Mexican Sugar – (Mostly) Mediocre Tex-Mex Mayhem

Here's a science question: What is the saturation point for Tex-Mex restaurants in Houston? Seems as if we may never know. Or, at least, that we're not there yet. And apparently our friends in Dallas think that what we are really lacking with respect to Tex-Mex diversity is Dallas-based Tex-Mex joints. shrug

So anyway, here's the deal: Mexican Sugar isn't bad. But it isn't remarkable either. The chips – meh. The salsa – meh. The margarita – meh. The white queso – good. The pork chop – kudos for having something unexpected on the menu, and the pork was pretty good, but it was paired with cauliflower that tasted like a propane grill.

Maybe I'm being hard on this place. But there's more – Arriving at 7pm on Friday night, it was a madhouse. And it's huge. It took over 20 minutes at the bar to be asked if we wanted a drink. And then it took 10 more minutes to get it. When it was ready, our table was ready. And then we got moved to the table and waited another 20 minutes for someone to bring menus. I'm not a stickler for service in a Tex-Mex place, but geez, this was rough. Someone dining with me was drinking iced tea, and the waiter brought him two — so he wouldn't "run out" (or maybe so she wouldn't have to check on him again anytime soon).

What Mexican Sugar has going for it is that it's a real scene. There seem to be people everywhere. Young people, older people, drunk people, sober people, people watching the game, people clearly pre-gaming for a big night out. There was even a guy walking around with a boxing trophy belt taking pictures with folks. (???) So if you like a scene, it's worth a try. But if you're in search of particularly good Tex-Mex, I can't recommend it based on my visit. It's not bad at all, it's just that there are too many other worthy spots in Htown. In fairness, my sis, who prefers people watching to good food, said she loved it.

Oh. There's another thing: Given current restaurant prices in Houston, Mexican Sugar seems downright reasonable. I think steak fajitas big enough for two was something like $27. At El Tiempo, it would have been pushing $40. So a round of applause for that.