Chavas Mexican Restaurant — Restaurant in Yale

We drove around town to see the old buildings. Mostly crumbling, vacant structures with faded signs painted on the building’s exterior bricks. The logos once proudly announced the owner’s name and services. Essential then, now ancient. Sad. We imagined what the town was like, when oil was life in Oklahoma. The buildings then housed businesses that employed many, put food on the table and provided opportunities for several generations. Yale, a living ghost town now.

The massive building has a Spanish architectural hint and colors that suggests, Mexican food can be found here. It is now Chava’s. It covers almost a city block. This place probably rocked in the old days. The parking lot being full of oilfield worker’s trucks at noon during the week and family cars on the weekend. Now well worn, the neglected exterior matches the town; weeds, the structures only landscaping. Today, the entire declining population of Yale could probably fit in the building. The parking lot was vacant when we arrived.

The restaurant survives, thanks to dedicated locals and with the help of hungry sports fans headed to Stillwater for the Saturday game. Currently its ranking as the “Best Mexican Food in Yale” is unchallenged.

The food is served on hot plates, properly prepared and good portions. The service is friendly and the restaurant is relatively clean, but noticeably warn. We ordered one of the combination plates, a relleno and a beef enchilada. On their own both were good; but the red sauce on the meal didn’t work. Closer in taste to marinara spaghetti sauce than anything Mexican. The salsa served with the chips was similar in taste. Very mild, oregano flavor prominent. When we ordered, the young man offered three options: white queso, yellow queso or red sauce. We asked about the red sauce. He described it as “like chili. Nope, it is more like spaghetti sauce.

The beans and rice were good. Underneath the sauce, was a nice big, fresh poblano, filled with cheese, battered and fried, accompanied with a mildly seasoned, beef filled enchilada. My recommendation, order queso on anything that comes with a sauce. It will be very mild, but better than the spaghetti sauce. If you are a person that finds a Tic Tac to be a little too spicy; you’ll love the mild salsa.

For other reviews laced with superfluous, time-wasting inessential information, sarcastic diatribe and subjective opinion, follow Spike S. on Yelp and Spike Speedwell on Google If you are looking for other Mexican restaurants in the area, check out my collection "Jalapeno Highway" on Yelp. I've...

Well it's Tuesday the 17th of September Taco Tuesday, we go in and as always they bring chips and salsa, we order the special eat as usual leave 1 full salsa bowl and half another, the chips was sparingly like a handful maybe. We didn't ask for chips and salsa , she asked me if I wanted another salsa ,I said please after she placed the chips and 2 salsa bowls down. We finish I go pay the 5 tacos are $8.50 Martin rings up it say $13.50 something I didn't understand. Then Martin goes to tell me that because of the students come in and get drinks and chips and salsa and don't pay. Well now THEY CHARGE YOU FOR YOUR CHIPS AND SALSA, SO ASK FIRST BEFOR THEY BRING IT. So because of that, they didn't tell us first that it cost, we wouldn't have ordered it. Because they charged us $5.00 more, it's kinda rippen people off. Because of that us and 20+ others will not be back. That's not fair charging people after the fact. WHATEVER... THEY ARE POCKETING THE...

This is one of those hole in the wall places that people travel to for great food and friendly service. You'll see that the locals have no problem overlooking the condition of the building as they keep the crew busy with both eat in and take out meals. The worn out building may have you worried about cleanliness, but if there are any lulls in customers, staff can be found cleaning. The tamale lunch plate was delicious! Though it only has two tamales, with rice and beans, I was definitely satisfied. The size of the meal was ample for the price. They have deserts. I enjoyed the cheesecake. For some great authentic Mexican food, overlook the run down building and fixtures and savor the...