What’s happened to Campo Verde? ‘Christmas wonderland’ near Fort Worth has gone dark
Campo Verde, a 43-year-old “Christmas wonderland” restaurant that draws families at the holidays for its 200,000 twinkling lights, 50 Santas, 30 trees and model trains, has gone dark in recent days, and its status is uncertain.
The restaurant opened intermittently in early January, but then a sign was posted saying it was under repair. That sign is gone, replaced by a note from a vendor asking to pick up equipment.
Tommy Stewart, a Louisiana restaurateur who bought Campo Verde in 2022 from late founder James “Smiley” Williams, has not returned calls.
Dalworthington Gardens Mayor Laurie Bianco said she had also noticed that the restaurant is dark but that she did not have more information.
Campo Verde consistently kept its Christmas spectacle open through fall and winter so families could come if they weren’t able to get in through the long lines at the peak in December.
With multiple rooms, ever-changing decorations and model trains circling above diners’ heads, Campo developed the same kind of fierce following on a smaller scale as a Casa Bonita, the legendary Tex-Mex restaurant and theme park in Denver.
But the restaurant struggled to stay open in December through three health inspections while serving crowds. It scored a 60 on Dec. 3, a 61 on a recheck Dec. 11 and a 71 on a second follow-up Dec. 17.
On some of its final nights in January, the restaurant was out of several items and did not even have the traditional chile powder to dust its signature chips, commenters wrote on social media.
Campo Verde was built in the heyday of fajitas-and-margaritas restaurants by Williams, a manager for Fort Worth restaurateur Don Bowden at Dos Gringos before Bowden started Mercado Juarez Cafes.
When Stewart bought Campo, he tried to simplify the encyclopedic menu, dropping exotic items such as elk, bison or rattlesnake fajitas.
Forty-year chef Antonio Reyes left and has since reproduced many of the dishes at Chente Cafe Brazos River Catfish and Tex-Mex, 10771 Interstate 20 West near Millsap.
Campo had been updated this year with LED lights and new holiday themes.
