El Sancho Loco Cantina — Restaurant in Thousand Oaks

A wonderful dining experience!

We started with guacamole, made to order. Delicious. The chips were house made, fresh and thick enough to withstand the thickness of the guacamole.

I ordered the BRC (beans,rice and cheese) burrito. I chose refried beans, onions, cilantro and pico de Gallo. Substantial, fresh, tasty and authentic!

My Wife had the Tostada Salad with chicken. The chicken was grilled, cubed and lightly spiced, she doesn't like hot spices, and this was good for her palate. The fixings were fresh. The Tostada bowl shell was also fresh made, flaky, airy and delicious!

It is a cozy dining room with around 10 tables inside and an outdoor patio with tables and heaters. There is also additional seating at the bar, which has a spectacular Dia de los Muertos style mural on the back bar.

The decor is light and calming, with large floral prints on the wall and bits of Mexican art placed around the room. The tables appear to be made from antique doors!

The bar offers a few exclusive drinks which were created especially for the restaurant.

Speaking of decor, I usually don't comment on the bathroom decor, but the urinal is too beautiful to pass up! ( see picture ).

Sasha, one of the owners, was on hand, even during lunch, and very attentive and informative.

The pace of service and the meal was just right.

Our entire meal before gratuity was around $44. Not bad for this level of service and quality.

Will we be back again? You betcha!

My new, favorite...

Surprisingly excellent, and at 20 minutes before closing time. I was by myself and I was prepared to get it for take out since they were about to close and I sat down to check out the menu and they offered the reverse (late night) happy hour and I asked for a margarita and asked which one was good and he said the plain margarita was great.. and it was. One of the best ever actually.

And I can't tell you what I ordered because I really don't know. I asked him what he liked - as I usually do - and he told me what he ate there and it sounded good.

(I was a waiter once. They have tasted the food and they know what's good. So if it's remotely in the ball park I'll usually go with their first suggestion.)

And it was awesome. They stayed open late for me and I was the only one there by that time and they didn't rush me out the door, although I didn't dawdle. And it was really excellent. Best I've had in a while.

And the kitchen is open late...not just the bar...which can be a drag if you're looking for restaurants on maps and you can't tell if just the bar is open or the kitchen too. The kitchen was open until the restaurant closed.

And I never gush about a place like this but the whole experience...

Very nice to have an actual Mexican restaurant in the area. I'm from San Diego, my family is Mexican, and since moving up here I have found it sort of difficult to find actual Mexican food. Sort of expensive but you get what you pay for, especially with inflation, can't really help that right now. Had the Al pastor, and tastes pretty fresh, and the staff were very nice to me. I would say the only negative is how small the place is, understand why, but does leave a bit to be desired if, say, a larger family were to come in and want to sit down. Will come back again and taste some of the other meats, but overall pretty good, authentic (minus the excess grease I am used to at some other places back home), and again, good to see an actual Mexican restaurant in an area full of "artisan" restaurants that charge 20 bucks...