PartyBear said:

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So I guess there is now finally a Pappas in Waco from a certain point of view.

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Are they changing the name to In The Border?

At at OTB in Waco for the first time in many years. Hopefully they change things. Sub-par in every way.

They have to change the name

I thought that OTB was a Brinker Inc. concept that started Chili's and also created Macaroni Grill?

Did they sell just that piece off?

Griz said:

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At at OTB in Waco for the first time in many years. Hopefully they change things. Sub-par in every way.

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I haven't been in years. I used to love their beef fajitas, but they keep shrinking their portions to where I received barely enough skirt steak to make to fajitas. I do miss they chips and salsa.

Coke Bear said:

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I thought that OTB was a Brinker Inc. concept that started Chili's and also created Macaroni Grill?

Did they sell just that piece off?

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IIRC, OTB started in the early/mid 80s in Dallas and originally took off like gangbusters. It expanded rapidly, and they went IPO in about 1987 or 1988. A couple of months after the IPO, the executive team had flown to the grand opening of a new restaurant somewhere on a private plane that crashed on the return trip, killing several top executives. Brinker swooped in and bought it out at a deep discount. Apparently at some point Brinker spun it off, but I don't know when or to whom.

whitetrash said:

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Coke Bear said:

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I thought that OTB was a Brinker Inc. concept that started Chili's and also created Macaroni Grill?

Did they sell just that piece off?

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IIRC, OTB started in the early/mid 80s in Dallas and originally took off like gangbusters. It expanded rapidly, and they went IPO in about 1987 or 1988. A couple of months after the IPO, the executive team had flown to the grand opening of a new restaurant somewhere on a private plane that crashed on the return trip, killing several top executives. Brinker swooped in and bought it out at a deep discount. Apparently at some point Brinker spun it off, but I don't know when or to whom.

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I was an early fan of OTB for one reason and one reason only. Could buy a good hamburger (w/chili), along with good chips and hot sauce. A unique combo back in the day.

Reported today On the Border is closing all locations tomorrow.

Mike E said:

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Reported today On the Border is closing all locations tomorrow.

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franchise locations are remaining but all corporate owned are closing. Oh well. Place sucked anyway. Going there for mexican is like going ti McDonald's because you want a burger

I haven't heard a person in Waco say, "I'm going to On the Border" in well over a decade. I don't know who went there.

It wasn't terrible. I am surprised it didn't do better because it was primarily tex mex, but even the authentic Mexican restaurants in the Waco area have even added tex mex dishes to their menus. So, the market is a bit saturated, though Mexican establishments will continue to open in the Waco area.

Yogi said:

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It wasn't terrible. I am surprised it didn't do better because it was primarily tex mex, but even the authentic Mexican restaurants in the Waco area have even added tex mex dishes to their menus. So, the market is a bit saturated, though Mexican establishments will continue to open in the Waco area.

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it was super average and the service was approaching red lobster level bad.. they recently revamped menu and changed their salsa. It was not for the better.

Waco has a lot of Mexican restaurants - both Tex/Mex and authentic. Compared to places like Dallas, Austin, and San Antonio, Waco does not have a lot of excellent Mexican restaurants.

Not sure I would include Dallas in that list. For such a big city they don't really have a good amount of Mexican Food. Meso Maya and Chilangos are the ones I wish we had here

Grumpy said:

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Waco has a lot of Mexican restaurants - both Tex/Mex and authentic. Compared to places like Dallas, Austin, and San Antonio, Waco does not have a lot of excellent Mexican restaurants.

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We do not, but we also have 1 person in the Waco metro area for every 8 in Austin, 23 in Houston, and 27 in DFW. Makes it hard to compare.