Pobre Pancho’s

I unfortunately have to agree with most of the other reviews. We’re staying at a hotel close by and tired of driving all day this place was within walking distance. Walked in to a crowded waiting area, an older gentleman tried to take down my name for the waiting list but misunderstood me about 5 times before I gave up and let him write whatever he wanted.
The food? A joke! Chips had a weird taste, the salsa was very thin, more like a sauce. I ordered a smothered burrito half with the chili Verde and half with enchilada sauce. The Chile Verde had almost no meat and oddly tasted like gravy. Enchilada sauce was straight out of the can. Overall, absolutely bland plate of all mushy food. No texture varations, no flavor. Even a glop of sour cream or some cotija could have made it way better. I guess being a so cal native I shouldn’t have expected much from a «mexican» place in Colorado.

Okay yes, not the best Mexican food in town. But I have grown up eating a Pancho’s and El Burrito since the day I could chew. This is 100% comfort food to me and my family. I could see why it would get bad reviews. But I love it!

Used to visit Fort Collins regularly when family members lived there. Pobre’s was a favorite lunch/​dinner spot. Great food, excellent green chili, friendly staff.
Was on a road trip recently and stopped in Fort Collins to visit Pobre’s. Have a lot of fond memories.
Well, this was not the Pobre’s that I remembered. The food was bland and tasteless. In fact one of the worst Mexican meals that I have had in a very long time. The staff was just a notch above rude. Curt, unfriendly and inattentive.
All in all was a very disappointing experience. If you are looking for great Mexican food in the Fort Collins area, there are many fine choices. Unfortunately, Pobre’s is no longer one of them.

If there were an option to give zero stars, I would. For starters, you call that salsa? Tomato soup, ketchup and a red pepper flake. Guacamole dip? In your dreams. Waitress claimed it was homemade… yeah reconstituted with dish water. Nothing had flavor… except the cheese which was three weeks old. Making matters worse (if it could get worse) everything was cold. This review is not a joke… we actually got up and left and went for Thai food. This place needs to be on kitchen nightmares. If there were a way to get them shut down I would. Absolute disgrace to Mexican food.

DO NOT EAT HERE. Seriously.
Spare your tastebuds and bowels.
It’s safe to say that Casa Bonita tastes like a 5 star restaurant compared to this place.
Their salsa. watered down tomato paste.
Guacamole.apparently made «in house».debatable.tasted like pre-​frozen guac that was microwaved, 2 of us actually gagged.
We had cheese enchiladas and an avocado tostada as our main course. The avocado tostada was their crappy guac on a stale tostada shell. As for the enchiladas, they were cold and the cheese wasn’t even melted on the inside.
I’d rather eat wet cat food than have another bite of food from this place.

Wow I have seen it all. A mexican resturant that does not carry any hot sauce. Does not put cheese on nothing unless u pay a dollar extra and by the way all toppings are 1 dollars per topping. Unless all u want is meat and bland Chile that come from a can. Wow gross. And wayyyy over priced stay away from this place. The chips and salsa they give u when u sit down are nasty the salsa is nothing more than tomato paste and water with a hint of chilli.

It’s pretty hard to mess up Mexican food — it’s my favorite — but this place is AWFUL! Way overpriced and NOT good. The staff was incredibly friendly but we were not impressed with this place and will not be back. Do not recommend this one when there are so many other phenomenal Mexican restaurants close by.
I agree with a previous poster that the food here is very bland and tasteless.

As far as Mexican food goes in Fort Collins, it’s really not bad. In fact, I started coming here about 3 years ago with my husband, and over the years it’s really grown on me. It’s a long-​standing tradition in his family to visit this place at least twice a year when they visit the area, and the food is very nostalgic for them as his parents have been coming here since they first got together over 40 years ago!
The sauce they put on the pacorito is odd and delicious. It’s almost like a Mexican gravy. My husband orders the chorizo burrito and it’s loaded up with all sorts of good stuff! The kids options are great and for dessert they can choose between a push pop or ice cream sandwich.
The big thing here is that if you’re used to either authentic Mexican food or tex-​mex, this place is neither of those things and for that reason can be off-​putting. It’s not bad; it’s just different.
Overall, I will return every summer when I’m visiting this area.

This is the most whitewashed Mexican food I’ve had in awhile. I’m giving it 2 stars cause the give you a lot of it but it’s bland. Sorry for he negativity but in this case I can’t really say anything positive.

I finally had the chance to stop by this restaurant after it was closed on a couple other occasions — Only open 5 days a week. It definitely looks authentic when you walk in and the staff is very friendly. I was not impress with the salsa, it had the consistency of tomato juice with some spices. I like a thicker salsa that stays on the chips. I had the smothered beef and bean burrito and the meat tasted unseasoned and little to no texture. The green chili was ok but nothing to remember. I had higher hopes for this place but won’t be going back.

Great smothered Burrito. Would come again.

This place looks sort of divey, so I had high hopes for a taqueria-​type authentic Mexican restaurant. The food was edible, but barely. It was unbelievably bland and my smothered burrito looked like a cat had puked on it. It was fairly busy, which was really surprising. I cannot believe somebody would eat here more than once.

Pobre Pancho’s is one of the oldest family-​owned restaurants in Fort Collins. Owners Frank and Mary Perez, native Mexicans who’ve lived in the city since 1943, have their family members heavily involved in the day to day aspects of the restaurant. Everyone from their daughters, son-​in-​law and their grandchildren chip in to keep the business going.
We went for a family lunch there one afternoon and really did feel the family-​friendliness of it all. Surrounded by sombrero’s and service with a smile, we saw customers leaving and making sure to give members of the Perez family hugs good-​bye. I don’t know how often I’ve seen people hug chefs, servers and bus boys after their meal. Clearly, not regularly.
While Pobre Pancho’s offers Mexican dishes cooked from special family recipes, I’m not sure I’d call it «authentic Mexican», exactly. It’s more like «comfort-​Mexican». The home-​style is the same as a casual American diner serving pot roast and biscuits and gravy. There’s not a lot of flavor, but lots of cheese and iceberg lettuce. I think I told my husband that it was mid-​western Mexican as it reminded us of some of the restaurants in North Dakota.
The service was nice and the kids were offered an ice cream sandwich after the meal (which had they finished lunch, they would have been able to have). You could tell dining here that Pobre Pancho’s has been in business for over 40 years because of the community support, the family atmosphere and not the food (unless comfort-​Mexican is what you’re going for). But I guess you need some cheese and soul food every now and then and not every meal needs to be gourmet.

Inexpensive and good Mexican food all the way around. Tostadas are excellent!

A Fort Collins institution– same owners since 1969. Back when I was a kid and would go (late 70’s) this place seemed to be way on the outskirts of town– now that Ft. Collins is so much bigger, it doesn’t seem to be that far out of the way– a five-​minute drive from town, and you can stop at the legendary JAX.
Portions here are HUGE and very inexpensive, and the staff is friendly and helpful. It was DELICIOUS. Not the best Mexican food I’ve ever had, but being that my family moved from Ft. Collins to San Diego, I became spoiled for that, and NOTHING compares to SoCal Mexican food. I will say that Pobre Pancho’s was significantly better than many places I’ve been to in even Northern CA, and is certainly top-​quality for being located nowhere near the country of its cuisine.
I LOVED it and was delighted that it was still there, in the same location, after all these years… I was sad that I was only passing through Ft. Collins briefly and couldn’t come back again, because I would have!