Pancho's Grill is a Glorious Mystery to Us All

The Passyunk Post has an update on the newly ("sort of") opened Mexican spot at Seventh and Passyunk called Pancho's Grill, from the owner of the former Baja Room at El Rey, and the whole thing is proving pretty entertaining. And not just because it led us to read the Yelp reviews of the Baja Room, which include gems like this:

The menu is a little bit like word soup and it's not very descriptive. Mysteriously, the names of famous people are all over it. "Sushi grade blackened tuna fajitas, as enjoyed by Bjork and Matthew Barney." "Huevos Rancheros that Anne Rice raved about." The whole menu is like this.

The restaurant is maybe still in soft-opening mode, or maybe not. The Insider reported that it was in "extremely soft open" mode just before Christmas, with hopes of opening sometime in January. Perhaps they still don't consider themselves fully open, and that is why the P'yunk Post has been having such trouble finding any info or tracking down the owner. That would put us at about three weeks softly open and counting.

It has a drinks menu with no mention of BYOT and prices that would imply the presence of alcohol, but there is no liquor license. One P'yunk Post commenter claims they were served complimentary alcohol but that the entrees were "really expensive" - no mention of that those prices actually were, but they were high enough to lead the commenter to suspect that Pancho's "is just bundling the alcohol into the price of the food."

Although, the chalkboard special here sounds like a reasonable enough deal at $14 (we think?), if we assume that the included "spirit" is a complimentary marg. Even more so if we assume it's generous portion, which is what we'll guess is meant by "Mexican Dinner (a lot)".

Multiple sources note that the owner does own a license for the Baja Room, so it could just be that there is a transfer coming.

If you've tried Pancho's, the Post would love to hear about your experience, so go help them out with a little intel.
· Pancho's Grill Has Opened, Sort Of, at 7th and Passyunk [P'yunk Post]