Pappasito's Cantina — Restaurant in Houston

Me and my family went to Pappasito’s to celebrate my son’s birthday. There was about 30 of us there. Usually, I just do bad reviews or good reviews, but this one will be a bit different starting with the good.

Hats off to Manager Kennedy who took very good care of me after I told her of my disappointment with the restaurant. She did several things well: she was an excellent listener, showed great compassion, had a true desire to make things RIGHT, and most of all she never once made me feel like somehow, I contributed to the events that happened. Instead of me doing what most people do, (approach management in anger, be disrespectful, and make it impossible to turn the situation around), I instead approached her with grace. In exchange I was compensated with a comparable gift card for my troubles.

So back to the beginning, we drove in from Beaumont TX for the event and wanted to get there early to ensure seating would not be held up due to an incomplete party. As we arrived, we were greeted by staff. It was a bit cold, so we decided to get a drink at the bar while we waited. A lovely lady by the name of Amethyst assisted us. She was amazing! Not long after we sat down, the rest of our party arrived, and we were set promptly. We closed out our tab at the bar and took our seats.

Our table had two waiters, but I only remember Eric since he was the primary person taking care of us. It took a while to get our drinks and food orders, which wasn’t a surprise since after all it was a LOT of us. When the food came out it seemed everyone got their meal but me. My food arrived (the Pappasito’s Grill), but it was not sizzling. I mentioned this to the waiter, and he apologized and told me that perhaps it was taking him a while to bring out everyone’s food and maybe they were sitting there too long. I asked him kindly to please take the order back, (and then I asked for clarity’s sake- is this meal supposed to be served sizzling?…his reply was yes…I asked because I wanted to be certain that I hadn’t ordered the wrong thing). Again, he brings the order back after about a 20 minutes and the meal was still not sizzling. Literally everyone else had finished their food and were packing leftovers to go.

Here was my issue. It wasn’t just about the food not sizzling, it was about by this time it was almost 8PM and we had been there since 4:45PM. I had ordered a watermelon margarita because I knew I could sip on it until I got some food. The b part to all this is I absolutely do not like steak with any pink… part of me ordering sizzling food is because I know the meat will continue to cook and be just right when I am ready for it. The c part is now I have a 2-hour ride back home with no food in my stomach. The d part is I lived in Florida for the last 7 years and recently returned to Texas, I was overjoyed that my son chose Pappasito’s for his birthday outing; we do not have a Pappasito’s in Beaumont.

So again, thanks to Kennedy your restaurant has saved a client. Not just 1 but in this case 29 other patrons. The entire table was constantly asking what’s taking so long, offering me some of their food, and just generally not happy…I had to encourage them to continue to enjoy themselves….I did not want the attention on me for what was supposed to be a happy occasion. We arrived home safely and I ate leftovers.

Manager Kennedy was very kind in not only giving me a gift card, but ensuring the gift card would work in my current location. I am looking forward to using my Pappadeaux’s gift card soon. It will be a great opportunity to spend a date night with my husband after this Monday’s surgery.

As a savings grace. Everyone else was very happy with their meal. Hence the reason I gave 4 starts...

June 2024: Dined in for fajitas; family member had the appetizer ribs and offered me one. I had them at the 290 location (delicious with a little sweetness when dipped in the sauce), so I wasn't expecting my mouth to be on 🌶🌶⛑after biting into the rib. Family member mentioned "they are spicy" after I said the ribs were HOT and viewed the spice on another rib 🤨. They enjoyed them - I was 'one and done'...the appetizer ribs are flavorful, but spicy (photo provided...). Our dinners were VERY good. Family member had a lunch entree which included bacon wrapped shrimp, beef and chicken fajitas. I selected the combination beef and chicken fajitas with a lobster tail. Slight mark off on my plate - the lobster tail was a bit too done and salty, perhaps due to the butter and salt added. I wiped the charred top with a lemon wedge to remove some of the salt, cut it into pieces and added it in my corn tortilla with beef chicken, guac and pico. Photos taken, and Sabrina was a dutiful waitress.

Placed a pickup order for the Fiesta pack #1. Items were packaged well and upon arriving home, the food remained quite warm and was served immediately. Mom was pleased, which was the reason the pack was purchased so she could enjoy her special day 💝.

The quail, ribs, sausage, and fajitas were flavorful (not too spicy or salty), the salsa and guacamole were fresh, the black beans were great and I was happy with my corn tortillas (everyone else wanted flour - sure, if you want to make a burrito 😅...).

The fiesta packs are a nice option if you want a little bit of everything - it would be nice if management consider including items with the "fajitas pack" as well. Still, in terms of quality, Pappasito's Cantina has not failed to provide delicious food - which is why it remains a (conveniently located) to place for us when we want Tex-Mex cuisine. "R.I.P shoutout" for the local Mom/Pop Mexican restaurant that was located on Griggs before reaching S. 75th street; their food was really...

If I could give zero stars i would as soon as we walked in to check in the girl ( didn’t get her name) was rude she didn’t greet us just asked inside or outside as we asked for an outside table which were mostly empty she said we had a wait, fine as soon as we walked out to wait we get called to our table! Took about 20 mins just to get a menu! Took another 15 minutes just to get our drink order our drinks itself came about 25 min later. By then we are about 1 hour in without ordering our food we wanted to leave because we were no longer hungry from the wait finally our food comes to our table after about an hour and a half of getting there our waiter was Chad who tried his best to attend to us he only took our food order but kept getting interrupted by another client so he couldn’t attend to us properly but that i understand finally we asked for the ticket Chad brought it and apologized which I totally understand because i saw the lady holding him up. But every other person who came to our table was rude our food was literally thrown on the table! Worst part after paying almost $200 a whole different guy comes back with the credit card and receipt throws it on the table and walks away without saying a word!!We got up and left immediately!! Wish i could have gotten everyone’s names I did ask this one girl for the check in girls name and she asked why I wanted it!!We have been there in the past and on a busy day today was not busy at all but for the bad service and time to get our food was ridiculous!!WILL NEVER RETURN TO THIS PLACE EVER AGAIN!! Chad tried to do his job which I give him...