Mondo Hondo

Lunch at Hondo’s today was certainly a better experience than the original occupant Beef O’Brady’s. Located in the corner space of Hewitt Drive’s WestRock Centre, Hondo’s offers a simple menu of appetizers, salads, burgers, and sandwiches. Not too much here that you haven’t seen before.

If you are a fan of the University of Texas (I am not), you will enjoy the burnt orange decor, the football posters, and the orange clad servers. If you are not, then let’s hope you enjoy the burgers. This is Waco. They do have a Baylor doormat.

Mine was a chili cheeseburger and my companion tried the bacon cheeseburger. Both were cooked to order and served in baskets with one side. The onion strings were unremarkable but tasty and light. Hondo’s gets extra points for having unfrozen potatoes. The fries arrived just a bit limp – probably from sitting in the basket a few minutes too long but they had a good potato flavor. Not as good as Kitok’s or Cupps but much better than frozen.

I ordered the chiliburger just to see what they called chili. The ownership of this restaurant is Texas based so I was hopeful that they would be able use good chili. The menu described the burger as large and messy but I had no difficulty with it. Although there wasn’t a lot of chili on it even though the menu made it sound like a cupful at least, thank goodness the chili had some flavor and no beans.

It is a good thing it was not that messy because we were not presented with any kind of dinnerware. No forks, no spoon or straw to stir my tea, or a knife to slice the burger in half (if I was a lady). Service was spotty but our drink glasses were refilled several times.

If I had to compare Hondo’s to others, I would say that the burgers were about equal to Crickett’s in flavor and size – and without the beer joint smell. If Chili’s were located next door, I would probably eat at Chili’s over Hondo’s because of the menu variety and a slightly better burger at Chili’s. But since it is not. And I don’t live near Chili’s – so I might eat at Hondo’s again because it is acceptable quality and convenient. The cost of lunch consisting of two burgers (comes with a side), two drinks, and tip was $20.