Pancho's Mexican Buffet — Restaurant in Humble

Absolutely not what I remember as a kid and from the last time, about 17 years ago.

The wait in line was about 30 minutes. The trays were not clean at all. They all had food on them. One had jello on it. There was no silverware. Had to wait until they brought some.

There were only 2 servers on the line where there should have been, probably 4. The lady at the cash register kept walking away. I guess to take care of other things while leaving people standing there waiting while the food was getting cold. Our total was about $60 for 3 adults.

The dining area was full. Very few tables open. There were only 2 servers to come to the tables where there should have been 5.

The server used to bring chips and salsa the first visit to the table. Not anymore. You can go get them yourself or ask the server who has way too many tables.

The food was not near the quality I remember. I'd have to rate it amongst the lowest quality Mexican food I've ever had. Tex-mex and cheese enchiladas were bland. The chile sauce over my tamale was horrible. The tamale was good but very small. The guacamole was more like some guacamole mixed in the lettuce. The tacos used to be half meat. Now they're 3/4 lettuce. I felt like they're skimping on everything for whatever reason, profit, compensation for inflation, or whatever. Either way, the result is very low quality.

Went to raise the flag, but it was broken. I had to rig it to get it to stay up. About 10 minutes later, we gave the server our order for seconds. She brought it pretty quick, but she did two of my pets peeve. She set the plates on the end of the table expecting us to actually sort it out and serve ourselves and walked off before we had even the slightest chance to react, ensure everything was right, or make another request. I guess she was far too busy to stick around to ensure we were pleased or give us the chance to make another order. Later, she did the exact same thing with our drink refills. I felt like I was being more of an annoyance than being served.

We asked for sopapillas. There were 3 of us where I said I didn't want any. The server brought us 8. They used to be served with honey and powdered sugar. These came with nothing. Again, she sat them down and ran off. We had to flag her down to bring the honey. Two were eaten. My daughter wanted to take the rest home. We waited and waited and waited. I guess the server was done with us. My daughter went to the cash register and asked if we could take the leftover sopapillas home. She was very rudly told, "Go ask your server." I went up there and asked if we were allowed to take them home as I remember always doing it a long time ago, hence the reason they always bring more than we need. The manager told an employee to get me a to go container. He came back with a small paper bag. I asked if he had a container. He very rudly handed me the bag and said, "You can't take anything home. It's a buffet." Then walked aff as if he was annoyed with me.

First of all, I asked if we could. I was told yes by your boss, then you treat me like that. What are you going to do with the 6 that were on my table anyway, take them to your house?

At one point while eating, I observed an employee in the dining area where the servers put the used trays. He was picking them up one by one, wiping them with a wet rag. He started with his rag in one corner, wiped left to right, wiped to the opposite corner, wiped left to right again, and put the tray in the "clean stack" with the whole process taking about a seconded and a half. He never wiped the bottom of a single tray. These are the trays they're returning to the front of the serving line. No wonder why none of them were clean. No telling how many people's dirty hands and food have been all over these trays to be recycled without being cleaned.

Overall, Pancho's has zero customer service, they are rude, and they are all about quantity over quality. I no longer wonder why most Pancho's closed. I will not be returning and try to keep my good memories of what...

Pancho's has been around for at least 50 years, so they must be doing something right! A lot of their food is really good, and the rest is ok. But I think they are probably famous for their sopapillas. They're brought to the table fresh and bare. No fru-fru powdered sugar or chocolate. Just hot airy puffs of fried dough. Tear off the corner, pour in honey, and voila! A sweet and simple delicious confection! Mmmmm.

But first, we must eat the nutritious food. This is, as it's name describes, a buffet. Tamales, flautas, taquitos, beans and rice, both chili and cheese sauces, various types of enchiladas, tacos with several toppings, chili rellenos, various stews, and all of the things I've forgotten. I'm particularly fond of the tamales because they are tasty and mostly meat, unlike more expensive places that serve a fraction of an ounce of meat with a whole lot of masa! Yuck. Their green chili stew is marvelous, with a bit of piquante and plenty of pork and potatoes to satisfy.

After you get to your table, you will notice a little flag at the bottom of a stick pole. That is a Pancho's invention that I love. You need a refill on your drinks? What about another one of those tamales? Or you're finished eating and now need piping hot sopapillas? Raise that flag and a server will come over and get it for you! It's a lovely, frustration-free way of getting service quickly without having to locate and hail the server.

If you're looking for standard fancy Mexican food, this isn't the place. But if you want simple, good tasting, affordable food, ...

So, my family claims we have been here before years ago, back in the 90s, not sure if that's true or not. I really don't remember that far back into my elementary school years. Yes, that far back. So, I thought I would refresh those memories by taking my mom here for Mother's Day. If you have never been before, PLEASE READ this... it's not your typical buffet. It's like luby's. You stand in line, grab a tray, and point out everything you want on that tray. You want tacos, mac and cheese, enchiladas, etc. Put it on your tray and pay for your food and drink. Now they do have a dessert buffet once you're seated that you can walk around and pick what you want, cookies, bread pudding, etc. If the buffet is not your thing, you can stand at the "take out" area (right next to the buffet line) and place an order for a plate of food and drink. But from my experience, I'm glad I got that out of my system. The food was good, don't get me wrong, but it was bland. The food needed some spices or some hot sauce or something. And for those who are new to this restaurant. They really need some employee there explaining all this. But we had to figure it out for ourselves. Then the service could have been better. The server hardly walked around our table. But was very nice and understanding. But overall, I'm good. I don't need to come back again and sorry for the lack of photos. I was trying to figure this all out. Oh, and if you need a refill, raise the flag up...