The "Raise The Flag" family recently lost one of my favorite locales to chow down on possibly the greatest sopaipillas of all-time...the Panchos at FM 518 and I-45. I realize now that I never really had enough time to truly enjoy the beef chimichangas...you always think "next time old friend...I promise....next time". Now, there are no more next times. Not only did this restaurant represent a local eating establishment, but it served as a beacon of rescue, when, after a day of crappy Galveston surfing, a warm plate and smiling face were always there to greet. What better place to experience an Americanized-Mexican themed restaurant in League City. These are sad days. RIP LC Panchos! + Ahhhhhhh screw it.....I'll just have to drive up to Almeda. Long live sopaipillas and honey!!!
Exactly. We love Panchos. Not for the quality, but it's a good deal and a lot of stuff. Actually, the quality of the sopaipillas is quite good. The rest of the food is just a warm-up. There's not one out here in the sticks, or even in San Antonio (closest town) as far as I know. Austin didn't have one when I was there, though they opened one up in Round Rock right after I left. They do exist in interesting places like Corpus Christi, Shreveport, and Texarkana, and those all make good stops on road trips. East of Houston (Baytown?) there are two right across from each other. (and don't ask how many sopaipillas can be eaten at once... you'd be surprised...)
I ate at a Ponchos once, got violently ill afterwards....never went again I found my story wasn't all that unique with my friends
The key to not getting sick at Pancho's is learning when to use the following phrase: No more enchiladas, thanks. Go ahead and bring out the sopapillas.
Man, I can eat at Pancho's every week! Great stuff. You just have to know how to order. 1) Screw rice and beans. It's all you can eat. Leave that crap alone. 2) Try and get them to give you one of everything on the buffet. 3) Go back to the table and sample your bootie. Anything I don't like after the first bite, I place in my "crappy Pancho's" area of the table. 4) Raise the flag! Never let it down. You can work more than one waitress at once. Only reorder what you liked the first round. (I typically only re-choose around a third of the items I ordered the first time up. Now I'll just double the orders I liked.) 5) When you feel you can barely eat anymore, order up another round of food just for spite. (I typically make this my largest reorder.) 6) Take your last order and mess it up so that it can't be re-served. 7) Order a crap load of Sopapillas and enjoy. 8) Go home and plan on staying in that night. I personally think they make good tacos, taquitos, flautas, chile rellenos, and tostadas. The rest is typically crap, but I'll always try the other stuff. Sometimes they can surprise you.
Blahhhh...I'm as big a fan of cheap food as the next guy, but I hated Panchos. I won't eat at Kelley's either. Esteban's, baby.
God.....I hate Panchos! I'm not even crazy about their sopapillas. If you want a decent buffet in League City, then eat at the Grand Buffet next to the Academy. If you want decent Mexican food, you've got several other good choices within just minutes of there.
I went to Esteban's a couple of weeks ago for the first time based on the raves given here. I give it a C-. It was way too honkeyfied. Go to Los Rameriz in Clear Lake if you want the real stuff.
dude...it's not the best Tex-Mex out there.. but let's be brutally honest here...any place that allows you to raise a flag to get more enchiladas rocks the mother falcon casbah.
Almost all Mexican restaurants are Tex-Mex. Real mexican food doesn't use cheese. That place was more like Honkey-Mex. Plus I don't like any Mexican restaurant that plays American music.
If you live in League City, just take the freeway north a little ways and eat at the greatest place ever. THE MONGOLIAN BBQ. It's in a little strip center on the other side of the freeway from the movie theater. There's a big "Hot Wok" sign in the parking lot, but that's just to throw off idiots. The REAL DEAL is right there, Mogolian Barbecue, not honky Chinese crap. It's not "all you can eat," so it's affordable. But you can just crush more, More and MORE food into your bowl... enough to fill up anybody. They have every meat from beef to lamb, all kinds of awesome stuff. The China One mongolian BBQ at the Texas City mall is even better... wow, I love that place.