Mr. Pancho — Restaurant in North Bay

DO NOT EAT HERE OR GIVE THEM YOUR MONEY. TERRIBLE SERVICE AND POOR RESTAURANT!!! THIS PLACE CONTINUES TO GET WORSE AND WORSE - NOTHING LIKE THEY WERE WHEN THEY FIRST OPENED.

Update July 24, 2025: I've reduced my rating from 3 stars to 1. I went to the Algonquin restaurant location to dine in for dinner around 5:45pm, and upon purchase of a burrito and few sides (came to around $29), the worker, while nice and respectful, requested that I "accept the food as take out and that dining in was not an option as they were preparing to close." I then questioned: "your sign says you're open until 7 and it's not even 6pm yet?" The worker then sort of sighed and rolled her eyes, and agreed to let me dine in. Another issue - I tried paying with cash and the worker demanded that I pay with the exact amount of cash and was not able to give me any change. It was as though her cash register was closed for the day, and it was a huge inconvenience for me to pay her with cash. Idk, maybe don't try to close your cash register an hour and half before your sign says you're closing? Maybe keep the restaurant open to the hours you say you're open for? That has to be my worst dining experience ever in my life - why call yourself a dine in restaurant and post a sign on your door that says you're open later when you're not going to honor it?

Seriously everyone, this place has ok tacos, but don't come here to eat! You'll be meet with overpriced, NOT authentic Mexican food, and lazy customer service who doesn't want patrons dining in their restaurants.

Original review (spring 2025): I've dined at the Algonquin location several times since they opened, and I'd say they're overall okay. I've never had a terrible experience here though, and their tacos are tasty. Staff has always been good to me.

First of all, I understand the owner is Mexican and may be from Mexico, but this is NOT authentic Mexican food. However, being that North Bay is limited in Mexican cuisine, this place is OK for taco cravings.

Pros: tacos are loaded - lots of meat and fresh toppings, and they have awesome sauces. Tasty tacos! They're around $5.50 each or 3 for $15.

Cons: they don't serve free chips and salsa like most other Mexican restaurants do. I tried to dine in on May 31 2025 and restaurant was closed, even though online and Facebook said they were open. Tried calling on June 5 2025 to make sure they were open before I came over, and no one answered. I decided to just drive over since online said they were open, and they were open, and I was the only patron there. Someone should've been able to answer the phone right? The whole restaurant looked like it was closed up/kitchen closed and there were no smells of anything cooking. No music was playing like there used to be. The only worker there heated up my order in a microwave, and they were unable to give me a full order of a side due to it running out - something that seems to happen a lot there: running out of ingredients and menu items. It was quite off putting that the restaurant seemed like their kitchen was closed, and my meal was thrown together with ingredients pulled out of a fridge and heated up. The worker didn't wear any gloves while preparing my order. The tacos were good though, and the worker was friendly. The attached pic is what I ordered and ate, for $30 including a tip. They're becoming pretty expensive for okay Mexican food. In general, they're a bit overpriced (see attached photo of menu).

A few years ago, I had sort of an awkward/rude confrontation with the owner; in which he argued with me that I didn't order something when I did and paid for it.

They do seem different in terms of quality and service than they were a few years ago - slowly declining perhaps?

No parking - gotta park and pay on the street.

Overall, I'd say they're a little overpriced, but they serve alright Mexican food. I'll be back for more tacos....

What is pictured vs what I got lol. Was very excited to try the quesoburrios. The photo looked pretty amazing. What I got was less than sub par for $25. Instead of me just complaining online, I reached out to the resturaunt by phone. They instructed me even though it was ordered through Me Ponchos I had to call Casa Maria if I had any concerns. Kind of weird customer service. Reached out to them, they seen the msg annd didn’t respond. Few days later sent an ? and got a very short and cold response saying I had to come to their location in person the next day for a more toasted taco. Well I work, and don’t appriciate the lack of customer service. A better approach then a non apology cold response would have been “sorry your meal wasn’t to our standards, I’ve added a credit to your account for your next order to use at your leisure” That would have ensured that I ordered again, and ordered more, ultimately making them more money while giving another opportunity. But giving an ultimatium if I wanted a taco I must go the following morning, is quite silly. I told them I worked that day and they didn’t even respond. Lack of care. Would be better if they used photos of their real food vs google images. Wish they would have just provided basic customer service so I didn’t even have to bother with a review like this, but for the price you pay for their menu items you would expect good...

We had gone a drive from Stouffville to North Bay on cold winter day and our target and hope was to find some good food for lunch. We parked in the downtown area and started walking around in search of a food joint which was open and would inspire us to step in. And that’s when we came across Mr Pancho and the idea of having Mexican appealed to us all (daughter and husband). It’s a small cozy place, nothing fancy, decor made of ethnic Mexican pieces. Menu is small and covers appetiser, mains and drinks. It was easy to choose and place the order. Order comprised of chicken soft tacos, 3 meat main platter and Pablo chicken main. Good serving size and the food was amazingly good. Very flavourful, good fresh ingredients used and accompanied by some awesome freshly made in-house sauce. Will highly recommend this place if one wants to try some fuss free, home...