Ranchero

We walked into this place with open minds. Long story short, we won’t be coming back. First both the water glasses has black specs moving around the bottom, then I ordered the Albondigas and my wife Cocido. It took super long for our food to arrive and on top of that, the guy who came in after us got served before us and he ordered Albondigas too. I finally got my soup and there was so many carrots that the juice was turning orange. My wife’s Cocido was just ok. Hey, but if you want really good chips and salsa, that’s the place to get it, otherwise stay away from this place.

This is a Pasadena hidden gem. This place is been around for a long time and the menu is established and very well done. Family owned and operated and the service is incredible. Margaritas are without question the best in the city.

Awesome experience. The staff is friendly and the food is amazing. Everything is hot and ready to order. So come again. and the Margarita’s are amazing

The food is okay. My friends and I should have stayed away the moment we saw that there aren’t any Mexicans eating in this place. The authentic Mexican places I’ve been to allow people to talk and laugh. It was all purely white people, which should not have been an issue, a specific family was giving us mean looks the entire night. We were already asked to tone down our laugter so we did and we were practically talking in whispers the whole night. Still, the family kept on giving us dirty looks. I remembered their faces so I know to avoid them in the future. I’ve read through the reviews and apparently getting dirty looks from people is common in this restaurant… so definitely not coming back…

I’ve been coming here since I was a child. Good people serving quality food. Can’t forget about the Margaritas. Bomb.

This place is a cute, family run business. The service is great and the staff is always super friendly and attentive. There is a parking lot on the side of the restaurant, which is convenient. The restaurant seems to be full of locals, who have been coming here for a long time.
I enjoy the carne asada, which comes with beans, rice, salsa, and corn or flour tortillas (warmed up and served fresh). And while you are waiting for your food, there’s freshly made chips and salsa for you at the table.
I would recommend this place if you’re looking for a restaurant with great service and excellent food.

First time here, although, I have lived in Pasadena for over 20 years. Service is really great! The margaritas are good, I had two. :’-).
The food is not so good, I had the chicken tacos. I asked for crispy chicken tacos, I got soft tacos, I asked for no onions, I got onions. :-(
I’m very disappointed at the food they serve. The refried beans are very blend, no flavor at all. Their salsa and chips are good. The salsa seems freshly made.

Three stars cuz I just cant be that cruel. I have a rule that if the majority of the people are white in a Mexican restaurant, dont go in! But im new to the area, and we were starving. Service sucked. Waited 15 minutes before the waitress was told by another waiter to take our order. I ordered pizole, and he ordered albondagas. Both were BLAND, and i think i counted 3 meatballs and 3 little pieces of pork in our soup. Thank God for tapatio. I was noticing other plates, and everything looked to be the color brown. Nothing fresh at all on every plate that came out. We had empty glasses and bottles on our table that never got cleared. Good news is that they are open till 11:30 most nights… desperate times, desperate measures.

We love this place. it’s our go to Mexican restaurant in Pasadena!!!

Fantastic food, drink and fun family atmosphere. A home away from home!!!

Had a party here and the place was basically empty. The food was so so but I’ve had much better. Was overcharged on the alcohol bill and food. Be careful if you book a party there because they will keep the bar tab flowing. Won’t be going back to this place again.

Gross. The chicken on my tostada definitely came from a can (it tasted like canned tuna actually) while the chicken in my taco was completely bland and dried out. The meat in the albondigas was bloody and red. Aside from the food, the place just feels dirty. Will not return.

If you like good food just do yourself a favor and avoid going here. Idk why I’m even giving it 2 stars.

Food is great, drinks are above average. Beautiful Rose Princess waitress. EXTREMELY SLOW service. Just takes way too long to get in and and out of here. We’ve been here three times, can’t get out in less than 90 minutes, even when we get a booth immediately.

Love it! Chicken Mole is excellent, though I have had just about everything on the menu and it’s all good. Make sure to order some guacamole when you arrive so you can eat with the chips. I am a rice and bean kind of guy, and these are made just right. Love the Cadillac margaritas on the rocks.

It’s a great restaurant with very friendly staff and amazing margaritas! Right now, it is decorated with Rose Court photographs since one of the waitresses is a Rose princess this year.
There’s usually plenty of parking available in the lot and surrounding streets. Also, I’ve never had to wait long for a table so it’s a great place if you’re looking to grab some food and margaritas before a movie or show.

Just went in. The place was empty at 11:45 and smelled like old fish. I immediately lost my appetite and we left without even sitting down.
Yuck

There were just a few reviews for this place in 2014? I have been going here for about 14 years.
It’s obvious that I don’t always check-​in or write tips. I only have 2 check-​ins, but 3 tips here. I very seldom write reviews, because they aren’t always posted. Tips on the other hand are always posted.
After going here for 14 years, the least I could do is to write a review. If I wrote a tip every time I went here, it would talk about the Mexican Hot Chocolate! It is what I ALWAYS order on a cold day/​evening. There aren’t too many restaurants that offer Mexican Hot Chocolate. What else do I order? Rudy’s Special that comes with a tostada and an enchilada. I also order Number 4 the Chile Relleno and Enchilada combination. I love how fluffy their chile relleno is. You’ll see almost every table with someone enjoying a margarita. I’ve had a margarita here, but since I very seldom drink I ended up asking my husband to finish it for me. The drink was either too strong for me, or I’m just a lightweight. You’ve got to have a margarita, since everyone seems to have one when they go here. Let me know if it was strong, or if I’m just a lightweight.

I first heard of the Ranchero Mexican Restaurant at a Pasadena Rotary luncheon in a speech from Rose Court Princess Veronica Mejia, the daughter of the owners of this family run restaurant since 1969. Veronica talked about her family’s history in the restaurant business. The first thing I did, was to look it up on Unilocal.I read a lot of the reviews both good and bad. The contrast between reviews did not make sense to me from what was described, I had to go try it for myself.
I have many years the in restaurant business and have traveled throughout Mexico enjoying the countries food from the source. Mexico has many different styles of cooking depending on the region but one thing is always common in the best places, fresh ingredients. My date and I came on a Friday night at 5:30. We were greeted at the door and taken to our table. The restaurant was about half full and has about 20 tables, by 6pm there was a 5 minute waiting list. The whole staff is family, the owner Mr Mejia came by our table to introduce himself as he greeted his regulars. We had our drinks within 5 minutes of being seated. The bottom line is the service was excellent.
After asking our waitress what was their specialty, we order a wide selection of food. Chicken Mole Enchilada, Chile Relleno, Machaca taco, and Moyagua burrito. The chicken mole is one of the house specialties and was excellent. Their mole sauce has a slight sweetness with layers of flavors from other spices but not overwhelming, perfect with the chicken. My date said her Chile Relleno was the best she had ever had. The Moyagua burrito is made with succulent roasted pork ever so tender. The Machaca (shredded beef) taco was simply beef, lettuce and a fresh slice of tomato and cheese. Like all the best place I have eaten in Mexico, the Ranchero’s food and ingredients were very fresh.
The menu may seem as if it is an American style Mexican restaurant but don’t let it fool you. What was clear to me is the Mejia family has successfully integrated more traditional flavors of fresh Mexican spices and flavors with your favorite americanized Mexican dishes. I highly recommend you give it a try.

We came here only because there was no food in the house, and we had a 50% off coupon. I feel ashamed for even setting foot in this place.
I could tell right away I probably was not going to like this place. The majority of their patrons are older, more wealthy, white suburbanites. These are people who are not known for knowing good mexican.
We settled in and ordered one of their famous margaritas and our dinner. The margaritas were decent, but nothing I would call famous.
Onto the food though. My dish was so bland and tasteless I do not even remember it. It was supposed to be a chicken dish with a red chile sauce that had ground up papitos in it. Sounds super yummy right? Tasted like nothing, and I mean that literally. The most flavor I got was chicken. How can you make mexican food this flavorless!
The prices were also out of this world. For two people it cost us $ 40! That is two dinners, plus two margs, with a 50% off coupon for one dish. That is insane! If I am paying that much I want to blown away with taste, not feel like I just ate some cardboard (although that is insulting to cardboard).
The service was also very lack luster. The wait staff walked by us several times and never asked us if we were ready, and they acted bored and miserable.
The only reason why I give this place an additional star on top of the required one by Unilocal is their mole. Mole is a very hard dish to get right, and they get it fairly well here. I wish it had more spice, but it has a very rich flavor. Should I ever come back here (doubtful) I would probably order the chicken mole or chicken mole burrito to go.
I feel like this place is for older, wealthier, white, suburbanites to feel like they are «slumming it» and eating some fun «ethnic food». Me I like flavor in my dishes, and not to be gouged by prices.