Hula Hut

The Fall of 2015 brought several new restaurants to the DFW area, but the biggest one in Little Elm had to be the addition of Hula Hut.  Many families, including my own, love to visit Hula Hut in Austin because it is a fun place to dine with families and the food isn't bad either.  The self proclaimed Tex Mex restaurant with a Polynesian twist, opened its second location on, this one on Lake Lewisville, and brought it's Mexonesian cuisine to the DFW area.

Having dined there several times in the past few months, I can say that I like the food here quite a bit and it is much better than the majority of the chain Mexican restaurants in the area.  While some items are better than others, none of them are bad.  Below is my opinion on a few of the items I have recently had at the Little Elm Location:

Chips and Queso-Chips are good enough, but the queso is really good.  It has a great flavor with quite a bit of kick.  If you don't like spicy foods, you might want to stay away from this quest.

Chicken Tortilla Soup-The bowl you receive is about double the size of most soup bowls and filled with plenty of chicken, avocado, cheese, cilantro, poblano peppers, corn, tomatoes, and tortilla strips.  The broth is great too.  I actually had this as a meal one time and was barely able to finish the huge portion.

Grilled Fish Tacos-These tacos include fish, shredded lettuce, cabbage, cilantro, tomatoes, and jalapeño-lime sauce served in flour tortillas.  I thought they had great flavor, but I would have preferred more fish.  There were so many veggies, that I could barely taste the fish at all.  

Pork Burrito- By far, my favorite item I have tried here and it is huge.  The large flower tortilla was stuffed with slow roasted pork, black beans, Monterrey Jack cheese, green chiles and roasted corn that was topped with Hatch Green Chile and Queso Blanco sauces. This burrito is served with rice, which is a little bland, but the burrito itself is a cornucopia of flavors.

Hula Hut Burger-This is one item that I probably wouldn't order again.  The burger was mediocre at best and the fries were less than spectacular.  

Since the portions are so large, I have yet to try any desserts at this location.  The kids seemed to enjoy the items they have ordered from the kids menu and the service is generally good.  Be warned that it can get very busy on weekends (an hour or more wait) and the service seems to suffer somewhat at these times.  Overall, I think the Hula Hut is a fun restaurant that serves good food (generous portions too) and is very family friendly.

My daughters in front of the volcano

Hula Hut
http://www.hulahutlittleelm.com
Livin the Good Life Rating=3

Big Daddy's Ribs and BBQ

Big Daddy's Ribs and BBQ is a relatively new barbecue joint that has opened in Little Elm.  Having read a couple of reviews on the place, I felt it might be worthy of a visit.  The ribs came highly recommended, so I was anxious to try them.

I ordered the three meat combo with brisket, pulled pork, and the baby back ribs.  Be warned that there is a $4 up-charge when you order ribs with the combo.  The brisket was a huge disappointment due to the fact it was tough, too lean, and was lacking in the smoke department.  The pulled pork was much better than the brisket.  It was very moist with a nice smoky flavor and had a nice bark on several of the pieces.   Since ribs cost extra, I anticipated getting  more than two baby back ribs.  While they were very tender and had a nice rub on them, I didn't think they were special or worthy of the extra $4.

Three Meat Combo-Brisket, Pulled Pork, and Baby Back Ribs

Fries and corn casserole were ordered as my sides and both were excellent.  The fries were some of the best I have had in recent months and were fresh cut and just out of the fryer.  The corn casserole was very flavorful, moist, and top notch in my book.  Combos are also served with Texas toast and I thought it was very good as well.

Fries-These were terrific

The sides here were impressive, but even they couldn't save this mediocre barbecue.  Other people I know really like this place, but I just was not impressed.  I wouldn't go out of my way to eat here again.

Big Daddy's Ribs and BBQ
https://www.facebook.com/bigdaddysle
Livin the Good Life Rating=2