El Ranchero Market — Restaurant in Salem

Family friendly restaurant serving authentic Mexican fare. Seating for 55 people, groups of 8-12 would be fine without reservation. There ​is a TV playing a Spanish language channel. All orders are made from scratch so plan to wait approximately 15-25 minutes after you order. The corn tortillas are also fresh made for an authentic taco. Breakfast is $8-9, lunch dinner are $10-20 per entree. Weekend specials include BBQ Chicken for $9-24 and tacos for $2. You'll see and smell 100+ pounds of charcoal briquettes stacked at the entrance (they're very serious about their BBQ weekends). For a unique meal fit for a king and queen, try the molcajete for $20 (featured on the front of their menu). It comes in a piping hot large mortar, filled with asada (beef), chicken, shrimp, two types of cheese, cactus (nopales), green salsa, and 4 fresh corn tortillas. It will easily feed 2-3 adults, the mortar keeps the food hot while you make tacos out of its contents, and is a fun way to share a meal with a spouse or friends. The other half of the building has a small grocery store with bakery, meat counter, and...

Unfortunately this establishment is now under new ownership and the evidence shows, lack of organization especially during rush hour.

My last experience was terrible. Not sure if the food quality is the same as before because...

While I waited my turn in line a woman and her kids jumped ahead of me while I waited several minutes for my order and I had a tray of breads waiting on the counter to be added to my receipt (I noticed that one of her children was exactly in front of the bread that I was planning on buying) and this child was coughing in the direction of the bread!!! I looked at the woman and she was so inconsiderate and dumped fistfuls of candy on the counter to buy. When the cashier returned I told her that I was going to add the bread to my order but now needed it thrown away because of all the coughing on it.

I'm hesitant about giving this place another try... still upset over the disorganization of assisting customers in a streamlined manner. If management had better prepared and executed properly on service the bread situation probably wouldn't...

This was a first visit here, I've been driving by it for a long time and decided to take my son here just for a lunch. I ordered a combination plate which included taquitos, a tamale and something else, my son ordered the enchiladas, it took quite a while for us to get our initial drinks and even longer for us to get food, we did get chips and salsa in a reasonable time, however there wasn't very many chips served, but can't complain too much because they were free. I asked for some refried beans to dip the chips in and received it pretty quickly, it was over $5 just for a small scoop of beans which was a little high. In my opinion. The food itself was okay, the tamale was a little dry, the flavor on the enchilada sauce was good and tasted fresh. And the quality of meals good and everything. Overall service was okay but lacking, didn't really see our waitress too much. The atmosphere itself was kind of run down, walls were beat up, dust and a lot of places and the tables...