Taqueria Don Chago — Restaurant in Springdale

Taqueria El Monarca resides in a former Chipotle restaurant building. The owners made several upgrades, namely truly beautiful portraits of various famous Latino and Hispanic icons from around Latin America. Other than that, it's a Chipotle restaurant for all intents and purposes, looks-wise.

We were anticipating something akin food wise to what can be found in Mexican streets. What we got was basically Chipotle restaurant-inspired food, served by a Salvadorian teenage girl and a diminutive, young Guatemalan lady. The food itself seems to be made by young Mexican men, who may or may not have been former Chipotle restaurant employees. Who can say?

Was it good food? More or less... Not quite as good as actual Chipotle restaurant food, which might be made by black youths, white youths, Hispanic youths, Asian youths, or a combination of all the above and more, and usually STILL manages to emerge as a sumptuous Mexican-ish feast.

My hope, in offering this post, is that the owners of this joint will need my word to the wise, and come up with a totally different menu, one that reflects ACTUAL Mexican street food in all it's delicious variety. Take a trip to El D.F. Walk the streets, talk to the venders, pay them to teach you their secrets, then come back and start a revolution here in your adopted home. We'll love you, and reward you richly. Stick with your psuedo-Chipotle food and you'll likely fade away and be forgotten. I wish you the best! Dios te bendiga!

Update: Today, April 10, 2019, my son took me back to El Monarca, despite my protests. He assured me that what I got on my first visit was in no way typical of their food, and that he would hook me up with the goods. I was dubious.

The young guy behind the counter made us a pair of "El Monarca specials", and as I watch the construction, I began to doubt my doubts. After my first bite, I told my son he was right. Not only was this thing amazing, it was far better than anything available at Chipotle's! I repent!...

My wife and I have been here about 6 times now. It's our favorite Mexican food in the area. Where mi cozumel and their partner restaurant Dos Amigos serve food that is pretty good, with overpriced drinks that have more toys and fireworks in them than booze, Taqueria Don Chago serves food that is really VERY good, and eschews the flair in the drinks and instead serves well made, solid pour drinks that aren't watered down and sugared up. (Go for the gold margarita on the rocks. it's not watered down and it's easy to tell it's a fresh drink, not from a bottled mix) The service here has always been at least good, and is usually excellent, even when we arrive after p.m. on a weeknight. We usually have the chees dip and guacamole with the house served salsa. The salsa is good and has a little more kick than other places. The guacamole has been excellent all but one time. The cheese dip is also above average. My wife usually has a chicken quesadilla, which is made with real, well prepared chicken rather than the mystery blobs of chicken some other places use. The option to have rice and beans with the quesadilla is also appreciated. I usually get the fajita burrito with shrimp and have always been very happy with it. The portions are VERY large, especially given the prices. If you're into inhaling fireworks smoke, overly-sweetened drinks with lots of toys in them, and medium portions of food that is just okay, go down the street to Dos Amigos/Mi Cozumel. If you want excellent food and drinks that are fresh, and don't need a bunch of flair to make them seem worth it, stop in at Don Chago. You'll be...

I stopped by here while visiting an antique mall nearby. The inside was roomy and decorated very nicely the server was very nice as well as the employee who brought out the food. I came with a party of four and we only got one basket of chips and one bowl of salsa for all of us. They were finished quickly and we waited a good while for our food to be prepared. The chips and salsa were very good. The menu was probably one of the worst I have experienced. It is quite limited and a little too a la carte for me. Their combination plates had zero detail besides for them having a burrito, tamale, or taco, so nobody knows what’s inside or on top of them. Once the food arrived, it was pretty good and had HUGE portions. The green sauce on the burrito is spicy, be warned. The birria tacos were good but did not taste like authentic birria so I probably wouldn’t recommend that. The shrimp tacos were good as well. Some people might not like the tacos because they are made from corn tortillas but I thought they were good. No harm in...