El Maguey

Maria Gonzalez learned how to manage El Maguey in Pflugerville by growing up helping her parents at the restaurant’s original location in Elgin.

She said she started at the Elgin restaurant busing tables, then became a server and later a bartender.

“You learn a lot,” she said of working at a restaurant from a young age.

The Pflugerville location is El Maguey’s second. El Maguey’s Pflugerville location is in its third year, and Maria said the location has expanded with new drink options, a new delivery service, daily drink specials and there are plans to possibly include a Sunday brunch in the future.

The restaurant is located on Grand Avenue Parkway near I-35, down the street from several office buildings and industrial uses. Maria said the restaurant is a neighborhood establishment serving the homes and businesses around it.

“We have lots of word-of-mouth customers come in,” she said. “We have a lot of companies nearby where the employees come eat for lunch, then they come in later with their families.”

El Maguey’s location near I-35 allows the restaurant to service customers from Round Rock, North Austin and Pflugerville, Maria said.

Running the restaurant is a family affair, Maria said. Maria’s aunt Graciela Gonzalez creates handmade tortillas served in the restaurants. When the family opened the Pflugerville location, her siblings Elvia Soto and Daisy Gonzalez helped serve food in the restaurant despite having full-time jobs of their own.

Maria said her father, Jose, started the original location because he had learned the basics of running a restaurant while working at another Mexican food establishment. He now does much of the cooking for the restaurant, and she said he is very passionate about the taste and presentation of the food served at El Maguey.

“When he’s cooking, he makes sure it’s done correctly to a T,” she said.

1700 Grand Avenue Parkway, Ste. 180, Pflugerville 512-989-2674 Hours: Mon.-Thu. 6:30 a.m.-10 p.m., Fri. 6:30 a.m.-11 p.m., Sat. 7 a.m.-10 p.m., Sun. 8 a.m.-9 p.m.