Argentina Cafe Empanada Factory — Restaurant in Houston

EDIT: I will bump my rating as they fixed most of the issues, so basically now I don't have any complaints. Great place.

ORIGINAL REVIEW:

Argentina Cafe Empanada Factory made me feel I was back in Argentina but not because of the empanadas.

Overall the experience was ok, I will go back but not in the time being. I was afraid that they would be another Marini's with American flavors and yep... exactly that.

I will try to be as fair as possible and state the good and the bad so if owners read they can make things better.

First of all, I am factoring in the fact that they just opened, this is why I am rating this as a 3 star and not a 1 star.

From start to finish,

PLACE: The place is new, where the old Peru Express used to be, nicely decorated not much to add. It was clear that they were still working on some things but as you would expect any other place.

THE MENU: Empanadas are listed in a random order, so if you want to get a Beef empanada you will find some all over the menu, this ends up being frustrating as I saw the Sweet Beef after than the Beef or the Morcilla one, after ordering I saw the "Saltena" one. Maybe the reason is to force readers to read the entire menu so you can try something new, I don't know. I would like the empanadas to be grouped. From the ingredients it seems none of these empanadas have the original recipe. I had the Beef, Morcilla and Mushroom ones, none of them were outstanding and the Beef was kind of a disappointment, the Beef one from Argentina Cafe is very good, I don't know why the changed the recipe.

DRINKS: This is where I felt like being in Argentina, only bottle water. What a disappointment, bottled water should be a crime, polluting for a glass of water.

SERVER: The employee and checkout system were new, so he did an excellent job, obviously with time things will go better and smoother. He had some issues getting the machine to work but again, only practice makes perfect.

NO PIZZA: We were informed that there was no available Pizza at that time. But to be fair, they do say EMPANADA FACTORY so getting the Pizza in the first place was the mistake.

ORDER: There was a time difference between the first person ordering in our party and the last one because of an issue with the checkout system, the first empanadas exit the kitchen about 5 minutes after being ordered, but the second and third orders in our group exited the kitchen 30 minutes after being ordered and at different times. So we all eat our lunch at different points in time. The absolute hilarious thing was that we asked (and billed) for 1 x Four Cheese Sweet empanada and they brought 4 x Cheese and Sweet (Quince) empanadas. This happened because of the way it was written in the order, no one to blame, just a happy accident.

We waited too much for the empanadas, the place was empty in case anyone wonders. I know, I know... they just opened, empanadas are usually a quick serving item in any restaurant, so I guess I was expecting a faster service.

Overall it was ok, I will go back in a few months to see if anything changed. As a note: the map they have of Argentina does not include the islands, just something to...

I came here on 1/22/2023 around 3:30pm. This was my first time visiting as I referred by a friend after expressing that I was on the hunt for great tasting empanadas. The moment I walked through the door a woman came rushing towards almost shoving me aside while carrying a togo pan. I assumed it was an Ill mannered customer and ignored the encounter. As I proceeded to the counter I waited minutes before anyone came to take my order. I wasn’t too worried bc I was still deciding on what to get.

Unbeknownst to me, the woman that originally rushed me at the door was actually an employee. I was shocked that not only did she rudely shove me, but she also started cleaning tables while I stood waiting to order. I was shocked and confused. Then she proceeds to tell me that I failed to hold the door open for her and never greeted her. Since when is it the duty of a customer to greet and open doors for a business?! I immediately asked to speak with a manager or someone else on duty and she refused, saying that I can find the managers number online. I regret ordering from this place and will NOT be returning. Neither will I refer this place to anyone. The empanadas tasted horrible despite all this.

Needless to say, houston is huge with many other places that sell great tasting empanadas. Don’t waste your time here. The woman refused refused to give me her name so this is the best photo I was able to get.

Only giving one star bc there is no...

It was a good place. We went with the intention of eating dinner but found that it is probably more suited for a quick lunch or snack. Altogether we ordered 8 empanadas for 2 people. I will list them and comment a bit on each. I had the following (sorry, I don't remember the exact names for them); Ham and Cheese - probably my favorite. It was like eating a grilled sandwich. The crust was excellent. Chorizo - I kind of felt that the chorizo was just from a package and was expecting otherwise, so I was a bit disappointed here. Chicken - it came with egg. It was a bit juicy, so oozed out some when I bit into it. The flavor was good, but not great. Blood Sausage - Again, I had a different expectation. I am used to a more traditional blood sausage in a casing and this was loose. The flavor was pretty good though and it was my #2 after ham and cheese. My wife had seafood, shrimp, corn and Nutella/strawberry for a desert. I only had a taste of each of these and they were all pretty good. I thought the seafood and shrimp were similar in taste. The Nutella was not my thing. I dislike Nutella though. Overall the empanadas were well made and very flakey. I was just a bit disappointed in the serving size and available space for eating. Definitely more of a...