Bravo's Mexican restaurant in Tonkawa brings authentic flavor to Highway 60

The Blackwell-Tonkawa area has a new Mexican restaurant, and the owner’s reason for branching his acclaimed Alva-based business into Kay County was all about one thing: location.

Bravos opened last week on Highway 60, next to the Tonkawa Valero, and owner Dario Bravo took the time to discuss his business, the initial reactions from customers, and what’s next.

“I have a restaurant in Alva,” said Bravo, “Cancun Mexical Grill. We’ve been there for about 6 years, and we had been looking to expand. I fell in love with this area, the beauty of it, right off I-35. There’s a lot of trees and just natural beauty, and I knew this is where I wanted to open the restaurant.”

Bravo, a native of Hidalgo in Mexico, said that everything in the restaurant is authentic from his own Mexican heritage from the recipes down to the furniture.

“Everything in here, all the furniture, tables, booths, all of that is made in Mexico. Our recipes are all family recipes. It was very important to me that we honored that, opening up this restaurant,” he said.

The care put into the restaurant’s interior is evident from just walking through the door. The restaurant is decorated minimally, which gives it an extremely formal look. The archways and walls are painted in a soft yellow, accented by sophisticated grey wood. The booths and chairs are elegant looking with cream-colored cushions framed by a rich dark brown with golden studs for look.

Overhead, the hanging lamps help to accent to natural light coming in from the restaurant’s large windows.

“We opened last Tuesday and we were very busy, people came in and said such nice things. The response has been so positive, and we’ve had people coming from all over the area to check us out.”

When asked what he thought his most popular dish was, Bravi said it was probably their Chile Blanco, grilled chicken breast served with rice and beans and covered in queso.

The menu, several pages thick, has a wide range of seafood, chicken, quesadillas, chimichangas, salads, vegetarian options, and burritos. It is available online on the Bravos Facebook Page, “Bravos Restaurant”.

The restaurant will soon be offering margaritas and other mixed drink options, said Dario.