Avila's El Ranchito — Restaurant in Orange

Let me start off with My Dad, old school mexican who worked at a Mexican Restaurant himself, is a very picky person for ANY restaurant! Ugh sometimes it's annoying because right away he'll start judging the place....from eating ONE CHIP. LOL

Anyway, after my wife and I took my parents to let's say about 4 different of our favorite places to eat Mexican Food my Dad finally approves of a place and it turns out to be here at Avila's El Ranchito in the City of Orange. I've told him many times about this place, keep in mind I've only been to the one in LA (which made it to my Top 3 Mexican Restaurants ever), and was hoping this one in my hometown City of Orange would be exactly the same.

As we walked into the Restaurant right away my dad loved the environment, he spoke about the sturdy tables, how roomy it was in there, to even complementing the napkins they had lol.

The waitress came by and took care of our drinks and orders right away. Soon after our drinks were brought out and we've been munching down on warm, chrispy and well salted chips and salsa, which my Dad had NOTHING BUT GREAT things to say about them (I'm really surprised), our food was brought out.

Everything came out to perfection. My Carne asada came out exactly as I expected, my wife ordered Camarones a la diabla and asked them to be mild and not too spicy and they granted her wish. My picky Dad ordered 1 Fish taco, still hesitant of ordering two because of past experiences at other restaurants, he loved the taco with rice and beans. My mother killed her Camarones rancheros, and my daughter munched down on the taquitos de pollo.

The Waitress kept coming around our table, felt like every 5 to 10 minutes but not in an annoying way, we felt like she was there to take care of our every need. We made sure to tip the waitress very well because she did her job well and exceeded our expectations. Thank you so much!

So for a short review or if you're trying to get straight to the point.

Atmosphere: 10 Food: 10 Drinks: 10 Service: 10 Parking: 10 (on a good day) street or public parking may be an option if parking at location is packed. Total: ...

So we went there on the weekend to get some Mexican food I've been to Avila's ranchito before and other locations that they have this is the first time I've been to the one in Orange! So the place is an old church I know I've seen the church before it was previously turned into the restaurant It looks really nice inside the way they have it. The food was good I enjoyed the food the chips with salsa everything they came out of the kitchen was delicious! The gentleman that kept our table clean was an older gentleman very nice person he told me he worked there for at least 5 years he did a good job in what he did! he kept bringing what we needed and made sure we were doing good! The only issue I had would say would be the waitress she barely came to our table just to get the order she never ever hardly checked up on us except for once but it was just like hey how you doing everything fine and leaves never hardly comes around that's why the other person who was helping us was the guy who cleans the tables he was always there that why I dropped the stars from 5 to 3 and again I didn't get her name because she had no name tag I don't think anybody did so it's really hard to describe but the person like I said who was there for 5 years who cleans tables he didn't excellent job If he was our waiter I would have gave the place a five-star but because that waitress was so lousy and lazy it drop down but hopefully that doesn't swade you from coming to this restaurant if you're lucky you won't have...

WARNING: SERIOUS HEALTH HAZARD -- DO NOT EAT HERE

I've never felt more compelled to write a review like this before, but this incident was far too dangerous to ignore. My girlfriend ordered menudo from this restaurant and was absolutely horrified to find a large piece of metal wire in her bowl (the kind that appears to come from a steel wool cleaning sponge). Yes, a sharp metal wire in her food.

This isn't just poor kitchen practice, this is an unforgivable life-threatening safety hazard. Had she swallowed it or it gone unnoticed by someone else, it could have caused serious internal injury, or worse. The fact that something this hazardous made it into a customer's meal is beyond unacceptable. It's negligent and reckless.

When we brought it to their attention, there was no real concern, no sense of urgency or accountability. Server response was: "would you like another one?" Which left us in shock. That alone speaks volumes about how little this place cares about your health or safety.

If you value your well-being, do not eat here. I'm posting this review not out of spite, but out of a sincere warning to others. This place is dangerous, and the kitchen and management practices here are clearly careless and hazardous.

Restaurants like this should not be operating until they take food safety seriously. I can't help but think what could have happened if a child or elderly person had been served that dish.

AVOID THIS PLACE...