An acclaimed Mexican restaurant in Plano is expanding: Mexican Bar Company, which has been a bright spot at The Shops at Willow Bend for eight years, will open a second location in Allen at 800 Shelby Dr. in Sloan Corners, a master-planned community from the Billingsley Company located at the intersection of SH-121 and US-75.

The Mexican Bar Company is from Brian Dunne, a hospitality industry veteran from the northeast who has run many restaurants and bars. He opened the original Mexican Bar Company in 2018 — part of an initiative to draw customers to The Shops at Willow Bend.

The restaurant has shone as one of the standout success stories and is among the few businesses that will remain during a major transformation at Willow Bend, which closed in August, into a mixed-use destination incorporating a new arena that would become the future home of the Dallas Stars.

Food
Mexican Bar Company debuted with a menu created by Patricio Sandoval, a James Beard-featured chef and brother of global restaurateur Richard Sandoval, with whom Dunne had worked decades ago in New York. The menu combines Mexican flavors with "Texas attitude," with house-made tortillas and regional Mexican dishes cooked on a rustic wood and coal-burning grill.

It includes a number of ceviches, such as scallop, lime-cured shrimp, lobster, and even a vegan ceviche with hearts of palm. There's traditional guacamole but also a chef-driven guacamole with habanero, mint, and pomegranate seeds. One customer-friendly option they offer is samplers, in which you can combine three ceviches, or else guacamole and queso.

A dozen street tacos include brisket, pork belly, beer-battered fish, chipotle-marinated shrimp, al pastor, and a vegetarian battered cauliflower, priced from $17.50 to $19.50, three to an order. There are also entrees such as fajitas, ribeye with lobster mashed potatoes, chile relleno, and enchiladas, priced from $23 for the enchiladas to $54 for the steak.

Dunne says they've survived in Plano due to a combination of quality and innovation.

"During COVID, we did the opposite of everyone else — we raised prices and raised quality," he says. "We went 100 percent seed oil- free. We cook our wings and French fries in beef tallow and everything in extra virgin olive oil. We have 23 TVs, so on weekends, we morph into a sports bar."

The Plano location also boasts a robust social scene, with DJs and live music, lots of dancing, and even dance lessons.

Expansion
Allen came about because one of their regulars was Lucy BIllingsley, partner of the Billingsley Company, which is developing Sloane Corners.

"Lucy was a big fan of Mexican Bar Company — she would come in for dinner, she liked our signature Pollo A Las Brasas [adobo marinated half butterflied chicken with plantain rice and garlic mojo], and invited us to open a location in Allen," Dunne says. "It's been a long time in the works."

Dunne also lives in Allen — "I live about seven minutes away," he says.

Allen's menu will be similar although they'll institute nightly chef's specials. And unlike Plano's mild swinger vibe, Allen will embrace more of a family focus, to meet the needs of the neighborhood.

"That will include a play area off the main dining room so that the kids can go enjoy themselves while the parents sit and talk," Dunne says. "There'll also be a 1,700-square-foot patio with retractable roof and roll down system that overlooks a two-acre park."

Allen will have double the size of its private dining facilities with a few bells and whistles including what Dunne calls his "piece de resistance": a 220-square-foot dining room, dubbed the Miami Cabana, that seats a dozen people, with bi-fold doors that open onto a pond, suitable for bachelorette parties or football parties, since the room will have two TVs.

Construction is ongoing. Dunne, who also co-owns Centro on the Square, which he opened in downtown McKinney in 2025, is visibly excited, calling it "the best build-out I've ever been a part of — I put in all the things over the years that I've accumulated," he says. The goal is to be open by December.

"We're hoping to take Allen to a higher level of hospitality," he says.