In my 4 years of Spanish classes, I did learn that "El Chico" translates to "The Boy." El Chico delivers great food. I love authentic Mexican food, but authentic El Chico is not. However, El Chico remains my all time favorite restaurant.


Atmosphere

You can expect your typical bar and grill type decorations at El Chico, but in addition to the usual neon beer signs and race car balloons you can also expect to see sombreros and Mexican paintings on the walls. The interior walls are all stucco to lend a more Southwestern feel. They usually play Latin music. You can usually expect to hear Enrique Iqlesias, Ricky Martin, or Jennifer Lopez while eating.


Free Stuff

The hostess gives you free chips and salsa when you are seated. You can have all the chips and salsa you desire throughout your meal. In addition to the chips, each person gets a sopapilla with sweet, honey butter. The sopapillas are deep-fried squares of bread that don’t have much taste. They’re basically there to scoop up the great butter. They’ll bring more sopapillas if you ask, but after seeing how they’re made it’s hard to eat more than 1. Upon entering the front door, you can see the big fryer full of grease with a few sopapillas floating around. It makes my arteries shiver just looking at it.


Food

If I’m really hungry, I like to start off the meal with a bowl of queso (cheese dip.) It is available by the cup or bowl depending on how much you can eat. There are also other dips and nachos available as appetizers. Most of the appetizers cost as much as the entrees, so they aren’t a great value for the money.

The entrees are great and reasonably priced. I love quesadillas. El Chico used to have pretty good quesadillas, but the last time I ordered them, they had changed into something resembling a taco bell burrito. The fajitas are really good. You can get chicken, beef, or both. My favorite dish is the enchilada dinner. You can order 2 or 3 enchiladas or the stacked enchiladas which come with 3 stacked tortilla shells with lots of filling in between. You can get cheese enchiladas with chile con carne sauce. The beef enchiladas have a cheese sauce topping. The chicken enchiladas are my all time favorite, and they come covered with a fantastic sour cream sauce. Other entrees include chimichangas, burritos, and tacos. Most entrees come with a side of refried beans and rice.

My husband does not like Mexican food. Fortunately El Chico has a bit of American food on the menu too. My husband can get a cheeseburger, chicken sandwich, or chicken strips which suits him just fine. I usually order my son the Mexican pizza, which is simply 4 beef nachos with cheese. It comes with rice, beans, and a small bowl of jello.


Last Words

Overall, El Chico is a great place for Tex-Mex. Don’t go expecting authentic Mexican food or you will be disappointed. It’s a kid friendly, family restaurant that can also be a great place for friends to get together.



Recommended: Yes