Rancho Grande Cantina — Restaurant in Parkville

Rancho Grande in Parkville is a weekly staple in our house. Yes, of course it is Americanized Mexican, but we are in America after all. If you have a craving for inexpensive, quality food, this is the place. I have been a customer for over three years and continue to go back week after week!

We have never had issues with the service. Even though we seem to get a different server every week, we have gotten to know a few and they are always prompt and friendly. There is usually a short wait, particularly on Friday and Saturday night, but rarely have we had to wait more than 20 minutes. It is a bit busy, noisy, confusing, and hectic, but the noise adds to the atmosphere.

Once seated, you immediately receive a basket of fresh made chips and salsa (you have to ask for the "hot" version) and your server arrives shortly thereafter. The margaritas are excellent, at $5 per glass or $20 for a pitcher ($12 for a small), coming frozen or on the rocks. They are potent, so bring a designated driver if you plan to have more than one!

The guacamole is excellent and consistent, although I have to add a little salt each time and the portions seem to get smaller all the time, but still worth the price ($4.95). The chili con queso is also very good, but a full order is too big for two of us, so we usually get a small order. Quesadillas are very good and come with all the trimmings, but a little overpriced for a bit of cheese and tortillas.

Rancho Grande makes the second best restaurant tacos I have had in the U.S.. The shells are not pre-made, they are very fresh and deep fried for every order. You can only get ground beef with the hard shells and they come with lettuce and cheese. I usually save a little guacamole for my tacos or add some of my wife's pico di gallo to spice them up, but they are good alone. You can order a side of guacamole for less than $2, so go that route if you do not order an appetizer.

The enchiladas are excellent, smothered in red sauce and cheddar cheese. I usually order two, one shredded beef and one cheese and onion. Like everything else, the portions are large and the enchiladas tasty.

The chimichangas are HUGE, so come hungry and everything (except ala carte) comes with rice and beans, which are also tasty, as well as guacamole and sour cream. The fajitas are also excellent and filling, coming in beef, chicken, or shrimp. Wednesday's are "fajita night" and are a real value at $8.95, so if you like fajitas, Wednesday is your night!

The only disappointments I have had are the carnitas tacos. Carnitas do not come in a plate with accompaniments and tortillas like most places, they only come pre-wrapped in a tortilla (for a good reason). They are skimpy on the meat and the pork looks like it is boiled, not "slow-roasted" as is the case in most places. Pass on the carnitas!

In all, Rancho Grande in Parkville is an excellent choice for quality American-Mexican food with large portions at a reasonable price. Enjoy!

CombatCritic gives Rancho Grande Cantina in Parkville 7 out...

The only time I ever went to Rancho Grande Cantina was back in October 2020 to celebrate my 16th Birthday with my family. The place was like an average and typical Mexican restaurant that people visit. The Parkville, Missouri location for Rancho Grande is the local chain’s original location. Rancho Grande’s goal is to serve up wonderful tacos, margaritas, and memories for its customers. Rancho Grande Cantina recommends their customers to enjoy their foods at any of the chain’s 3 locations, or call an order in to enjoy their food at home. Rancho Grande recommends it’s customers to enjoy milestones with their favorite people and Rancho Grande’s catering buffet. The founders of Rancho Grande Cantina established the local chain of Mexican restaurants in July 1995. An amazing team of partners was created by good management skills and putting together a delicious and extensive menu that makes the customers, and even the owners crave Mexican food ever since Rancho Grande Cantina was first established with the original location in Parkville, MO. All four founders of Rancho Grande Cantina know ZERO strangers and value each and every friend they have made at any location of the Rancho Grande Cantina chain in the Kansas City metropolitan area.

The menu at Rancho Grande Cantina is known for appetizers, salads with Mexican ingredients, tacos, burritos, tostadas, and the most popular dish at Rancho Grande are the fajitas. Another thing Rancho Grande is famous for would be their Rancho Grande Dip which consists of premium white pepper jack cheese, mushrooms, and other secret ingredients. The thing I ordered from Rancho Grande was their Plaza Burrito which was filled with a lot of ingredients. My family and I also got served tortilla chips with salsa while we were waiting for our meals. In my personal opinion, I thought Rancho Grande Cantina was pretty good because of the food I ate and good service due to excellent management skills that the restaurant has. If customers are wanting a Mexican restaurant that is known for a unique style of excellence management & service and also a wide variety of food on the menu, I would have to say that Rancho Grande Cantina is the restaurant to visit and eat food from. If there are customers who are near or living in the Kansas City suburb Parkville, Missouri doing a leisure activity, I would suggest that they stop in at Rancho Grande after a game of golf or taking a walk near the...

Update: response to Owners complete lack of accountability. Young workers should be taught, cleanliness, attentiveness and efficiency. Not sitting around on their phones, disheveled-not from work but from lack of effort in self presentation and completely oblivious to basic greeting and service. Napkins, ketchup with fries, utensils- these are basic standards for a multiple entree order. Are we being frugal? Trying to save costs? Put up a sign- please ask for take out items. Otherwise it’s just dense and poor business. On our previous visit, we had the Mexican food and it was pretty convincing of chow dogs wouldn’t eat. The salsa with the chips proved still the same. We wondered if you could accomplish the small task of a burger and wings. I mean who screws up Sysco fries? It’s literally drop in the fryer, salt and bag. This was a waste of 40$ and the lack of accountability and the defensiveness shows the lacking in leadership, work ethic and evidently any kind of quality. If it was one thing wrong- we would be forgiving but everything being, gross and inedible? Nope. No go. Absolutely the worst food x2. And no one is making fun of your staff. Nor for the fun of it. We paid money and expected food and service. No matter their purpose for work- they still have to learn to do the job well. Or are you a pitiful lemonade stand that has no standards? You’re not children. They are. Teach them how to be proper servers and work. -pathetic excuses for pathetic service. Go figure.

Absolutely the worst!!! The service is made up of teenage girls that look burnt out or too indifferent to care at all about service. The blantant disregard we were shown just getting take out was confirmation we needed to not dine in. We ordered wings- missing a wing to start, the tiny wings weirdly seemed overcooked and undercooked at the same time. That’s talent. The burger we ordered would have been better from Burger King. The flavorless overcooked patty was bland and pathetic. The burger was large-but also largely lacking any flavor. The fries seemed old and stale. We also added queso dip… which was okay. Too bad the rebagged chips tasted two weeks old and therefore made the dip completely unenjoyable. This place was awful years ago and worse still today- the fifth of July. Oh and to boot, zero condiments, napkins, or utensils on a three entree order. Crazy...