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I absolutely hate writing reviews like this. Let's start with the key word here. "Contradiction". The restaurant is a complete "contradiction" to a typical good restaurant experience. Let me explain. The food here is absolutely superb. I had the very best quail from any Mexican I've ever had in my life. That meal was an easy 5 star experiences. But I cannot give this restaurant 5 stars. The enchiladas where delicious. As well as the fajitas tacos. Not the best but clearly better than most tex mex spots. It's worth 4 stars but I cannot give this place even 4 stars. The tamales are not tradition but are covered with chili sauce which even taste good, so a good 3 stars for those. I can't give this restaurant even 3 stars. The drinks are nicely made. Excellent for hanging out with friends and their extremely beautiful patio. But even for that I cannot give them the stars they deserve for that. The "contradiction" here is all about service and the restaurant experience. It was 3 of us in my party. We got 3 different menus that seemed to match a certain demographic. My wife who's Spanish recieved a menu with more Mexican named drinks and original type meals and my friend who is black American recieved one that seemed to advertise mostly tex mex and drinks infused with Hennessy. Mine with a little of both which advertised a different gratuity amount at 18% with a party of 5 or more and a service change for using credit cards at like $7.95. Let me be clear ... I tip standard at about 25% but I do not like to get jacked on my ticket beforehand. We were a party of 3 and they told me they charged us 18% simply because my party ordered a lot of drinks. What the heck!? We all had like 3 drinks each. Why does how many drink I order have to come with an auto gratuity penalty? And not only that, you're going to charge me for patronizing your restaurant using a debit or credit card?! No matter how good your food is, bad service here isn't worth the visit. Inconsistency in menu charges and items depending on the customer. One menu says 15% and another says 18% and regardless of how many is in your party management decides what table is charged more vs another. Different charges on the same item from one menu vs another. This place is a business nightmare. It's perfectly setup to get a serious lawsuit filed against it soon when the right person walks in and gets offended. Again I don't like writing reviews like this one. We didn't cause a scene we just accepted the ticket and paid it. Pointed some things out quietly and burped and left for the evening. But to repeat a visit there is an absolute "no" without some major major, oh wait.... Major changes. Ban Contradictions and Prosper!
My dad has been trying to get me to come To this place for a while now . I was always hesitant because the outside looks very hoarder Ish if that's a word and kind of trashy. I feel like this restaurant may be related to a couple other restaurants on my side of town, but I'm unsure. I'm basing it off of the decor. The food was surprisingly very good. I have to give it that we did have a good time drinking and eating outside on the deck where there's a DJ until 1 AM. I will say this is more of a party restaurant not really family maybe but it's up to you. I will say it's just loud inside outside because inside there's mariachis outside there's a DJ. The outside it's fun and great. They just need more fans. It's hot. It's Texas for crying out loud. But based on the food and the drinks, I still have to give it a great rating. I wish I would've got my waiters name, even though there was a slight language barrier. He was amazing very attentive and super fast.
Here today! It's my 2nd time at El Refu's, same restaurant different location and today it's Mother's Day! My friend girl was having a Mother's Day get together at her house and it's 11 a.m. and she doesn't have anything on the stove yet. Lucky for me on my way to her place I saw El Refu, so I stopped in for a light snack, the worst thing a person can do is go to someone's house hungry. As before, the service was good and this beautiful day I enjoyed eating outside. Nice ambience and great combo nachos. I deducted 1 star from them due to nachos looking like a poor man's plate of nachos, no lettuce, no nothing but oh well. I read their reviews and saw a post where they charge to use your debt card/credit card, so as the others patrons I too deducted .50 cents from the tip. Here today! There tomorrow!
Another great dinner and good times...had the fire going and the games than DJ. Staff and servers were busy as they had 5-6 birthdays going on and singing happy birthday. The only thing I need to mention is tables of 5 or more (considered a group) they automatically add 15% tip to check....so as you are having fun, eating and drinking look over check and if you had a great service you can always add another 5% additional tip... I messed up last night since first time sitting in a group and added 20% to bill than had to correct as I realized 15% was already added...
We went on a Tuesday afternoon before 5pm, it was slow. There was one other table outside on patio when we sat down, no wait. Even with that the service was slow and we had two waiters coming back and forth! They definitely pay more attention to regulars. The food was okay nothing to rave about. Margaritas are good, happy hour is only the house margs for $8.99 jumbo, M-F 2-6pm. The best thing about the entire night was them singing Happy Birthday to my soon to be 3yr old niece!
I've been twice now, and the place is consistent. Parking is easy, lots of space. Easily accessible when on the north side. The place itself is lively, with a good layout. It can be a little loud on nights when live music or karaoke are happening. The decor is quite festive. The food has always been solid. And yes folks, the salsa is good. That's the base rating. If the salsa is good, I can usually find good food to follow. Service has been quick, and frequent. Price is average for Tex Mex, you won't find any bargains. But you won't leave with any issues or gripes. I'll be back.
Came here to have a few drinks and grab dinner with some friends. It's a huge space with outdoor patio and live music on some nights. The ambiance is amazing. Lots of cool Mexican decor inside and out. The band playing was lively and very good. The salsa was REALLY good! I ordered the shrimp enchiladas. It was pretty good I'd say 6/10. Prices were fair I thought! I ordered a vampiro but it was so strong that it almost made it hard to finish. Overall a great vibe I think a birthday party would be fun here and I'm sure if I tried other food and drink it would be awesome! Gonna come back here for sure. Parking is plentiful and so many places to sit no long waits.
Anna Maria and Alex need a raise lol. My boyfriend truly felt welcomed and part of the TexMex family at El Refu. We had La Mamalona Mango Chamoy and the sampler plate with Mango Habanero wings. The food was great the drinks were good and the music was fantastic. We will be back for sure.
The service is slow. The ambiance is nice, but it smells like a flea market in there. The food is good I guess. The cleanliness definitely isn't the best, but I've seen worse. They put that they have mango aquas frescas but they don't. That made me and my daughter very upset. It's not that they ran out, but they just don't serve it! Why put something on the menu that isn't available?
After waiting years for their Gessner Road location to open, I finally gave up and dined here at their original location for a meal recently. I found out that the Gessner Road location was supposed to be a seafood restaurant but then that idea was scrapped and that location has been sold, This location across from Willowbrook Mall on the Hwy 249 frontage road has plenty of parking in its standalone building and is festively decorated both inside and out. After being seated inside in this large restaurant I chose fajitas with chicken for my meal and I chose the corn tortillas over the flour ones ($19). First to arrive were complimentary chips and 2 salsas, red and green. The green guacamole based salsa was very good. The red salsa was like soup broth in consistency and the only content in the broth were some pieces of onion. Strange. The broth was ok tasting but would have been better with a little more thickness at least. I have never had salsa that thin and soupy before. Shortly after the entree arrived on a sizzling platter. I liked the amount of chicken and onions on the platter as it was a generous amount. I started with the charro beans which were good tasting (3.5) and then continued with the chicken, pico, guac and tortillas. I enjoyed this food as the chicken was both tender and flavorful with the grilled onions adding to it all. I had 4 corn tortillas and my only wish would have been for a little bit more of pico de gallo and guac on the plate. Table service was very good. I enjoyed my visit and would be happy to return. I was later told by the hostess that El Refu makes its salsas fresh and sometimes the red comes out soupy and other times has more consistency to it. Mine was too soupy and probably shouldn't have been served. read more
28 days ago
Food was good customer service was good..,restaurant was nice and clean..good drinks got me feeling good read more
We were staying at a nearby hotel so we walked over to try the food. I'm so glad we did. The food and margaritas were fantastic. I was afraid we had ordered too much food but it was so good we ate it all. Ceviche and fresh oysters to start along with the beef, chicken and shrimp fajitas. Mmmm so good. The staff was always checking on us to see if we needed anything. Definitely stopping here on our next trip to Houston. read more
I absolutely hate writing reviews like this. Let's start with the key word here. "Contradiction". The restaurant is a complete "contradiction" to a typical good restaurant experience. Let me explain. The food here is absolutely superb. I had the very best quail from any Mexican I've ever had in my life. That meal was an easy 5 star experiences. But I cannot give this restaurant 5 stars. The enchiladas where delicious. As well as the fajitas tacos. Not the best but clearly better than most tex mex spots. It's worth 4 stars but I cannot give this place even 4 stars. The tamales are not tradition but are covered with chili sauce which even taste good, so a good 3 stars for those. I can't give this restaurant even 3 stars. The drinks are nicely made. Excellent for hanging out with friends and their extremely beautiful patio. But even for that I cannot give them the stars they deserve for that. The "contradiction" here is all about service and the restaurant experience. It was 3 of us in my party. We got 3 different menus that seemed to match a certain demographic. My wife who's Spanish recieved a menu with more Mexican named drinks and original type meals and my friend who is black American recieved one that seemed to advertise mostly tex mex and drinks infused with Hennessy. Mine with a little of both which advertised a different gratuity amount at 18% with a party of 5 or more and a service change for using credit cards at like $7.95. Let me be clear ... I tip standard at about 25% but I do not like to get jacked on my ticket beforehand. We were a party of 3 and they told me they charged us 18% simply because my party ordered a lot of drinks. What the heck!? We all had like 3 drinks each. Why does how many drink I order have to come with an auto gratuity penalty? And not only that, you're going to charge me for patronizing your restaurant using a debit or credit card?! No matter how good your food is, bad service here isn't worth the visit. Inconsistency in menu charges and items depending on the customer. One menu says 15% and another says 18% and regardless of how many is in your party management decides what table is charged more vs another. Different charges on the same item from one menu vs another. This place is a business nightmare. It's perfectly setup to get a serious lawsuit filed against it soon when the right person walks in and gets offended. Again I don't like writing reviews like this one. We didn't cause a scene we just accepted the ticket and paid it. Pointed some things out quietly and burped and left for the evening. But to repeat a visit there is an absolute "no" without some major major, oh wait.... Major changes. Ban Contradictions and Prosper! read more
11 months ago
My dad has been trying to get me to come To this place for a while now . I was always hesitant because the outside looks very hoarder Ish if that's a word and kind of trashy. I feel like this restaurant may be related to a couple other restaurants on my side of town, but I'm unsure. I'm basing it off of the decor. The food was surprisingly very good. I have to give it that we did have a good time drinking and eating outside on the deck where there's a DJ until 1 AM. I will say this is more of a party restaurant not really family maybe but it's up to you. I will say it's just loud inside outside because inside there's mariachis outside there's a DJ. The outside it's fun and great. They just need more fans. It's hot. It's Texas for crying out loud. But based on the food and the drinks, I still have to give it a great rating. I wish I would've got my waiters name, even though there was a slight language barrier. He was amazing very attentive and super fast. read more
Here today! It's my 2nd time at El Refu's, same restaurant different location and today it's Mother's Day! My friend girl was having a Mother's Day get together at her house and it's 11 a.m. and she doesn't have anything on the stove yet. Lucky for me on my way to her place I saw El Refu, so I stopped in for a light snack, the worst thing a person can do is go to someone's house hungry. As before, the service was good and this beautiful day I enjoyed eating outside. Nice ambience and great combo nachos. I deducted 1 star from them due to nachos looking like a poor man's plate of nachos, no lettuce, no nothing but oh well. I read their reviews and saw a post where they charge to use your debt card/credit card, so as the others patrons I too deducted .50 cents from the tip. Here today! There tomorrow! read more
Another great dinner and good times...had the fire going and the games than DJ. Staff and servers were busy as they had 5-6 birthdays going on and singing happy birthday. The only thing I need to mention is tables of 5 or more (considered a group) they automatically add 15% tip to check....so as you are having fun, eating and drinking look over check and if you had a great service you can always add another 5% additional tip... I messed up last night since first time sitting in a group and added 20% to bill than had to correct as I realized 15% was already added... read more
3 months ago
5 months ago
2 months ago
2 years ago
We went on a Tuesday afternoon before 5pm, it was slow. There was one other table outside on patio when we sat down, no wait. Even with that the service was slow and we had two waiters coming back and forth! They definitely pay more attention to regulars. The food was okay nothing to rave about. Margaritas are good, happy hour is only the house margs for $8.99 jumbo, M-F 2-6pm. The best thing about the entire night was them singing Happy Birthday to my soon to be 3yr old niece! read more
I've been twice now, and the place is consistent. Parking is easy, lots of space. Easily accessible when on the north side. The place itself is lively, with a good layout. It can be a little loud on nights when live music or karaoke are happening. The decor is quite festive. The food has always been solid. And yes folks, the salsa is good. That's the base rating. If the salsa is good, I can usually find good food to follow. Service has been quick, and frequent. Price is average for Tex Mex, you won't find any bargains. But you won't leave with any issues or gripes. I'll be back. read more
4 months ago
Came here to have a few drinks and grab dinner with some friends. It's a huge space with outdoor patio and live music on some nights. The ambiance is amazing. Lots of cool Mexican decor inside and out. The band playing was lively and very good. The salsa was REALLY good! I ordered the shrimp enchiladas. It was pretty good I'd say 6/10. Prices were fair I thought! I ordered a vampiro but it was so strong that it almost made it hard to finish. Overall a great vibe I think a birthday party would be fun here and I'm sure if I tried other food and drink it would be awesome! Gonna come back here for sure. Parking is plentiful and so many places to sit no long waits. read more
2 years ago
The food was good and the waitress and stafff was on point.... Worth the trip and time .... read more
Anna Maria and Alex need a raise lol. My boyfriend truly felt welcomed and part of the TexMex family at El Refu. We had La Mamalona Mango Chamoy and the sampler plate with Mango Habanero wings. The food was great the drinks were good and the music was fantastic. We will be back for sure. read more
1 year ago
1 year ago
I usually enjoy the service and food. Saturday for lunch my bill included gratuities that the server picked and almost $5 service fee for using a card. It was one adult and two children. read more
2 years ago
The service is slow. The ambiance is nice, but it smells like a flea market in there. The food is good I guess. The cleanliness definitely isn't the best, but I've seen worse. They put that they have mango aquas frescas but they don't. That made me and my daughter very upset. It's not that they ran out, but they just don't serve it! Why put something on the menu that isn't available? read more
3 years ago
A lo cabimero Que molleja e bueno esta esto!!!!! Patio AMAIZING huge and confortable patio. How many guest are you planing for your event??? Margaritas with natural flavors A large menu.!!!! My favorite fajitas Good seasoning with the real natural flavors!!! read more
1 year ago
1 year ago
10 months ago
2 years ago
It was very good and fresh! Service was good also! Really enjoyed it. Had great time with my love ones at a nice restaurant. I will come again for sure read more
1 year ago
2 years ago
Went here for lunch on a Sunday and enjoyed my meal. It was delicious, the server was very attentive. I loved the decor inside and out. Very Texas based. Would be back again. read more
2 years ago
1 year ago
2 years ago
My husband and I were actually headed to Swannies to get lunch when we exited the freeway and were waiting at the stop light when we saw this very fun and exciting looking restaurant. My husband googled the menu and in 30 seconds we were making a u-turn and changing our lunch plans to Refus. We sat outside and ordered two 22 oz Stellas and if you come during lunch hours you get free queso (ummm what!? Some places charge $8-9 for queso!). I ordered 2 lbs of crawfish and they were delicious! My husband ordered the Ribeye Tacos and said they were fantastic. We loved that they brought out two salsa cups, two queso cups, etc. so we could each have our own little bowl and not have to drip while reaching over to dip a chip. We will be back again for sure read more
3 years ago
Well first things first. This place IS NOT a Tex Mex restaurant as the name suggests. It is in fact a fairly large and completely overpriced taqueria. Decided to try it out because we constantly eat in the same spots in our area of town and were craving something different. If you like taqueria food, you may have a different take on this place. I went in expecting Tex Mex and got something that wasn't. When we pull up, the parking lot is packed - very packed. This is always a great sign. Walking in, and the place is as bright as a stadium. Now it's personal preference of course, but I personally like a place with more ambiance. The place is filled with people. It would be our luck that our waitress also had a 16 to 20 top table celebrating a birthday she was tending to also. The service was super slow because of it. We had to raise our hand several times to get her to look our way. This place automatically grats on parties as small as 5 so I'm sure she was overseeing her guaranteed tip. We were helped several times by a bus boy who brought us our drinks and a few other things. One major red flag was when another waitress picked up one of our wrapped silverwares from the floor, which we didn't even realize was there, and put it right back on the table as if we were supposed to use it after it had been on the floor. I was in the mood for some chicken fajitas, my go to at any legitimate Tex Mex restaurant, but since this place looked and behaved like a taqueria, I opted for their Texas burrito. I've learned in the past that taquerias use lower quality chicken and even some dark meat in their chicken fajitas so I never order that at a place that isn't a robust Tex Mex joint. Ok back to this Texas "burrito". When it was served, I couldn't believe my eyes. It should have been called a Rhode Island burrito cause that thing was so small, I honestly thought I was being punked. It was basically a single solitary enchilada. And it costs a whopping $15. When I asked the waitress to confirm, she did. I doubled checked the price with her and she confirmed again. After seeing the disappointment in my face, she had the nerve to ask if everything looked good. My wife was brave and opted for chicken fajitas. Now on the positive side, that plate was actually a lot of food. On the negative side, the chicken was rubbery in texture and had an odd flavor; like it was cooked near fish. I know because my wife couldn't finish her plate and after I easily devoured the kids meal I was served, I was still hungry and luckily ate a taco from her plate. Our minds were made up that this was not the place for us. We're huge Lupe Tortilla fans and so every other Tex Mex place is judged according to that bar. This restaurant didn't even place on our scale because it wasn't even Tex Mex. The death blow was when we received our bill and saw that this place nickels and dimes their customers. There was an extra fee to use a credit or debit card. This is just the cost of doing business for any establishment. To pass it on to your customers paints a really clear picture of how cheap and greedy the restaurant is. Of course it's only $1.55 on our bill and I know that people will be quick to say "if you can't afford it you shouldn't be dining out", but that's not the point. It's only $1.55 and the restaurant can surely afford it when they charge $15 for what is essentially a kids enchilada plate and should be just chalking it up to a business cost. In the end, it ended up costing the waitress part of her tip unfortunately. With the bad service and other red flags, we only tipped the minimum of 15% which was also calculated by them based on the total price including the credit card fee. We weren't going to add more money to the bill now that the fee was also a factor. If you're into taqueria food, maybe give the place a try. You might have a completely different experience than we did. If you're looking for Tex Mex, this isn't it. read more
3 years ago
This place was so much fun, went with my crew for a Friday drink, even though the place was busy the staff was always attentive. Being a foodie that I am, we ordered almost everything on the menu and it did not disappoint! Kid friendly and fun! read more
First visit to this location; Spring Texas and it was much more pleasant and entertaining than the Humble Texas location. The service quick, professional and the chips and salsa were fresh. Both meals were extremely good and the drinks were strong, good, and definitely served its purpose. The music throughout the restaurant was loud and energetic. The bar area was hopping and really fun. read more
2 years ago
Food was great and the service was excellent. The ambiance and atmosphere was nice for an evening out. Very busy, but the food was quick. #TexMex #Houston read more
3 years ago
Service was wonderful, food was good, it was our first time and we enjoyed it. Beautifal decor, Service was fast our food was fresh and hot. Went for lunch it does crowded quick read more
1 year ago
2 years ago
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Did anyone get hit by surprise by a "Credit or Debit Service Fee"?
Yes it happened to me and I just politely included that fee from the tip. Therefore in the end, they are hurting their own employees. I'm not going to tip, in some cases pay gratuity, and then a credit/debit fee also. Don't think so.
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El Refu - mexican - Updated August 2026
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