Chilango Fresh Mexican — Restaurant in Deerfield Township

Passed by the place several times and thought i would give it a try.

Walking in the door i noticed a sign that said "Grab a menu and order at front". Easy enough unless of course you want to be waited on.

Next i noticed a very somber mood from the staff. No greeting when i walked in - nothing. As if the owner gives out 50 lashes to anyone that smiles or seems happy.

Looking over the menu - everything has a price. If youre used to free chips and salsa at Rincon or El Rancho or El Picante, youll not find it here. On average 2 bucks for each. Chips 2 bucks, salsa 2 bucks, cheese dip 2 bucks. Salsa is self serve in tiny soy-sauce cups. You cant dip a chip in a soy-sauce cup. The cheese dip however comes in a small bowl. When i asked why the difference - The cook/owner tells me its business economics, "no one else has a problem with it." It wasnt my place to inform him tomatoes are about $30 for a bushel approx. 50lbs. Cheese dip is a lot more expensive.

The chicken quesadilla was okay. The margaritta was not bad but realize youll have to pace yourself because everything is paid up front. A second margaritta means you have to leave your meal and go back up front to order it.

Restroom was relatively clean and functional. Toilet works, sink works, soap dispenser works and electric towel dispenser works.

Overall, pricey for what you get, no sense of accomodating the customer, somber /borderline depressed staff and you cannot dip your salsa unless you request an extra bowl. In which case the cook/owner will remind you that technically you had an extra order of salsa and didnt pay for it. And yes, people were grabbing as many small soy-sauce cups of it as they pleased.

I will not repeat.

Good luck and...

I've passed this place a million times, but never stopped in because I''m not a fan of spicy food (which seemed to be indicated by the logo (a flame dots the i in Chilango). It was a friend's turn to pick a restaurant and I'm glad she picked this one! I had the tacos plate--there are 3 solft corn tacos. I chose one of each of the first 3 on the blackboard. There was a pork belly with pink onions on top, which was very good and not too spicy, a shredded beef with crumbled white cheese, which was awesome, also not spicy, and a pulled pork with slaw, which was delicious, but had a chili oil drizzle that I had to eat around (next time I'll request it without the oil). My picky friend had the empanadas (there are 2), which she said were delicious. (She had the meat ones, but I noticed the other type of empanadas were vegetarian. There might be other items on the menu that are, but I was hurrying to order so not sure.) We had the hibiscus tea (tart-sweet, almost a juice, and very refreshing). They serve some alcohol, too. We also split a salsa and chips. The salsa bar was good--something for everyone with some hot, some sweet, some zesty. We're both fairly big eaters for girls, but left there stuffed and couldn't quite finish everything. Total bill was $24, which I thought was very reasonable--the basic meals were around $8-9 each, salsa bar was about $3, so the drinks must have been about $2.25 each. You can sit outside, but it is close to a fairly busy road (although most outside dining is these days). But inside was pleasant with some interesting, not too loud, world-type music playing. We both agreed our spouses would like the place and are anxious to try...

Going w a 4 stars, definitely has possibilities- we ordered the guac and chips, guac was good, just a wee bit salty. Chips, ehhh, nothing to write home about. We both ordered tacos and loved the fresh ingredients. The avocado on mine looked great, some places will still use avocado even when its clearly ready for the garbage, not Chilangos- all ingredients looked fresh and tasted fresh. That said, the tacos tortillas didnt seem cooked at all, we dont think they even were near a grill, pan, heat source, nothing...hmmmm edible but we prefer the way Chef Ethan at Fond cooks tortillas for his tacos. Just a bit cooked. We will definitely try again, maybe order something different. The chicken in the tacos seemed a bit bland but the fresh tastes really make it ok. All ingredients looked great. Will definitely try again and order other dishes. This could be our new favorite quick bite for...