El Chico Cafe — Restaurant in Richland Hills

When on Thursday. Not a soul greeted anyone at the entry waiting for a table. Finally I went to the bar and was ignored there for a minimum of 15 to 20 minutes, while I sat there next to a regular at the bar who had obviously been over served. NOT ONCE did I see the bartender wipe down any of the areas as the patrons were leaving or especially the end of the bar where people were coming to pick up uber, doordash, etc food items to go. While I understand it was very busy and the bartender was somewhat overwhelmed she has been there for many years and could at least just acknowledge customers so they don't mind the white and at least wipe down and sanitize the areas. They were so busy that actually the chef David I believe who has been there also for many years came out and delivered my food. It was slightly incorrect. I brought it to his attention and he immediately made it correctly as ordered. I appreciated that he did that willingly and without any attitude or hard feelings. My food tasted by the way. I might have went on a bad night as I've been going to this establishment for years. However I noticed that the staff has gone down and they are probably somewhat understaffed and this is since pre covid. I noticed that when I finally left there was a waitress coming in the front door. They have a podium set up there but it appears that they don't keep someone there to host or seat. So, that confuses people somewhat. While I was at the bar waiting for my food, two people came to the bar to ask was anyone seating at the front. Then I assumed they were finally seated from someone as they waited at the front. Also, a young girl came in to get her parents order that had been called in. The bartender had never entered her order and advised her immediately that oh no, I did not hear your order come in and I usually hear the message on our system. It has not been entered or prepared. It will be 15 or 20 minutes. Sorry, would you like something to drink while you wait. The girl declined and said she would go and sit in her car and come back. The bartender then had to enter the entire order into the system so that they food could be prepared to go. The young lady was not upset so always good. When she came back in the food wasn't quite ready so we chatted with her for a while. It's really a great place and a great location. Just wish the staff would bump up the service a bit and make 100% sure they were making every effort to sanitize every area after it is utilized by a patron. Lastly, many years I've enjoyed their margaritas and I felt like my margarita was horrible because it was made so quickly and poorly that it tasted like lime water. Just giving my honest opinion of my experience not someone else's. I also want to make it very clear that I've been to this location multiple times and had great...

New Update 3/24 = the price has gone up on the Wednesday enchilada plate by $1. Server acted pretty rude like I was putting her out or something when it wasn't even very busy. She had no idea what Cheese Tacos were & said I can't get tacos - it's enchilada Wednesday. I tried to explain what cheese tacos = basically just cheese enchiladas in flour tortillas with queso on top. I mean, you work at a Mexican restaurant and YOU don't know? Needless to say she wouldn't let me order them, even though that's what I always get. Other than that, she was not attentive & never refilled my chips or salsa + charged me for Walmart tortillas. That was another first. Prob not going back for a while now. I've just come to find its WILDLY inconsistent here... especially the service. Update 12/23 = I went back for the Wednesday $6.99 enchiladas plate. Everything was really good - the chips & salsa were good as always, & the cheese tacos were delicious! Eating in here is much better than takeout! It was really tasty. I even had to take a little nap afterwards 😉 Mediocre at best. I used to really enjoy El Chico growing up...but it just seems like their quality is going down, & the prices are going up. First time ordering takeout here. I called in the order and was told it would be ready in 15-20min. Got there about 25-30min & still had to wait inside another 10min. Anyway, I got the Juarez Combo dinner. The Enchiladas were very good, rice & beans were pretty average. Chips & Salsa had a great flavor & just the right amt of heat 👍 I shouldve just stopped my whole order there. I just decided to get another dinner to try since I was craving Tex-mex. I got the rodeo combo burritos. Seriously not impressed by ANYthing on this whole place. The side cup of beans rancheros was the best part. The burritos we're not good at all in my opinion. I've had better ones that were frozen. Both were shredded beef - one was topped with sour cream sauce & the other with queso. The sour cream sauce was not any good. The queso sauce was pretty good but the overall flavor of the burritos just missed the mark - tasted like cardboard or something...looks good but didn't even want to save it for a meal tomorrow. I ended up throwing it away. Enchiladas / tacos = good 👍 Most everything else could use some serious...

Think twice before you come here. My husband and I came for lunch and order the chicken tortilla soup and the cheese chimichanga. The cheese chimichanga platter so super bland to the point where my husband had to add bunch of salt just to taste it. And normally all of the ingredients of the dish are listed on the menu not here. They had listed as just cheese only and that wasnt the case at all it all jalapeños and very little cheese. No where on the menu does it say it contained jalapeños. My tortilla soup wasn't even hot is was lukewarm. My husband couldn't eat his meal and brought to the waitress attention and asked for the check. The first time she brought it out, it said $20.50. Then she took the check off the table and said oh if forgot to take my husband's dish off. We'll when she brought back the check the 2nd time the bill was now $25.40 and that was without my husband's meal. So that's a little fishy. Then, at the bottom of our check it had a different price for cash and a different price for card. No signs are posted anywhere saying that they charge more to cover the cc fees versus if you pay cash and it doesn't say it anywhere on the menu or receipt. When my husband questioned them about it they got defensive and said that it was a discount for paying cash. No it's not at all, it's a scam to get people to cover the credit card fees that the restaurant doesn't want to cover. Ask me and my husband how we know all about any of these, after we've been in the restaurant/hospitality industry for a...