restaurantMystery Diners · Season 3, Episode 10 · Aired June 21, 2013
Zio Cecio
Dallas, Texas
Still open. It kept its doors open after the show.
What happened after
Sardinian/Italian restaurant at 4615 W Lovers Ln; official site, OpenTable, Yelp and TripAdvisor listings all current with posted hours.
What happened on the show
Francesco Farris kept hearing that Tex-Mex was somehow coming out of his Dallas Italian kitchen, and customers kept asking for it, so he called Charles Stiles. Stiles sent mystery diners Tracy and Justin in as a waitress and a customer. As aired, head chef Tim and floor manager Allison were running a cash-only weekly side operation out of the restaurant, a subpar Tex-Mex menu they called La Paqueña Cocina, with Allison pushing it on the waitstaff for a cut and quietly poaching customers for a place of their own. The confrontation has Francesco firing both, Tim boasting he is one of Dallas' best chefs. Stiles closes with the Tex-Mex gone and a new kitchen crew hired. Given the scripting claims that later dogged Mystery Diners, this menu-within-a-menu sting is best read as broadcast rather than as confirmed.
After the cameras left
Zio Cecio is still open and did not need any of it. The Sardinian and Italian restaurant at 4615 West Lovers Lane shows current hours across its own site, OpenTable, Yelp and TripAdvisor in our 2026 pass. It is another established independent that appeared on a crisis show and simply carried on, its survival owing to the food and the following rather than to a hidden-camera night. The side-menu drama made a good episode; it never put the restaurant in real jeopardy.
Sources
Confidence: high. Last checked 2026-07-19.
What is there now
Street imagery via Google Maps. Location approximate.