Pancho’s Meat Market

This place is made so you can be adventures! If you’ve been eating tacos for years but have kept to the basics this place is where you want to level up.
Everything is made fresh in house by ladies that have been cooking since the minute they were born.
You have a choice of fresh flour (harina) or corn (maiz) tortillas. Now they have your basics of pollo, fajita and carnitas which are all good but remember this place is where you level up.
Try the Barbacoa made of beef cheeks and ears, also try the lengua (tongue) and if you want that gold star try the pig ears. All of it will be amazing and if you don’t like it you can hold your head in shame and order something else ;-)

Best Barbacoa than any other place I’ve tried and the best seasoned Tripas. I always recommend this place to people when they have a craving for some Barbacoa

This meat market has some of the delicacies that are hard to find in town. There are a few locations of this chain, but the two that I frequent most are the Long Point and the Edgebrook locations. Now, what are the delicacies I speak of, well for those of you who are open minded about food, and know about good food, it is what some people call bi-​products, and for that I call bull on them. I am talking about, intestines, pig ears, pig snout and my personal favorite buche. (if you don’t know what buche is, google it, or better yet try it) These cuts make great tacos and Pancho’s are about some of the closest I have come accross to having the real thing Mexico. Besides these wonderful, mouthwatering delicacies, you will find most of the items you find at any other carniceria (meat market) in Houston. What I want to achieve with this review is to encourage you to step out of your faheeta tacoe box and explore something new and delicious, because once you go swine, you never go back.

If you’ve lived in Houston for more than 6 months, chances are you’ve driven past a meat market. To the untrained eye, the words «meat market» don’t scream palatable. However, Pancho’s Meat Market (this particular location; they have several locations around town) offers great food and culture at an unbeatable price. When you walk inside, there’s not much to look at, just groceries to the right, the meat counter in front, and the hot food counter on the left. When you walk up to the counter, a friendly, apron-​clad Hispanic lady will take your order. I recommend going with someone that speaks Spanish to complete the experience. It especially helps if you want to know what you’re eating.
On my visits, I’ve ordered barbacoa tacos and a gordita filled with shredded beef (carne desebrada). Keep in mind that this is authentic Mexican cuisine, so you won’t find any crunchy taco shells here. The barbacoa tacos are wrapped in two small, soft corn tortillas and dressed with the traditional garb of cilantro and onion. The star of the taco is the tender and flavorful barbacoa meat. The gorditas are pretty tasty as well. The carne desebrada can be a little tough at times, but it didn’t bother me too much. It’s a nice little package of meat, rice and beans enveloped in a soft corn masa pocket. I also recommend slathering the red and green salsas on everything. They add a very nice kick and are full of flavor. The price of the entire meal, including a tamarind-​flavored Jarritos soda came to about 5 to 6 dollars. Solid.