Things Acadiana Misses – Pancho’s Mexican Buffet

Pancho's Mexican Buffet in Lafayette was a tex-mex buffet style restaurant with a twist.

Pancho's in Lafayette was located at 2811 Johnston St. in the South College Shopping Center.

Their tex-mex buffet with a twist was that, instead of it being a self-serve buffet, customers would "raise the flag" to have a waitress bring you more of whatever kind of food from the menu that you wanted.

After seeing this commercial again...the buffet was CHEAP!

This was a place that my grandmother would take all the grand-kids out to eat. I would start with the same thing every time. Cheese enchilada, two beef flautas, and two tacos. Once I was done with that, you betcha I was raising that flag to get AT LEAST one more taco, and some more flautas!

Anyone remember the desserts there? Of course there was the ever popular sopapillas. However, you could also order a glass full of pudding...AND KEEP THE GLASS! I can't tell you how many of those glasses we had at our house when I was a kid.

Unfortunately the Pancho's in Lafayette closed in the mid to late 90's. The location in Baton Rouge closed shortly thereafter. The Pancho's in Metairie closed after Hurricane Katrina. It re-opened as a "Super Buffet," meaning you actually went to a buffet to get your food, in 2009, thus removing a reason for the raising of the flag! It later closed.

Pancho's does still exist. They're just mostly in Texas, with two stores in Oklahoma.