To satisfy my craving for fast Mexican food, I visited “Pancho’s Burritos” in Schaumburg. Family owned since 1995, “Pancho’s” offers a relaxed atmosphere that helps put you in the right frame of mind to eat. This charming little restaurant is adorned with hand carved, colorful wooden tables, chairs, and the required Mexican soap opera (Telanovela) on the TV. Unlike most taquerias though, your dine in experience does not come with a basket of chips. This is most likely due to the fact that you order your food at the counter and not via a waitress.
Two trips to this suburban eatery gave me the chance to sample four different menu items. My first trip included a steak burrito and a steak gordita. The burritos come in two sizes, 6 and 9 inches, but both are plenty big. These burritos are packed with the good stuff and that means no rice! The flour tortilla is filled with a thin layer of refried beans, tomato, lettuce, sour cream, and plenty of steak. The steak is chopped into cubes and seared on the flat top before entering the tortilla, some places over cook the steak and it tastes like grissle; “Pancho’s” does a nice job here. The gordita is not the pita wrapped taco creation you find at the “Bell”. Rather it’s a corn tortilla filled with steak, lettuce, and tomato that has a thin covering from the tortilla. It’s stuffed more than a taco would be, so eating it like a sandwich or tostada works best.
My second trip had me sampling the ham torta and the shrimp taco. For those who don’t know, a torta is in essence a Mexican sandwich. My large torta has slices of slightly warmed up ham, cheese, avocado, sour cream, lettuce, and tomato. The toasted bread had a nice crisp outer layer and a warm soft middle. Two minor complaints are that the avocado should have been distributed more evenly, instead of just two large chunks, one on each half and that the ham was obviously pre packaged and not baked in house. The shrimp taco is prepared fajita style, which means that in place of raw onions, they add sautéed onions instead. My flavorful taco also has fresh cilantro and sour cream. In addition each table has two kinds of homemade salsas (verde & rojo) for you to top your food with.
Want dessert? Too bad, they don’t have any, no flan and no churros. Pricing is above fast food wannabe’s and well below sit down Mexican restaurants. Overall “Pancho’s Burritos” offers good food, comfortable family atmosphere, for a decent price. If you’re in the Schaumburg area it’s worth stopping by, but not worth a special trip. Rating ** and ½ out of ****.
Location
816 W Golf Rd
Schaumburg, IL 60194
(847) 885-4056
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