Molina’s Cantina is the oldest family-owned and -operated Tex-Mex restaurant in Houston.

In 1941, after 13 years working as a busboy, waiter and counterman at various Houston restaurants, Raul Molina and his wife, Mary, opened The Old Monterrey Restaurant (also known as The Old Monterrey Mexican Café). Two years later, they purchased Mexico City Restaurant at 3916 South Main.

In the early years, the business was truly a family affair. Raul Sr. waited tables and worked to develop the recipes, Mary was hostess and cashier, and their sons washed dishes and bused tables. The family lived above the restaurant in one room.

At that time, there were only a handful of Mexican restaurants in Houston. In fact, prior to air conditioning, Mexican food was considered a cold weather food and it wasn't uncommon for the restaurant to lay off half of its summer staff. So, when Molina's became one of the first air-conditioned dining establishments in the city, business vastly improved.

In the early 1950s, Raul Sr. brought his sons George and Raul Jr. into the business, and the restaurant was renamed Molina’s Mexico City Restaurant.

Since its opening, three U.S. Presidents have dined at the establishment, joining generations of Houstonians who have come to love Molina's homemade recipes, including their escabeche starter (the recipe dates to 1955) or the homemade pralines that have concluded every guest's meal since 1965.

Today, the founder’s grandsons Ricardo, Roberto and Raul Molina III own and operate three locations of Molina’s Cantina.