Monday, January 19, 2026

Tanglewood Farms (Waco, Texas)

From Waco Tribune-Herald in the vacant Playhouse Cafe days (c. 2001)

While it was part of the original plan for this site, it will be difficult to work the 80+ entry "Interstate 35 in Waco" page into smaller sites for Numbered Exits. Tanglewood Farms was built in 1978 at 221 S. Jack Kultgen Expressway in Waco, soon gaining a positive reputation for its homemade biscuits and good breakfast menu. It changed hands in 1991, but business declined, cut into by things like Cracker Barrel further north and the Shoney's on the other side of the freeway. The site was soon re-developed with the Texas Playhouse being built next to the site, and the restaurant itself becoming the Playhouse's restaurant component, Playhouse Cafe, serving breakfast, lunch, and dinner, but it was short-lived and closed in 1999. In 2001, it was reopened as Magic China, which would open there (ultimately relocating from 1616 Wooded Acres Drive), and operated until 2015 (planned to relocate, but never did).

After that, it was torn down and replaced with Premier ER & Urgent Care - Waco, meanwhile, the Playhouse itself became a restaurant.

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