El Rancho Tapatio — Restaurant in Lexington

We were looking for a Mexican style restaurant to fill the vast void left by the closing of Abuelo's in Fayette Mall and, based on the reviews, we felt El Rancho Tapatio was worth a try. I think I am starting to learn that, when it comes to restaurants, hotels, and politics, the choice of the majority is rarely the best. When we arrived, the parking lot was full and I had to park across the street -- things were looking good. When we walked in, the restaurant was full and, during our stay, there was an endless flow of patrons. So how could our experience be less than stellar? We studied the extensive menu and made our selections, while enjoying a good (but not great) margarita. The food was not bad, but it was very bland and indicative of the typical "cookie-cutter" Mexican restaurant. I added a tamale to my order and was given a choice of two, one of which was described as the more spicy version. I selected the spicy option, only to find it was as bland as the rest of the meal, only with an unusual chemical taste, which remains in my mouth even as I write this review. I kept telling myself it would get better as I became acclimated to the taste but, with a third of the tamale remaining, I had to retreat. I can only imagine, if I had chosen the less spicy version, I would have surely slipped into a coma, Prior to departure, I visited the men's restroom to find it similar in decor and condition to that of a toll road gasoline station restroom. I have to drive over an hour to get to Lexington from where I live, so this is one restaurant I can check off of my list in our search for an Abuelo's...

LOVE restaurant experience, order by pick-up is the worst I've ever experienced with a Mexican restaurant. We've been here twice in person and have had lovely servers. They are usually busy so we expect a slight wait.. however, we tried to order for take out and were placed on hold for an extended period of time. We were placed on hold for over 30 minutes, without anyone coming back to place our order for pick up. We thought, maybe they forgot we were on hold.. no problem we will call from my husband's cell. Unfortunately, it seems there is only one line, as we called and it continued to ring so we decided to hang up both phones and call again. We tried for another 20 minutes (mind you, this is 50 minutes since original call to attempt to place oder) and kept getting the message that there was not a voice mail set up for this number, therefore, almost an hour later they still forgot they had a customer on hold and we could not get through. If you are craving Mexican for takeout, I cannot say this would be the place. However, if you go in person, their staff is amazing and the food is delicious. We are sad we will not be returning, but in the future will go somewhere where they offer the same service for a phone take out order the same...

The food was just average, not the worst, but not that outstanding. The picadillo quesadilla was the exception, it was simply nsipid. What was really disappointing is that the service is sluggish. If you go and you're Hispanic, prepare to be there at least 1½ hours. If you're white and speak English, then no worries, you might get better service and your food quickly. I can attest that from watching the 3 tables around ours, which had larger parties with white families, arrived at least 15 min after us and got their food at least 15 min before ours. My wife and I got to the place at 430pm, we had our drinks order taken after around 5 min, another 5 minutes to get our drinks and then our food order was taken 15 min later. Plus another 20 minutes to get our food. That adds up to 45 minutes from arrival to actually getting the food. The placed wasn't that full, and the food wasn't that complicated to be prepared, just an order of barbacoa tacos, a quesadilla and a caldo de res. My tacos weren't that warm, which made me think they're not even deep-fried at the moment and the cooks just reheat the plate before serving instead. Expect the same delay to get your bill and to...