El Paisa BBQ — Restaurant in Houston

If you are looking at an interesting and flavorful twist from your normal fast food experience, El Paisa BBQ is your place. It is a small take-out only Colombian food kitchen situated in a strip shopping center parking lot that is located on Richmond between Jeanetta and Tanglewilde.

The service is not fast as the food is cooked when the order is placed and takes between 15 and 20 minutes to prepare depending upon the amount of other customers placing orders.

There are several Colombian burger and hot dog variations served with fries. One member of our group tried the Paisa Perro, a hotdog variation from the Paisa region in NW Colombia. It was sweet and juicy and rated as the best hotdog this person had ever sampled. The Paisa Perro was reasonably priced at $3.

The rest of our group tried various meats (chicken, beef steak and pork) grilled Colombian style and served aboard a large and delicious arepa (a corn based, circular bread about 1/2 inch thick). The meats were well seasoned and were complimented by the moist and chewy arepa. These meat/arepa dishes go for between $5 and $7 depending on whether you order a regular or large size. Pork belly, chorizo dishes and blood sausage were also on the menu but there were not enough members in our group to sample the full menu.

For appetizers, we order the empanadas. That was the best decision of the night. Many places make very good empanadas and in my humble opinion, the El Paisa empanadas rate up there with the best. Each empanada is very reasonably priced at $1.

A variety of Jugos Naturales (natural juice) were available for a beverage with either a milk or water base. We tried the Blackberry and the Tamarindo constituted with water. The flavor was wonderful. At home, I added a few ounces of spiced rum to my Blackberry juice with very pleasing results.

I would rate the food as 5 stars, the service as 3 stars and the overall value and...

Mr Paisa

I love your food but I don't like your customer service the lady at the window told me today that I was causing a delay just to call and find out if my food was ready. And when I got to the window all she did was look under the window and say yes it's ready... I did not tip her and I did not feel bad. I WORK 2 block away and like to measure my time away from the office. I'm not going to let these people bother me anymore it's just I would like for you to know. By the way she ain't Colombian for sure I can tell. Con mucho gusto voy pal Paisa pero me cae mal la gente sin educación que triste es el.mundo con esta gente. :(

I'm sorry but I know the people at the front window or the ones ansering the phone are not Colombians there freaking rude. There givING Colombian a bad name.... They do not greet there custoner or anything go to the other colombian place around the area and they are so kind... WHERE IS THE OWNER IS HE COLOMBIAN. I know that young men at the window is not colombian he is so RUDE. Unhappy he's worst than a women on a period so SAD. CHANGE I guess they work for cheap and to keep prices down they have to hire these kind of people.......

Paisa BBQ is less of a restaurant and more of a fast food style stationary food truck for food to take to-go. You never go “inside”, it’s a small place and You order your food at a little window, wait sometime between 10-20 minutes and then they call your name to get your order and you’re on your way. The menu is straight forward and has a lot of options. We’ve been here many many times and I almost always order the Paisa burger. It’s so good and filling. It’s a great size and it’s so flavorful. My husbands favorite is the bandeja paisa, not only is it a great portion size but it’s also a great price. We’ve also tried many other things on the menu and have never been disappointed. It’s definitely a “hole in the wall” type place, not exactly fancy or nice. But the food is really good. I’d say one thing that could use a lot of work is the customer service. They aren’t really friendly or helpful, and can sometimes be dismissive, which are all bad qualities to have...