El Rancho — Restaurant in Payson

Where to begin? Not sure how this place has gotten these other star reviews? This was our first time here being new to town and what a waste of money! From the minute you walk in the front door we were confused as to what kind of restaurant this was? The clutter on the front counter included earrings for sale, pastry that they did not make for sale and scattered clothing for sale. The place is LOUD and filthy! We were seated in a booth along the north side exterior wall and immediately noticed the food particles splattered on the walls and 'artwork'. There is no consistent theme in this place that says 'Mexican' food. We watched the 'very young' staff running around without much direction and based on how they were dressed there was no pride in working here. We watched as the booth behind us spilled an entire large glass of water on the floor just as they left. The young man who was to clean/clear the table simply grabbed the ENTIRE pile of provided napkins from the table and proceeded to toss all of them on the floor to mop up the water - has the owner/manager wondered why their cost of paper products has sky rocketed? He continued by simply wiping all the food onto the floor including whatever was on the seats and then walked away. We then noticed how filthy the floors were with food under every table. Once our meal came, which was wrong, we noticed just how bad the food was. My husband ordered a chicken enchilada and beef taco with rice/beans and I ordered a cheese enchilada with rice/beans. I ended up with a chicken enchilada and notified our server. She apologized and proceeded to order me another chicken enchilada when I caught it again and asked for cheese. Let's start with the plates and the warning of how HOTTTTT they were when delivered! Why? How many patrons have burned fingers/hands/arms on these plates? How many employees have burned themselves and why? My husband immediately noted that the chicken was ground baby food with no resemblance of meat, the rice was as dry as hay with no flavor (why did they put corn in the rice?) and the beans were baby food with not one bean to be found. His taco was drenched in frying oil which made it inedible. Rather than bring me an entire new plate I was given a cheese enchilada on a red hot plate by itself, so ended up with 2 plates that I could not touch because of how hot they were. What they called 'red sauce' was brown and had little to no flavor. We watched several other tables being 'cleaned' with food tossed on the floor and needless to say could no longer eat our dinner. This place has no idea who it is. We were told to take our bill to the front counter to pay but when we arrived one employee was on the phone taking an order and we were told that they would have to take our card to another area to pay because the phone and computer were being used??? Really? The counter was cluttered with stuff/junk, the menus were filthy and old. This was certainly our first and last visit to this restaurant. What a waste of money and time!!!!! I'd like my $40...

Update October 2019... See below...

Old review summer 2017:

Can never eat here again. Which is disappointing because the food was really good everytime I ate here. Unfortunately, the last time I was there we could hear someone who sounded like they were almost dying from a horrible cough. My wife and I joked about it because it was so bad, almost non-stop. It wasn't a joking matter when the person coughing turned out to be the hostess coughing into her hands. She came from the other room having just finished one of her coughing fits as she entered our view and picked up a pile of menus to take to the front of the restaurant. No washing of hands or anything like that. Not that bad, but it gets worse! This restaurant uses silverware sleeves to put on the tables as they get customers. I thought this is a great idea. Unfortunately, this same hostess began filling silverware into the sleeves after putting the menus away. Again, no washing of hands or sanitizer, just the coughed in hands touching the silverware. I'm sure this is something that rarely happens and that the hostess was having a bad illness but my wife is a huge germophobe. My wife immediately dropped her fork and refused to eat anymore. Watching the hostess put the utensils that we're going to go into people's mouths after having her horrible coughing fits turned us off and made my wife nearly ill herself. We immediately paid our bill and left. I wasn't going to write this review but know I had to change my previous 4 star review and write why I did it. Like I said before, the food was really good, but can never go back since the wife won't go.

Update October 2019: As we were driving through Rye, we decided we were going to pull the trigger and try this place again. Friday afternoon, late lunchtime. Got sat right away. Hostess "TB" was nowhere to be seen. Waitress was very nice. The salsa was possibly jarred but not bad. As usual, wife ordered nachos and I ordered a salad (due to diet). Bacon Chicken club salad. One of the best salads I've ever eaten. It was huge too. Not really Mexican food but I added Tapatio to the ranch and made it Mexican! Wife liked her nachos and I always eat a little bit of them as well, trying to avoid the chips, and it was really good. We will go back and try it again. Hopefully the experience from a couple years ago won't...

OMG! After a 3-hour drive we were ready for a late lunch. We always travel with our family member, who is a yellow lab. After stopping at three separate establishments that don't welcome dogs in Payson we thought we would give El Rancho a try. There is a special dining area for dog lovers. There is even a sign on the door instructing you where to go to another entrance with your pet. So after the first battle of finding a pet friendly location was conquered, we only needed to to worry about whether we were going to have a nice meal and friendly service. Everything was done to perfection. The complimentary chips and salsa were perfect The chips were thin crisp and warm. The salsa was perfect. Honestly it is so appreciated to have freshly made salsa and chips that aren't pulled out of some Safeway bag.. we were welcomed with friendly smiling service. The service was prompt and welcoming. The diners in the establishment were fun-loving and easy to talk to. Now on to the great meal. My wife and I split a chile relleno and cheese enchilada combo with rice and beans.. oh and don't forget the fish bowl margarita. And cheese crisp. The refried beans were cheesy the enchilada with roasted beef was delightful and the chili relleno was equally as flavorful. After being disappointed at a couple establishments along our route to find El rancho was especially satisfying. Since it was our anniversary we felt we owed a special treat to ourselves and El...