Many OCCC students like to eat a little Mexican food once in awhile and an all-you-can-eat buffet is an extremely tempting option.

Pancho’s Mexican Buffet, located at 2166 SW 74th, is close to OCCC.

This is a restaurant that I took my children to for many years and my sister worked at when she was a teenager.

Times have changed, however, and so has the quality of the restaurant.

The first thing that my family and I noticed when we entered was the lack of customers in what was once a packed restaurant.

The second thing was that the silverware and trays at the buffet line were neither clean nor dry.

I decided not to complain about this and just went through the line and selected a few options.

After taking my food to the table, I went to the bar that holds salsa and other side options.

There were fewer selections available than my previous visits to the restaurant and they didn’t seem to be fresh.

The dining table seemed to be sticky, as if it had been wiped down by a dirty cloth and the floor had crumbs on it.

Before eating, I went to wash my hands and found that the restroom was also grimy. The floors seemed to have been mopped with dirty water.

Since I had already paid for our food, we decided to go ahead and eat, but it wasn’t as enjoyable because I couldn’t seem to keep from thinking about all the germs that could be on the food.

Before leaving, I asked to speak with the manager and when he came out, he was extremely confrontational.

I dialed the corporate number later and learned that Pancho’s Mexican Buffet is no longer part of the corporation, but is privately owned, so there is no one higher up to speak with.

I would recommend saving your money and going elsewhere until the management or ownership changes and they begin caring about cleanliness and customer satisfaction.

Rating: D-