Fiesta Ranchera

We felt uncomfortable from the moment we walked in because there was no one to greet and seat us. Nick wanted to leave before we were asked what we wanted to drink. He should’ve listened to his past self. Oh and I forgot to mention it took over 5 minutes for anyone to even come to us and they weren’t even that busy! The hot waiter guy with the muscles was also a bit of a dick.
Now let’s talk about the food. Nick ordered the spinach quesadilla, it was so obvious that the spinach and mushrooms came from a can. He could’ve easily made a better quesadilla at home even with his total lack of experience making quesadillas. The freshest thing in his meal was the slice of tomato. I ordered two beef enchiladas which were absolutely disgusting. The beef was practically mush and reminded me of something I would’ve been served back in my old high school cafeteria.
Overall, we were extremely disappointed with our experience at Fiesta Ranchera. There were so many other options around us. Heck we should’ve spent our 20 dollars at Monical’s instead. We will always regret this decision and we will never forget the scar that it left on our taste buds. Ladies and gentlemen, please do not wine and dine at Fiesta Ranchera.

Usually I enjoy going here. However this time, I waited 50+ minutes for my food, and all I ordered was enchiladas… I mentioned something to our waiter when he asked how our food was, and he sent over the manager.
Her response was that «it’s a Saturday night, it’s hard for us to keep up, we’re doing the best we can»
First of all, it’s a Friday, not Saturday, so your response already seems incredibly insincere and scripted. And I understand, things get busy. But you’re a restaurant; if you cannot keep up with a Friday night dinner rush, then maybe you should not be in this business. The least she could have done was offer to comp my margarita. Will definitely have to rethink coming back here.

We had dinner with friends at Fiesta Ranchera on a Saturday night and had an enjoyable meal.
Décor: It’s in a strip mall, but don’t let that fool you. Inside has the quasi-​look and feel of an «authentic» Mexican restaurant. It’s well lit, inviting, has banners hanging from the ceiling and art/​paint that feels like any other Mexican restaurant you’ve been to before. It’s a pretty large place with tables and booths of all sizes to accommodate whatever size party you have.
Bathroom: just like the rest of the place
Staff: Our waiter was good but very over-​worked. It seemed like he had about a quarter of the place all to himself. So, while he seemed busy, we really didn’t suffer too much from lack of attention. They could’ve been a bit better about refilling our water though (but, again, they seemed short-​staffed overall).
Drinks/​Food: We started with some margaritas (delicious!) and some chips + guacamole (the guac just seemed like mashed avocado and that was it…). We then moved on to dinner, of which we had a variety of items. What stood out were the enchiladas (very tasty), the quesadilla (which didn’t look that great but was very enjoyable), and the queso dip (OUTSTANDING!). The tacos, as well, were pretty stuffed and tasted wonderful. We didn’t have any dessert.
Value: We had a big group, but walked away not spending too much per head (esp given that most of us drank margs as well).
We left full and content after our meal. I would certainly return again in the future, I’d come for the margs and stay for the food.

Worst service I have ever received… on multiple occasions. The waiter that I have gotten the last view visits has been the rudest person I have ever met. Rolled his eyes at my order (because I only ordered queso), threw up his hands and huffed off at my friend’s order, walked away before taking my friend’s drink order, cut us off while speaking, rolled his eyes on multiple occasions, and didn’t check on us at all. The bathrooms are disgusting (flooded and clogged), and the food isn’t all that good. Honestly, I don’t know why I gave this place so many chances. I will not be visiting Fiesta Ranchera again.

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this place! With three little ones we do not dine in very often but when we do the service is always quick & courteous and the food is hot and delicious. What I am a truly big fan of is the carry out. My family orders from here 1 – 2 times a month and the woman that typically answers the phone has our order memorized. She is so friendly & kind & makes you feel appreciated for your business. This place is great!

I really liked the salsa here. It was a little on the spicy side but other than that it was good. And so is the queso dip. I ordered the chicken Fajitas and they were good as well. They had a lot of vegetables in them which is a good thing. I went on Thursday night and had the half price Margarita. Nothing too impressive about the Margarita to write about other than it was half price.

Very quick service… Friendly staff… Delicious Food…
Guacamole is lip smacking…
Loved it!!!

This place is awesome. Ask for roger he is awesome and he is a true professional. food is always good and fresh. I have been coming here for years the coldest beer in town

Food is delicious although greasy and unappetizing at times. servers hard to understand sometimes but are eager to fix problems. Overall good experiences. Took a while to get check. Good prices.

This place looks like a typical Midwest Mexican restaurant. The menu does too. I had the carnitas dinner and it came on a sizzling skillet like fajitas. I spent the last 12 years in LA and have been exposed to many styles of Mexican cuisine. This felt like a stereotypical chain restaurant. The server was quick to take my order but never saw him again until I was halfway through my meal. I had an empty margarita glass waiting for a refresher for quite a while.

The only thing special about Fiesta Ranchera is the chile relleno. They are cooked perfectly and are the best in town. If you are not going to order this, go to one of the many other places in Blo-​No that offer better prices and better margaritas.
The service is mediocre and is comprised of young white guys which is a bit odd for a Mexican restaurant. So, if you are going for authentic do not go here. The prices are the highest in town for this quality and type of food.
Èl Portòn is better and cheaper.

Good food and service. However, If your going to use one of the coupons you received in the mailers. Make sure you give them the coupon after he rings up your ticket or he wont take anything off. They will just take your coupon and charge you full price. Also have seen the mens bathroom out of hand soap on several occasions, witch says a lot about a restaurant!

Normally, Fiesta offers tremendous service and delicious meals. The margaritas are quite suburb and their meals set the benchmark for quality Mexican food at a reasonable price. Be forewarned, however, the «fried ice cream» is bait-​n-​switch. Their rendition of «fried ice cream» is vanilla ice cream with corn flakes covering the top. Heed my warning, if fried ice cream is what you seek… Continue your search elsewhere. Safe travels on your fried ice cream quest.

I actually haven’t had the food; I’ve only gone for the margarita special on Thursday. Sometimes the place turns into a bar when a lot of ISU students are there. The margaritas are cheap, but be careful from drinking too much of the frozen margarita, as you will get extremely full.

The BEST chips and salsa I’ve ever had! We often do a carryout order of their chips and salsa so that we can have a tasty snack at home :)
The menu is big, and the lunch prices are great :) We prefer the location on Veterans by Best Buy. Some of my favorite entrees are: El Fiesta Burrito with beans instead of meat and the Ranchero Cheese Steak with beans instead of meat (Just because I’m vegetarian; I’ve been with people who have ordered them normally and they liked it).
Also, instead of ordering pop, try some horchata! It’s delicious :)
The local mailer ads always have coupons for $ 2 off $ 10 and $ 4 off $ 20 so use them. Also, they have a punch card and after enough punches you get a free entrée :)

If I was choosing a Mexican restaurant in Blo-​No, I would first go to:
1. Taquiera el Porton
2. Los Portrillos
3. Fiesta Ranchera
It’s just average. That means if I’m near it and I want Mexican, I may go.
I’ve never been blown away by the food, and the service is especially bad, but I also have never hated anything from here.

–The chips & salsa were so yummy I expected great things from the meal.
–Not the case. I ordered carne asada. The meat was not skirt steak as advertised and it had to much seasoning it had a weird taste. The waiter offered to have the manager come speak to me. 10 min later no manager came. Waiter said he wasn’t going to come… The manager said it was skirt steak and that was that. I changed to tacos. Still not very good. Tomato was soggy lettuce super watery. Same «skirt» steak. (I even googled skirt steak to double check of it was the cut that made it look like that. It wasn’t)
–One waiter running around like a chicken w his head cut off. I felt bad for him.
–On the bright side. The rice and beans were good.

There are a lot of choices around BloNo for Mexican, so this shouldn’t be your first choice.
I wife and I hadn’t been to fiesta for quite some time so we thought we try it for a change of pace. Really wish we had gone somewhere else. Nothing really went right about this visit. First off the hostess just pointed at the table rather than walking us to it. Next it took 10 minutes for the waiter to acknowledge that we had been seated. After placing order, we noticed that we were not the only ones receiving sub-​par service. Many were done eating and waiting for their checks with dirty dishes on a table. Others were obviously waiting patiently for the kitchen to finally prepare their orders.
Food came out hot and fresh, so it wasn’t a total loss.
Bill for our table of two came to about $ 25 with tax, not bad price just bad service.

Margaritas were OK. Food was quite good.
Recommended:
Chori Pollo
Pollo Ranchero

Dear Fiesta,
Every time I exit 55 and arrive to Bloomington-​Normal you are one of the only things I can think about. I dream about you. I want to take a bath in your Queso and get drunk on your Fanta. Let me have seconds of your chimichangas and pollo encremado… extra spicy… if u know what I mean. ;)
love always,
Twylla