Rancho Jalisco Mexican Restaurant — Restaurant in Mint Hill

I have given this place two chances. We just moved to the area and I’m always down for a good Mexican place. The service was terrible the first time we went. I worked at a Mexican restaurant myself for over a year and I’ve been a waitress, so I try to sympathize with the workers. The first experience wasn’t great because we were never really checked on (we were the only people there besides 2 people at the bar) and our appetizer came out with our food not before. We also obviously had a baby with us and had to go find someone to get us a high chair because they were behind the bar. The hostess just walked away after setting our menus down. Also all the waitresses were laughing/talking in the kitchen or sitting in the back of the restaurant in a booth. The service was better the second time I went, but when we sat down, the waitress came to ask what we wanted to drink and I was the first to answer and then someone ordered a beer, before anyone else could say anything she just repeated back “so I beer and 3 waters?” And went to walk away. I think the food was pretty great both times, but again we were asked for an appetizer and it came out after we received our food. We ordered a large cheese dip for our table and I ordered a Pollo Con Crema entree (which consists of a cheesy/sour cream sauce mix), it was very obvious they made extra sauce and used that as our “cheese dip” instead of giving us an actual cheese dip. I heard the one in Matthews is better so we will try that one out. While I would definitely order their food for take out, I don’t know about going...

This was our 3rd time eating from El Valle. The first time was during the day...great, speedy service. 2nd time I called ahead and went to pick it up (Cinco de Mayo...aka my bday). Everything was great. Tonight we ended up there by chance and we were looking forward to a delicious meal. Not tonight. I believe our waitress was new but she did the best she could. There was an amazing young man checking on everyone from time to time and he gave us queso dip because we had been waiting so long for our order. I can't say anything negative about our experience with the front staff. We finally got our food after quite a while, maybe 45 minutes. I ordered the burrito & enchilada combo. My beans were extremely runny and I LITERALLY could not cut into the enchilada. The awesome young man offered to replace it and I accepted. I was honestly getting full by this time and he asked if I wanted it to go, which I did. I was pleasantly surprised to see they gave me 2 enchiladas. I haven't eaten them yet because I am still full from the meal. We were very disappointed by the wait time, the amount of ice in my Piña Colada, the consistency of the beans, and the condition of my enchilada. Again, the staff we encountered were very pleasant and apologetic. But I'm not sure we'll be back and that's unfortunate because it's closer to us than our usual Mexican restaurant. I'm not sure what the issue was but I hope they have better nights...

Update April 2024: Under new ownership for about 7 weeks now, and I must say the food has gotten even better! Torta Milanesa Pollo (which they used to not have on the menu) was absolutely amazingly delicious. Wife had the Milanesa Res and said it was one of the best she's had. I tried some of her horchata, which I normally don't like at all, and I finished it from it being so good. Janet has been making good changes since she took over.. food and aguas are fresher, cleaner, and have that home made with love taste. 12/10 very highly recommend!

Right around the corner from home and I can't be more pleased that we have good Mexican food nearby. I'll normally get the carne asada and my wife loves the mojarra frita. Last time I got the steak fiesta and it was so good! Comes with carne asada, coconut shrimp, tacitos, and a quesadilla. Wayy too good because I ate the whole thing even though I was full after the steak. Come to find out, their refried beans are not made with lard! For people, like us, that don't eat pork, it's spectacular. Service is so fast too, I started to write this review when I ordered, but food is here now...time to go home and stuff my face! Seriously, I highly...