Pappasito’s Cantina

My last couple of customer service experiences with airport food had been less than mediocre, so I was hesitant to not just go with my Snickers and Dorito’s combo from the magazine store.
Alas, Pappasito’s Cantina reeled me in. In terms of fast-​food counter service, these folks were incredibly pleasant and efficient! I think Kimberly was my check-​out attendant and was so very sweet. As mentioned this is an airport, so I paid about $ 20 for a chicken quesadilla (comes with pico, sour cream, and jalapeños), a side of guac (extra), and bottled water. It took about 10 minutes for my number to be called.
The staff in the back is more efficient than friendly, but that’s also the kitchen. They don’t automatically give you salsa, but if you ask, you get two containers.
For the price in the airport, I’d say this was a good meal size, and I could’ve shared it if I had a flying companion. The quesadilla was a little greasy, but was still pretty good regardless with a nice cheese to chicken ratio and ample pico, sour cream, and jalapeños as well as the extra guac.
They have little two top tables so you don’t have to take up a four top by your lonesome, and can watch the crowd go by as you stuff your face with Tex-​Mex.
I appreciate the pleasant staff, and will probably hit up Pappasito’s on future layovers!

Don’t expect much for the price. Waited 12 minutes for 3 beef enchiladas. 10 people which ordered after me got their food. Kitchen staff forgot my order. Asked for a refund and and manager didn’t even offer an apology.
My friend who got his food before me said I was the luck one. This is after he had the steak tacos.
Boo on them.

This is definitely one of the better options in the airport. We chose here after determining that this was what we were in the mood for based on the other selections, and it was nearer to our gate. Wife had the steak fajita plate, I had the fish taco plate, and my oldest had the chicken soft taco plate. All came with rice and (awesome) refried beans. Overall it was good. The wife’s plate (steak, onions, pico, tortillas, guac, and sour cream (extra charge)) was probably the best of all our entrees. The steak was well seasoned, there was plenty of food, and the beans were really good. I think they put meat in their refried beans, which is a very nice touch that I’ve surprisingly never had. My fish tacos were big and looked really good, but they over did it with the purple cabbage, and under did it on the seasoning and the sauce (if there was any, which I think there was?) I will say that I’ve had a lot of fish tacos in my life, so I may be judging them a little hard. The fish was moist and a nice portion (bigger than the tortilla), just not seasoned to my taste. The subtraction of a lot of the cabbage and addition of salsa and sour cream made them better. I did not taste my daughter’s chicken tacos because she ate them fast. It usually takes her a while to eat because she has to talk and do everything else besides eat, but here this wasn’t the case. I’m going to say they were good based on that. They also had a decent beer selection to include Sam Adams Winter Lager. The service was great (the cashiers smiled and were VERY friendly), prices were in line with what you find/​expect in the airport, and the portions were big. I’d definitely eat here again, as there are other items on their menu that I’m curious to try.

Continuing a preflight ritual, we split a plate of nachos with a large classic margarita and everything was really good! Airport food gets a notably bad rap but this is Houston, no subpar nachos will be tolerated. The fajita steak and chips showed a lot of care during preparation. Meat was flavorful and tender, cut cross-​grain which is essential for such a tough cut of meat which allows them to cook it a juicy medium rare. The chips were thick and crisp to hold up all of the fajita, guacamole, cheese, and pico. A hearty snack or meal like this is always a great idea before a long flight, in case the on-​board food options are less than appetizing.
The margarita was frosty and a delightful way to cool off and relax. The order was processed quickly even with a steady stream of customers. So even if you have just enough time, Pappasito’s is a superior option to the grab-​and-​go stalls selling boring sandwiches. I also have to compliment the staff working register, it must be difficult to serve grumpy, exhausted travelers all day, but they were joyful and very nice making sure we had our food quickly and effortlessly.

I love this place! I sat down at the bar. Christie was prompt in greeting me and taking my drink order. She gave me ample amount of time to chose my meal and the food came out quicker then you can say «thank ya ma’am». It was cooked to perfection, and I practically inhaled it. I do feel that there was not enough wasabi ratio to the amount of soy sauce provide. There was an incredible amount of sriracha sauce which I gobbled up. My plate and check were taken care of in a timely manner.

Inconsistent with the quality of their food. I have purchased food here several times and ordered the same thing every time. Chicken enchiladas with rice and beans. Twice I have taken my food to my work area and noticed they forget to put chicken in my enchiladas. Once I received my order and it tasted like frozen chicken was put in the enchiladas because the quality of the meat was the consistency of frozen chicken thawed in the microwave. For 16 dollars I expect my food to taste like restaurant quality Pappasitos not frozen dinner mexican food.

Outstanding skirt steak, right off the grill. I look forward to layovers in Houston just for this steak

It’s very simple. All I wanted was a steak fajita taco. Can’t mess that up right? Well, this airport spot didn’t do a good job. The service was quick, but not overly friendly. I understand that working in the airport at a restaurant can be challenging for most folks.
Steak Fajita Taco:
It comes with pico de gallo, cheese and meat. I asked for sour cream (1.19 extra) and cilantro… extra cilantro.
It was ready quickly, but here’s the breakdown:
Overall taste: nothing to rave about.
Ingredients:
Pico de gallo — tomatoes were overripe, cilantro was wilted and onion was weak.
I added some salsa and took the first bite and there was way too much cheese and I noticed that the temperature wasn’t even a little hot. Since there was so much cheese, did she think I asked for extra CHEESE instead of cilantro? By the way, there wasn’t any extra cilantro at all. I’m kinda glad because as stated earlier, it was wilted.
Either way, I ended up taking a quick phone call and by the time it was over, the tortilla was soggy which directly matched the tomatoes. I ended up scraping off all the extras and tried to work with the less soggy parts of the tortilla. Nope, didn’t work. So I just ate the meat which by this time, was frigid. All this for $ 8.85…gotta love airport gouging.

It’s an airport restaurant. What can you expect?
The lady at the cash register was very sweet to me which I really appreciate when I’m stressed from traveling. I ordered the chicken tortilla soup to go. The chicken that came with it was actually really good, white meat, nicely grilled. The amount of tortilla they give doesn’t make sense. Way too much. The soup itself is good with lots of vegetables. Overall, nothing exciting, it’s just a another place to get food that’s not Burger King at the airport.

I got the chicken/​steak fajita mix. The rice was undercooked, there was an actual crunch to it. The meat was flavorful but really heavy on the cayenne pepper. Not much to say about the refried beans. The best part of the dish was the guacamole.

Food from airports is always hit and miss if you ask me. A lot of times, your options are limited to fast food or watered down versions of full scale restaurants from surrounding areas. I think there might be limitations on what types of ingredients can be trucked into these terminals for security purposes. Maybe that would explain why the food in these joints always tastes like it’s missing something? Who knows?
What I do know is that the breakfast burrito here at Pappasito’s ain’t no damn joke! The joker is freaking huge, and packed with mad flava. About to hop on a 9 or 10 hour flight to the Pacific? Eat one of these suckers and find yourself thumbing your nose at the flavorless, high sodium meals they try to feed you on the plane. This burrito will indeed fuel your flight all the way to your final destination.
Go buy you one!

I stopped in here on a connecting flight to vegas. Wife and I had an hour or two to kill, so we grabbed lunch at the airport food court. Now eating food at an airport usually means two things, mediocre food at a premium price. I will say at least one of those things doesn’t apply here.
I ordered the nachos without any meat because to add any type of meat would have bankrupted me. The veggie option was $ 8.50 with cheese, onions, beans, jalapeños and salsa. The toppings were fresh and had excellent flavor. The chips themselves were awesome. These were a step above average chips and were crisp and loaded with flavor.
I was pleasantly surprised of the quality I got, although the portion size was abit small for the price. I doubt I will be back at this airport any time soon, but if I am, I will return here.

Really friendly service, but $ 20.50 for sloppy, processed Mexican food, a side of guacamole and a small water???

The food is fine just pricey. it is just mexican food nothing that really wows me. this is one Pappas place that just doesn’t seem worth it.

The 4 stars is mainly for the friendly staff. Ate here twice within a week, the first time my dad and I shared the Tampico burrito, great veggie burrito with grilled onions and peppers, we asked them to grill the burrito which they did gladly! The burrito was very tasty and didn’t make us feel bloated or heavy after
On our way back home the following week we opted for the same thing and also split a veggie quesadilla. This time we weren’t too impressed with either but it wasn’t horrible. My brother got the cancun burrito and really liked it!
I like that they grill some of their ingredients in the front and you can actually see it. Most airport food places are notorious for reheating and serving.
The prices are decent for the airport, and the portions are just the right! The wait both times wasn’t too bad!

This will be short. And gross. Apologies.
Two sausage, egg, and cheese breakfast tacos were ordered, one for each individual. Two cases of food poisoning were had. One, violently upwards, on the plane ride to Honolulu. The second, violently downwards, the following morning.
Nope. Nope. Nope.

I eat here a lot. I travel, and every opportunity I get I come and have either breakfast or dinner here. The food is awesome. And the service is outstanding. This is true for this restaurant chain. When you come here and you order your food not only are they friendly and they remember you and they’ll ask you how did your trip go or where you going. you know sometimes it’s the little things makes a difference in customer service.

So when I rate a food establishment that is in an airport I definitely grade on a different scale than say something in a hip downtown area. But with that in mind, this place has it going on for being at an airport.
Just wrapped up almost four hours from San Francisco and then another three or so to Miami three hours later. I needed to eat. I love my Tex-​Mex food and I wanted some ever since I flew over the Grand Canyon. I also wanted my Shiner Bock because it is hard to come by in California. Pappasito’s made it happen.
Nice location in the food court area of the terminal. The menu is nicely laid out and has great selection of different types of food and lots of a la carte options. I can’t remember the burrito I ordered but it was with steak, a spicy sauce of some sort, and lots of yummy cilantro somewhere in the mix. I ordered a Shiner too by the way.
The clerk was super friendly and chatty, but not so much to hold up the people behind me. She was very nice working with me and my picky order. She was interested in the fact that it was my daughter’s birthday that day and made her feel special.
The wait was about right for the quality of the food and how crowded they were. The young woman who was handing out the orders was also extremely friendly and had a nice chat with me about my upcoming flight to Miami and the cruise we about to embark on.
In the end, the burrito was probably some of the best airport food court food I’ve ever had. It was cooked right, the ingredients were fresh, and satisfied me. A very good value. The Shiner beer was amazing too but of course Pappasito’s only gets credit for carrying it and opening the bottle for me.

The food here is excellent, especially by airport standards. The star deductions are for:
— They forgot to make my order. After waiting for about 15 mins, the cashier went to the kitchen to check. Came out, apologized and offered a free soda; but I already had one.
— Prices are on par with a sit down restaurant and qty is less.
Overall a decent option, if you an expense the meal and in general can wait 5 – 1 min for your food after ordering.

Despite the airport pricing, I’m giving this 5-​stars. This is probably the best airport food in the world. We had one steak fajita plate and one chicken fajita plate; $ 14.99 each. The flavor on the meat was that incredible flavor that you can only get in Texas. The plate comes with rice, beans, guacamole, lettuce and pico de gallo. Sour cream and cheese cost extra. From now on, I will be looking forward to any flight coming through IAH.
FYI, the place is in Terminal E. It’s also not a sit-​down full service restaurant. Take your food and sit down in the food court.