El Rancho Viejo — Restaurant in Battle Ground

We were in Battle Ground after an excursion and decided to end our fun day with a hearty meal. After reading the glowing reviews, we decided to give El Rancho Viejo a shot.

We walked into a nearly empty restaurant last night (Sunday) at dinnertime. The gal that "greeted" us had a constant scowl on her face and acted as if we were a major inconvenience. She didn't say "hello", "welcome" or even "hi." All she was capable of uttering was "two?", as she let out an audible sigh. In hindsight, the nearly empty restaurant and rude employee should have sent us running for the exit, but we're adventurous, were very hungry, and we wanted to give it a chance.

I ordered the fajitas, and my friend ordered the super burrito with ground beef. That sounds safe enough. Right? Nope. My fajitas were 90% uncooked peppers, and the little bit of meat it did have was dry, flavorless, and wayyyy overcooked. It was served with store bought corn tortillas, and lukewarm, flavorless rice and beans. The ground beef on his burrito had the texture of canned dog food and had zero flavor or depth. It also came with lukewarm, flavorless rice and beans. I so wish we would've taken pictures. The burrito, particularly, was very unappealing, and it appeared to be just slapped on the plate.

During our meal, I asked for a refill of Root Beer. Instead of bringing me a fresh one, the server insisted I drink the first one, or "they" would charge me for two drinks. In all my 48 years at counless eating establishments, I've never been denied a fresh soda. It's unsanitary to refill a drink without a lid. I don't drink from a straw and was horrified when he proceeded to refill the cup that I had my lips all over. Yuck!

I implore you to read some of the negative reviews before you spend $70 on uninspired, sub-par food like we did. What a bummer. I wish we would've had the nerve to dine and dash.

We're leaving this review to balance out the seemingly fake, overblown reviews. There is absolutely no way this place deserves 4.5 stars! 2 stars is a much more accurate rating.

Please note that we are not foodies. It is not our intent to disparage (especially small businesses!), and we are not difficult to please. We just know good food when we eat it, and this is certainly not it. There is absolutely NO love put into this food, and it's glaringly obvious from the...

Craving a nice, fluffy cheese filled chiles rellenos covered with authentic red sauce & cheese? Don't expect to find it here, because you won't. That's the only thing I ordered, & El Rancho Viejo DEFINITELY did not deliver.

What I got instead? (Honestly, I should've snapped a pic, but I was so thoroughly disappointed it didn't occur to me.) A flat, dry egg (pancake?) with a slimy strip of canned green chile pepper surrounded by an even dryer flour pancake, covered with what tasted like Campbell's tomato soup concentrate thinned out with ketchup & canned milk. There was cheese, but not enough to salvage the slop. Ugh! ZERO STARS for that awful two bites: one bite to be disappointed, another to be disgusted. I pushed the plate away (not something that ordinarily happens with me. Lol!)

The 2 stars are for the service, &my sons were happy with their meals. One got the massive guacamole burger, &it was impressive. The fries are generous &tasty. The bun was toasted (on top?) &was overdone & over browned, but he enjoyed it anyway. The other got a double combo of chalupa & burrito, both with shredded beef. He chowed them both down &cleaned his plate. The chalupa looked the best though. The boys' sodas were refilled once, but it was Saturday night.

The staff was concerned &apologetic about my meal, & replaced it with a crunchy taco, rice & beans, which I dutifully tried to enjoy. The plate was so hot it burned me. So much so that I was UNABLE to lift the taco up before one half dissolved into the rice & beans. I ate it with a fork. :) It was stuffed well, but the ground beef was unseasoned. Really.

The rice is basic mexi fare, nothing special. The beans are very good, &almost rival those you can get at Muchas Gracias. The cheese was generous. The green salsa is pretty good. The red,...

This place is good in a lot of ways. The environment is nice and the service is friendly. It may have just not been my cup of tea. The pastor tacos are good, but I felt small for the price. The chicken was really charred and I wished there was some of the moist looking shredded chicken that my partner got on my taco. The chips and salsa were good although most of the time I wish there was a salsa that is more mild so I can enjoy it. I loved how they had 2 salsas and I tried it anyways but had to quickly extinguish it with water and more chips. My partner loved his taco salad. He said it has tons of flavor and is fresh. They did charge us for extra jalapenos and cilantro and never told us they would. Dishes were expensive so we tried to stay on the low end, some plates sounded really good but we weren't trying to pay $16-24 per meal. With the spicy food, we definitely needed water more frequently than provided. My personal suggestion especially for businesses these days, is to offer some alternative options. For example, I am lactose intolerant and often cannot have dairy, so many options are off for me. It would be so cool to go somewhere and see vegan cheese and sour cream options so I can have the deluxe meals. I really feel that most people would like it here, I like...