This Texas Restaurant Writes Hilarious Signs – And One Of Them Got Everyone Talking

The restaurant in question is El Arroyo, an Austin staple since 1975, and the gags start with the name of the place itself. “El Arroyo” means “the ditch,” which isn’t quite the moniker you’d expect for an eatery. But members of staff insist that the jokey name inspires them, and they may have a point. As the diner’s website puts it, “When your name is ‘The Ditch’, the food better be good!” 

Considering it has been in business for nearly 50 years, El Arroyo has clearly kept customers happy in that regard. But the Tex-Mex eatery also keeps people coming back with the humorous messages spelled out on its marquee sign out front. According to its website, staff have written “every food pun imaginable” on the sign “while never forgetting witty commentary on current events.” 

And thanks to the wonders of the internet age, you don’t have to travel to Austin to enjoy these pithy observations, either. In fact, El Arroyo’s Instagram page has almost 450,000 followers and climbing, as of May 2021. Obviously, people across the country – and, indeed, the world – enjoy reading the latest witticisms posted there.

Over time the El Arroyo team have learned that not all of their signs can be winners – not every joke or pun will land, after all. It’s not just laughs they’ve lost out on, though. Once, one of their ideas caused a situation that got a little out of hand, and it drew an emotional reaction from some of their biggest fans.

This much should be clear already – El Arroyo’s staff have lots of fun when it comes to their sign. Just this past year, they’ve had plenty of inspiration to draw on, too. The world has been a bit chaotic, to say the least. And, rather than making us cry even more, workers decided to look for chinks of light amid the dark times we’ve endured. 

They didn’t do it with just one sign, either. There were plenty of pandemic-inspired marquee messages to keep us laughing throughout 2020 and the year after. This one questions whether any of us read the small print keenly enough. We’re going to guess the answer is no. 

Most of the time, though, it seems that El Arroyo goes for a tone that treads the line between nonsensical and hilarious. Let’s start here with a sign that confesses that its author’s most constant bedtime companions are tiny morsels of food. We will neither confirm nor deny whether we find this one to be relatable.

Here’s another wacky message – the kind of thought you have right before bed that keeps you up all night. It might never have occurred to you to wonder who first was treated to certain birds’ amazing mimicry skills. But now that they mention it, that’s got to be true… right?

Here’s another one that might cause a few nightmares: it might just make you re-evaluate what at the time seemed like hours of innocent fun. You probably never thought of your favorite childhood board game that way. Sorry – blame those twisted restaurant workers, not us!

El Arroyo staff mostly write their own signs, but they also accept submissions from fans who might have a funny quip to share with the world. We’re not sure if the staff or the public came up with this one. It’s a statement to which we can all relate on those days when we’re not quite looking our best. Yep, that’s “most days” for us, too.

Parents, if you relate to that one, then this sign will tickle you, too. Now this might not actually be an objective fact. But it sure feels true, right? In the comment section of this Instagram post, you’ll find plenty of corroborating evidence. One mom even hashtagged “Where did my cake pop go?” So she clearly had an upsetting memory that chimed with this sign. 

It’s not just everyday people who love the El Arroyo signs, either – take this shot as proof. The cast of Netflix’s Queer Eye visited the eatery while in Texas and got a surprise. Now celebrities, especially successful ones, are presumably well used to seeing themselves referenced on signs and billboards, but we’re betting not often quite like this...

As previously mentioned, though, not all of El Arroyo’s sign gags get such rave reviews. One controversy started in early April 2021 when the restaurant posted one of its signature updates to Instagram. This time, though, it had some pretty bad news for its fans: the eatery's sign had been stolen right out of the parking lot.

The El Arroyo team shared the same information to Twitter but, there, they also uploaded some of their building’s security footage. It showed four people carrying the sign away, but this apparently hadn’t been enough to immediately identify the thieves. So restaurant workers put out a plea to the public to help them recover their much-treasured logo. 

Soon enough the restaurant’s staff weren’t the only ones pleading for the safe return of the famous sign. Even Texas governor Greg Abbott chimed into the conversation surrounding the theft. In a video message – in which he spoke with a trooper by his side – he said he’d deploy resources from the Department of Public Safety in a bid to help find the missing property. 

It was around this time in the day that social media users realized something was amiss. Suspiciously, the day on which El Arroyo’s sign had disappeared just so happened to be April 1, also known as April Fool’s Day. Could it really be true that this heinous “crime” had in fact been made up for a laugh?

Shortly thereafter, El Arroyo took to Twitter to reveal that its sign had been found at the flagship YETI store in South Austin. And far from coincidentally, this proved the perfect segue to announce that the restaurant and the cup-makers had teamed up to create something special – and, no, it was not a quip for the sign. 

It turned out that El Arroyo and YETI had teamed up to make limited-edition cocktail-sized cups designed to keep margaritas as cold as possible. For many fans of the restaurant’s signs, that drink would be welcome after such a roller coaster of a day. Still, all’s well that ends well, right? As long as there are some guaranteed tacos involved, then we guess so, yes...

But not all of their jokes come at the expense of their adoring fans, though. El Arroyo has used celebrity news as inspiration for its signs, too. This one encourages us to keep pressing through even the hardest of days because, well, our favorite pop divas have been through worse. But just a few states away, two other small businesses are using their signs not only to inspire, but to engage in a very public feud.

It all kicked off when a guy at Bridge Kaldro Music in Christiansburg, Virginia, suggested to owner Ed Bridge that they start a sign war. His boss, unsurprisingly, had no idea what this was. But when his employee brought him up to speed, he liked the sound of it!

Bridge then began strategizing his opening move. His first message, which was later published on Facebook, read, “Hey Super Shoes, want to start a sign war?” It wasn’t the most imaginative note, but Bridge was just testing the waters. He didn’t know whether the shoe store across the street would be up for the show-down. But oh it was...

Imagine Bridge’s joy when Super Shoes did decide to join him in glorious battle. Its response, “Hey Bridge Kaldro! Our shoe 8trings are stronger than your guitar string” was pretty darn funny. Even the fact that the store ran out of the letter “S” somehow came across as charming. 

The stage was now set. Both sides had made their intentions clear. Battle lines had been drawn. The war was upon them. Bridge Kaldro fired back with, “Your shoestrings never got anyone a date,” which, we think you’ll agree, was a hilarious counter punch.

“Keep your play dates, we specialize in solemates,” Super Shoes wrote on another sign. At this point, it became obvious that the shoe emporium had someone on its team who specialized in puns. That’s truly an essential talent for any squad engaging in a sign war. “Solemates.” Magnificent.

What happened next changed everything, though. Bridge Kaldro decided to widen the scope of the sign war; it wanted to fight on multiple fronts! Beginning with a delicious pun of its own, this new sign said, “What a ‘croc.’” Then the challenge was made to another business.

“[I don’t know] what stinks worse, your shoes or Kabuki’s sign,” was the shot heard around Christiansburg. Local Japanese restaurant Kabuki had been served. Would it respond or stay neutral? Thankfully, the restaurant joined in with, “You got to B-sharp to make good shoe-shi and we won’t string you along.”

The pun game from Kabuki on this sign signaled things had just jumped up several notches. Bridge Kaldro and Super Shoes were tangling with a professional here. Three puns in one sign? Oh, and their next few signs were pretty great, too.

Soon, more businesses then threw their hats in the ring. The Christiansburg Pharmacy’s first sign read, “Music, shoes and food are fine. But your health is on our mind.” While the effort was appreciated, it did feel slightly akin to an out-of-touch parent trying to get down with the cool kids. Cringe.

“Shoes, strings, sushi? Your girl will leave if the IRS is after you,” came next from Hunt & Associate, LLC. Yes, even the accountants were getting in on the act! To be fair, we never would’ve credited number crunchers with a sense of humor, so color us pleasantly surprised. 

A local gas station then popped up with, “We will fuel the sign warz.” Its use of “Z” instead of an “S” was brilliantly ’90s. The Hampton Inn’s contribution, “Songs, shoes and sushi r worth the fuss, but at the end of the day they sleep with us!” was stellar, too.

For our money, though, Lawson Mobile Home Supply scored the biggest victory with its contribution. It read, “A musician, shoe salesman, pharmacist and barber walk into Kabuki. Bartender says, ‘This could be a sign.’” Someone get these people a 10-minute set at the improv!

By this point, most businesses in the area were involved. Things got crazy, you guys. We think Super Shoes summed it up best with, “Boy… that escalated quickly.” In our oh-so-humble opinion, any store that references the Anchorman news team battle is run by people with excellent taste in absurd nonsense. 

Clearly, everyone involved in the Christiansburg sign war was having a whale of a time. But then something incredible happened: the world took notice! A Facebook group was set up to keep track of all the signs, and tens of thousands from across the globe began to follow the silliness.

The sign war had clearly become a phenomenon. The man who started it all was interviewed by WSLS 10 News in April 2021 and showed great humility. Bridge said, “I’m just so humbled because this is bigger than my little music store.” Aww.

At the core of it, Bridge was happy as a clam that international attention had been drawn to all the businesses in Christiansburg. He said, “If we can put this whole area a little bit more on the map for people coming to visit, why not?”

Now, in general, conflicts are usually a terrible drain on the economy. But not this one! The Christiansburg sign war actually caused profits to shoot through the roof for many local outlets. According to Bored Panda, Kabuki owner Yoshi Koeda said, “It’s amazing free advertisement for us all.”

Claytor Wear – a clothing website – even figured out a way to harness the hoopla surrounding the sign war to help a local charity. What did the company actually do? Well, it sold stickers and shirts for Literacy Volunteers of the New River Valley – bringing in much needed funds.

The site’s owner Jonathan Friend felt the sign war was a perfect example of how people can still come together in tough times. According to Bored Panda, he said, “I think the signs are just really an homage we are really all in this together. So, it’s been really uplifting to see all the businesses support each other.”

Overall, the Christiansburg sign war didn’t just do a lot of good for the local community and businesses there, it also charmed the world, proving that local signage carries more power than you'd expect. Whether their message is a playful war, a big old confusion, or a complete spelling fail, local signs get a lot of attention, and for good reason.