The beloved restaurant is now open in a historic building in the Stockyards on Rodeo Plaza.
FORT WORTH, Texas — They’re serving the same food and drink. They decorated with the same art and artifacts. And – thank goodness – it’s the same owners and staff.
“Every waiter and waitress know who you are when you come in. Know what you want, what you drink,” said James Coleman and Shane Lyons, longtime regulars who were the first customers in line when beloved Fort Worth restaurant Los Vaqueros opened in its new location the day after Christmas.
“We moved in this morning!” said Vicki Cisneros, president of Los Vaqueros, hours after their opening.
The Cisneros family first opened in 1983 across the street from Billy Bob’s.
After a decade, they moved to a large facility on Main Street where countless North Texans went on first dates or celebrated birthdays and milestone anniversaries at their garden and banquet facilities.
But in 2024, the family decided to downsize and move back into the heart of the Stockyards entertainment district.
They’re closer to Billy Bob’s once again, now located at 2513 Rodeo Plaza.
“This particular building housed one of the first indoor rodeos and this whole area is historic,” Cisneros said. “We’re in the same building as the John Wayne Museum and the Texas Cowboy Hall of Fame. And we’re honored to be here.”
They announced the move in June and expected to be in the new spot by July. But renovations on the historic building took a while, so they temporarily re-opened the Main Street spot in August. Their fresh start officially begins as December ends.
“We’ve been waiting forever, we were ready,” Lyons said. “We were out front, like open, open, open!”
Cisneros said Los Vaqueros still has ample space for special events.
They’re going to stay open later to cater to the late-night crowd the Stockyards now attracts.
And while they no longer have their garden, they do have a patio.
Opening day brought a downpour, but that didn’t dampen the celebration inside.
“In spite of the rain we had a great turnout earlier today, so we’re happy for that,” Cisneros said. “We’ve seen a lot of our really good customers.”
