Cafe Adobe

We had a great time at Café Adobe with a large party of 14 and were served promptly with separate checks. Unfortunately, anyone who ordered chicken ended up with shrimp, but because we were all hungry, we didn’t complain… we were just curious as to why shrimp?
And, I’m pretty sad that this location is shutting down now. It’s a prime location and a great spot for a bite or a meal almost any day of the week.
We’ll miss you, Café Adobe on Westheimer and Shepherd! :(

Great Margs, like the chips and salsa. The food has gone downhill in the last few years but still a decent Mexican place to go

Another car break in, this time middle of the day. Cops were staking out though and a duke’s of hazard chase occured right down Peckham. I’m not sure why anyone would eat at this dump anyway, if they saw the rats crawling around on the telephone lines and roof of Adobe at night I think they would think otherwise.

I just love this place! I’ve been to another location and the service or the food has nothing on this one!
I usually meet my friends here for our «girls lunch». Food is amazing!!! Took my soon to be mother in law and she loved it!
They keep your drinks & chips full! I just wish they had a lunch menu available during the weekends.

Oh My Goodness… there is almost nothing better than the Avocado Adobe, a specialty at this restaurant. It is the most perfect fried ball of avocado, chicken (or beef), cheese, salsa and some other goodness! The location is really great, the staff is nice (sometimes a little slow but that’s ok because you can enjoy extra chips and salsa while you wait!) and the food is delicious!
My husband goes nuts over their Shrimp Bravo — «jumbo shrimp stuffed with jalapeños and cheese, wrapped in bacon and basted in a special glaze.» AMAZING!
AND you can go on Sunday for brunch and top this fantastic meal off with a nice mimosa or michelada!
Seriously, check this place out… I’ll go with you!

A great Houston tradition gone corporate and crappy.
We used to go to this Café Adobe location about once a week. The fajitas were fantastic, the salsa bold and chunky, the service was attentive and polite and the margaritas were the best in town. Plus it was pretty reasonably priced. Over a year ago we stopped going. The menu had changed and the prices went up and none of the friendly wait staff remained. Our loyalty had run out and we’d found other places we thought better.
Today we decided we’d give it another shot because we always thought the fajitas there had the best flavor. We were seated in a corner of an empty room and left for lost for quite a good while with two tiny bowls of runny and way too mild salsa and stale chips.
The prices on the menu had gone up considerably since we were in last. The house margaritas were almost double what they used to be. The fajitas for 2 were now $ 33! The glasses seemed smaller and the portions of both meat and fixin’s on the fajita platter were MUCH smaller than they used to be. None of the charred flavor remained on the fajita beef. The platter was mostly onion. There was less than a serving spoon of pico on the platter, maybe 8 or 10 little slices of jalapeño, TONS of rice and barely enough shredded cheese to make one taco. Sad…
We had to go find our waitress once and wave our arms another time to get her attention.
We used to pop in on a beautiful fall Friday afternoon and the patio would be packed with people enjoying margaritas and beautiful combo platters. Today we were one of about 5 tables in the whole place. That tells me they have lost the early weekend party starters and the neighborhood clientele.
Seeing as how the food has declined, the prices have not and the wait staff seems untrained, I see why.

Finally, I have a reason to write a review for this location.
Something I learned yesterday is if you want the slightly cheaper food options during happy hour, it’s upstairs only. My waiter said the portions are a little smaller to match the price so you’re not actually getting a discounted app. But if you want less food, might as well go for cheaper.
Chips and salsa are ok. The food is pretty average. One thing I like is the plates are so hot that it seems to actually keep the food warm. I hate having a hot meal served cold.
There is an upstairs and downstairs patio, both smoking. Upstairs has the better view, but downstairs almost guarantees you won’t get wet during a storm and there are a couple of nice fountains to look at.
If you like coming here and haven’t heard yet; this location is getting knocked down next year. Yes, was sold to Hines. There are two things that kind of make me sad about this. 1) An original location bulldozed for more apartments and 2) this is the closest tex-​mex/​mex place to my home that serves liquor. I will either have to trek further south to Ruchis or find a buddy with a car to tote me to Mexican restaurants with liquor. *tear

Skinny Margaritas!
Foods not amazing, but its good. The service is very good. Our server was friendly and helpful.

I came here with five colleagues after an evening meeting.
The service was nice and friendly. The chips were ok but some of them were blue colored which is really an american thing. Why americanize what is already watered down mexican food? The red salsa was really tasty but the green one really lacked flavor.
I did have a really decent margarita which I imagine came from a quality mix of some sort, not from actual fresh lime juice.
I made the mistatke of ordering the fish/​shrip tacos. I was expecting that being so close to the Gulf of Mexico, I’d be able to enjoy some fresh seafood. Not so much. Both the fish (tilapia I’m sure) and shrimp were tasteless, bland and tasted of having been in a freezer way too long. There was some sort of mass manufactured mayonnaise based sauce that didn’t help either.
I’d never go again unless it was just for a margarita.

Mondays is $ 3 margaritas all day. I mean, it’s a Monday after all, you know you need a drank to cure the case of the Mondays. For only $.25 more you can get a flavored margarita. I had the strawberry and house margarita frozen and they both hit the spot. They definitely don’t skimp on the tequila because I had a nice buzz after 2.
Since we weren’t too hungry, my friend and I shared mini chimichangas… and apparently they come even mini-​er. (Is that a word??) But my usual experience with bite size fried things is always too much batter and one measly strip of meat or filling. So we went with just the mini instead of the mini-​mini. They were decent. An order came with 5 mini-​chimichangas with queso to dip. Because I can’t make choices worth my life, I went with both beef and chicken. The beef by far is much tastier but that’s how things go in life — the tastier things kill you faster. Damn you red meat and tequila.
but you know what — YOU ONLY LIFE ONCE!

I’ve been going here for the last ten years because it was within walking distance from work but it’s become much less frequent as of late. No questions about it; the food can be hit or miss and lately it’s been missing a lot. The chips and green sauce are weak although the red can be passable.
The food in general is bland although the richness of several of the dishes can overcome the lack of spice. My favourite dish is the spinach enchiladas. They take creamed spinach and add white sauce to top which makes it a potential heart attack for a vegetarian.
My biggest peeve though is the lack of service lately. If you go in for lunch from work, expect not to leave until more than an hour later. Even when things are quiet, you’d be puzzled about where the waiter is as you wait to order, wait for your food, and wait for your check. With most people’s work schedules, this is unacceptable.

I was at Café Adobe for the first time in Summer 2010. What I remember as being incredible food and fantastic margaritas then was nothing more than an illusion.
I visited Café Adobe last week with a friend, who probably thinks I’m crazy after I hyped it up so much. «Houston’s Best Margarita» was watery and weak. I had the bacon wrapped shrimp which was okay, but WAY too salty. My friend had shrimp fajitas which he said were just very plain. For dessert, we ordered the flan, which tasted burnt. All together, the dinner was too expensive for what it was. I was hoping for really good Mexican food, and I don’t mind paying a premium if it’s good.
The ambience was okay, last time I was there I remember the water fountains being a really awesome feature and the environment was great. This time there was cheesy Jennifer Lopez music playing in the background, a child climbing on the water fountain (hello, bad parenting), and several very loud people at the table next to us.
Not that you can fault the restaurant for people who don’t know how to parent and can’t handle their liquor, but I don’t think I’ll be returning.

So many of the reviews below embody the phrase «hit or miss» and my experience has been no different. This is a location that everyone knows — even people well outside the loop in the suburbs know this place and you do not even need to give directions. This is the place that you get bugged to come every Monday night to knock back some margaritas and «meet people.» Their margarita-​related accolades everyone is familiar with — yet I am still uncertain why and how it is in a city with Cyclone Anayas (amazeballs+) and Guadalajara del Centro (amazeballs++) these margaritas are any more relevant than those obtained at a Taco Cabana, a Chuys disaster, or the store bought marg-​mix with cheap tequila from Specs found in the blender of a UH fratboy.
The parking lot across the street instantly sets the -.- gaze where drunk people: like keys droppin’, staggerin’, talkin’ way too loud types get into their car in a dimly lit, matchbox car jam-​packed in spaces and you think about how your car is going to look at the end of the night with sixteen new shades of color scrapes on. Have your friend drive, for two reasons.
When you walk inside you are instantly struck by the big fountain and the little fountain, shooting out water and instantly setting you into a calm sea of carefree. And now you need to pee.
The dining area is sort of split into like four different rooms depending on how technical you want to be about it. If you are not in the front area with the fountains then you are kind of the in open air military mess hall sort of space where it just seems to get louder and more hangout-​y spanning across tables and age ranges, whether you actually want to be informed on the tables’ news next to you or not — whether it is good, bad, hiliarious, and unintentionally hilarious but they are too drunk to notice they should not have just said it that loud.
Service borders on abysmal and it is all related to a lack of communication. We sat there for ten minutes, nearly ready to just go over to the bar and put a straw into a bottle of tequila ourselves, when finally one waitress from across the entire room noticed we were just sitting there with no water, no margarita, no chips, nothing. She jumped in to action even though it was not her section. When the charge of our section returned from a smoke break (?) they went outside for a duel, and apparently we now had a new person in charge of us. Okay.
Margarita: very sugary, already begun to hit the point where it was melting in no uncertain terms before it came into my possession. The sugar overpowers the tequila so you would either say: [a] these things will really creep up on you since you cannot taste the tequila or [b] wow, these are not very strong. I was a party of the second part.
Red salsa: tasty. Not as good as Cyclone Anayas or GDC, but better than the rest including Chuys.
Green salsa: a big bucket of meh. One dip was all it took, compared to the red, why bother with it? Just put it away, pleaseandthankyou.
Queso: while this was a big serving, there was plenty left after we both jumped into it like a pack of wild queso eating savages, it reminded me of the store-​brand queso. The taste is bland, there are odd hunk-​shaped and –sized objects in the queso kind of like an afterthought that oh yeah, we should probably do at least something to improve this over Velveeta. It is the kind that solidifies quicker than anyone’s business, it is mostly chemicals, and it seems more Taco Bell drunk-​food than an Epicurean adventure into the cheesy world of Chester.
Café Adobe beats the pants off of Chuys in the race to be the most bland, boring, and rapidly expanding chain in Houston. There, I said something nice, give me a cookie.

I happened to go to Café Adobe with Steve M. to kill time before going to our real happy hour destination. I was pleasantly surprised with the Margaritas. The happy hour price was excellent, something like $ 4.95. I did not have anything to eat other than chips, but looking at the menu the prices were great!!! I almost considered just staying there for happy hour.
Happy Hour is from 11−7pm or something like that. I am plotting a friendly take over of Adobe as my new «Last minute Mexican» Happy Hour Spot! They have outdoor seating on the second floor and it looks like it gets really busy there. I am planning on going back soon to actually taste their food.

My boyfriend and I thought Café Adobe looked like a cute, fun place so we stopped in last Friday night and I’m glad we did! We sat on the patio (and despite the 100 degree heat we were comfortable) and drank margaritas for about an hour before ordering food. The service was great and prompt, but not pushy or irritated by our slow moving meal. We ordered a combo enchilada plate and it was great! Nothing too unique or different, but a solid TexMex experience. There’s a rooftop bar here that we plan to check out next.
Another great thing about Café Adobe is that it has a good amount of parking, which is a rarity in Houston.
I can see this being a great after work spot. I will return for sure.

Date of Visit: 04÷15÷11
This is a quaint Mexican restaurant in Houston. Although it’s a chain, it’s still a great little place. Well, little isn’t the right word as it actually is a fully sized place!
We visited on Friday afternoon. About 130pm. Of course, the place was rather empty, but we were not the only ones there, but it was nice to be somewhere without many people around for a change.
I wasn’t feeling very adventurous, so I ordered the Taco Salad Fajita — boy, that was filling and tasty! From what I saw of the other dishes that were ordered in my party, portions are quite large and filling!
Service was a little off, but it was fine.

If there is one thing I’m a fan of it’s AVOCADOS. Talk about delish… the avocado adobe definitely makes me tip my hat. Basically, this «signature» dish consists of fried avocado stuffed with chicken and cheese and topped with a marinara type sauce. *YUM* I’m so glad Café Adobe didn’t butcher my favorite food!
I dig the atmosphere here… it’s like not hole in wall but not over the top gourmet Mexican either (which is nice because I feel most Mexican restaurants tend to lean to one extreme or the other). I also loved the patio… it’s especially nice if you have the pleasure to dine outside during one of the 3 weeks of gorgeous weather Houston is blessed with.
The menu pizazz was another aspect of this restaurant I appreciated. It wasn’t your typical fajitas, enchiladas or taco menu. …of course it did have those choices but for someone feeling a little adventurous or intrigued by the house favorites you have some good (and different!) options to choose from.
In fact, I liked this place so much I was still thinking about it’s deliciousness the day after I dined there… so what gives? Why the 4 stars and not 5? It realllllllly annoys me when I have to ask for my water to be refilled. And the only time the server comes to our table is to deliver the food and he still fails notice a table full of empty glasses. It also annoys me when every single person at the table practically licks their plate clean minus two morsels of rice and the server asks if we would like a to go container… uhhhhhh. what?! Hmmmmmmm, so the service wasn’t stellar but that avocado was just so good! Oh, you can bet on it, I will be coming back here for sure!

OOOOOOO for overpriced. Perhaps I did not understand what a guacamole salad is either. But guacamole salad is basically guacamole. On top of a small bit of shredded lettuce.
Blech. I thought I was getting beautiful dark green lettuce with assorted surprising delicately placed toppings over a bed of sliced avocado and stuff.
No. I guess I should be so daft. I have been spoiled by people who cannot communicate with me. Seasoned to perfection food. Restaurant made tortillas and delicious horchatas.
This place had NONE of that. It had lots of snotty people and run of the mill food. If you like that, well book yourself a rezzy.
(Cyber high five Warren on this one — we agree completely).

Wife loves the margaritas and I can’t get enough of the Shrimp Bravo! Go to this place and love it as much as I do. Parking can be unpleasant on the weekends but there is plenty of street parking in the vicinity if the lots get full.
Also of note, save money and get the pitcher of margaritas!

Came here for lunch with co-​workers. Good lunch menu.
Chips, salsa and some sort of creamy guac dip started lunch off right.
Got the chicken flautas with queso (option of queso or guacamole and sour crème). Came with 2 very stuffed flautas covered with melted queso, refried beans and rice. The chicken was very juicy! Yum. Wish there would have been dipping queso as well.
2 delicious raspberry margartias later and it’s time to go back to the office.
It was either happy hour or the waiter messed up something, but our $ 6.50 ‘ritas turned into $ 3.50 ‘ritas which was even better!