Ask around downtown about El Primo's and you'll get a shrug, maybe a knowing laugh. It's been the answer to "what's finally coming to Main Street" since a Midlothian City Council meeting back in October 2022, when members approved a facade redesign for the old 17,000-square-foot warehouse at 211 W. Main Street. The owner, Todd Tonore, told the room it would open by late 2023 or early 2024.
That date came and went. So did the next one. Meanwhile, a restaurant almost nobody in Midlothian was tracking opened in June with a Friends and Ohana soft launch, a 5:30 p.m. ribbon cutting, and plate lunches of kalua pig and chicken katsu. Mo' Bettahs hit the date it actually promised. El Primo's still hasn't.
That contrast is the real story of Midlothian's food scene this year, and it says something worth knowing if you already live here: downtown's daily map isn't waiting on its most anticipated project to finish. It never was.
The Wait for El Primo's
The timeline is worth laying out plainly, because it's the kind of thing that only becomes visible when you track it over years instead of checking in once.
After that October 2022 council approval, Tonore's team said the second location of the Mansfield favorite would land within a year or so. By August 2024, reporting from WFAA and the Dallas Business Journal had construction beginning between August and September of that year, with a completion target of fall 2025. Then, in December 2024, Logan Gaddis of Leasing Impressions, the firm handling the design work, told Focus Daily News there had never actually been an official opening date attached to the project. His best guess at the time was the first quarter of 2025.
Here's where things stand now. Recent reviews on the Mansfield flagship's OpenTable page, the kind customers leave after a regular Wednesday dinner, still include lines like "can't wait for the one in Midlothian to open." That's not a rumor from a message board. That's people who eat at El Primo's regularly, in 2026, still waiting.
| Milestone | What was said | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Facade design approved by council | October 2022 | Complete |
| Owner's original target opening | Late 2023 to early 2024 | Passed |
| Construction start | August to September 2024 | Confirmed underway |
| Projected completion | Fall 2025 | Passed |
| Leasing team's revised estimate | First quarter of 2025 (given Dec. 2024) | Passed |
| Status as of this fall | No published date | Not yet open |
None of this means the project has stalled for bad reasons. Warehouse conversions with residential lofts attached are genuinely complicated builds, and the plan has always called for keeping the original steel beams and rafters as a nod to the building's history. But if you've been telling out-of-town family that Midlothian's big Tex-Mex spot is "opening soon," you've been saying that for the better part of three years.
The One That Beat Its Own Deadline
Compare that to Mo' Bettahs. When the Hawaiian food chain announced its Midlothian plans on January 30, the target was simply "this fall," with a location at 201 Nicolette Creek Road inside the new Main Street Towne Crossing development. Instead of drifting past that window the way so many downtown projects have, the restaurant opened well ahead of its own fall target, on June 26, with lunch service, a block-party-style dinner event, and merchandise giveaways for the first crowd through the door.
It's a small case study in what actually gets built on schedule around here. The restaurant nobody was counting down for delivered ahead of its own timeline. The one with years of buildup, city council minutes, and a dedicated design firm still hasn't set a date anyone will commit to publicly.
What's Already Working While Everyone Waits
The useful part of this story, for anyone who already lives here, is that downtown Midlothian's food scene was never actually dependent on any single flagship opening. Twisted Sisters Tap House, Union 28 Tap House, Penn to Paper, Branded Burger, Villa Italiana, Wilson's Seafood, Bovine Midlothian, and Kim & Jenny's have all been running on Main Street for a while now, none of them waiting on a warehouse conversion to finish before they matter to the neighborhood.
A couple of newer entries slipped in quietly too. Bearded Ax Brewery had its own delay, originally aiming for a summer 2025 opening before developer issues pushed it back, but it's since become part of the regular rotation. The Porch Pour, a Main Street spot known for its patio and craft margaritas, was still pulling a full Saturday lunch crowd without reservations as of a review posted in late August, the kind of steady, no-fanfare business that doesn't need a ribbon cutting to prove it's working.
None of these places generated the anticipation El Primo's has. All of them are open right now, tonight, if you want dinner on Main Street.
The Calendar Doesn't Wait Either
Downtown's pull isn't just about restaurants, either. MidloFest, the Chamber of Commerce's signature festival, drew an estimated 10,000 to 12,000 people to downtown in April, according to the Chamber, with three stages of live music and a footprint that spans multiple blocks. That's a crowd size that has nothing to do with whether any particular restaurant has opened its doors. It's downtown functioning as a destination on its own terms.
The city's Fall Fun Festival, the kind of low-key, family event with a costume contest and vendor booths at the Civic Center, has been a fixture of the September calendar for years now. It runs on its own schedule too, independent of anything happening on the 211 W. Main construction site a few blocks away.
The Throughline
If you've been holding off on dinner plans until El Primo's opens, you might be waiting a while longer. But that's not actually the news here. The news is that downtown Midlothian's everyday rhythm, the tap houses, the brewery, the burger place, the patio at The Porch Pour on a Saturday afternoon, never depended on that one project finishing. It was already there, already busy, while the most-talked-about opening in town kept sliding its own deadline.
Whenever El Primo's does open, it'll be a genuine addition. Just don't mistake the wait for the whole story.
If you're weighing a move to Midlothian or thinking about what your current home is worth in a market this active, Amanda Beames can walk you through what's actually happening on the ground here, block by block. Schedule a free consultation whenever you're ready to talk specifics.
