Frozen in time at the Ponchos Cantina 

PONCHOS RESTAURANT

7202 South Central Road

Phoenix, Arizona 85041 

                We hope that you enjoy each visit into our “home” and find good food and friendly faces every time you return.

                            Sincerely, 

                           The Vasquez Family 

In 1972 Poncho Vasquez opened Ponchos Mexican Food. Naming it after their family Isabel and Socorro, Ponchos daughters cooked all the food for the business. Then, in 1975 Vasquez expanded into a full service restaurant and bar. Isabel eventually took over and ran the business on her own.  She added more family members to the crew and converted the entire home into a sit down restaurant. Isabel Vasquez has recently passed on; however, her restaurant is yet again ready for another expansion.

We were famished, looking for a decent place to eat lunch, when we came across Ponchos Restaurant. We parked out back, the place was packed, and Rachel, Charity, Julie and I couldn’t wait to get some grub. We were seated in the Cantina so that Charity could smoke. As we passed the “Please wait to be seated” sign I noticed a mural to my left. It was amazingly constructed. Whoever had painted it, was obviously talented. We sat in a circular booth across from the bar, a Hispanic woman carried a tray over to us with chips and salsa. Being that we were all hungry it was a race to who got the first chip. Rachel of course won, but when I finally got my chip, I was in heaven. Our lunches could only be described as pure perfection. I was very impressed with the service as well as the quality. The best of it all was the prices, they were very reasonable. After our meal I took a look around at the other people in the restaurant, strangely enough the place was mostly full of other Hispanic people, some Caucasians, mostly in business attire (probably on a lunch break). As we left the restaurant we were thanked by two other people that worked there and kindly asked to come again. And I definitely will.