El Rancherito of Mt Vernon, IL — Restaurant in Mount Vernon

If I could give this place negative stars I would. The service and management assistance me and my family received yesterday night was ridiculous!!!! Full disclosure, I am a server myself, I can understand a busy restaurant. I cannot understand attitude, horrible service, and an extremely rude and unprofessional manager. Being 3 hours away from home we decided to drop by. Big mistake. Our drinks took 15 minutes before they hit the table. We ordered cheese dip. That took roughly 30. Isn’t queso an appetizer??? By the time she finally came back to refill our drinks we asked about our queso, she had forgot, obviously. Then didn’t apologize just slammed it on the table. Then 3/5 entrees came out about 10 minutes later, COLD! Still waiting on the other 2 entrees my aunt told her that her food is cold. She goes to heat it up in the microwave. Comes back in 1 minute. Food should NOT touch the table or the guest and then touch the cooks line again. Unsanitary! The tortilla for my smothered burrito was cold. Cheese wasn’t even covering the burrito. My mother has dentures and her cornbread was as hard as a brick when she banged it on the table it didn’t even budge. I finally had enough. Spoke to the manager and told her what was going on, she claimed she watched the food come out of the window, but we all seen her talking to the other workers laughing and having a great time at the “to-go” station. When I said no ma’am I know her food was cold and mine was too but I wasn’t going to complain about mine as well and she said “well yours has to be cold. There’s lettuce in it.” Excuse me??? A smothered burrito is suppose to be cold? News to me. I explained to her that I’m a server and have been for 5 years and the service we received was absolutely horrible and she said “where do you work?” I told her where I work (in KENTUCKY) and she says “oh well I ate there last week and I waited an hour for a table” I asked her why does that matter??? Why are you justifying bad service?? She said WITH attitude “I’m just saying you’re a server you should know how it is it’s just bad times right now everyone has bad service right now” NO MAAM. I never complain at restaurants. I’m very understanding. But this was ridiculous. This woman was THE most unprofessional manager I have ever met. I do not know how she has a job. This business will go under and lose a lot of money and food cost with her running things. I thought the service was bad but the management is SOOOO much worse! Also I tried to comment on their Facebook page and they deleted my comment and made it where no one can review on their Facebook. Not sure what that’s about. Maybe they don’t want people to know how god awful their service, food and management is!! My recommendation is everyone stays miles away from this place. I’ll never forget this restaurant simply for the god awful...

Nice Outdoor Patio We were road tripping and felt like a little south of the border food for lunch, so we headed over to El Rancherito. The interior is similar to many Mexican restaurants with lots of wood, heavy chairs and clay tile floors decorated as usual. It was a nice day and we opted to sit out on a very nice patio where there were plenty of umbrella covered tables. The patio is on the street side of the eatery, but street noise was not an issue. My wife ordered one Beef Taco ($2.60) and one Chile Relleno ($5.50) ala carte. I had the Tortilla Soup. My wife really enjoyed her Taco, but when she got to her Chile Relleno, it had turned into one big solid mass of melted cheese over a meat filled Chile. Our guess is that someone melted the cheese over the relleno a little too long in the microwave and when it cooled off it became a statue. The staff was very apologetic and offered to bring a new one, but wife just opted for another taco. My soup was great. Fresh avocado slices, crispy fried tortilla strips and a few squeezes of fresh lime in a savory veggie and chicken broth made for a wonderful dish. We had a nice light quick lunch and got back...

El Ranchero to is a place to gather, whether you are having a date night or a family gathering they always easily accommodate all our needs and the service is always top notch.

They have a wide variety of dishes and I've eaten everything from the El Comal to the Molcajete to their Street Tacos and I've never been disappointed or dissatisfied with a dish yet!

They offer a wide variety of margaritas (frozen and on the rocks) from the classic flavors to occasional specials like Passion Fruit and Prickly Pear! And boy are they worth every penny! One glass is enough to get you buzzed and laughing, well for me anyways!

The remodel is beautiful and makes it feel more homelike than it did before all while giving you the authentic feel of Mexico. It is one of the only restaurants I recommend to out of Towner's that want a good, hot, enjoyable meal.

The price point is right in par for the quality of food and service. Highly...