Pancho's Mexican Food — Restaurant in Lenexa

We had been looking for an excuse to try this place, but to get the full effect we wanted to try it late night, and we are almost never out late any more. We finally had an excuse Friday night after being at a neighbors house until after midnight, but we had never got around to eating dinner before we went, so we went to the drive through about 12:30 AM Saturday morning. It was strange pulling up to the building as it is right next to the ghost of a long closed great old Overland Park restaurant, called Pippin's(later Tippin's) where I used to work as a dishwasher many years ago.

First, the drive through was busy, which was a great sign. We got lucky I think and hit a lull in the cars, because we pulled in and there were only about 5 or 6 cars in front of us, and within minutes of us polling in, there were 15 more cars behind us.

We all ordered the same thing, which was I believe the "Smothered Burrito", but I don't see it on the menu I am looking at online. Perhaps it was only on the drive through menu. Anyway, it was delicious and it really tasted like they made their own tortilla's, fresh and chewy. It was loaded and huge and was one of the best burrito's I remember eating in a long time. Each one was a plate, that came with rice and refried beans. The beans were also excellent. The whole dish was very plentiful and was really almost enough for 2 meals.

The only downside was that you had better know what you want to order before you get in line, because they expect you to order quickly, and if you have never been there before, the first glimpse of the menu is right at the same spot where you pull up to the speaker for your turn to order. Having pre-order spot menu would really help, but from the looks of things, they have plenty of customers and they all know what they want, so you can't really blame them.

If you find yourself hungry late at night in the OP area, and you don't want to or don't have food to prepare at home, do yourself a favor and go...

So there I was, craving some takeout because I was getting slaughtered at the ol' soft hands factory, and I found Pancho's Mexican Food. I gave their menu a peek, and it sounded like a solid choice for the convenience and the price being around $12 for what I thought was a combo meal with a drink. I decided on the No.5.

I went through the long line in the drive-thru feeling ecstatic because if you know... you know. But anyway, I ordered the #5 and a drink for $11 and some change based on what the menu in front of me showed. I get to the window and am hit with IMMEDIATE sticker shock and a total price upwards of $18+. I ask HOW MUCH? She tells me the price for the actual food, and it sounds right, so I ask how much for the drink, and she says it's like $3.94.

Now, maybe you're used to paying this for takeout, but this is getting kind of absurd, so surely the food has to be fire, right? WRONG. This was a joke for what it's priced at. I got a fried shredded beef taco, a cheese enchilada, refried beans and rice with some enchilada sauce topped with fresh lettuce. The lettuce might've been the highlight. The lettuce was crisp and fresh out of the commercial bag it came out of that day. The meat was bland, but at least the beans tasted like beans, and the rice wasn't anything special, just rice. Props on the lettuce, I guess.

Other than drowning it in the little hot sauce I was given, this was a terrible, disappointing experience for my wallet, mouth, stomach, and hopefully nothing else... so far so good on that front. But for this price? Go literally anywhere else. I paid damn near $20 for maybe a cup of protein, and that's including the refried beans. This was TERRIBLE mistake that I won't make again. Hopefully this honest, no-fluff review will save another person the humiliating disappointment and hassle of trying to explain what they had for lunch on a time crunch in the future. SHAME ON YOU LOW STANDARD LOSERS LEAVING 5...

A favorite of mine since my first visit more than a dozen years ago, especially their drive thru after midnight. I travel overseas for extended periods regularly. Whenever I come home to KC, I always come have their burritos, sometimes on my way home from the airport. I has never had burritos like their burritos. Back then, they were cheap and huge. What felt like a pound of burritos that was loaded with all sorts of fillings for $3 to $4. (Now they are $11). Inside the burritos, you can select from a variety of tasty favorites: beef, pork, shrimp, fish, chili pepper, and more. What you cannot find in there are the beans. The burritos were wrapped in a fresh tortilla that was so good I sometimes go buy just the tortilla to take home. Time has changed. I can no longer go there and grab 3, 4 burritos plus a dessert for $20, but that's not all bad. Back then, the burritos by the same name would taste differently on a different night. The size of the burritos also changed on a nightly base. It's like a different chef every night, but who cared when it was only $3.50. Their prices have gone up so much, I hesitated to go for a while, but I have discovered recently that it wasn't all bad. My favorite burritos have become consistently good and consistently big. Even the quality of the meat inside appears better. Sure they cost 3 times as much, but at least they taste twice as good. Even though it isn't the budget friendly any more, we still deserved to be spoiled once a while, right? Especially 3am in the...