El Charro — Restaurant in Safford

I’m on a hunt to find the best chimichanga, and I can say with confidence, this isn’t it.

On the 13 point universal scale of chimichanga deliciousness, theirs rates a 6. It’s the biggest chimi I’ve ever seen, at over a foot long, and quite girthy. The tortilla was good, nice and crispy at the ends, but the rest of the plate was lackluster. Our food arrived quite quickly, which was shocking, and I was surprised to find the side of beans had developed a skin, and the rice was dry and crunchy. The guacamole lacked any distinguishable flavor, and the lack of pico de gallo was disappointing. Most perplexing to me was how the bean dip (included with the chips, a nice touch) was delicious, yet the beans inside and outside the chimi were so lackluster. I loved the sight of melted cheese on top of the chimi, but my guess is they use cheap ingredients, because there just wasn’t any flavor happening with the cheese or beans. And same goes for the salsas with the chips: simple, thin, bland. Some of the chips were burned and no bueno.

The overall service was pretty poor. It took forever for anyone to get our drink/food order, we never received waters, they didn’t give us any knives with our plates so we had to request them, and no one came to check on us to see how the meal was. We would’ve ordered more beers if only someone had bothered to ask.

There were plenty of employees wandering around, doing gods know what, seemingly without defined duties, failing to take care of customers. Restaurant wasn’t even half full. We very nearly walked out because we were ignored at the beginning. Our waitress was super kind, once we finally met her, but it seems like El Charro is a disorganized mess and doesn’t have clearly defined duties.

Between the food quality and the poor customer service, I cannot recommend El Charro. First impressions only happen once, and this one...

I’m writing this from my toilet, and I have been back and forth since 7 am this morning. We had dinner there last night at about 6 pm. I had the carne asada tacos with a side of beans. And I did have some of the chips and salsa, too. My husband hasn’t been feeling great but isn’t nearly as sick as I am, and my toddler has been ok, but she refused to have a bite of anything besides the chips and plain refried beans.

Other strange things, the Google page says they have cocktails. It’s not a HUGE deal for us, but we were on the road and it’s a Mexican restaurant so I wanted a margarita. When we asked for a drink menu they pointed to the soft drinks. When we said, oh no, we meant the margaritas and specialty drinks they said they didn’t have one. Weird, but ok. We asked what margaritas they had, and they said they didn’t have any. Ok... So, my husband decided he’d get a beer. He asked for a beer menu. The server seemed confused and went to get another server, who came to ask him what beers he liked. They didn’t have a menu; he just wanted to see a list, but they didn’t seem to have one. He said he liked Dos XX Amber, and they had that.

The food was also very bland and meh. It lacked flavor and spice, and seemed to be smothered in the Mexican cheese blend from the store. We had chosen to eat here from other places because of rave reviews, but were sorely disappointed, and now I am doubly so. Maybe even triple, because as we walked down Main Street near the courthouse we smelled delicious garlic bread, and saw there was a pizza place. If we land in Safford again,...

I recently was visiting my cousin in Safford. We decided to place a takeout order for dinner on Sunday evening, September 6th. Our order came to $25.62. She ordered 2 GREEN chili burros with cheese on top. And a small green chili MEAT cheese crisp. She repeated the order twice to make sure the order taker had it correct. When we got home both burros were burnt and never should have left the kitchen. Both burros were Red and the cheese crisp had a little gravy on it but NO MEAT! To say we were disappointed in our meal is an understatement! My cousin has lived in Safford many years and has loved eating at El Charro many times over the years. We have joined her when we were in town several times. She was embarrassed and disappointed to have recommended El Charro to me and says she has never had a bad meal there. So she doesn’t understand how our order could have been so wrong! Please respond to this comment and I will give you her contact information. The proper thing for you to do would be to comp a meal to her! El Charro you sure didn’t live up to your standards this time!

Sincerely, Andrea...