Pancho's Mexican Buffet is a

chain A chain is a serial assembly of connected pieces, called links, typically made of metal, with an overall character similar to that of a rope in that it is flexible and curved in compression but linear, rigid, and load-bearing in tension. A ...

Tex-Mex Tex-Mex cuisine (derived from the words ''Texas'' and ''Mexico'') is a regional American cuisine that originates from the culinary creations of Tejanos, Tejano people. It has spread from border states such as Texas and others in the Southwestern ...

restaurants A restaurant is an establishment that prepares and serves food and drinks to customers. Meals are generally served and eaten on the premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out and food delivery services. Restaurants vary greatly in app ...

in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. In 2017, the owners began closing stores due to poor performance, and developed a small store concept named "Cuban Cafe". There are currently three locations:

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

, Dallas Fort Worth(DFW), and

Arlington Arlington most often refers to: *Arlington, Virginia **Arlington National Cemetery, a United States military cemetery *Arlington, Texas Arlington may also refer to: Places Australia *Arlington light rail station, on the Inner West Light Rail in S ...

. Pancho's main product is an

all-you-can-eat An all-you-can-eat restaurant (AYCE) is a type of restaurant in which a fixed price is charged for entry, after which diners may consume as much food as they wish. Self-service buffets are a common type of all-you-can-eat establishment, but som ...

buffet, though unlike many other such buffets additional food is brought by

waitstaff Waiting staff ( BrE), waiters () / waitresses (), or servers (AmE) are those who work at a restaurant, a diner, or a bar and sometimes in private homes, attending to customers by supplying them with food and drink as requested. Waiting staff ...

rather than self-served, except for in the chain's "Super Buffet" locations. Pancho's fare include

taco A taco (, , ) is a traditional Mexican cuisine, Mexican dish consisting of a small hand-sized corn tortilla, corn- or Flour tortilla, wheat-based tortilla topped with a Stuffing, filling. The tortilla is then folded around the filling and fing ...

flauta A taquito (, Spanish for "small taco"), taco dorado, rolled taco, or flauta (, Spanish for "flute") is a Mexican dish that typically consists of a small rolled-up tortilla that contains filling, including beef, cheese or chicken.Castro, Rafae ...

enchilada An enchilada (, ) is a Mexican cuisine, Mexican dish consisting of a corn tortilla rolled around a filling and covered with a savory sauce. Enchiladas can be filled with various ingredients, including meats, cheese, beans, potatoes, vegetables, ...

tamale A tamale, in Spanish language, Spanish , is a traditional Mesoamerican dish made of ''masa'', a dough made from nixtamalization, nixtamalized maize, corn, which is steaming, steamed in a corn husk or Banana leaf, banana leaves. The wrapping ...

rice Rice is a cereal grain and in its Domestication, domesticated form is the staple food of over half of the world's population, particularly in Asia and Africa. Rice is the seed of the grass species ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice)—or, much l ...

refried beans Refried beans (from , ) is a dish of cooked and mashed beans that is a traditional staple of Mexican and Tex-Mex cuisines, although each cuisine has a different approach when making the dish. Refried beans are also popular in many other Latin ...

guacamole Guacamole (; informally shortened to ''guac'' in the United States since the 1980s) is an avocado-based dip, spread, or salad first developed in Mexico. In addition to its use in modern Mexican cuisine, it has become part of international cuisin ...

and many other traditional Tex-Mex items. Pancho's also provides takeout and catering services. The company was formerly listed on the

NASDAQ The Nasdaq Stock Market (; National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations) is an American stock exchange based in New York City. It is the most active stock trading venue in the U.S. by volume, and ranked second on the list ...

stock exchange in the 1980s under the symbol "PAMX". In 2010, the company had 40 locations, In February 2012, Pancho's corporate had shut down operations. All corporate owned restaurants were closed, phone lines were disconnected, and the website was removed. The reasons behind it are unknown. Non corporate owned locations remain open. By September 2014, 14 franchise locations operate in Texas, Oklahoma, and Louisiana. As of 2025, there were a total of five Pancho's-branded locations still open. With locations in Houston, Arlington, Humble, Fort Worth, and Mesquite.

History

The first Pancho's restaurant opened in

El Paso, Texas El Paso (; ; or ) is a city in and the county seat of El Paso County, Texas, United States. The 2020 United States census, 2020 population of the city from the United States Census Bureau, U.S. Census Bureau was 678,815, making it the List of ...

in 1958. The restaurant was founded by Jesse Arrambide, Jr. (who also owns Los Bandidos De Carlos & Mickey's restaurant)., who learned how to make Mexican dishes from his mother. His experience in cooking in large quantities while serving on an American

naval A navy, naval force, military maritime fleet, war navy, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operatio ...

troopship during World War II would contribute towards his concept of how to operate a buffet-style restaurant. After several years of operating his restaurant as a success, Arrambide turned his energy towards creating a Pancho's restaurant chain. The company eventually relocated its corporate office from El Paso to

Fort Worth, Texas Fort Worth is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat of Tarrant County, Texas, Tarrant County, covering nearly into Denton County, Texas, Denton, Johnson County, Texas, Johnson, Parker County, Texas, Parker, and Wise County, Te ...

in 1966. In 2007, Pancho's moved east again, this time to

Dallas, Texas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

. Since 1979, the corporation has changed hands between several owners and partners. The restaurant chain is owned and managed by Pancho's Mexican Buffet, Inc., which was previously named Pamex Foods, Inc. Pamex Foods, Inc. changed its corporate name to Pancho's Mexican Buffet, Inc. in 1982. In 1988, there were 55 Pancho's Mexican Buffet restaurants. At the end of 2000, there were 48 restaurants, and the company employed 2001 people. In September 2004, there were 40 restaurants, located in the U.S. states of Arizona, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas.

Overview

Pancho's is most popular for having its buffet customers "raise the flag" to request more food; each table has a small tricolored

flag A flag is a piece of textile, fabric (most often rectangular) with distinctive colours and design. It is used as a symbol, a signalling device, or for decoration. The term ''flag'' is also used to refer to the graphic design employed, and fla ...

with the three colors of the

flag of Mexico The national flag, national flag of Mexico () is a vertical Tricolour (flag), tricolor of green, white, and red with Coat of arms of Mexico, the national coat of arms charge (heraldry), charged in the center of the white stripe. While the meani ...

.New Orleans fans second-line to resurrected Pancho's Mexican Buffet
/ref> The flag, however, is sometimes missing the Mexican coat of arms and thus more closely resembles the

flag of Italy The flag of Italy (, ), often referred to as The Tricolour (, ), is a flag featuring three equally sized vertical Pale (heraldry), pales of green, white and red, with the green at the hoist side, as defined by Article 12 of the Constitution of t ...

but sporting the image of Pancho the mascot of Pancho's Mexican Buffet. The food is reasonably priced, and the dining area is often decorated with a courtyard motif with two sayings in Spanish on the walls "Mi Casa es su casa (My House is Your House) and "Panza llena Corazon Contento" (Full Belly, Happy Heart). Several locations also sold a limited line of products that customers could purchase and make their own sopapillas, tacos, etc. at home, as well as a small selection of piñatas that could be used for parties or other decorating reasons, as well as

Sombreros In English, a , ; ) is a type of wide-brimmed Mexican men's hat used to shield the face and eyes from the sun. It usually has a high, pointed crown; an extra-wide brim (broad enough to cast a shadow over the head, neck, and shoulders of the w ...

Charro ''Charro'', in Mexico, is historically the horseman from the countryside, the Ranchero, who lived and worked in the haciendas and performed all his tasks on horseback, working mainly as vaqueros and caporales, among other jobs. He was ren ...

and Handcrafted

Mexican Mexican may refer to: Mexico and its culture *Being related to, from, or connected to the country of Mexico, in North America ** People *** Mexicans, inhabitants of the country Mexico and their descendants *** Mexica, ancient indigenous people ...

artisan An artisan (from , ) is a skilled craft worker who makes or creates material objects partly or entirely by hand. These objects may be functional or strictly decorative, for example furniture, decorative art, sculpture, clothing, food ite ...

goods such as small

pottery Pottery is the process and the products of forming vessels and other objects with clay and other raw materials, which are fired at high temperatures to give them a hard and durable form. The place where such wares are made by a ''potter'' is al ...

toys A toy or plaything is an object that is used primarily to provide entertainment. Simple examples include toy blocks, board games, and dolls. Toys are often designed for use by children, although many are designed specifically for adults and ...

and

figurine A figurine (a diminutive form of the word ''figure'') or statuette is a small, three-dimensional sculpture that represents a human, deity or animal, or, in practice, a pair or small group of them. Figurines have been made in many media, with cla ...

2 Amigos Buffet

Damage caused by

Hurricane Katrina Hurricane Katrina was a powerful, devastating and historic tropical cyclone that caused 1,392 fatalities and damages estimated at $125 billion in late August 2005, particularly in the city of New Orleans and its surrounding area. ...

forced the

Metairie, Louisiana Metairie ( ) is an Unincorporated area, unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, United States, and is part of the New Orleans metropolitan area. With a population of 143,507 in 2020, Metairie is ...

, location in New Orleans to close. On March 30, 2009, Panchos Mexican Buffet returned to Metairie, with over 600 invitation-only patrons in attendance at a private opening the previous Friday. As of January 2012, the Metairie and Baton Rouge Super Buffet locations have been permanently closed. With the closing of all Louisiana locations and knowing there was a following of this brand, New Orleans area residents Gene Usner and Roger Bolanos opened 2 Amigos Mexican Buffet located in Kenner, LA in 2013. Both were long time employees of Pancho's. The food was almost identical to what Pancho's had in their glory days of the '80s and '90s. The restaurant closed in September 2021 due to the aftermath of

hurricane Ida Hurricane Ida was a deadly and extremely destructive tropical cyclone in 2021 that became the second-most damaging and intense hurricane to make landfall in the U.S. state of Louisiana on record, behind Hurricane Katrina in 2005. In terms of m ...

, compounded by the pressure of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

."Post by 2 Amigos Buffet dated Sept. 13, 2021"
/ref>

References

External links

* {{official, http://www.panchosmexicanbuffetdfw.com Mexican restaurants in the United States Buffet restaurants Restaurant franchises Restaurants in Dallas Companies based in Dallas Restaurant chains in the United States Restaurants established in 1958 1958 establishments in Texas

History

Overview

2 Amigos Buffet

See also

References

External links