Don Choche Tacos Y Cerveza — Restaurant in Los Ranchos de Albuquerque

I was excited to try a new local restaurant with my mom on Mother's day. My mom had been wanting to try this new taco place in Los Ranchos. I couldn't pass up tacos. Unfortunately this new taco place was a disappointment to say the least. I am a big advocate of supporting LOCAL and customer service first and product/food second. This place lacked both! The atmosphere was decent and was not busy at all beside myself and my mom there was two other two-top tables. I did notice however that there was 4 tables that were dirty with all of the dirty dishes from the previous tables that were still sitting on the tables with no wait staff cleaning anything. The young lady running the front of the restaurant-cashier was not very friendly or inviting and was not very knowledgeable about the restaurant. She knew nothing about the menu and could not answer simple questions like: What kind of fish do you use for the fish tacos -"I don't know just regular fish" Is it white fish? Is it breaded or grilled? "Its just regular fish I don't know what you mean by breaded or grilled" , Can we substitute flour tortillas for corn tortillas? "No I don't think you can do that". The salsa bar is a nice idea if they keep it clean and well stocked. In this case, there was 4 salsa's that were empty and they did not have anymore made to restock and it was dirty and messy with only two serving spoons to serve between potentially 7 different salsa's. We got our tacos in a decent amount of time but even the food was under performing and very mediocre at best. Having poor customer service and mediocre food is a recipe for disaster when it comes to a new restaurant. Being a new restaurant the customer service should be great especially when they are not busy and they should have everything stocked and the tables should always be kept clean. Unfortunately I will probably not be returning due to poor customer service and lack of cleanliness. I cannot recommend this place which is very sad because I always enjoy supporting LOCAL businesses. I hope they are able to turn there business around. Because as is they will not last in such a cut-throat...

This is a very new place. We have noticed the sign within the last few months or so. We stopped and gave it a try. It is very different. Look at the decor and the Beautiful wooden tables and wooden floors. The service was not a disappointment. The young lady that took our order at the front, brought us our food and kept our drinks filled. She was so friendly and answered all of our questions. All of us got different things. The chips are so delicious. The salsa bar has great choices and wonderful and tasty different salsas. The red chile is absolutely wonderful and very tasty. The red chile brisket burrito was good but got too rich to finish eating. The carne adovada burrito had such a different flavor of carne adovada then New Mexicans are used to. The carne adovada doesn't even taste like what we've tried at authentic Mexican food restaurants. We wished they used their regular red Chile to marinate it in. It just really was not that good. The homemade relleno was good. Not the best, but good. The tamale was not too good at all. They're homemade flour tortillas and corn tortillas are just awesome. The green Chile brisket Taco was absolutely amazing. Great flavors and delicious seasoning and juices coming through. I did order mine with out cilantro. A little cilantro is good but not too much. The red Chile piquin medium salsa, was just the right touch for the green chili brisket taco. That green chile brisket, melts in your mouth. We can't wait to go back to try the exceptional types of meat that they have for some more tacos. Can't wait to try the Carne Asada. We can't wait to try the Huevos Rancheros. Especially, with their unique red Chile sauce. We have yet to taste the green...

Visit Date: 08/12/23 THE GOOD: Loved the atmosphere! And they def had the best old school Mexican jams playing! It felt like there was a señora cleaning on a Saturday morning lol The decor was typical of any Mexican restaurant, cute patio! As for the food, I really enjoyed their carnitas tacos! Not too greasy, simple with cebolla y cilantro. They also had a great selection at their self serve salsa bar.

THE REST: My friend and I liked everything for the most part but were surprised at some of their menu items. There wasn’t any salsa verde options for their enchiladas, just NM Green Chile. Had hoped for a Mexican sauce (Mole, guajillo, tomatillo, árbol) in any of their dishes but they only offer sauces made with New Mexico red or green chile.

Their tacos de chicharrón were super spicy, which I love, but they came with lettuce, tomato and bell peppers…which is super odd. I’ve never been served lettuce and tomato or bell peppers on any chicharrón dish. But a plus side: they did offer a Mexican style salsa verde option for the chicharrones, not just their New Mexico green chile chicharrones. My friend’s tacos de carnitas had yellow cheese on them, again, very strange for an authentic Mexican street taco and not consistent with how they served me my carnitas tacos 🤔

Overall, I’d come back to try other tacos and when I’m in the mood for New Mexico style enchiladas, the ones here sound good!

THINGS TO NOTE: there is no table side service. You order at the counter, you get a number, you go pick a table and your food is brought out to you. Almost everything here is self serv. They only offer beer, wine and wine based margaritas, no liquor.

I’d consider this 50/50 Mexican and New...