Panaderia Pupuseria Renderos
★★★★☆ 3.6 (32) • $
"My husband first introduced me to pupusas a couple of years ago, when we were driving by a Guatemalan place where we live. I was an instant fan! The way he compared the similarities and differences between what's offered at home, and what he originally tried in Houston really had my curiosity up. So naturally, while in Houston this weekend, I was excited to try some Salvadorian pupusas! I chose this place based on the options on their menu. We had several picky eaters that we were going to bring some back to, so options were a factor. The fact that they were open before lunch was also a factor.If I were going to rate the food alone, they would have gotten 5 stars! The food was 4 1/2 stars, but I would have rounded up because of my happy tummy. These are thicker and larger with crisper edges compared to Guatemalan pupusas and larger than what you find in a taqueria. They were great! My favorite was the pollo y queso de arroz. I've never had rice in a pupusa and that made it quite hearty. The edges on that one were extra crispy and that was just divine. I am craving another one as I write this!I also tried the queso pupusa, and it was better than what I normally get at a taqueria, very high quality. Those who tried the queso y jalapeno reported back that it was very spicy, but I know they were using the salsa, and that may have been a factor.While there we were getting thirsty and got a couple of Agua Fresca's. I had horchata and I have to say that it was way better than what I typically receive, may be my favorite horchata. Unfortunately, the place was completely packed and quite messy. The main factors in not giving five stars were time and a partially incorrect order.It took quite a while to place our order and despite being told about 15 minutes, it took well over 30 minutes to get it. We had ordered nine, but when we got to the car, there were only seven. I don't ever intend to spend 45 minutes in a pupuseria, but it's downright irritating to wait that long and have two missing from the order. The woman had said the right number back to me, but she wrote down the wrong one I suppose. When I brought it to their attention, they didn't offer to make it right. Instead they were like 'sorry, at least you didn't get charged for it' and I explained to them that money wasn't the issue, I had a house full of hungry people to feed. This was met with a shrug. I ended up leaving without them since they weren't too concerned and I didn't plan on waiting another 30 minutes, but that was disappointing. The other dishes I saw looked really good, but we were on a pupusa mission so that was all we tried. Not sure how they kept track of everyone as service seemed very disorganized. We were there at 10am on a Saturday, so I am not sure if they bring in more staff closer to lunch time or if this is just a normal thing here. $1.99 is pretty average and these are a little bigger, so I would say they are a good value. I thought mine with rice added in was worth the $2.50, so no complaints on price. By the way, if you are taking to go, be aware that the salsa is given in a ziplock bag. Yeah, I said a ziplock bag, it started leaking through on the drive home, so decide if you want to take that gamble. This place has great food and so much potential, but they need to maintain their restaurant, organize their staff to decrease the longer than quoted wait times and take better care of the customer. If those things were improved, there would be no reason not to give them 5 stars!If you are not familiar with the cuisine and don't speak Spanish very well, then I would suggest you check out the pictures of the menu on Yelp before you arrive. Hopefully, you can place your order early in your visit to balance out the long wait.The food is great though, as is the horchata, so worth trying if you have the time to spare!"
"My family and I love pollo campero. We've ordered from them multiple times. Their fried chicken is always consistently well seasoned, although not the crunchiest fried chicken we've ever had. The spices in their chicken are very unique to them. We actually enjoy their fried chicken more than Popeyes, although pollo campero is more expensive. We also tried their fried chicken sandwiches, which were also delicious. Again, their fried chicken patty was well seasoned and it went well with their pickles. Their pickles were sweet, but not overwhelmingly so. The pickle texture was good too. I even enjoyed their mashed potatoes side, which reminded me a lot of KFC's mashed potatoes. Overall, I'd definitely recommend trying pollo campero if you want to try fried chicken that's not from the usual Popeyes or KFC chains."
"They are so rude!!!! The food takes forever, they do not tend to woman, they only tend to the men. They are sooo rude to English speakers! I don't speak Spanish, constantly rude because she can't understand me. When you call to place a to-go order the lady asked me if I spoke Spanish and when I said NO she hung up!!! Terrible terrible service! Trash can. So flipping rude and racist. I'll never come here or order here again. Only come here if your a Spanish speaking MALE!"
