Gringo’s Tex-Mex Kyle is bringing a Houston-rooted restaurant brand into the Austin-area market with plans for a $5 million, 9,500-square-foot restaurant at Kyle Park. The ground-up project would put fajitas, enchiladas, combination plates and a full cantina on Pad 31 of NewQuest’s major mixed-use development along I-35.
The location also fills in a particularly interesting stretch of TCM’s Kyle coverage: Gringo’s is planned directly beside the Olive Garden and LongHorn Steakhouse projects we have already tracked. Those are three consecutive restaurant pads in the same development, representing approximately $12.6 million in combined filed construction costs.
Gringo’s Tex-Mex Kyle Joins a Three-Restaurant Row
NewQuest’s current Kyle Park brochure, marked September 3, 2026, places Gringo’s on Pad 31, Olive Garden on Pad 32 and LongHorn Steakhouse on Pad 33. The row sits along the I-35 side of the property near Bebee Road.
TCM previously reported the $4.097 million Olive Garden at Kyle Park, a planned 7,828-square-foot restaurant. Our LongHorn Steakhouse Kyle coverage followed a separate $3.505 million filing for a 5,780-square-foot building.
Adding the new $5 million Gringo’s filing brings the three-project construction estimate to $12.602 million. That total is TCM’s calculation from the individual state filings. It describes planned restaurant construction across those pads, rather than land costs or the overall development investment.
From $580 in First-Day Sales to a New Market
Gringo’s began on a much smaller scale. According to the company’s official history, Russell Ybarra opened the original Pearland restaurant on January 11, 1993, after taking on a property where four earlier restaurant concepts had failed. Friends had advised him against the venture.
The company later recalled just $580 in sales on its first day. More than three decades later, the Kyle project carries a $5 million construction estimate of its own.
The brand’s current official location list includes 17 restaurants, concentrated around Greater Houston and nearby markets, with College Station among the outlying locations. It lists no operating restaurant in Austin, Kyle, Buda or San Marcos. Based on that directory, the Kyle project appears poised to establish Gringo’s first current Austin-area restaurant.
There is a historical distinction: Gringo’s company timeline records a San Antonio opening in 2003, its first location outside Houston. That restaurant does not appear in the current directory.
A Place in the $280 Million Kyle Park Development
Gringo’s Tex-Mex Kyle would join a much larger shopping and dining destination. In its August 31 development update, NewQuest described Kyle Park as a $280 million, 101-acre project planned for approximately 400,000 square feet of shops and restaurants, 421 apartments and hotels.
The developer identified Dick’s Sporting Goods, Barnes & Noble, HomeGoods and EōS Fitness among its retail lineup. Plans also include a landscaped pedestrian amenity area with shaded seating and a pavilion, plus connections to Kyle’s Vybe trail network.
NewQuest said infrastructure work began in February and described the project as a way to give residents more shopping and dining options close to home. For Gringo’s, that means a setting where customers could combine dinner with shopping or other stops within the same development.
Enchiladas, Southwest Eggrolls and a Cantina
The brand’s current menu offers a preview of the food behind the expansion. The Mariachi combination, pictured in this story’s featured image, pairs two chicken enchiladas with Southwest Eggrolls and chicken taquitos, served with rice and beans.
Those eggrolls combine chicken with roasted corn, spinach, black beans, cheese and bell peppers. Other choices include chicken and skirt-steak fajitas, seafood enchiladas topped with shrimp and crawfish in a white-wine cream sauce, and grilled chicken finished with chile con queso and pico de gallo.
The cantina lineup includes the Cadillac Margarita and Silver Star, alongside other margaritas and cocktails. A Kyle-specific menu has not been announced, so these are examples from the brand’s existing offerings.
And there is one small tradition longtime customers will recognize: Gringo’s says it offers complimentary soft-serve ice cream to every guest. It is a family-dining detail that has stayed with the brand as its footprint has grown.
Gringo’s Tex-Mex Kyle Construction Timeline
The state project registration, TABS2027002592, lists the restaurant at 19831 IH 35, Kyle. It identifies TDC NQ Kyle Retail JV LLC as the owner and Dallas-based Harrison US as the design firm.
The filed schedule calls for construction to begin May 15, 2027, with estimated completion on February 15, 2028. The 9,500-square-foot scope is a new restaurant build. The completion estimate is a construction milestone; a confirmed restaurant opening date has not been announced.