I’m pretty upset with myself. I grew up in the Austin area (and yet!) I never once heard of El Arroyo restaurant, not until a few days ago.
Since the 1980s, besides serving fine Tex-Mex cuisine to countless customers, the eatery has been posting imaginably funny and clever signs in its parking lot. In fact, if you search for the restaurant on the internet, you’ll find that just about everyone in the world seems to be aware of what the joint has been up to in recent decades. If you think I’m exaggerating, think again; the eatery has north of 269K Facebook followers.
You can find collections of their work here, here, and here. Take some time and read through lots of what you see. Doing so is like taking a masterclass in creative thinking and writing. To say that much of their signage is brilliant is a gross understatement.
(Believe it or not, the signs are so popular that the restaurant has published collections of its best work.)
I have only one request. Post your favorite sign in the comments section. (You’ll be happy that you did.)
Adios y gracias.
Post-Script: Check out more of my Wise & Shine work here and listen to some of my podcasts here.
There are so many great signs; it’s hard to choose a favorite (or two). Here’s a good one:
Clapping is literally
hitting yourself
because you
like something
Check out this Christmas ornament. So much truth…
https://elarroyo.com/collections/best-sellers/products/ornament-90-of-marriage
Ohhhhhh yessssss! Truth! 😉
“Never give your printer hints that you’re in a rush…they smell fear”…love this one. I swear it’s true! 🤪
I feel like I need to make a confession. I don’t trust my printer. It may be just me, but the thing seems not to like me.
I’m with you…there’s some ‘printer posse’ out there…I swear mine taunts me…with extra weird bells and whistles…ringing and dinging…but not printing. Oh yeah – there are flashing lights sometimes, too. Maybe they’re extraterrestrial? 😜
I’ve noticed that our HP tends toward passive-aggressive resistance. We never hear any bells and whistles but the thing is always crying out for more ink. I don’t know if that’s passive-aggressiveness or an odd type of personality disorder or just a kind of neurotic neediness…
Crying out for more ink…love that…and yes I’m sure it’s “diagnose-able” in some way! 😉
1. People write congrats because they can’t spell congrajlashins.
2. If you see me talking to myself, just move along. We’re having a team meeting. (True story, btw 😆)
Those are good ones. It was really hard for me to choose favorites because I like about a million of these.
Long time fan! One of my favorites: I sympathize with batteries I’m never included in anything either.
Many of us can easily identify with batteries…
These are great, Troy!
Everyone has a hidden talent they don’t know about until Tequila.
The only clowns I’m afraid of are the ones running for Pres.
Why don’t they call vet Dogtors?
Awesome signs and such a fun post!
Speaking of signs about dogs, I like the following:
I wonder
what my dog
named me.
You should have been here at eight.
Why? What happened at eight?
😂😂😂
Some of the funniest stuff here. And to think that they’ve been running these signs for decades and that they change the message each day. Amazing! Did you see that they allow the public to send in sign ideas? Makes me think I want to give it a shot. How about you, Todd?
Wow! A new sign every day for decades?! 🤯
Did you see that the signs are so beloved that they’ve published several volumes of their best stuff. They probably never thought their kooky signs would end up turning into so many hardback books.
Haha it’s wild 😁😎
It’s really difficult to choose. My favorites are #1 German kids are nicer (I have a story with my son and German children) and # 59 about Trump hairpieces (my husband and I have a joke about it, cannot repeat it). Thank you Troy, you made my day!
You’re right. It was so hard to choose a favorite. I actually have about a hundred favorites. By the way, many of us have jokes about Trump that we cannot repeat in public.