El Rancho

Thursday night salsa was a winner! $ 10 to get in and the dance floor was packed with a lot of good dancers. Salsa upstairs and bachata downstairs.

I am there every weekend for dancing. I love that place, it is the only real salsa club left in the city!
Music is amazing on Fridays and Saturdays (now they are open on Thursdays, but music is not that good). Crowd is great on Saturdays, fully packed, with two floors/​two DJs.
I highly recommend it as a Friday/​Saturday night salsa dancing spot.

Que bueno! I have been to El RANCHO before, hence its time to post a review for this place. First off location is central on College St just west of Bathurst El Rancho is similar to Babalu in terms of it being a restaurant/​night club. Like any HANDFUL of popular Latin clubs, its USUALLY packed! but there have been the occasional one-​off Fridays when its a smaller crowed of people. If you’re looking to practice on your bachata, or salsa, El Rancho has a dance crowed that would help step up your game. :) Drinks are reasonably priced, and the people are quite friendly. Unfortunately I cannot comment on the food, because I’ve only been here for Dance and drinks!

We took 60 of our Spanish and Theatre students here for an hour long Salsa lesson, a fabulous buffet luncheon and a 45 minute Flamenco Show with a mini Flamenco lesson thrown in. What a fantastic field trip. The students loved it and the staff was wonderful to them .A great way to show them a bit about the Spanish culture. I have to say the huge pan of seafood paella was outstanding. Thanks to all the staff!

I was here in a Saturday night for the salsa lessons with a date. The instructor was really nice and made the whole thing really fun (I’m a beginner Salsa dancer).
As soon as the lesson was over the dance floor was SWARMED with other dancers who really knew what they were doing. It was a little intimidating at first but with salsa even if you only know the basics you can still have a good time!
My date and I ended up dancing the night away and even say to watch the others for a while and realized that there really is no wrong way to salsa!
I accidentally dropped my purse behind one of the speakers and was unable to get it out. I spoke to one of the bouncers and he and another man managed to get it for me with no problems or complaining about how dumb it was of me.
Very nice staff. From the coat check girl to the hostess to the bouncers to the instructor.
I would definitely recommend this place to someone who wants to have a really fun time and learn some new moves!

I went to this club last weekend. on a Saturday night. for my one and only time. the music was good and the crowd was much older. I hated the fact that i had to circle the block multiple times before finding a parking spot on some side street a good block away… when i got into the club i noticed it was fairly small and everyone was dancing like they were on dancing with the stars. most of the night i stayed by the bar and observed. didn’t really want to get on the dance floor and make a fool of myself. don’t get me wrong. i know how to dance salsa and bachatta but the music kept switched soo fast between the genre’s i would have to really pay attention to stay on beat.
i will probably check this place out another time just to see if my observation was a one off.

I’ve been here twice (Fall 2012) and most recently this past weekend. I have to say that my first experience was good but this last one left a lot to be desired. I cannot speak to the food as both times I arrived after 10 pm for dancing only. The place has potential with two dance floors where the music is supposed to vary. The first time I attended the lower level was classic Salsa, Merengue, and Bachata and it was played in sets. The place was full of a variety of dancers, from beginners to advanced salsa dancers. This last time I attended there was no noticeable difference in the music from one level to the other and way too much of what I can only describe as techno-​merengue which is way too fast for traditional merengue dancing. By midnight the place is packed and very difficult to dance so everyone ends up packed in tight and the dance floor is a mish mash of people trying to move around particularly for merengue and salsa but bumping into each other, getting stepped on, and stepping on others regularly.
On the first night I attended it was a more mature crowd (30−50s), but this last visit it was easily a 20−40s crowd with lots of the red bull boys, 40-​and 50-​something guys trying to pick up girls to dance and who knows what else, and packs of girls trying to dance in some intelligent way to salsa. May have to give it one last time, but for now I would say it is not a great place if you want to dance salsa without getting banged around all night and having to fight your way from one end of the club to the other.

Average… That would be the best word to describe my entire experience year. Now mind you the service is average because that is not the restaurants fault, or is it?
There was only one waitress available when we got there and the restaurant was nearly half full, she was quick to take our first drink order and food order but the food took forever to arrive. And when it did arrive it was quite mediocre.
I’ve been to Mexico and have had traditional Mexican food from an authentically Mexican family, this lacked the same freshness and spicy flavor that I remember from my time in Mexico.
It reminded me of something that a very talented cook, a friend of mine, would make me say on a themed food night. Although it was good certainly did not have any of the Mexican flair and taste that I would expect from a restaurant that specializes in this cuisine.
Worth a visit but there are many other Mexican restaurants to try out on the street.

HAHAHAHAAHHAHAHAA
this place rocked my saturday night because i laughed so much. it was just a different experience all together.
Ok so the place is a normal restaurant. and then there is the entire second half which is your classic mirrored spanish salsa club.
worth every penny in terms of the $ 10 cover.
Ok so first lets be honest, this is not the kind of place you want to go to if you’re not in a group. If you’re a girl, you will need some male companionship to help you fight of the barage of insistant spanish guys rolling their r’s and rocking the chest hair look.
the place has two main rooms. One that plays salsa, and one that claims to play reggea and reggaetone but actually also plays salsa.
The crowd is fun. Women who move like nothing i have seen before and men who can keep up. I didn’t know bodies were capable of such targeted flexibility.
I went in for an old friends birthday. She has 6 ethnic mixes in her, predominated by this salsa gene. She got us all dancing, and trying, and by the end of the night, we took over the entire ‘reggae’ room. I spent the first half of the night entertained by the people watching, then i realized we were the people to be watched. We clearly didn’t fit, but people were so friendly and the bartenders were great.
There was something magical about the night. But the truth is, it was the companionship and loss of inhibition/​tequilla.
If i came back here, i would never see the place in the same light, but at the same time, i would never go here if it weren’t in a group birthday environment.
p.s — We all sweat alot. it’s one of those places.

Haven’t been there for the food but the nightclub section is as Margaret M described it. Maybe things are a little better when you blend in with the crowd of old crows, but when you’re in your early-​20-​somethings and old men keep MAKING you dance with them (demanding, literally, and telling you and your friends in the face that it’s rude to refuse), it’s uncomfortable. Salsa dancing is just a front! These people are NOT salsa dancing. It’s their excuse to hug excessively and grope you!
I’ve been to all kinds of clubs in my lifetime (from hip hop/R&B to rainbow village to goth and punk bars) but never had my friends and I lined up to take showers at an early after-​party before.
GROSS VIBE. GROSS.

Arrived just after 7 pm for dinner and headed up the stairs to the 2^nd floor restaurant & club. Only 3 other tables occupied at this time so we scored the preferred window table.
We were limited to a couple of red wines served by the glass, so as we hesitated our server offered us a small sample of their red wine. We appreciated her kind gesture, but we both felt it tasted like homemade wine your uncle Gino would make back a few decades ago. We opted for white wine and Dos Equis Lager.
Cheesy with a multitude of unrelated «themes». Archways, white stucco. Table cloths and linen napkins.
Dining in a Spanish & Latin restaurant, we ordered one of the two house specials — Paella Valenciana for 2 $ 41.95 — Rice, Chicken, Sausage and Seafood, including lots of mussels, oven baked and served in its authentic iron dish. 25 Minutes preparation time so pace yourself or you’ll be on round 3 of drinks before ya know it! We both loved the food but stayed clear of the club in the back heading for my favourite tequila bar — Reposado.

I haven’t eaten at the restaurant, my friends and I were only there for the «nightclub» which was not exactly what we were expecting. It is definately geared towards an older crow (I’d say the average age was mid-30’s, with a few 20-​somethings). If you’re just looking to salsa it was ok though, at first the floor was empty but after a while everyone was dancing and its easy to find a dance partner even for beginners, but it seemed like the majority of people who go there are regulars. Dress was casual, but beware of the extremely sweaty older guys in tight shirts. I wouldn’t suggest it for a younger crowd BUT a girl in the washroom suggested Babaluu, I haven’t been there yet but I will keep you posted: D

I am seriously confused by this place.
It’s a nice spanish restaurant with regularly priced food (probably out of range for students, but generally average for eating out).
The food isn’t amazing, but you’ll feel like it was a good experience at the end. I think it is because they don’t use premium ingredients, but the general cooking of the dishes and the recipes are good.
Soe good traditional spanish cuisine.
ok.and then there is this backroom dancefloor business with some seriously confusing crowd. A salsero crowd, generally, but more confusing are women in VERY tightly clad gear and men in their white button up shirts, that aren’t actually buttoned up. and the gold chains hanging out that brings extra attention to their chest hair.
so… yeah. (and don’t think it is just one or two people… that’s the standard dress code for the back room club– they gave my buddy a GOOD up and down look of questionable standard t-​shirt jeans dress)
try it. it’s interesting and you are bound to have an «interesting» time