Fogonero Venezuelan — Restaurant in Pflugerville

Very nice attentive staff! Not so nice food.

I was excited to try this new place especially after seeing the reviews.

We got takeout: Mixed ceviche Coast tuna Cheese sticks Leche dessert

I lovveee ceviche but this was so spicy, I could barely taste the rest of my food. So if you like spice, then I recommend eating it last lol. But all of the seafood was very tough and chewy and didn’t taste seasoned in itself. I could have done with a few less handfuls of onions as well. And the addition of the choclo & hard dusty corn nuts seemed uncomplimentary to the fish and a bit annoying to chew.

The Coast Tuna was nice. I especially liked the salad; it had a nice combination of flavors. The tuna itself was just ok. It was a nice pink color inside, but also seemed tough, dry & not very well seasoned. The small pile of mushrooms on top were the most flavorful component in the dish.

The cheese sticks were just ok. Since I’m Italian and not used to Venezuelan culture, I may have been expecting more of a breaded mozzarella style, where as this is a plain, thick, unseasoned dough baked around a piece of cheese. They needed a lot of sauce and the green mayo one it comes with is OK but I had to get out my marinara sauce to finish them. 🤷🏻‍♀️

The Tres Leche cake was also just OK. It’s one of my favorite desserts. The moisture and texture was nice. But it was swimming in a pool of what I’m pretty sure was a plain can of condensed milk just dumped on it. Food doesn’t need to be THAT sweet.

It also came with one round fried plantain. It was nicely salted but the oil in it tasted on the brink of being rancid and it was very hard—so be careful if you have sensitive teeth lol.

Sorry guys, I really wanted to like this place, especially for over $50!!! but I wound up spitting out half the food and just ordering a pizza...

Great food! The restaurant itself isn’t very comfortable though. We chose to eat inside because it was just cold enough outside to be too chilly to eat out there since there were no outside heaters. So #1: heaters to extend outdoor dining season. There wasn’t a long wait for a table but they were full when we got there and there was about a 10 minute wait but no place TO wait (or at least we weren’t directed anywhere) so we had to stand in front of the door and move every time either a waiter took something out to the one table of people out there or another customer entered. #2: provide a space. Yes this is a problem because it would probably cause them to lose a table and it’s already a small dining area. The WORST thing was that once we were seated in a booth to the right, our dining companions facing the door had a HORRIBLE beam of light go across their faces every time the glass door was opened which reflected the sun right into their eyes. It was really bad! They had to close their eyes every time that door opened (which was frequently) for at least 20-30 minutes until the sun had fully set. #3: This is an easy fix. Put something non-reflective on the inside of the glass door. It wasn’t the sun shining through it, but reflecting from the inside as it opened/closed. Oh also an oversized vent was blowing right on us which made it almost as chilly as if we’d chosen to eat outside and made the food go cold really fast. In spite of my complaints above, I only took off 1 star and I would definitely return because of the food. All of us enjoyed our meal and it’s a great different style of food, similar to Cuban which unfortunately doesn’t exist...

Oh my goodness! Where has the place been all my life! Upon arrival got greeted by Jon our waiter, he was attentive & very well mannered. He was very helpful from the second we got seated, help us navigate the menu and letting us know about the most asked natural juices. Let me tell you It was a tough choice since everything on the menu sounded so good. We end up ordering “parchita/passion fruit” it was fresh since They make it on the spot for us and absolutely delicious. At that moment I had already decided I like this place.

We proceeded adventuring out and we ordered appetizers I am not going to lie I want to eat everything on the menu. So we started with the little empanadas & classic ceviche. They were absolutely out of this world. The empanadas had that smell of “this is going to taste good” that smell of real homemade food like the one you smell at your moms kitchen. I am not even exaggerating one bit. It was freaking good!

Then we order the main course “pabellon criollo”and “asado negro” because I wanted to try literally everything! The flavors were absolutely on point “la sazón de mi madre” everything was meticulously perfectly cooked, from the beans to the rice to the meat to the plantains ratio was all absolutely outstanding. I cannot wait to try the rest of the menu! In the very near future and I am bringing everyone I know too. It was one of the best experience I’ve had in a while in service and outstanding quality food. Highly recommend this place and their people...