Cassidy's Mesquite Kitchen — Restaurant in Houston

Cassidy’s is a breakfast and lunchtime spot in the tunnels frequented primarily by people working in downtown Houston. They offer several kinds of breakfast tacos for breakfast (until 10:30 am) and a lunch menu that includes salads, quesadillas, burgers, and seafood (with an emphasis on catfish). It has a relatively spacious dine-in area compared to most restaurants in the tunnels, though the place is a bit haphazardly decorated by random Houston jerseys interspersed with old Life magazine covers and photos (with almost all of the above being poorly framed and many showing water damage).

I stopped in at around 12:30 pm to find the place with several people but not overly busy. I ordered the bacon cheeseburger and made it a combo with fries and a drink (onion rings, and sweet potato fries are also an option in lieu of regular French fries). My order came out relatively quickly, and I was impressed by the quality of the food. The burger, while not being absolutely amazing, had a good flavor, with the fresh sourdough buns being of particular note for their freshness, taste, and texture. The fries were also delicious with a fresh texture that got the mix between crispness and sogginess just right. Additionally, as I dined, one of the managers or owners came around to ask how everyone’s food was, which is something I do enjoy seeing.

That said, and subpar decorations aside, the main detractor for me was price. The cost to upgrade a burger to a combo is $5.50 - more than half of the cost of the burger itself. I can’t ever remember a restaurant charging so much for fries and a drink. While I did enjoy the fries which were of good quality, they don’t justify such an enormous up charge, and is not something I think I would pay for again.

So I can say that I will definitely return here in the future to try out other burgers as well as items like the tacos, quesadillas, and catfish, and I do recommend it as a decent lunch spot. Unfortunately, the shoddy decorations and combo prices means it only warrants 4 stars, rather...

Today I purchased a fried fish plate from Sweet Mesquite and the meal was HORRIBLE! It was pre-breaded frozen fish of very poor quality. The breading on the fish was rubbery and had no flavor. The sprinkling of seasoning on the fish somehow seemed to make it worst. The fries were fried okay and seasoned with the same seasoning as the fish. Salt would have probably been the better option so that all the fried items on the plate not taste exactly the same. I ordered green beans with mushrooms as the other side. That side was wrapped in a little foil pouch, which was not an issue for me, but they were horrible as well. The ends of most of the beans were turning brown and both mushrooms and green beans were spongy in texture. The green beans were seasoned with the same seasoning as the fish and fries. To add insult to injury the bread was even bad. The roll had been toasted but it had obviously been done sometime earlier today as it was hard and cold. I couldn't even bring myself to even eat half of it. I had to just throw it away. That was an absolute waste of $12.23. I will never return to...

👍 The burgers are good. They use a sweet bread for the buns. 🤜 They were a little slow to get moving and take orders at the beginning of the lunch hour. 👍 The iced tea tastes a lot better than most other restaurants in Houston. 👍 I saw someone's baked potato, and it was HUGE. 🤜 It appears that ordering via an app will save you time. I ordered my food to go at the counter, but it looked like people ordered via DoorDash after me, received their orders faster. 🤜 Not the establishment's fault, but I arrived 3 minutes early and sat at the closest chair nearest to the counter to rest from the mile hike here... and some guy cut in line. He didn't even offer an apology when it was obvious that he cut in front of me. I guess next time, I'll be one of "those customers" who stands at the counter and rings the bell before...