Maggie Rita's
Industry | Houston, Texas |
---|---|
Founders | Carlos Mencia, Santiago Moreno, David Quintanilla |
Headquarters | Houston, Texas , U.S. |
Areas served | Houston, Texas |
Key people | Tony Shannard (operator) |
Website | www |
Maggie Rita's Tex-Mex Grill & Bar is a Tex-Mex restaurant in Houston. For several years, Maggie Rita's was a restaurant chain with a license co-owned by Carlos Mencia and Santiago Moreno of Suave Restaurant.[1] In January 2013, Moreno closed the last two locations they owned. Tony Shannard owns the only remaining Maggie Rita's restaurant, which is situated in Houston's JPMorgan Chase Tower.
History
Shortly after
In mid-2012, the three remaining franchised
As of April 2013 only one Maggie Rita's restaurant remains in operation.[10]
Locations
The chain had locations in
The Kirby location closed in November 2012. The Galleria location closed the following month. In January 2013, due to rising rents, the Heights location closed. The closures led to 60 employees losing their jobs. Tony Shannard operates the Maggie Rita's in Downtown under a licensing agreement.[12] As of that month, he planned to open another Downtown Maggie Rita's within 30 days, but as of January 2019 the Maggie Rita's website lists only one location.[19] The former Kirby location became the new location of the Houston-area Tex-Mex restaurant Pico's.[20]
Concept
Santiago Moreno said that the chain differs heavily from Ninfa's, with emphasis on less-filling food and margaritas. Moreno said that the customers "are old Taco Bell clients who grew up with Taco Bell as Mexican food" and that "[t]heir palates don't appreciate what we grew up with as Mexican food."[1] Moreno said that Ninfa's served a "heavy product" which a "strong" person would be able to eat on two occasions in a week, while with Maggie Rita's offers a "lighter" product that can easily be consumed on two or three occasions in a week.[1] Moreno added that "consumer decisions are made by women" and he concluded that "what makes a woman decide where to eat Mexican food [ . . . ] has to do with margaritas[ ; it ] has nothing to do with food."[1]
Katharine Shilcutt of the Houston Press criticized Moreno's statements, arguing that by "catering to the lowest common denominator", the chain is allowing the food quality to suffer, and furthermore by "underestimating a market like Houston, which is saturated with excellent Tex-Mex restaurants, and [ which contains ] a consumer base possessed of a smart, experienced palate that will only suffer through a bowl of garlic-and-tomato salsa once, never to return again", the chain's restaurants would not succeed in the Greater Houston area.[21]
At the Shepherd Drive location in Houston, patrons parking on the premises were required to use a valet service.[8]
Reception
Shilcutt characterized the menu as "a jumbled, pan-Latin menu" which includes
Commenting on the opening of the Galveston location in 2010, Laura Elder of
See also
References
- ^ a b c d e Sandler, Eric. "Three Ninfa's Locations Replaced by Maggie Rita's." Houston Eater. Friday July 6, 2012.
- ^ Galveston County Daily News. August 2, 2010. Retrieved on August 23, 2012.
- Galveston County Daily News. June 1, 2010. Retrieved on August 23, 2012.
- Houston Business Journal. Sunday September 2, 2007. Retrieved on August 23, 2012.
- ^ Kearney, Syd. "Snack on this : 6.3.09 Archived 2010-03-27 at the Wayback Machine." 29-95. June 23, 2009. Retrieved on October 23, 2012.
- Houston Business Journal. August 9, 2010. Retrieved on October 23, 2012.
- ^ Galveston County Daily News. January 16, 2012. Retrieved on August 23, 2012.
- ^ a b c Shilcutt, Katharine. "Maggie Rita's Takes Over Ninfa's." Houston Press. Wednesday August 15, 2012. 1. Retrieved on August 22, 2012.
- ^ a b c Shilcutt, Katharine. "How the Mighty Have Fallen: Ninfa's Finds Its Nadir with Maggie Rita's." Houston Press. Wednesday August 15, 2012. Retrieved on August 22, 2012.
- ^ Shilcutt, Katherine. "Restaurants Behaving Badly: Maggie Rita's Calls Houston Woman "Fat" on Facebook." Houston Press. Thursday April 4, 2013. Retrieved on May 6, 2013.
- ^ Saldaña, Hector. "Carlos Mencia is cooking up some big ideas." San Antonio Express-News at the Houston Chronicle. Wednesday August 11, 2010. Retrieved on August 22, 2012.
- ^ Houston Business Journal. Friday January 18, 2013. Retrieved on March 20, 2013.
- ^ "Home." (Archive) Maggie Rita's (Downtown Houston). Retrieved on August 28, 2012. "600 Travis St Houston. TX 77002-3009"
- ^ "Travis Street." Maggie Rita's. Retrieved on August 28, 2012. "600 Travis St. Houston, TX 77002"
- ^ "Galleria." Maggie Rita's. Retrieved on August 28, 2012. "1650 Post Oak Blvd. Houston, TX 77056"
- ^ "Hobby." Maggie Rita's. Retrieved on August 28, 2012. "8553 Gulf Freeway Houston, TX 77017"
- ^ "Heights." Maggie Rita's. Retrieved on August 28, 2012. "1400 Shepherd Dr, Houston, Tx 77007"
- ^ "Upper Kirby." Maggie Rita's. Retrieved on August 28, 2012. "3601 Kirby Drive Houston, TX 77098"
- ^ "Welcome to Maggie Ritas". Retrieved January 18, 2019.
- ^ "An update on Pico’s move to Kirby." 29-95 at the Houston Chronicle. Wednesday June 19, 2013. Retrieved on June 24, 2013.
- ^ Shilcitt, Katharine. "Maggie Rita's Takes Over Ninfa's." Houston Press. Wednesday August 15, 2012. 2. Retrieved on August 22, 2012.
- ^ a b Shilcutt, Katharine. "Rest(aurants) in Peace: Notable Closings of 2012." Houston Press. Monday December 10, 2012. 3. Retrieved on March 27, 2013.
External links
- Maggie Rita's Downtown Houston
- Maggie Rita's (Archive)
- Serrano's Tex-Mex Mesquite, the owners of Maggie Rita's
- "Spotlight on Downtown Galveston - Profile on Maggie Rita's." Mitchell Historic Properties. April 28, 2011.