Pancho’s Southwestern Grille has been a destination for our family for as long as I can remember.
The Tex-Mex restaurant offers complimentary salty tortilla chips and punchy salsa after you take your seat. The dining experience then becomes a bit of a choose-your-own adventure scenario, where you can’t go wrong with the variety of flavorful meal offerings.
That’s part of what brings me, my parents and my sister back – and pretty much all the rest of our family and various friends – time and time again.
One thing that really drew me in as a child and sticks out in my memory is the fact that Pancho’s would lift its very own hot air balloon into the skies from Kent State University at Stark as part of the annual Pro Football Hall of Fame Enshrinement Festival.
Alix Guzman, a member of the Sullivan family who has owned and operated Pancho’s for more than 40 years, said her father, Maury Sullivan Sr., flew a balloon representing the restaurant but no longer has it.
No matter. He, Guzman and the rest of the six-member family ownership group continue to provide a phenomenal service at their restaurant in Green, building upon years of success that included upgrading from their previous nearby location in the city and running a now-closed location in Belden Village.
Diving into Pancho’s menu, the team adds tomatoes, onion, cilantro, garlic and oregano to the complimentary red salsa, Guzman said.
Nearly all of the restaurant’s dishes are made in-house, aside from some kids’ menu items, she said.
She said making everything fresh and in-house is “something that’s really important to us and that we stay committed to.”
On a visit last week with my parents, we rounded out our chips and salsa with an 8-ounce side of guacamole ($10.75). In addition to the guac’s avocado base, Guzman said the team adds cilantro, jalapeños, onion, garlic and jicama.
Providing the perfect combination of salt, spice, healthy fat from the avocado and a little sweetness from the cilantro and jicama, it’s all very filling – and certainly best to share if you’re moving on to bigger things in this menu.
One of my entrée go-tos is some form of Tex-Mex combination. Served with rice and beans, the Tex-Mex combo options include two items for $13.75, three for $17, four for $19 or five for $21. You can add sour cream and guacamole for $2.75.
On our recent visit, I went with a three-item Tex-Mex combo – a shell salad, a New Mexico chile relleno with jalapeño cream sauce and a creamy seafood enchilada with red chile sauce.
The shell salad served as some healthy fare. I love the light crisp and versatility of the edible shell that houses the salad, paired with shredded cheese, lettuce, tomato, sour cream and black olives.
I’ve ordered the chile relleno on many a visit, and there’s nothing quite like a cheese-stuffed poblano pepper with a little crispy breading. The jalapeño cream sauce, one of several sauce options, added even more flavor to this portion of the dish.
The creamy seafood enchilada with red chile sauce served as a pleasant reminder that even a familiar restaurant can have more than you expect. When our server said the red chile is one of the hotter sauce options, I had to give it a try. And it definitely had a zing to it. What I wasn’t prepared for was the sauce’s richness and depth of flavor, perfectly offsetting the enchilada’s not-spicy imitation crab meat, cream cheese and other ingredients of which Guzman said are kept secret.
Touching on the red chile sauce recipe, Guzman said, “We use the chile powder that comes from New Mexico in that one, and then we use chipotles in there, as well. It gives it that little bit of smoky flavor.”
Remember, though, that Tex-Mex combos are just one part of this expansive menu. My dad enjoyed a shrimp jr. fajita ($15), and my mom was glad to dig into her small chicken spinach enchilada ($16.50).
My mom said her dish provided a “symphony” of flavors, which prompted my dad to jokingly say his emanated more of a “jug band” of flavors. Making a musical pun referencing the likes of the Grateful Dead is very Cliff. But he liked his dish, to be sure. And we will be back, soon.
Talking with Guzman, I felt that our families have been like two trains running on parallel tracks: one group committed to the community and providing the best customer experience and the other eager to support an institution focused on just that.
However, it’s also become clear that the Williams family is in no way an outlier in the way it flocks to Pancho’s storied adobe structure alongside Massillon Road.
Last Wednesday evening, the place was packed – but the parking lot still had spaces, and the wait was brief.
And there’s a little something for everybody. Pancho’s also offers burgers with Certified Angus Beef, chicken dinners and the Ranch Hand Steak ($24) for customers looking for more traditional American cuisine, Guzman said.
Another sign of Pancho’s wide appeal became clear in my interview with Guzman. I asked her if she could share what is used to season the tortilla chips. It’s a reddish-orange dry rub that doesn’t completely cover the chips but more of a light coating that shows up a little more here and there, depending on the chip.
She said she couldn’t discuss the seasoning, in part because she has a regular customer who has been trying to get the same information.
“He sits at the bar all the time – I get real fun camaraderie with him – and if I told somebody else before I told him, he would kill me,” she joked. “So, the secret is safe with me.”
Details
Restaurant: Pancho’s Southwestern Grille
Address: 4335 Massillon Road, Green (North Canton 44720)
Hours: 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday, closed Monday
Happy hour: 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., Tuesday through Friday
Services: Dine in, carry out, delivery of most food items and margaritas through DoorDash
More info: 330-896-1991, panchosgrille.com, Pancho’s Southwestern Grille on Facebook, @panchosgreen2025 on Instagram
Patrick Williams covers growth and development for the Akron Beacon Journal. He can be reached by email at pwilliams@gannett.com or on X @pwilliamsOH. Sign up for the Beacon Journal’s business and consumer newsletter, “What’s The Deal?”
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: My family is obsessed with Pancho’s in Green | Local Flavor
Reporting by Patrick Williams, Akron Beacon Journal / Akron Beacon Journal
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