I like Bandera because it offers the quintessential multi-sensory experience. As you walk from their parking lot you're given the opportunity to experience a blast of heat put off by the intense fire roasting their rotisserie chickens. Once inside you are offered the opportunity to watch the chefs race each order to near perfection. Plenty of booth seating provides a great way to converse with the people you are eating with, and many seats around the bar enable you to chat it up with the staff. And all of that leaves the food - the most important sensory experience of any restaurant.
Bandera's food is quite good and that has led me to eating there more times than I can recall. I am by no means a connoisseur, but I feel as though I am experienced enough with Bandera to suggest some pretty solid options. Their rotisserie chicken and cornbread (perhaps two dishes that the restaurant is best known for) are very good. I am a big fan of ordering a grilled artichoke for my appetizer and then following that up with the chicken enchiladas. With that dish you get all the benefits of their great chicken, but with the added variety that enchiladas offer. Plus the management at Bandera has been altruistic enough to enable you to get an additional enchilada for $1 more. Yet don't ask for a third enchilada for $1 because you won't get it; believe me I've tried. And as I said just a few sentences earlier, their cornbread is really good. So be my lemming and always order a skillet of this Bandera specialty - the jalapenos in this cornbread really set it apart.