Maggie Rita's swears it never called a customer fat: Restaurant claims it's a fake Facebook page

Maggie Rita's Mexican Kitchen may have only one location left in the Bayou City, but that doesn't mean the Carlos Mencia-owned chain is going down without a fight . . . Or at least that's how it appears on Facebook.

Local Amanda Newman took to Facebook to say goodbye to Maggie Rita's recently-shuttered Shepherd location — making sure to bring up the infamous 2012 comments from co-owner Santiago Moreno in which he labeled his customers "old Taco Bell clients" and claimed that women only care about margaritas at Mexican restaurants.

Happy to see that your location on Shepherd closed! Insulting Houston before we tried your food was kinda 'dee-de-deee' of you! We hope they all close soon."

While perhaps not the kindest of words — right down to using Mencia's outrageously offensive "dee-de-deee" catchphrase — Newman certainly hasn't been the first to lash out at the restaurant chain.

Operators of the Maggie Rita's fan account spent five days carefully crafting this response:

I thought fat people were supposed to be jolly."

Clearly, the high road was not an option.

"After all of those comments about Houston and Houston women, I said I'd never set foot in one of those restaurants," Newman tells CultureMap. "When I saw the one on Shepherd has closed, I thought it was hilarious. It was like all that bad karma got them in the end."

Newman says she wasn't surprised by the comment, but wasn't terribly offended.

"I'm not going to get upset or hurt by an insult a third-grader would say. It just goes to show that these idiot haven't learned anything. All those bad reviews were right after all."

Facebook fake out?

When CultureMap spoke with Santiago Moreno on Thursday, the co-owner was taken aback at the news, explaining it was the first he's heard of the situation.

"I haven't been on our Facebook page for months," he says.

"I'm the only one who can use it, other than a few promoters we hired in the past. These are professional people though, so maybe we were hacked . . . Whatever happened, I sincerely apologize on behalf of the company."

Five minutes later, Moreno called back to report the account in question — which only has 154 likes — wasn't started or operated by him.

He says that the official Facebook pages are only "friend" accounts (not "like" accounts) and listed as Carlos Mencia's Maggie Rita's and Maggie Rita's Modern Mex, the latter of which was started when the first account maxed out at 5,000 friends. The second account is currently linked up to the restaurant's website.

As of Thursday afternoon, the "jolly" comment to Newman remains posted on the Facebook fan page.

This Maggie Rita's restaurant critic didn't exactly receive a civil response. Fat joke anyone?

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an offer he couldn't refuse

Exclusive: Killen's Barbecue will soon shutter in The Woodlands

Killen's barbecue meat platter with sides

Photo by Robert Jacob Lerma

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Fans of Killen’s Barbecue’s location in The Woodlands have a days to make one last visit. The restaurant will close this Sunday, December 7, chef-owner Ronnie Killen tells CultureMap.

Open since 2021, Killen says that he’s in final negotiations to sell the location at 8800 Six Pines Dr. to Whataburger for a new location of the iconic Texas fast food restaurant. Neither the original location of Killen’s Barbecue in Pearland nor its Cypress location are affected by the closure of The Woodlands and will remain open.

“Whataburger made me a deal I couldn’t pass up. It would take 10 years to do that kind of revenue,” Killen writes in a text, adding that the company recently made a significant payment to keep the deal’s window open through the end of the year.

He added that the costs to operate the restaurant have gone up significantly. As one example, a cord of wood cost $175 when he opened the first Killen’s Barbecue in 2013. It costs $475 now, he writes.

If the deal falls through, Killen states that he could look for a new buyer or convert the restaurant into a second location of Killen’s Burger, the retro-styled burger joint he operates in Pearland.

The restaurant’s closure had been expected since February, when Killen sold The Woodlands’ location of Killen's Steakhouse. At the time, Killen said he also planned to find a buyer for his barbecue joint in the bustling suburb. He cited the driving distance from Pearland to The Woodlands as one reason he chose to divest both locations. He still operates Killen's Steakhouse in Pearland, comfort food restaurant Killen's near the Heights, Killen's Burger, and three other locations of Killen's Barbecue.

As it approaches its 13th anniversary in the spring, Killen’s Barbecue remains a vital part of Houston’s barbecue scene. The restaurant recently earned an honorable mention from Texas Monthly and holds a Bib Gourmand designation in the Michelin Guide. In July, it opened a new location at Hobby Airport.

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