El Charro — Restaurant in Carlsbad

We were staying in Carlsbad to see the caverns and saw this was one of the highest rated restaurants in town, so we decided to check it out. This is an order at the counter and pick it up when called kind of restaurant, but they also have a drive through. Parking is decent for a place this size.

We ordered the birria tacos and the green chicken enchiladas. The tacos were crisp and the meat was very tender. The consomme was some of the best I've ever had, and it felt more like a stew, as it had big chunks of the birria meat in it as well. They also provided a little foil packet of fresh onion and cilantro, which is a must with birria tacos. The green chicken enchiladas were tasty. The chicken meat is a bit more like chicken fajita, rather than the shredded chicken I'm used to in chicken enchiladas, but it was flavorful and tender and the sauce was tangy, spicy, and a little creamy. Both plates came with beans and rice, both of which were decent.

There is also an ice cream shop attached to the restaurant that sells all kinds of goodies, including the largest cup of elote I've ever seen. We tried a dulce de Leche ice cream that was fantastic, and the single scoop was at least the equivalent of two scoops for only $4 in a really tasty and crispy waffle cone.

This place definitely lived up to its...

They have some of the most amazing street tacos in this town! I absolutely love their customer service. If you call in your order, like ive always done, and they dont answer the 1st time just hang tight because they will definitely call you back soon as theyre available. They hustle that business and I admire that. You dont even have to wait in the drive thru pickup line very long either because once they notice more than the one car already sitting at the window, theyre outside regardless of the weather with ticketbook in hand ready to take orders or hurriedly bring yours if you already called it in. These people really do care about their customers and it shows. I can't really honestly remark on the menu because I always get the same thing. But I can say the plate I do get is SO GOOD! and they dont chinch on the amount they give you either! Most places raise their prices and give less food, not this place. Same price, same amount. I'm chowing down while writing this review so dont let the lack of sides full ya, both compartments were overfilled. Strongly recommend this place and thank y'all for such...

It was just meh… we were given the recommendation to eat here from a local at our hotel. We are from central NM- If you love New Mexican food, this isn’t for you. We had Christmas enchiladas and quesabirria tacos. It says red, green and Christmas but it is not red and green chile. The red tasted like canned tomato sauce blended with red jalapeños. The green tasted like canned jalapeños blended with crema and milk. Not too sure what it was exactly. Chicken in the enchiladas was very dry and tasteless. Rice was great when we added pico de gallo. Beans had way too much bacon flavor to them and I love bacon grease in my beans. Birrria was good but it needed more flavor. The consumme was flavorless and as thin as soup. Which makes it hard to dip the tacos in. Air conditioner was not working so eating in there after hiking all day was unpleasant. They had a huge fan going but it cooled off the table in front of it and was so loud you couldn’t have a conversation. On a bright note- the temperature of the food was...