I Make the Case for This Tex-Mex Buffet to Return to Tyler, Texas

(Tyler, Texas) - There is a Tex-Mex buffet that has some great memories for lifelong East Texans like myself. I remember it being a very fun and a very delicious place to eat. I can remember many times as a kid getting excited when we were told we were heading there to eat. Even though this buffet restaurant has been absent from East Texas for a long time, so many remember it fondly. It hasn't completely gone away, you just have to drive to the DFW area to eat at one. I am talking about Pancho's Mexican Buffet and I think it's time for it to come back to East Texas.

I Make the Case for Pancho's Return to Tyler

Pancho's Mexican Buffet was a big deal when I was a kid. I remember taking trips to eat there with my church's youth group. Mom and dad would surprise me and my sister with a Friday night dinner there. We'd load up on tacos, enchiladas and burritos then raise the flag to get that sopapilla to fill with honey for dessert. Sadly, the Pancho's Mexican Buffet that was next to Hastings (another beloved store that needs to come back) in Tyler closed around the turn of the century. The one in Longview shut down in 2005 and the building was demolished in 2019.

Pancho's Mexican Buffet started in El Paso in 1958 and quickly grew across Texas and other surrounding states. The restaurant chain blossomed in the 70s and 80s because of their very affordable buffet which averaged $4. By the 1990s, however, business started slowing and profits started to drop. By the year 2000, Pancho's Mexican Buffet restaurants began disappearing.

Still Some Left in Texas

Today, there are only four Pancho's Mexican Buffet restaurants left for us to raise the flag at; Mesquite, Fort Worth, Humble and Arlington. There is enough nostalgia and memories of Pancho's in East Texas to bring it back successfully in Tyler or in Longview. You can search on YouTube and find many videos of people stopping at one of the DFW Pancho's and the food looks pretty much looks the same.

And yes, you can still raise the flag to have more brought to your table or to get that sopapilla for dessert. I haven't eaten at one since I was a teenager so yes, this is probably more nostalgia talking than anything, but man, I would love to see Pancho's back in East Texas.

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