Original Mexican Cafe

The four of us stopped here on our way out of Galveston on Sunday, March 6^th. The kids and my wife were not really all that hungry, so my son ordered the Quesadillas and my daughter and wife split the Bean and Cheese Nachos. I on the other hand, had not eaten since breakfast so I was on the hungry side, and chose the Special Mexican Dinner. The plate came with one tamale, one taco (chicken or spicy ground meat) and two enchiladas your choice of beef, chicken or cheese. I chose one chicken and one cheese for the enchiladas and spicy ground meat for the taco. The plate came out piping hot and all of the food items were well up to temperature. There was one bite that I took that had a hard piece of something, like part of a chicken bone. But it did not stop me from powering through my meal which was very good!
I love Mexican food and would definitely go back to the Original Mexican Café. We haven’t eaten at every Mexican restaurant in and around Galveston, but this would be my first choice.

Omg this place is so dirty! How can no one not notice this and mention this issue in their reviews? The tables have food caked under the peeling laminate top layer. Menus were old as dirt, tattered and worn, with food crusted on them. Menus were gross. I’m 9 months pregnant and my chair was so rickety it literally almost fell to the floor. Every other chair in their has stained, nasty seat covers. They looked like backyard porch chairs. Musty smell, old nasty wall paper, nasty old carpet. We walked in, noticed the nastiness– and walked out. I refused to eat there! If the restauraunt can’t even clean and keep up the front of the place, imagine what their fridge and kitchen must look like! This place would get negative points if it were up to me and my whole family! I can’t believe no one mentioned this their reviews.

The husband took our little fambam for a drive, and we found this gem. It was like an ordirary Mexican restaurant anywhere else, but as soon as we got our orders and tasted them, we were suprised that it all tasted really good. HOMEMADE EVERYTHING! will definitely go back when we’re around the area!

Best Mexican food in the US. We have been eating here since the 70’s. We have traveled extensively in the US and have eaten mucho Mexican food. The Original is the gold standard to which we measure all others. Highly recommend their original chicken quesadillas, guacamole, frozen margaritas, and enchilada suiza.

Don’t go anywhere else! There are a couple of authentic dishes from Mexico on the menu. The rest are excellent Tex-​Mex dishes. The portions are huge and you will not walk away hungry!

Came with a group of 5. We ordered fajitas, and a large tortilla soup.
The meats from the Fajitas were cooked well but under seasoned for my taste.
The soup got a 5star rating.
Two people got margaritas which were more like overpriced limeade. I got a mango daquerie, which was basically a fruit smoothie. We didn’t notice the presence of any alcohol.
The service was decent.
Restaurant was clean.
Bathrooms were awful.
Plastic fake glasses … Foam containers served on the platters with the dine in food… it was an odd dish situation.

Been to this place a few times. The food is good. But the back room, next to the bar, is way too loud. Don’t sit there if you actually want to have a conversation you can’t even hear across the table. The margaritas could be better. But the cocktails are great.

It is a shame that such a prime location could serve such mediocre food. I encourage the owner to take a quick trip off the island and learn a thing from Mamacitas, Lupe Tortilla, Chuys and El Tiempo, to name a few.

I love the chips and salsa they give you before you order. I can eat almost all of them. Ha!
The food tasted good, good size portions and reasonably priced. I’ve gone here twice with my bf, and I have not been disappointed.

We went on a Saturday night, they were pretty busy but the service was quick. Chips and salsa were great. Tortillas were awesome, definitely tasted homemade. I got a half quesadilla and it was HUGE. Margaritas were good. Water not so tasty. The rice was the best I’ve ever had and my husband said his charro beans were very good. Nothing fancy here, just good food and good service!

We headed to Galveston from Prescott Valley, Arizona for my nephew’s graduation from Texas A&M University. We had family members from several states in attendance and would be here for a total of two weeks. Eating out is inevitable. And of course we wanted places that could accommodate our group of 12 or more.
This time we turned to the nephew… Consensus dictated that we needed a good Mexican place — and I’ve been wanting to try good, authentic Tex-​Mex. He took us here. And what a find. He had made the reservations for us. Clearly a «locals» favorite, it is a bit off the beaten path. Go early. The best parking is on adjacent side streets, though they do have a small lot.
It was not busy, but then we were early. We were happy to find our table and servers at the ready. The meet, greet, and seat was fast and efficient. Our waiter was on his game. And it was happy hour. Freshly made chips, salsa, beer and margaritas abounded. The chips are awesome, salsa very good, and house margaritas were only $ 2.50 and absolutely delicious.
It was clear from the condition of the bound menus, they had seen a lot of use. The choices are plentiful. My wife decided on fried cod fish tacos, and I choose the chili rellano. The food arrived quickly, with all but one dinner brought to the table at once… Of course it would be my dinner that took and extra 5 minutes. No matter, there was a constant supply of fresh, hot chips and salsa that were refilled as often as our water glasses.
My dinner finally arrived… Certainly not anything like I ever had in any other Mexican restaurant. This was the biggest chili rellano I have ever seen — the pepper was stuffed with fresh beef, onions, carrots, potatoes, and raisins. It was battered, fried, and served with a thin, tasty cheese sauce, refried beans and rice. Wow, was it ever worth the wait. Excellent is an understatement. The refried beans tasted as though were made from scratch and not out of a can. Ditto for the rice. Excellent. My wife and finished off the meal with a flan to share — it was a good as any I ever had before. And as I went around the table asking, the gang was equally happy with their selections. So, dinner for two, endless chips and salsa, dessert, a beer, and two margaritas… $ 45. Tip included. Very happy with this place! BTW: by the time we finished our meal, this place was packed! Go early.

Was excited to try this rather well-​hyped Mexican restaurant. Lisa ordered the mixed enchiladas and I got the mixed fajitas. I though it was interesting that while most enchilada plates included rice and beans (fairly standard in Mexican restaurants) Lisa’s plate explicitly excluded them. Also strange was that sour cream and cheese were a $ 3 up charge with my fajitas — again, usually standard.
The enchiladas were tasty enough but fairly average on the whole. The fajitas did not come served on a sizzling platter (not that that’s essential) but did include an adequate portion of chicken and steak on a bed of peppers and onions, the fajita fixins (minus sour cream and cheese), rice, beans, and tortilla shells. It was also tasty though not spectacular.
When a place is as locally hyped as this you come in with high expectations, fairly or not. And while this place was good, it wasn’t great. There was nothing wrong honestly. just little to honestly justify the hype.
With so many other choices in the area, we’ll try another place next time. Overall, it’s worth a try for good Mexican food if you can discard they hype and excuse the strange exclusions.

The Original has been one of my favorite Tex-​Mex places in the area for a long time. I love their light and crispy, warm chips. Can’t help but get my cheese enchilada fix here. Also a fan of their Hot Fajitas, Tacos Al Carbon, and Nachos Al Carbon. Hard to beat their Chicken Soup or Caldo De Rez on a chilly day. Consistently good.

I thought this place was pretty good, standard TexMex. Nothing to write home about, but very good and filling and satisfying. I had the menudo, I asked for it extra spicy and boy did they deliver. It had all the heartiness and spicyness and chewy tripe I was looking for. The tripe flavor was STRONG, just like it should be, I guess some people may not like it that way but if that’s the case why are you ordering menudo? Maybe a little too much oil in the soup though. My dining companions were satisfied but not blown away by their chimichanga and enchiladas. They did serve unlimited chips and salsa (chips — not warm, oh well; salsa — spicy but watery, decent flavor), though we did have to remind them to refill our chips and salsa in a timely manner. The service was otherwise very nice and very quick. The portions were generous.
The business itself doesn’t have a dedicated lot that I could see, I think it’s just street parking. The restaurant was HUGE, plenty of space. It did fill up quickly at lunchtime though, so it’s clearly a popular place.

Is it wrong to hope that the closer I get to Mexico, the better the Mexican food will be? Well, I did more than hope, I assumed. Plus with a name like Original Mexican Café, you have to be out of this world, right? Eh, maybe not the case.
Don’t get me wrong… the food was good and the restaurant was clean but I could have gotten similar food anywhere else in the country. We started out with margaritas, which were tasty but my mango margarita was a little too sweet for my taste. They also provided chips with salsa and refried black beans. The beans were great — all Mexican restaurants should start you off with a side of steamy, hot and delicious black beans!
I had an order of chicken nachos with black beans, jalapenos, sour cream, avocado, cheese and tomatoes! My fiancé had a cream cheese chicken taco type thing with beans and rice. Both dishes were good but far from the best or even top 3 we’ve ever tasted.
I’ll have to continue to test my theory next time we are in the Texas area again!

One of the reasons that I write Unilocal reviews is to keep a record of where we eaten so I can remember if I enjoyed the meal or not.
I wouldn’t need a reminder for this restaurant. We came on a Saturday night for dinner and it was quickly clear that this would soon be our favorite Mexican restaurant on the island.
The tortilla chips or thin and light and the salsa was perfect. In a previous review I read that the queso was runny. It was. But not a problem as it was quite tasty. We ordered it with the fajita beef.
The flour tortillas are made here and some of the best I’ve ever had. My wife enjoyed her chili Relleno, as good as her mama made, which is a very high compliment.
She ordered the jalapeño margarita. It was so good she even had a second. I went with the El heffe, made with Petrone tequila and enjoyed it as well.
In fact, we had such an enjoyable dinner that we followed it up with a breakfast the next morning.
We weren’t disappointed. My wife ordered the Menudo, which came in a huge bowl. I went with the breakfast burrito which was also enormous.
Perfect breakfast meal to top off another enjoyable weekend on the island. We will definitely be back to the original Mexican Café!

A wonderful place for happy hour & fresh Mexican food! We have been coming here since the early 1990’s & have never been disappointed !

Firstly, this is Tex-​Mex not Mexican. Menus were old, falling apart, and dirty. This is a pet peeve of mine that I am forced to re-​wash my hands because of filthy menus. There were many negatives on my first experience and I think that is largely due to oversight from being around so long that not much is changed, or needs to change because tourists unwittingly keep this place in business. On a positive note, I was fortunate enough to order the chile rellano which was surprisingly good. It was a large pablano stuffed with ground beef, potatoes, carrots, and raisins. If you find yourself here for some reason do yourself a favor and order the chile rellano. It was the lone salvation of my visit and earned 1 extra star for this otherwise 2 star review.

I brought 9 people for dinner and drinks. We only saw our server when he took out orders and brought out ticket.
He refused to split the ticket leading to full chaos. I finally got the hostess to agree to let us pay individually. But as I walked back, our server started screaming at the hostess for letting us split the check 9-​ways.
Salsa was like watery tomato juice with no flavor. Most everything was bland. Seriously disappointing service and food.

Very good TexMex. Fajitas and quesidillas are my favorites. Be careful with the size you order they are huge. A half quesadilla is a 10″ flour toritilla with filling fold in half. The large, or full order, is a 10″ tortilla covered in filling and then it is civered with another 10″ tortilla. It’s HUGE.
The faijtas for two. were enough for three. Our order had 9 tortillas. Lots of meet, onions, three colors of bell peppers, guacamole, rice and charo beans.
That was after an unkown quantity of chips and salsa. Do they offer roll out service? I’m pleasently stuffed.