Pancho’s Mexican Buffet

Good service, food was good (but not authentic), went here for lunch with my dad, 28.00 dollars for two buffets and two teas. It was about 4 $ more expensive then I felt it should be that’s why they get three stars for being over priced

Green Chilly Stew, been goin there since’72

So of y’all are crazy. Pancho’s is one of my favorite restaurants of all time! I wish there were more still standing around Houston. :(

So my husband loves some pancho’s and Texarkana no longer has this :(so, spur of the moment trip to Houston led us to pancho’s. Ah! It was so-​so to me but he loved it! The kids didn’t care for it but again, he loved it! He said it reminded him of when he was a kid and the family would eat at Pancho’s. So, just depends on what you like I suppose!

My craving for Pancho’s Chile Relleno was oh so satisfied… How can I make this at home since they are no longer are open in San Antonio?
This location had three additional buffet stations in addition to their main line: Hot, Cold, and Dessert. The Hot station included several different types of soups including Chicken Tortilla & Pozole. The Cold station includes sour cream and several different types of salsas. The dessert station includes jellos, bunuelos, churros, and even some soft serve ice cream… but I’m there for their famous sopapillas!!!
On Sat & Sun, they also add Chicken Mole and Menudo to their menu. I was there on a Sat eve but just didn’t have room to try to the Mole.
I am going to say that Pancho’s is an accustomed taste. I typically wouldn’t be taking anyone with me as they probably wouldn’t like it… I grew up in Dallas with a Pancho’s in my neighborhood. There are certain items I absolutely love… Chile Relleno & Sopapillas! I am here today in Houston for a meeting so on my way home, I had to make a stop… I have a craving since they closed in San Antonio at the beginning of 2015.
The enchiladas have never really had much of a taste but I choose to try a couple just because they actually looked good. The sour cream and beef actually tasted pretty good also. That was a nice surprise.
Pancho’s Mexican Buffet… where you can raise the flag for your server!

Disgusting… Anyways my friend convinced me to come here because she’s been coming here since she was little, she also looked disappointed after this experience. Dirty dishes, un tasteful food, awful desserts. We were very hungry and were prepared to enjoy the buffet. The cookies were like hockey pucks, my kid even tried to break it in half and couldn’t do it. Maybe in the past used to be a good restaurant but now it will just take your hunger away.

Love that I found one. They have closed all the ones near me. Very little has changed. My favorite for 30 plus years is the Flautas with gauc and sour cream. Finish off with fresh hot sopapillas.

I’ve not eaten at a Pancho’s in over 25 years. I have such warm memories of going there with my parents, looking over all the wonderful TexMex dishes they plated on the hot metal plates in their thick plastic housings. Then raising the flag on the table when you want more. And the best part… hot, fresh made sopapillas. Nom nom nom!
It’s pretty much the same as I remembered it. The food looks just like I remember it looking, but perhaps my taste buds have enhanced. Or the food quality went down. The food was mediocre. Not terribly bad, but one can find such better TexMex. But for under $ 8, you can’t beat it. (Price is slightly higher for dinner and even yet for weekends, but still under $ 10.)
What I don’t remember are the additional buffets of soups, nachos and fruits and other desserts, including churros. The nachos were very much sub-​par; the meat was very runny, the cheese sauce was bland and also runny, no beans. I didn’t try the soups, as I was full after my one plate of food. The churros were a little stale but tasted good. The sopapillas were just as good as I remembered, but I’m 80% sure the honey was a syrup and not actual honey (air bubbles don’t move up quite so quickly in real honey).
I never got to raise the flag, as the server constantly checked up on my needs. That used to my favorite part of going to Pancho’s as a kid!
In all, it wasn’t a bad experience, but it’ll be a long time before I return. Maybe not another 20 years.

So I’ve been coming here since i was a small kid, every time, i only come for one thing: the sour cream enchiladas. I’ve NEVER disappointed with those. Today that changed. They changed SOMEthing in the sauce and when i confronted the manager, she argued back saying they haven’t changed ANYthing. But I’ve eaten them for YEARS and i KNOW how they taste. Anyway, we also tried the chocolate ice cream. It was spoiled and sour. The rice pudding was raw and watery and there was no flan… At all. Everything just shot my expectations down. I wont be going to this location anymore. I recommend the Almeda Mall location instead, THIS IS NOT PANCHO’S ANYMORE.

If you are looking for the old school Pancho’s of days past, this is it. Everything is the same. You get your first serving in the buffet line. Once you are at your table you raise the flag for more. Ask for sopapillas and eat them with the honey provided on the table. The food is delicious and very reasonably priced. We paid $ 8 for the buffet. The only reason it gets four stars instead of 5 is because the restaurant needs some serious cleaning.

I’ve been going to Panchos for 25 years. I make it about once a year or so. Every visit is about the same so I feel qualified to make a review.
The food: I give the food 2 – 3 stars. Something in between «I’ve had better» and «A-​OK» is where it lands for me. Just about every item on the cafeteria style buffet line tastes the similar. I generally go for the same things every visit: taquitos, tamales, flautas, beans, rice, and a couple of enchiladas – you get your choice of 4 – 5 different types of enchiladas – and a taco. I’m a tex mex lover so it would be really hard to mess this up. However, let’s get on to the real fun: Raising the flag!
Once you sit down you notice a small flagpole on the table. Whenver you want service you raise the flag and the server comes over to help. This may seem trifle, but when you’re a kid it is something you can’t wait to do. Why would anyone raise the flag? Great question! The cafeteria style buffet line is all you can eat. If you happen to be enjoying the enchiladas that particular visit and wish to try a different kind, or maybe you just want more tacos, you can raise the flag and have the waitstaff bring you more. Same goes with any other item on the menu. Need a drink refill? Raise the flag! Need some more napkins? Raise that flag! Want to ask the waitress for her number? Don’t be a creep! Just raise the flag and order more tacos or tamales instead.
As you approach the end of your dining experience your server will ask you if you care for sopapillas. All I can say is that the sopapillas are what Panchos excels at. Delicious! Add a little honey and enjoy a freshly made sopapilla or 3. They have other desserts like churros, cake, cookies, and soft serve ice cream if you really want to go for caloric depression for the rest of the day.
Panchos would probably get a 2 star rating on food alone. However, the flag and sopapillas bump it up 2 stars for me. There you have it. Panchos was a staple in my childhood and adolescence. «Raising the flag» was what all the cool kids were doing long before text messaging and ¾G connections were around. Hopefully, Panchos will stick around for a while, but the area locations around here are becoming increasingly more shady every year.

DON’T COME HERE!!! WE WERE OVERCHARGED FOR ADDITIONAL ADULT, INSTEAD OF CHILD BUFFETS, AND DRINKS WHICH WE NEVER ORDERED. The manager Manuel had a problem with me bringing it to his attention, and went to a back room after he refused to refund us for the additional buffets and drinks we were charged for. I wish I could give it a negative 5 stars. The food is ok. I’ll give it a 2.5. IT doesn’t taste like it did 20 – 30 years ago. Some of it is good, some decent, and some was just edible if you are starving.

It is not too bad. It is good for the price you pay. I have always loved going to Pancho’s. Always pig out on the flautas. If you go for a fine dining experience you will be sorely disappointed. It is quantity over quality.

I Am Very Disappointed Ive Been Coming Here Since I Was A Small Child & With Time The Food & Service Has Gotten Worst. The Food Doesn’t Taste As Good & The Mexicans Are Rude

It’s not the same as it used to be– although I wasn’t a huge fan before. The tamales were actually really good.

So the family and I were on the way to Lake Conroe for the weekend. We got hungry and saw a sign that said Tex Mex Buffet. I remembered the Pancho’s commercials from when I was a kid and suggested we stop. Once we got inside I noticed how run down the place looked, but hey some of the best restaurants are «hole in the wall» like places so we proceeded to the line. I got 2 tacos and some enchiladas. The taco shells were stale, and the enchiladas had a meat in it that resembled beef but didn’t taste like beef. The cheese was like the cheap movie theater nacho cheese; actually I think the cheese at the movie theater is far better. About the halfway through the meal our stomachs started making some noises that scared the people in the booth next to us. We deserted the meals and headed straight for the bathrooms. The bathrooms look like they haven’t been cleaned since those commercials aired when I was a kid. We high tailed it out of there and used the bathrooms at grocery store up the street. We were feeling the effects of Pancho’s for the rest of the day. Stay away. If I could rate this place a 0 I would.

If you like to pig out on sopapillas with honey this is your unlimited paradise. Raise the sticky flag and get as many as you like. The food is always subpar, but the soup bar seemed decent. Really I just come here like once a year for the sopapillas. Oh yea the bathroom was really really gross :(

Haha. I had never been to Pancho’s before. It was so-​so. Mostly fried things you would find in the freezer section of your local grocery store. No fajita :(If they had fajitas, I would consider making the trek across town again to eat here. The flag you raise for service was sticky and the bathroom was unspeakably gross. I think the local bums go here to shower in the urinals or something. Other than that, the price was great! I did enjoy the carnitas, and the cips and salsa. My Chimichonga was good and so was my chicken mole.

I was not impress

Bending my fork into proper shape, I realized that this place is not the same Panchos I remember as a kid (many moons ago).
People in the neighborhood come here for the quantity/​price ratio ($ 6.99 for buffet dinner) and a decent enough taste, even if below average. Or, like me, they come here for Sopapillas!!!
The buffet consists of typical Tex-​Mex and some stews. It has a small salad bar and dessert bar with no choices other than oranges for me. The salsa bar has poor pico de gallo, but a decent enough red salsa.
In the buffet, they ask what you want. I got the flautas, beef enchilada, chile relleno, tamale, and two beef tacos, and a dab of rice and beans. When asked whether I wanted cheese, I made the mistake of saying ‘yes’ first, before qualifying my answer to limit it to the relleno. So, he smothered the relleno, flautas and tamales with nasty ol’ Astrodome nacho cheese (I guess the simulated cheese vendor has at least one business customer).
They served a glob of guacamole that consists more of onion and tomato than avocado. And, the guacamole is watery around the edges, which to me looks like they bought frozen mush avacodo and thawed it, and tried to hide it with onions and tomatoes.
At the table, I am distracted by something sticky on the table edge where I rest my left arm.
The relleno has a thick coat of soft yellow breading, and the inside has a little cheese and chopped pepper. no detectable meat. Twenty years ago, this was tasty. Today, I only took one bite.
Everything was below par. So, I raise the flag for what I really came here for. sopapillas and honey. The waitress served three hot sopapillas that are as good as I remember them.
Is it worth having to go through the buffet to get to sopapillas? No.
Also note: The pictures of the interior and the food are not from this location.