Mi Ranchito

Awesome Guatemalan food! We ordered the Mi Ranchito platter for two. Chicken, steak, and pork — the steak was our favorite, great flavor in the spices on it. The chicken and pork were also very good. The rice and beans each had their own unique flavors, and really enjoyable mixed together or eaten separately. I really like the lime dressing for the salad, very fresh salad. Nice sweet plaintains. The chips at the beginning were very good, different from other places.
Great service and nice décor. Other reviews said it has no atmosphere, but if you were in Central America, this place might be one of the nicest places, décor-​wise, lots of handi-​crafts on the walls. Latin music playing from the video jukebox, very nice wait staff, checked on us often. We both had more than enough to eat and the amount of food we brought home from the platter is enough for another meal for both of us. We especially liked that we found ourselves in the minority, which we think is always a good sign for two white guys. Great find, love this place!

Mi Ranchito is a nice little Mexican style restaurant on the West Side of Providence in the Armory district. I have been here a few times, once to sit in and a couple of times for take out.
The ambience of the place leaves a lot to be desired. The restaurant has a few tables and booths and a small bar with a limited selection of liquor. It is dark and a little rundown looking. They do have take out but no take out menus and nothing online so you need to go into the restaurant to order, unless you know want you want without looking at a menu. The prices are decent. They are at a good level for the amount they serve.
The food itself is decent, not great, but decent. Last time I was there I got the shrimp fajitas for take out which also came with a small salad and a side of rice and black beans, along with the standard fajita fixings. The shrimp fajita itself was good. They served a decent amount of shrimp with a good flavor. What was lacking in flavor was the rice and beans. The rice was a basic white rice with bits of previously frozen peas and carrots and nothing else. The beans were a paste of black beans with little to no seasoning to them. While not offensive the rice and beans left a lot to be desired. The salad was a basic small salad with iceberg lettuce and chunks of tomato. It was fresh but nothing special.
To sum it up, will I go back for take out? Yes, I just won’t eat the rice and beans without adding my own seasoning. Will I ever eat in restaurant? I don’t see that happening any time soon.

No vegetarian food. Staff was super nice about decision to go elsewhere though. Barely spoke any English.

Delicious Guatemalan food, nice staff, lots of options for people who are celiac/​gluten-​free! My new go to for dinner when I don’t have time to cook. Meat platters, tacos, chuchitos, and plantains are all fantastic.

The flavor of their fresh grilled meat and the serious value you get for your dollar are what gives Mi Ranchito 4 stars. Ignore the heavy tinted windows that make the place look like a dive bar and give this place a chance. The staff is very nice here.
If you get the platter for two or the fajitas, be prepared for large mound of protein on a sizzling hot platter. The sides aren’t anything special but you do get rice, salad, and black beans with EVERYTHING. Even the appetizers get this treatment, which honestly creates a problem of too much food on the table. I like that the salsas you get with your chips vary depending on the day, or perhaps, who is in charge of the kitchen. The same seems to go with for salad prep as well. Also, the dressing is basically crema. I don’t understand how that can be confused for «ranch».
The only downside is they really should give you more tortillas!

Guatemalan/​Mexican food with generous portions. Casual /​comfortable environment.
I ordered the seasoned meat fajita and my
Wife had the shrimp fajitas. They gave chips with salsa to start. Our dish came with a sizzling platter with our meat, peppers and onions, corn tortillas and a
plate of salad with rice and beans and a side plate of picketed peppers and veggies.
Cost $ 13 for seasoned meat fajita and $ 14 for shrimp fajita.
Delicious, you will leave full and friendly service!

Excellent!!! El caldo de pescado y fajitas adobado muy rico!!! Las tortillas hechas a mano sabrosas. Lo recomendamos.

Mi Ranchito is a small Mexican-​themed restaurant located near Federal Hill in Providence RI. We had just arrived in Providence and were basically starving from being on a plane for several hours. A quick check on Unilocal revealed Mi Ranchito with 4 stars and 71 reviews.
In all the years I’ve used Unilocal it’s never failed me — until this restaurant. I hope I’m not being too harsh, and please take my opinion with a grain of salt, especially if you like to eat here. Maybe I’m jaded with all the opportunities for authentic Guatemalan, Honduran, Mexican and TexMex to be found in Atlanta, but this food to me was really marginal. Not that it smelled or tasted foul or anything like that, but the flavors were downright bland and there were enough other peculiarities about the meal that it pushed me into only giving it 2 stars.
The atmosphere was a bit dark but after some of the dives I frequent that didn’t bother me too much. The staff took our order quickly and overall we got good service. The first thing that seemed a bit off were the chips. These were cut much thicker than is typical — also instead of a pico or salsa cruda, the sauces were more like what you would get out of a bottle of Tapatico or similar. Much like the baked potato can set the expectation for the steak, the chips are very important, in my opinion, in setting the expectation for the rest of the meal in a Hispanic restaurant. I give these a «D.»
I ordered the Pollo Asado lunch special — this came with rice and a small dinner salad. Once again I had a «wow» moment where I felt like I was in the food court of a bad mall. The rice was made up of what tasted like frozen vegetables and a short grain white rice. The salad was made up of iceberg lettuce, with a rather bland «ranch» dressing. Ugh.
The worst, however is what my friend and frequent dining companion Sid ordered — as a vegetarian there is often very little on menus that he feels comfortable ordering — in this case he got some type of appetizer that consisted of three fried tortillas smeared with black-​beans, salsa and guac — with a small salad. I don’t know what to think about that plate and I’m surprised he ate it.
In any case, my first impression of the food scene in Providence left much to be desired. Luckily dinner at Siena more than made up for this lunch.
(a bit longer review on my food blog)

Yummy black beans and tacos, great friendly service.

This was an unexpected find of an authentic Mexican restaurant in Providence. I came here with my girlfriend on a relatively busy Friday night, and was immediately seated at a location fairly away from the cold winter night, where every door opening reminded me how I yearned for springtime.
Our waitress was very friendly and polite, and recommended the vegetarian stew, and the softshell beef tacos. I heard much about the famous refried beans, and scarfed it down immediately with the stew and rice, found it quite delectable. It was certainly made with a meat broth that was amazing, I even had her bring a side order just for my folks at Triad home, in addition to two chicken stuffed corn rolls, like corn dogs, but better. The softshell tacos were very good, but also not earth shattering. Although my next meal will definitely include some of the meat selections, in which I regret not ordering since it was on a Friday and I was limited in meat selections.
Overall a great find and I will definitely return to check out the meat dishes. Super cheap $ 4 beer!
Food: 4 stars
Price: 4 stars
Service: 3 stars
Ambiance: 2.5 stars

It’s going to be –5 degrees tonight and found a great spot to get soup — Authentic Mexican — love that the offer more than the traditional Chicken soups — also have beef and cow foot — great flavor!
I did the beef soup — tender beef chunks and tendon, onion, Cilantro in a flavor filled broth — request fresh onion and fresh cilantro to be added — this will make the soup pop!
It comes with rice (with corn, carrots green peas), yuca, boiled carrot stalk, corn cob and half of lime. This was a full meal — oh yeah be sure to squeeze the lime in the soup and be prepared for a great experience– Authentic Mexican experience!

Let me start by saying this was the BEST mexican meal I’ve EVER had! Overall the food was very good and better yet affordable.
I shared the Mi Ranchito platter and shrimp fajitas with my gf. The portions were gigantic and we both left with a substantial amount of food for lunch the next day – and let me tell you, I may be skinny, but I can pack it away.
The fajita’s tortillas were house-​made and OH so delicious – they were the best part in my opinion. As others have mentioned the black bean purée was to die for. Chips and salsa were served on the house, but weren’t my favorite, nor were they my gf’s. For us the salsa was a bit thin, but it’s plausible that is the authentic style?
Beers were 3 bucks a piece – no joke! You can’t do better than that! If you’re in the mood for this type of cuisine, I would recommend this place in a heartbeat!

Looking at Mi Ranchito from the outside, you would fall into the false perception that this is some sketchy Guatemalan Bar with its large darkened glass windows and neon «open» sign. But once you enter, the atmosphere of the restaurant completely changes. Light is plentiful and the speakers are blasting Mexican pop music. Soccer (or sometimes Spanish soap opera) is playing on the 7 or 8 tv’s in the tiny little restaurant and a waitress greets you and shows you to your seat.
Love going to Mi Ranchito when all of the «popular» restaurants on Federal Hill have hour long waits. It’s a great hole-​in-​the-​wall Spanish restaurant complete with Spanish menus, affordable drinks, and delicious meals.
The waitress gave us some chips to munch on for an appetizer and four dipping sauces. Loved dipping the chips in the warm refried beans!
If you’re not in the mood for one of the humongous platters, I’d recommend the chicken fajita. Still enough for two or three meals, but affordable and delicious. Perfectly cooked chicken on top of peppers and onions. Comes with veggie rice (some of the best rice I’ve ever had), refried beans, salad, guacamole and house-​made tortillas. Scrum diddily-​umptiou! I never eat the tortillas, but just dig in with a fork instead.
I always bring friends here from out of town. Service is fast and super friendly.
One tip: they always seem to be late with the check. I find that I have to ask the waitress for the check every time. Make sure you ask for the check right after you get your meal if you’re in a hurry to leave.
Five stars for excellent service, delicious food and at an affordable price.