Pizzeria La Sierra

I give this place 2 stars because i dont know i guess it was just a lame place. First of all it was our last night dining in Seminole and we had exhausted
Our options. We couldn't come to a consensus on what we wanted and  ended up getting 3 pizzas...we should have just gone to pizza hut across the street!! The VERY obvious segregation of Mennonites and us was what made the restaurant particularly memorable. This was somewhat an open dining area and there must have been 30 people (mennonites) on one side and us on the other.... The "that some kind of alien?!" stare on their faces as we left was the sure fire sign that these people don't like our kind...what ever that may be because they sure as hell aren't going to get to know you before they decide you are not worthy of sharing their dining room. Anyway, not impressed...but pizza wasn't awful.

With only two reviews listed and both conveniently, but unconvincingly, five stars, I had to resort to pre Yelp tactics in my search for a restaurant. In other words, drive slowly through the heart of town and look for the place with the most cars in the parking lot. Upon spotting a large parking lot overflowing with twenty-three trucks including three with horse trailers, four suburbans, a Tahoe and one very out of place Saturn, I realized I was at the right spot.

I understand that this place is billing itself as a pizzeria, but a glance at the menu would indicate a bit of an identity crises taking place. The trifold menu had one section dedicated to American food, comprised of burgers, sandwiches, hamburger steak, steak fingers and chicken strips, while the middle section was various pizzas with a couple of pasta options and the third section was devoted to Mexican consisting of a basic fare of tacos, burritos and more of the like. Given the difficulty of finding a place that has mastered any one of the above food genres, it is questionable to me when one place does multiple.

Given the not especially flattering photos of the pizzas hanging in the entry way and not feeling the usual pizzeria vibe, I opted not to go with pizza. Given the inordinate amount of burgers and more than my share of Mexican on this road trip I knew I needed to switch things up a bit and went with the daily special chicken strip meal.  On arrival my attention was instantly drawn to the Paul Bunyan portion, quart of gravy in the middle.  Can I get some chicken strips with the gravy? Never mind they were just hidden under the gravy bowl.  The fries and chicken strips were edible, but far from anything special, the mini piece of toast was way over done in butter and the mini pile of shredded lettuce with a tomato on top was hardly passable as a salad, side or not. I hate to say it, but a chicken strip meal from Dairy Queen would've been a much better bet.  Ironically, Seminole may be the only town of any size in the entire state of Texas that does not have a Dairy Queen.  My copilot went with the bean and cheese burrito and had no complaints.  However, is there really any way that a bean and cheese burrito could go wrong and can it every really be regarded in any type of culinary measure.  I'm saying no to both.

In addition to the lackluster food, this place just never really felt completely welcoming and once the food came out, our server was not seen again until the very end and that was only to drop the check off. With a total bill of just under $12 it is hard to have a complaint, but for me, I would of gladly paid double for a more appealing meal and even just slightly better hospitality.

After getting home I Googled La Sierra out of curiosity to find that surprisingly they have a website, albeit in Spanish. As it turns out, there are a handful of locations with the one in Seminole being the only one located outside of Mexico. In reading through La Sierra's website along with several other alternative review sites regarding some of the Mexico locations, their claim to fame is what they're dubbing as their Mennonite style pizza. The principle difference being what is referred to as Mennonite cheese, a type of distinct and regionally famous Oaxaca or "Quesillo" cheese commonly produced in the Mennonite communities in the state of Chihuahua.  Not having tried the pizza here it is hard to say, I may have completely missed the boat on this one.  Of note, I did see on the signs that there is a pizza and salad buffet available from 11:00 until 2:00, Monday through Friday. Hopefully that salad entails more than just shredded lettuce and slices of tomato. In addition to the American, Pizza and Mexican for lunch or dinner, I did notice that La Sierra also serves breakfast as well.