As part of a recent trip to Houston, I had a bit of time to kill in the Houston airport (IAH). There are actually a few different Priority Pass IAH options, but I decided to go for the Cadillac Mexican Kitchen & Tequila Bar, which is in Terminal A. There is also Landry’s Seafood in Terminal C, a Minute Suites in Terminal C and the Air France and KLM Crown lounges in Terminal D.
How to get Priority Pass Select access
Priority Pass Select membership is a perk that comes with many of the premium and ultra-premium credit cards. Here is a brief sample of some of the credit cards that come with Priority Pass Select membership:
- The Platinum Card® from American Express
- Hilton Aspire
- U.S. Bank Altitude™ Reserve Visa Infinite® Card
- Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant
- Citi Prestige® Card
- Hilton Business card (10 visits per year)
- Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card (10 visits per year)
- Chase Sapphire Reserve
- Capital One Venture X
However it is important to note that if you have a Priority Pass membership from an American Express card, you won’t be able to use it at restaurants, including the Cadillac Mexican Kitchen & Tequila Bar in Houston IAH airport. Starting January 1, 2023, that will also be true for people with a Priority Pass membership from the Capital One Venture X card.
See top credit card offers here.
Priority Pass membership is a credit card perk that has definitely seen a lot less usage with the lack of travel. It will be interesting to see how Priority Pass (and its parent company Collinson Group) handle those changes. It would not surprise me to see credit cards change if/how Priority Pass is included as a benefit, or to see Priority Pass make changes as well. It would also not surprise me if Collinson Group went bankrupt / out of business. 🙂
IAH Priority Pass – Cadillac Mexican Kitchen & Tequila Bar location
The Cadillac Mexican Kitchen & Tequila Bar is located in Terminal A, near Gate A17
If you are entering the secure zone in Terminal A, it’s right past security. We had arrived from Terminal C and it was a bit of a walk (and skytrain) over to Terminal A but we felt like Mexican food rather than the seafood at the Terminal C Priority Pass restaurant. All of the terminals are connected airside, so there’s no need to leave the secure zone, even if you’re switching terminals.
Cadillac Mexican Kitchen & Tequila Bar (Houston Airport Priority Pass) menu
The menu is posted out front of the restaurant, as is typical with airport restaurants.
They do also have a to-go area where I assume you could use your Priority Pass benefit to pick up to-go items if you wanted
At least when I was there, you just picked a seat yourself and there was plenty of seating to choose from. After a little bit, someone came over and told us that you order through the QR codes that are at the table. I had seen that there on the table but apparently it is mandatory here, at least when I was there (it was about 9 a.m.)
When we went back Saturday evening, there was a server that actually took your order, so perhaps our experience Thursday morning was just due to low staffing because of how early it was.
Houston Airport Priority Pass / Cadillac Mexican Kitchen & Tequila Bar food
As a reminder, with Priority Pass you get a $28 credit towards anything on the menu. Since I was there early in the morning, they were only serving breakfast. Pretty much everything on the menu came with eggs and/or sausage, which was not super exciting for my vegetarian wife. I ordered the Tacos Gatos, which came with cheese and sausage inside a tortilla, along with a side of hash browns.
Carolyn decided to get the Tacos Rancheros but we put a special request in the app as “no eggs, and sausage on the side”. The server was a bit confused when she came out – she asked “Is this what you wanted”? I think she was confused because it was literally just two empty tortillas 🙂
Carolyn added the cheese, avocado, hash browns and salsa into the tortilla and proclaimed it tasty.
On our return trip, the lunch / dinner menu was in effect and I felt like a burger, so I had their “Mexican burger”, which was tasty. The burger was very good but the fries were mediocre.
Carolyn had the beef burrito with no beef, which she said was good.
Should You Tip at the Houston Airport Priority Pass restaurant?
Generally I believe it is appropriate to tip at Priority Pass restaurants like the Cadillac Mexican Kitchen & Tequila Bar at IAH, but in this case it did feel a little annoying. I ordered my food on the app, the server literally came out one time with the food and then never came out to check on us at all (until the very end). It felt more like a takeout restaurant – so what exactly am I tipping for? In the end, I did tip mostly because I figured the servers worked on tips and got a lower than minimum wage. But I was mildly annoyed by it 🙂
On our return trip, the server was very attentive and so I had no problem tipping him.
IAH Priority Pass – Cadillac Mexican Kitchen & Tequila Bar
The Cadillac Mexican Kitchen & Tequila Bar is the Houston Priority Pass IAH restaurant and is a decent alternative if you’ve got some time (and hunger) to kill in the IAH airport. It serves mostly Mexican food that was tasty. Just be prepared to order everything yourself.
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Dan Miller travels with his wife and 6 (SIX!) children. He loves to help families travel for free / cheap, especially larger families. If you are looking for help, drop him an email at 
So your wife is vegetarian but doesn’t eat eggs? Okay, sure. Also, if the service is bad or lackluster, tip appropriately. If not you are just enabling a good tip for mediocre service.
I’m not sure what you mean about your vegetarian / eggs comment. There are plenty of vegetarians that don’t eat eggs. Vegetarians (like people) come in all sorts of varieties. In my wife’s case (not that it matters to the Internet), she doesn’t like the taste / texture of meat, fish or eggs. She does eat eggs if they are in things (like desserts)
Pretty sure you can’t use AMEX Priority Pass for airport restaurants. Might want to mention that.
You are correct – I’ll add a note.
I was here in April and had the fajitas and a couple margaritas (my son was w me but wanted a chicken sandwich at another restaurant B4 we got here).
It was good and would def go back, but have no idea when Ill go back thru iah
Since you ordered and paid via the QR code, how did you get the $56 credit for using the PP Select ?
I ordered with the QR code but the server did come up and scan my Priority Pass card when we were ready to leave. That’s where the $56 came in. On my return trip, I for some reason had to go with the server to the pay station (maybe because I had the digital card?)
Thanks Dan