El Rancho Grande - Dorothy Ln — Restaurant in Kettering

Kettering just got SMASHED with 8 inches of snow and I didn't feel like fighting for food at the local grocery store (Dorothy Lane 5 stars).

Anywayyyy....

I limped down the snow covered road to El Rancho Grande on DL and the lot was already cleared!

I entered a clean, inviting, well lit and soft traditional mexican music venue that serves the best food ever.

OK? Let's talk food.....

The last time I ate here one of my favorite server, Sandy was checking on me every 6 minutes (yup, I AM that guy who times table touches). Several visits I comment to her how delicious the food is. She said that Carlos made it.

WHO IS THIS GUY?????

So a few minutes later, a guy walks out of the kitchen with my dinner. Thanks Carlos, you're a great cook. "Gracias" was his response.

("Crow" on the menu?)

I find out SEVEN MONTHS LATER that the guy who brings the food is named Renaldo.

My dinner comes and I ask him why he let me call him Carlos all this time. Answer? He didn't want to embarrass me by correcting me.

We good?

So, last night I am greeted by a new guy I never saw before.

"Hello, my name is Carlos and I will be your server."

Whaaaa?

So YOU are Carlos? Are you the one who was cooking all my food?

Yes, I was chef but now I want to try being a server.

Let me tell ya folks. THIS GUY CAN COOK!!!!

He is handsome, personable, (I was going to say familiar with the menu but he created it) and a real "go getter". His table touches were also 6 minutes apart. I felt taken care of and appreciated here.

Within the first ten minutes, Edgar, the GM, checks in and now I feel as if I walked into a very good friends house.

I wasn't that hungry so I ordered one taco ($1) and a Margarita ($3.99) that Carlos said that he would make himself. IT WAS A GORGEOUS MEAL FOR UNDER $5!

Ok yelpers, check this out...

Jan 17th is their anniversary and they are giving away $20 coupons with every order NO KIDDING!

I hope to see you this Thursday.

Just look for the oldest guy in the place grinning from ear to ear.

Keep Yelping fellow...

I have been to this store many times since it opened. However, I have been going to El Rancho for 20+ years. Chimichangas have always been served with onions, peppers, flavor....I was getting plain boiled chicken and chunks of tomato for a LONG time. I hate tomato...so I ask for not tomato with my salad....they come back with soft tortillas with just plain, unseasoned boiled chicken. I have had to tell management how they're supposed to be made. I get an extra cheese dip to put on my meal because I love it. Every time they take my food to "fix it" they take the cheese with it and don't replace it. Half the time the place will.be empty and we still have to wait for our drinks. Tonight, I did get there late, but I was only getting a large cheese dip and bean dip with chips to go. I ordered a large bag of chips because they typically only give us a very small bag no matter how many dips we get. The chips they've been giving in the last year or so are definitely not made in store or fresh as they used to be. They're hard and have no salt. And several times it has seemed that the refried beans as well as cheese dip are made from a powder. They're very grainy and don't mix well in the bean dip because of it. I went to eat cheese dip and pulled SEVERAL giant chunks of powdery grainy "cheese". When I moxed it really well, the clumps were at a minimum but the cheese was even more grainy. This place is less than a half mile from my house and I have loved El Rancho since I was a teenager. It really sucks that the food being terrible and the staff not understanding what I'm trying to explain is going to make me walk away and go to El Toro from now on. They still fry their chimis, give us real cheese and beans, and always have fantastic service. I even called the Wilmington Pike location once about things just to see if they are doing things correctly and was told "No". 100% looks like the manager at this location is doing a whole lot of negative things to save on cost. But charging twice what thi is were...

Lower your expectations if you choose to eat here. You will likely be disappointed. Tonight was our fourth (and final) visit after yet another let down. Don't get me wrong, the food is pretty fantastic. It's why we kept hoping for some improvement. Every time we get bombarded with staff; someone to seat us, someone for our drink order, another person to bring us chips and salsa, someone else to take our order then we're told "your waiter will be right with you"... It's a little frantic and painfully disorganized. But then, nothing... everyone just disappears. It takes forever to get a drink refill and even longer to get anymore chips. We ordered the traditional Guacamole for an appetizer and it wasn't brought with any chips! We ask this totally different person who delivered our Guac for more chips and its about 10 minutes before they come out. Once our entrees are finally brought to the table, the staff promptly disappears again. They forgot a side order of Mexican fries our guest ordered and the sour cream we asked for. And they didn't check on us again for 15 minutes. Our drinks were long empty and we were just frustrated. We asked for our check, had them remove the items they forgot from the total and quickly left. We won't be returning. Hopefully we will have better luck at another location that actually knows how to properly train the staff in competant dining service. Such a shame too because the food is delicious 😒 It tends to be a little overcooked especially the steak and shrimp but still very flavorful sauces and nicely seasoned meats. But sadly the poor service just ruins the entire...