Avila's El Ranchito — Restaurant in Laguna Niguel

I have been to Avila’s in Orange a few times and received excellence service and good food. When compared to this location in Laguna Niguel, I wasn’t impressed. The group I was with was on the larger side (totaling 10) of us. 3 people didn’t get their meals until a good 5 minutes after the rest of us. My iced tea was never refilled, nor was I offered the usual square of sweeteners. When we did get some, it was one box placed at the far end of our table for the other person that ordered tea. Of course we are capable of passing it back and forth, but for such a large group, two containers would have been nice. The shrimp enchiladas were bland and there was nothing to really bind the tortilla and shrimp together. I couldn’t get both shrimp and tortilla in my mouth at the same time without really making an effort to use my fingers to keep enchilada folded up attempting to obtain a multi layered bite. The patio was a nice atmosphere overall and despite being on a busy intersection corner, the traffic noise did not interfere with our conversations. I’m not one to complain, but when I spend $25 on two substandard enchiladas and an iced tea-(not including a tip) I feel like other people should be aware. If you are a shrimp enchilada fan and don’t mind the drive, up in my neck of the woods, Taco Adobe in Orange has great service, better pricing, better salsa and a killer shrimp...

Ordered Filet and Shrimp Tacos. Sounded so Delicious, but I cld.not see Shrimp ,,unless very tiny. My dish came with Rice, Guacamole and Sour cream and Bowl of Black Beans. The tacos were not great, and got no Sour scream, and Guac. was about a big tsp. On top of lettuce. I asked the Waitress for Sour Cream, since not on plate, she brought it, but charged me $2.00 extra.???? My friend ordered the Pastry stuffed with Chicken, and friend asked if she could have pork,instead of chicken, Waitress said "no problem". Got charged $2.00 extra for Pork. As on,my,plate the Guacamole was very skimpy, my friend pointed that out and asked for a little more Guacamole, waitress said Extra Charge, we charged $2.00 again for that. And,lastly, her dinner of Pastry with Pork was "really dry" so she asked for a little Grated Cheese to put on top. Again charged $2.00 for that too. Very disappointed to be charged $8.00 for these extras, needless to say if you want to skimp on things, you will not have customers that want to return. I know we will...

10/31/2024-- UPDATE -DO NOT EAT HERE... I hope the owner/manager reads this. I gave another shot at this restaurant. It was even worse than before. HORRIBLE - Stay away!! You can get better food at Taco Bell. The food comes out within 5 minutes. Tastes like it's been sitting there all day, and they just heated it up. The lettuce in my salad was brown and tasted gross! There was a guy who knows if he was a waiter or what, but he was walking around, touching the cash register, touching his phone, COUNTING HIS MONEY, then came over to the help the other guy to heat up OUR TORTILLAS. The tortilla bag was just sitting there with the bag open, Threw them on the warmer right in front of us, and then served them to us, and still just left the bag opened.I actually regret that I didn't say something. Then expected me to eat them!!! HECK NO- STAY AWAY- Who knows what goes on in the back!! To pay $70.00 for that! ...