Mestizos Mexican Cafe — Restaurant in Texas

Our family members and friends have been patrons of this establishment since 2020. The food was consistently good, but the service wasn't always the best. I really like the manager/owner, who was always kind and fair to us, which is why I hesitated to write this negative review. I considered myself and family members to be loyal customers. We dined as couples, families with kids, and even large group celebrations.

However, our last dining experience was disappointing. First of all, we were served a weak red hot sauce (which is the usual sauce at Mama Juanita's) with our chips, instead of Mestizo's signature smokey fire-roasted salsa. We asked for the better salsa, but never got it or a reason for the change.

For an appetizer, we ordered Gaucamole, which we ordered almost every time we were there. In the past, it was always served in the larger 10 or 12 ounce salsa type bowl with a generous heaping over the top. This time, it was served in a small 4 ounce salsa bowl with a large piece of lettuce. I had to pick it up to see what it was. It was 4 spoonfuls of guacamole. I called the waiter back to let him know we had ordered the guacamole appetizer, which is usually large enough for 3 people. He smiled, pointed and said, That's it. I was shocked. I told him that's very deceptive to have a regular dish on the menu at the same price, but change it to a significantly smaller serving. He just smiled awkwardly. I asked for the manager, but nobody ever came to our table.

We ordered fajitas for 2, enchiladas and a torta, and a dessert we all shared, but I remained aggravated that we were duped into purchasing a single serving of guacamole for the same old price on the appetizer menu. Most restaurants have increased their prices on nearly everything on their menus, but they still serve the same portion. If prices are higher, there's no deception. If you had hiked up the price from $9 to $20, it would have been an honest business transaction.

The entire experience was disappointing. We spent over $100 on that meal, plus the tip was about $125 total. We haven't returned since then, and I finally decided to write this review to warn other customers of the deceptive...

We purposely waited a while to try this place. Chips and salsa were good! We ordered 4 entrees, 2 with specific instructions due to allergies. Both of the specifications were missed, so we had send back 2 of 4 meals. I could visibly see the cook was angry, muttering to himself and glaring at me while he remade my food. In the meantime, I had to ask 3x to get refills of salsa and 2x for my tea. In addition, my son tried to scoot his chair up and fell over backwards because the chair was completely broken! Finally we got to eat. The meat was pretty good. The beans and rice were flavorless. Overall, ok food otherwise. Nothing particularly unique, very plain and average to below average. When we were done, we decided to try the churros , so we ordered them. 10 minutes later, we decided we had waited long enough and canceled the order. Another 5 minutes before they brought the credit card ticket and the churros packed to go, gratis. We analyzed the ticket and found they had charged us for something we didn't purchase, so we had to wait another 5 minutes extra to get that sorted out. Terrible experience, and they weren't even that busy, so that can't be their excuse. But wait, there's more! We got home and went to try the churros... I am going to guess they wanted to make certain we never come back (not that there was any chance anyway), because our cinnamon churros had been flavored with cinnamon and SALT! NOT SUGAR - SALT! They were also raw on the inside. This is the absolute WORST restaurant I have ever visited, and I will be sure to share my experience with as many people as I can. Horrible experience, terrible wait staff, childish cooks. Too bad, because it is a good location and some of the food...

Eating at Mestizos was reminiscent of that scene from the movie Ratatouille, except it was a far cry from fond memories. I honestly felt sad while eating here as the food I ordered (a half pound of barbacoa and three scrambled eggs) strangely reminded me of my unpleasant childhood: A once long forgotten time of poverty where my teenage mom would cook for us kids with good intention in her heart but the quality just was not there because of how poor we were.

I couldn’t finish what I ordered, honestly, and I am really big on eating protein... I forced down the dry barbacoa since I do not like to let meat go to waste and took a few bites of the scrambled egg. It had some sort of weird filler in it, like some sort of flour or maybe even milk? It tasted fried and had an off-putting texture. These were not fresh eggs.

My experience has nothing to do with this establishment by any means.

The service received was good, the waiter cordial and attentive, and the place was clean. But I just did not enjoy the food and the memories it seemed to awaken in me. Wanted to also note that my husband did not finish his food either (Migas Classico), saying it was too greasy for his taste. I didn’t sample his plate as I really struggled to try to finish what I had ordered. We will not be going again, and I wonder if maybe we are just too snobby when it...