Pancho’s Mexican Buffet in Bossier City Closes the Doors

Say it ain't so!  Panchos is gone!  I started seeing posts on Facebook eluding to this over the weekend and began making phone calls to the restaurant to make sure it wasn't all just some type of terrible April Fool's joke but all I got was a busy signal, so I had to see for myself if my worst nightmares had come true.  One look at the sign above and my heart sank.  After 46 years in business, Panchos is only a memory.

And with that passing, all of a sudden I'm an old man. I was just in my prime over the weekend, but those days are apparently long gone.  I'm going to start the search for a walker and a good retirement home so that I can save my wife and sons the trouble.

Somebody raised the white flag at Pancho's Mexican Buffet in the Heart O' Bossier and surrendered. Maybe it was the economy?  Maybe it was the lack of good restaurant help.  Who knows?  It certainly couldn't have been the competition.  No one could compete with Pancho's, but for whatever reasons, it's gone.  No good byes, no "new location opening soon"; just gone.

That Pancho's was an important part of my youth and now I'll never be allowed to raise that little flag again.  I feel like an older buddy of mine felt the day that Mickey Mantle passed.  Totally in shock.

I remember as a football player at Trinity Heights Christian Academy, heading to Pancho's between two-a-day practices just to see who could lose their sopapillas the fastest when we returned for the second practice.

I can just see the look on those poor servers faces now as I drug 2 trays through the line.  "Yes sir, I want 8 of those taquitos, 8 of those beef enchiladas, rice and beans and can you cover it with that yellow stuff that looks like cheese.  Oh and I'll need 10 tacos and a glass of sweet tea."

And then we'd sit down and just tie the flag to the top because we always needed the waitress to run back to the kitchen for something else.

I've trained my 3 sons to enjoy the finer aspects of Pancho dining.  "Boys, here it's all about quantity; not quality. Where else can you feed a family of 5 for under $30?  You can't buy McDonalds for this price" is what I'd tell them.

Though 2 of the three were never very cheerful about the semi-annual trip to that buffet line from heaven, they'd still tag along, because they knew how important it was to me.  But, apparently my $60 annual contribution just wasn't enough to keep the doors open.

I'm brought to tears and will certainly go into mourning and even half price Taco Bell can't get me out of it.