973, our favorite Mexican restaurant became Mariano's in Old Town
Dallas. From the very beginning we noticed that the family tradition
continued. The new restaurant carried on the family tradition
of hard work, dedication, and service and has for 32 years now.
Later, we met
Mr. Martinez, Sr. again, as he greeted the guests and made everyone
feel welcome. We looked forward to seeing him and visiting with
him as he moved from table to table enjoying being of service to the
customers at Mariano's. He was a very caring and congenial gentleman,
always handsomely dressed in his suit and tie, a true professional.
Later, when
he was no longer able to come to the restaurant and work, we missed
him very much. Mr. Martinez, Sr., thanks for the many wonderful
memories! You will not be forgotten!
And now Mariano Martinez carries on the family tradition of hard work, dedication, and service as he opens another La Hacienda Ranch Restaurant in the Dallas area. -Harold and Janice On our second date my husband Gary asked me to eat at a wonderful Mexican restaurant called Mariano's. The food was delicious and the atmosphere very romantic. I soon fell in love with Gary and with Mariano's food. Mariano's became our favorite Mexican restaurant where Gary asked me to Marry him. Since then we have enjoyed many more romantic dinner's at Mariano's. Thanks for six years of good food and memories. - Laurie Mariano's cannot
be completely responsible. Of course, sitting out in the garden
under the stars with a frozen margarita provided a stimulating background
for affairs of the heart. But when I arrived in It all started 32 years ago for Mariano Martinez. But for me, it started 10 years later..... Attracted at first sight, it was a stormy beginning. Off hand comments, comic slurs, and playful aggravation. Then I took the big step...I asked her out for our first date. Marianos Mexican Cuisine in Old Town was the destination. After days of anticipation we were there. It was the middle of the afternoon, and we were greeted warmly by the staff. Two frozen margaritas and a basket of chips later we were ready to order. Our waitress was very attentive, checking regularly to see if we needed anything else. The food was great, but what I remember most was the time. For three hours we nibbled, drank, ate, laughed. No one tried to get us to leave or hurry us. They just took care of us. They talked to us and watched. They knew they were watching something magical happen right before their eyes. The seed was planted, both in our hearts and stomachs. The magic had begun. That spot became our spot. That restaurant became our restaurant. That waitress and waitstaff became our waitress and waitstaff. Those frozen margaritas became our frozen margaritas. For many years, that afternoon of magic became a three times a week journey for many of us. The faces of the people waiting on us changed and grew as did we. But one thing never changed. Not only had we grown to love each other, but they had grown to love us too. We had made a connection and we were all family. After all the trials and tribulations of life, our marriage, growing to love each other more, the purchase of our first home together, the birth of our healthy son, deaths, hospitalizations, reunions, and family get togethers, I am greatful for many things. But foremost among them is Marianos Mexican Cuisine. For without that first three hours of magic, my life might have been drastically different. I have a wife and child who loves me dearly, just like we love Marianos. Thank you Mariano Martinez for being who you are. Thank you for touching and improving my life, just like I am sure you have touched many lives. I hope your journey has been as great as mine. - Mike and Sylvia I know I'm past the deadline, but still wanted to share with you how muck Mariano's will be missed by myself and my family: Twenty years ago, this Virginia boy knew nothing about Tex-Mex. One visit to Mariano's during an SMU recruiting trip was all it took to hook me. I've looked forward to meals at Mariano's ever since. The only interuption, was for about a year and a half when I moved to Philadelphia. I was so happy to move back to Texas, my adopted home. Then, I was lucky enough to marry a girl from Dallas who loved Tex-Mex and Mariano's as much as I do. We went to Mariano's sometimes weekly for our Tex-mex fix. We always took our out-of-town guests. Now, we even take our two daughters, ages 2.5 and 4 to Mariano's to show them what good Tex-Mex is. Thanks for the good taste. - Patrick I first went to Mariano's in Old Town on a date. Later when I got pregnant, all I craved was the nachos from Mariano's. I loved the carrots that came with the nachos because they were hot! - Yolanda |