Rancho Viejo — Restaurant in Granby

Facts: Service: Slow, inattentive, and understaffed. Food Quality: Bland and unremarkable. Atmosphere: Nice decor, but hot. Really uncomfortable. Value: Overpriced.

The Story: Suddenly decided that I was in the mood for Mexican Style food, and remembered that a few people I work with had recommended Rancho Viejo as an "Excellent Authentic Mexican Restaurant". That is almost all of the good parts of this story.

When we arrived, there were about 6 or 8 tables seated. The decor is customary of most Mexican themed restaurants. It took 5 minutes to be acknowledged for seating with no line in front of us. The booth was nice. It was clean. I had plenty of time to notice how clean it was. Yup. Lots of time. But at least there were chips... that had a hint of the flavor of burnt popcorn. The salsa was average and unremarkable. We almost met our prerequisite time of walking out of a restaurant in which we have yet to be waited on. It was also horribly hot in the restaurant. Seemed as if the air conditioning was off. As I was about to point out that it was time to leave, our waiter appeared. We ordered the Combo Juarez (Cheese Chili Relleno, Chicken Chimichanga, Spinach Enchilada), and Pollo a la crema. The food arrived about 20 minutes later. The food was hot, and looked like it spent no time waiting before being delivered.

The Chili Relleno was filled with a congealed mass of something that was theoretically cheese and lacked any sort of seasoning. The spinach enchilada was spinach (no spices or herbs) wrapped in a tortilla and coated in a sprinkling of white cheese. The chimichanga was interesting. It almost tasted like they had wrapped the chicken in a puff pastry with the flavor being very similar to a pot pie crust. The crust was tasty, but not seasoned like anything, let alone tex mex or mexican spice.

The Pollo was bland. The chicken tasted like it was pulled out of the fridge and cooked without any herbs or spices at all. The sauce was creamy and unremarkable. It wasn't bad. It just had no distinguishing flavors at all. Honestly, I felt that I could have thrown chicken, mushrooms, green peppers, onions, cheese and sour cream into a crock pot at home to get the same result. The avocado was hard and unpleasant.

The rice that came with both meals was very flavorful and well cooked. The refried beans are the only really great thing we had to eat. They were tasty, well seasoned, and exactly the consistency they should be. Not overly thick, and not a bean soup. They were perfect. It wasn't enough to make up for everything else.

We started the meal with ice water. Every refill got warmer. There was no ice in the pitchers. By the end of the meal my water was almost room temperature. Did i mention it was hot in the restaurant? You would think that would mean that the waiter came by often, but no. Someone randomly would show up to refill the water. We actually only saw the waiter 3 times total at our table. To place our order, get our food, and to get our check.

Bill was dropped off. $35 for 2 meals. Immediately placed card in with check and then waiting again. There is nothing worse than being held hostage by someone not cashing you out. The visit had already been much longer than planned. I am literally sweating from the uncomfortable temperature. Almost 15 minutes went by before I took the check to the bar to try to get cashed out. Hey look! Our waiter is not only the one and only waiter in the place, but also the bartender.

The entire dining experience took over 2 hours. We went because it was close to home. We wanted to be quick instead of driving to our favorite Mexican style restaurant in Enfield. It would have been faster to drive the 25...

This place. THIS PLACE. If you want authentic Mexican food with some fun drinks- you need to come here. I’ve been here twice in the last month because I’m so in love with it. The food is FRESH and great quality. My friend and I are actually going through the menu and checking off things we’ve eaten. We want to go through the whole menu eventually.

My last visit here we ordered Taquitos with shredded beef. OH. MY. GOD- the beef melted in your mouth and it was full of amazing spices. I couldn’t get enough of it. It was happy hour so we ordered some Ranchos Nachos with shredded beef and well frankly— I devoured them. I think my friend only had like three bites? Whoops. I’d apologize but I’m not sorry- they were too amazing.

I ordered the fajita quesadilla with chicken. While the chicken was fresh and it tasted great, it fell apart easily and I wasn’t thrilled with that. Seemed like the chicken was cut too big so it weighed down the tortilla.

For drinks so far, I’ve ordered the pina colada, margarita, mango margarita... I think that’s it? I loved them all individually. My favorite was probably the pina colada- it tasted like you were laying on a warm beach with blue water in the distance. Pure heaven.

OMG I FORGOT ABOUT THE CHURROS!! These are by far the most amazing churros I’ve ever tasted and I’ve gone to plenty of restaurants where they’re served. The taste of these exceeds any churro out there. They’re even amazing a day later and COLD. Do you know how rare that is? Most churros get solid and inedible a day after. Not these- I had three that I took home and let me tell you THEY WERE GONE THE NEXT DAY. So good. Order these. You won’t be disappointed.

I’ll be back there soon. I’ll probably be there so often that they’ll know me by name eventually. And I’m not ashamed of...

I’m not one to write negative reviews or critique service when a restaurant is busy, but my family and I had an incredibly disappointing experience here. The service was poor, the recovery was non-existent, and the food was outrageously overpriced.

We ordered the fajitas for two, which came out with the same amount of meat as the fajitas for one that were served at the table next to us—just with more onions. This dish was $45. We also requested an extra side plate of toppings, expecting to be charged, but were shocked to see it cost $19 for rice and beans with fajita toppings. While I understand rising food costs, this was excessive.

To make matters worse, our cheese sauce was served cold, and no one brought us utensils or napkins. We had to get up and find them ourselves. Despite these issues, the waiter found time to ask if we wanted dessert.

When these concerns were brought to the manager when we got the bill, she said “you ate the food”. Then she continued to argue with me over the price of rice and beans. She never offered an apology or a solution to the problem. Finally a bar tender came and excused her from the conversation. Customer service had to be begged for.

The food quality was average at best, but the pricing, cold food, and lack of basic service made this a very frustrating experience. Having spent years in the restaurant industry, I understand the challenges, but this was unacceptable. For the price of a side of rice and beans and some fajita toppings ($19) I could have ordered a bowl of chipotle for a better price, higher quality, and less hassle. We won’t...