Rancho Viejo

I just ate lunch with my boyfriend here and I left there so mad. We ordered two taco salads from our waitor and never seen him again. We both ran out of our drinks and were going to order dessert but didn’t get a chance to. We waited at our table for 30 minutes after we were done and no waitor. I’m a patient person and understand if it was busy but there was only about three other tables there. I left there so disappointed.

My in-​laws, wife and I ate here after a visit to the Luray Caverns. The restaurant was fairly busy and our waitress was hustling around to a lot of tables. We got great service and the food was very good. They had a variety of lunch specials for around $ 6. I had the steak fajitas and they were very good and brought a lot of steak and vegetables. My wife had a quesadilla and she said it was very good. My father in law had the Vaquero and really liked it. Great find, and would definitely go back. It is an inexpensive option for sure.

I loved the huge bowl of salsa and queso dip. The white sauce is pretty gross. My gf wanted to time the restaurant because she claims Mexican food always comes out quick. She was right. 4 min it took to get our food. My tacos were not right and had to send them back. The second trio of tacos came out again quickly. The chicken was flavorless and extremely wet. But they were okay. Just okay. We did laugh at the fact the place is in a poorly reconstructed McDonald’s.

Love me some real authentic Mexican food. They have some of the best food and great service.

There’s not much to eat in the town of Luray, this is definitely a hidden gem. We had the steak el vaquero and pez yucatan, a beer, chips and salsa for $ 38. Tax and tip included. The Pez Yucatan is fried crispy tilapia with salsa, guacamole, sautéed peppers and onions. The steak el vaquero has steak and chicken, sautéed onions and peppers, as well as beans and rice. The portions are, as Donald Trump would say, «Yuuuuuge!!» Come hungry! You won’t be disappointed

I’m from Texas. So there’s that.
My friends’ quesadilla and piscado ucutan was great. Pacifico on tap makes a place cool. Carved from an old mc Donald’s, it’s the stuff of legends.
But the combo 10 and my cheese enchiladas with beans and rice…
No canned tomatoes or paste. Higher quality cheese. Some onion. Texture of a soaked sponge that tastes like fine cardboard and cheap cheese.
I would say if you order most anything that doesn’t require wrapping something in a tortilla and heating it + sauce, you’ll be okay. Like I said Pacifico on tap, salsa is serviceable, though stay away from the Saint YAHOO ranch chip sauce.
Study your Unilocal.
This is the most useful review on this subject.

Great fajita salad. If they used black beans instead of refried, it would be perfect. Fried ice cream is great for 2.

I had high expectations for this place because the front desk person at our hotel said that «The Mexican food is so authentic that I usually can’t understand what they are saying»
That was all we needed to hear, so we dropped off our bags and took off.
It was a gorgeous day, so we sat outside on their patio, which was oddly decorated but a great feature. Unfortunately… our table got «lost in the shuffle» and we had to track down a server to place our order (not a huge deal… I’ve worked in food service… it happens). We put in our order of margaritas, tamales, steak tacos, and the carnitas platter. The margaritas were what you’d expect from Ruby Tuesdays, not a real Mexican restaurant. (Had we placed our order in multiple steps, we probably would have stopped there) When they brought out our order of Tamales, only one tamale was on the plate, and the second thing on the plate was a mini enchilada prepared to look like a tamale (The server explained that they had only had one tamale left). Our entrees came soon thereafter. The pieces of steak in the tacos were so overcooked and dry that you couldn’t bend them without snapping. Not good. To be fair… the carnitas platter was absolutely delicious, so Ladyfriend and I ended up sharing that plate, eating a few baskets of chips/​salsa, and taking the tacos & enchilada with us for the dogs back at the hotel. The fact that we didn’t finish our margaritas or steak tacos says something… because we had been drinking iodine-​treated water and eating freeze-​dried backpacking food prior to this dinner.
Some people are killing this place in their ratings because Rancho Viejo is in a former McDonald’s building, and didn’t do extensive renovations to disguise it. Ladyfriend and I didn’t hold that against them … coming out of the backcountry, we were more concerned about putting food in our mouths! Unfortunately, that’s where Rancho Viejo fell flat during our visit.
Despite our negative experience, we are tempted to give it another shot for two reasons:
1. The carnitas were incredible
2. All of the other customers seemed to be happy with their food, so maybe our steak taco entrée and appetizer (which were were charged full price for) was a fluke.

I dined here while visiting the area for vacation. The food was good and the service was excellent. Margaritas hit the spot — mango and strawberry for my table. The ground beef burrito was not my favorite on the combination plate, but the enchilada was superb. Thanks for a great time!

Service was incredible! Salsa had just enough bite to keep you wanting more. I had the tacos a la diabla… holy cow were they amazing. The steak was so perfectly cooked with the Chipotle sauce… YUM!
Pollo Yucatan had so much flavor and the portion was huge.
Guacamole was good as well.

First sign should of been that this place was in an old McDonalds… Food was alright, nothing to wow you. The kicker was two of the 5 of us had stomach problems for the next few days. Something that was served was bad.

About as good as any other Mex restaurant. I could do without the typical Spanish rice and refried beans though. Bland and packaged tasting. Week day $ 2.99 Margueritas are a bonus. Can actually afford to get 2 for lunch. I usually just get the nacho platter as it is huge and more than a meal. I only wish they would actually melt the cheese on the platter instead but dropping shredded on it. My favorite is the white sauce with the chips. Delish! Good prices and you definitely leave full!

officially done with this place. RUDE ASS EMPLOYEES. sad because the food is really good.

Best Tex Mex in the area… Only Tex Mex in the area. The service was very fast and friendly but the food was not so good. The margarita tasted watered down. Probably the worst I’ve ever had. The sangria was red wine and thin with no ice or fruit. The fajitas came out quickly and were hot! I love hot food. The fajitas were ok, a bit bland and barely enough meat to fill the three tortillas. A squirt of sour cream and a teaspoon of guacamole wasn’t enough to fill more than one tortilla. Rice and beans were bland. The price was fair for the food. Not sure what the white sauce was with the chips.

How this place has 3.5 stars is either a reflection of the reviewers’ poor taste in food or a serious injury to their taste buds from consuming the large and inexpensive margaritas.
Once we finally got seated, the service was friendly. But friendliness can’t compensate for the store-​bought tostidos they tried to pass off as chips and salsa, or the out-​of-​a-​can and microwaved refried beans, or the tasteless meat platters, or the clearly ready-​made tortillas. In full disclosure, I can’t say for sure that the chips were tostidos, but man did they taste like the chips your cheap friend brings to a dinner party. And that white sauce tastes like watered down and sweetened tarter sauce dripped it in a little salsa bowel .
I could have bought the same meal in the Mexican section at the supermarket across the street for half the price… really.
At least the bathroom had soap, dishes seemed clean, and the margaritas did have alcohol in them.
Needless to say, if you are searching for anything approximating decent Mexican or Tex Mex, you won’t find it here.

I would say this is 2.5 stars — edible but I wouldn’t eat it again. Really nothing to get excited over. I had enchiladas and hubby found it so unexciting that he can’t even remember what he ate and that was less than a day ago. That says a lot. The white sauce is so weird and gross. It looked like warm queso blanco at first but it turned out to be sweet, cold and Miracle Whippy. Yuck! This comes from Mexico?!? Service was meh. I guess the whole thing was meh.

As far as Mexican goes this is nothing special. HOWEVER, a $ 4 giant margarita will sway me anyway… even if it is just cheap mixer and cheap tequila. For being in nowhere VA it got the job done– cheap and edible. Don’t waste time or calories on the rice and beans.

The best thing about this place is the white sauce. Order a big dish of it, because everyone will suck it dry as soon as it hits the table.
Other than that, the food is decent enough and the service is amicable.

I live in Luray, so we’ve visited Rancho’s numerous times. Hands down, best Mexican restaurant in town. Luray is a small town, with a handful of ‘worth eating at’ restaurants & this is one of those in that handful.
Yes, at one time it used to be a McDonalds… but don’t judge a book by its cover. It’s nice and cozy with a Mexican vibe to it inside, & has a patio that you can sit on as well when the weather is warm.
Chips & Salsa are complementary. Good for snacking on while you wait for your order. Salsa’s always just spicy enough without being too over the top, but the white queso dip that they offer as well is my favorite.
Favorite dish from the menu is the Arroz Con Polo. It’s a delicious dish made of rice, mixed veggies, pineapple, chicken, with this awesome cheese sauce mixed in. I always order mine with extra cheese sauce & no peppers. My hubby’s favorite dish is the Fajita Texicana. Comes out to the table on a mini skillet still cooking! This dish is very good as well, sautéed mix of chicken, steak, shrimp, green peppers, & onions. It’s served with a side dish of rice, refried beans, lettuce, sour cream & guacamole so that you can make your own Fajita.
The mango margaritas from here are the BEST! If you choose to indulge in one, make it a jumbo…& I bet you won’t be able to have ‘just one’!
Oh, & if you REALLY want to have some fun… tell the waiter that it’s someone’s birthday in your party. Just make sure that someone is a really forgiving person who likes whipped cream.: P

I could not have been happier with our visit to Rancho Viejo. We went for a late Sunday afternoon lunch (around 3pm). Apart from our obnoxious neighbors who were a bunch of kids playing– no joke– the penis game, I had an awesome time.
Our server was friendly and attentive. The margaritas were, delicious, huge, and super strong. We both got chicken dishes: Pollo Chipotle and Pollo something else which had spinach, mushrooms, and shrimp. Both were delicious! The salsa was flavorful. The chips were fresh.
Did I mention that this place is cheap? We would have paid at least twenty dollars more for the meal in the DC suburbs. A great way to wrap up our day after visiting the caverns.