Pancho's Mexican Restaurant — Restaurant in El Cajon

My family and all our friends love Pancho's!!!!! We come here so often, we've started calling it our "feeding ritual"! We love Pancho's so much! We always see the same kind and efficient staff! The food is always absolutely delicious and the portions are large! The chips and salsa are always a hit, my husband and I throw down a bowl in minute because we always come here when we're starving lolol! He always get the enchiladas del mar, which he claims is the best thing on the menu (if you like shrimp). The shrimp is always cooked perfectly and the corn salsa in / on it is awesome! I always read the entire menu and then get the 2 enchiladas combo, just cheese as my fun enchilada and shredded chicken as my protein packed enchilada! The beans and rice on the side are always amazing, and I usually have to take them home! Our little guy likes the kids' bean and cheese little burrito with beans and rice on the side. We always bring family here when they visit in town and we invite our friends out here when we're feeling social. Everyone agrees this place is amazing! Often times when we come here, our little guy wants to try the salsa and it's always too spicy for him but we'll give him a tiny tiny bit. Our favorite waitress always sees this and his resulting cry, and brings a little pack of saladitas for him.. Sorry little man.. It's best to not have plans other than curling up on the couch because this food is so comfy, you'll just want to relax afterwards!

Love...

A friend and I were on a golf trip (after attending a conference in San Diego); were looking for Mexican food and Pancho’s was highly rated on Yelp. So, we put the address into the nav on our rental and had dinner on Saturday (Sep. 3).

We were served chips and a very good salsa, thick, rich and just the right amount of heat for us. I had a Corona to start and we ordered the Gordo Platter and the La Especial De Leo. The Gordo platter came with a hard shelled taco, a tamale, an enchilada and a chile relleno; it was a huge serving of food! My friend said the tamale was the star of the plate and liked everything. I sampled the chile relleno as it’s a favorite of mine …. I thought the egg coating was too thick as it masked the taste of the chile; it was more an egg omelet to me.

I was looking for shrimp diablo but it wasn’t on the menu so I tried the La Especial De Leo; a grilled steak with shrimp in a garlic butter sauce. It came with rice and a mélange of vegetables. The steak was tender and the shrimp was fine. No complaints about anything with this dish.

What did we think? We had dinner at another place one night earlier and Pancho’s is much better. The prices are very reasonable, the service is good and we liked the atmosphere. To us it’s an old school Mexican restaurant …...

Super disappointed. I have a friend visiting from the UK and she wanted to try Carne Asada chips and picked this place based on the reviews and pics. I ordered it to go and when I picked it up, noticed they put the sour cream and Guac on the side in tiny little containers that you normally see used for ketchup. When I commented about it and asked if they could just put it directly on like they would if we were dining in, the guy just kept pointing to the containers and I realized he either didn’t understand me or was acting like he didn’t understand me. Then when I brought the food to my friend and she opened it up I saw there was very little meat and toppings and more like a bowl of tortilla chips with a few toppings sprinkled on. Fortunately, my friend isn’t from here and didn’t know what to expect but these were definitely like any carne asada chips you get anywhere else and would be a huge disappointment to anyone that’s familiar with this. Definitely, not a place I’d recommend or return to for this...