La Rancherita

I show you ¼ of this «premium burrito» because I ate the other ¾. And about half way through I realized, «omg, this is the best burrito I have ever had. People need to know!»
That is all I have to say about that.

Really awesome service. Their salsa is amazing and its complementary with chips. I almost always get the Tiras de Pollo but anything you get here is super delicious.

Great food and incredibly fast service! Our food was out in now time and our margs were huge!

This place is awesome. Always super hospitable and their salsa is delicious. Specialty drinks are awesome, sometimes a little spicey but always great. Their food is very fresh and always more than what I expecting, get to take some home and enjoy it again. I eat here at least a couple times a week, definitely my go-​to mexican food spot.

There salsa is delicious and the service was great. We loved everything we had though we couldn’t finish it. We will definitely return.

Delicious. I go here all the time with friends when we are in the mood for good Mexican food. The food is always hot and out quickly, and the servers are all very sweet!

Cancel the flight, I don’t have to fly home to LA for good fish tacos now!
Very tasty, fresh ingredients, generous portions of fish, tangy sauce, and corn (which was interesting, I’ve never had corn put in a fish taco, but it worked). Other people in my group ordered fajitas and enchiladas and had nothing but great things to say about their lunches as well. Shrimp and chorizo tacos are an amazing combination of flavors as well.
Cool interior. Pretty good prices. Good drink specials, although I wish they had some higher-​end tequilas like Gran Patron Burdeos. The $ 5 large draft beers on Fridays are great, I get a giant mug of Pacifico to go with my tacos.
Service is a bit slow.
Oh, and to the person who gave this place 1 star after admitting they wanted to go to Chipotle first, the fact that you consider Chipotle Mexican food, or even food at all, completely undermines your credibility to review a Mexican restaurant!

Came here a few days ago with some friends on a nice late afternoon for a different restaurant and ended up choosing La Rancherita instead. From what I could tell, the ambiance of the inside of the restaurant was nice, but we chose to sit outside. Three of us (including me) split a dinner for two; a sizzling plate of delicious steak, shrimp, chorizo, chicken, sausage, jalapeño peppers, and onions with two servings of beans and rice on the side. Next time, I would trade the sausage for more steak if possible — it just tasted like low-​quality kielbasa which I don’t care for. Besides that minor setback, it was all absolutely delicious and cooked to perfection; my friends and I were impressed and will be visiting again next time we’re in the area! :)

Cancel the flight, I don’t have to fly home to LA for good fish tacos now!
Very tasty, fresh ingredients, generous portions of fish, tangy sauce, and corn (which was interesting, I’ve never had corn put in a fish taco, but it worked). Other people in my group ordered fajitas and enchiladas and had nothing but great things to say about their lunches as well.
Cool interior. Pretty good prices. Good drink specials, although I wish they had some higher-​end tequilas like Gran Patron Burdeos. The $ 5 large draft beers on Fridays are great, I get a giant mug of Pacifico to go with my tacos.
Service is a bit slow.
Oh, and to the person who gave this place 1 star after admitting they wanted to go to Chipotle first, the fact that you consider Chipotle Mexican food, or even food at all, completely undermines your credibility to review a Mexican restaurant!

Found a new fave! We came here because of a groupon we found, but ended up getting way more because of the great prices and drink specials (my mojito was awesome). The food was delicious and hot and came out in a timely fashion. Everybody was super nice and our waiter was very attentive and had great suggestions. Definitely recommend this place! I know I’ll be coming back!

Yummy Yummy. Grilled Steak Tacos are so good. Everything has been really good and they are great at being quick during lunch!

Loved it! I really enjoyed that the menu was not just the usuals. The Mexican coleslaw was awesome. The waiter was excellent.

Feeling confused after eating lunch at this location. My coworker and I both ordered a Taco Salad with chicken that was listed on the menu for $ 7.99. The description says choice of chicken or beef.
When our bill came, we were both charged an extra $ 2 for chicken. When we questioned this, we were told that shredded chicken was the only type of chicken included and we had grilled. Neither of us ever asked for grilled chicken, we didn’t even know that was a choice. The waitress totally understood what we were telling her, but she didn’t care. We didn’t feel like fighting about the extra $ 2 charge, but that just left a bad taste in my mouth.
Taco salad was good, chips and salsa are just meh, nothing special.

I had the seafood molcajete; it came in a large sizzling bowl placed on a wooden foundation. The presentation and stares from other tables was great! The food was better! The seafood was fresh and plump and the sauce had just the right amount of heat. The portion size provided 2 hearty meals for me and warmed up great later.
PARKING!!! slanted spots behind the building and misleading signs make it easy to accidentally park in the wrong spot and they have a spotter there waiting to boot vehicles and tow them.

Good solid food. Menu different choices than the Davis Rd. Site. Interesting choices. Nice staff

Meh. After changing hands yet again, this location (formerly Chile Bomba) has gone back to a more «traditional» menu.
Mind you, that’s traditional American-​Mexican, with endless baskets of delicious but gut-​busting tortilla chips, plates laden with giant beans and rice … you get the idea. I tend to prefer the Lunch tacos plate: two loaded but simple tacos (I prefer carnitas!), with side of black beans and tender red rice for about $ 7.
Their beer and margarita specials are pretty great, and it’s nice to have a small, independent Mexican restaurant option literally next door to a Chipotle. For that reason alone, La Rancherita gets my vote.
My beef with the menu is not particular to this place, but rather with Mexican restaurants across the country: it’s ostensibly Mexican, which is to say it follows the conventions and expectations of average American consumers. At least Chile Bomba didn’t pretend to be ultra-​authentic: only unique and passionate about their menu. There’s not much passion at La Rancherita, but at least it’s better than Chipotle.

This place was by far the WORST Mexican restaurant I’ve ever tried, in my entire lifetime. And my review is solely based off of their terrible food. Even their chips and salsa were subpar. My boyfriend and I settled for eating at this place because 1) I was starving, and 2) Chipotle was packed (it’s across the street).
My boyfriend got the taco, enchilada, and refried beans as his combination meal, whereas I got the enchilada, burrito, beans, and rice. In both meals, the enchiladas were covered (and almost swimming) in tomato sauce, and made the tortillas soggy and definitely NOT delicious. The rice, however, wasn’t toooooo bad. I mean they looked like tiny Cheetos and tasted like weird tofu.
I don’t know how else to describe to you all how terrible their food was to me, but I would rather save you from terrible Mexican food than give you the punishment of tasting them.
TL;DR — AVOID.

It’s hard to really get bad Mexican food so it’s also hard to pick out really good Mexican food. And La Rancherita is decent Mexican, but not outstanding. It’s location on Hillsborough means it may be tough to find 9 months out of the year so it’s probably best to visit off-​hours and if you just happen to be in the area. But with a bunch of other La Rancheritas in the area, there are other options!
Inside the space is your usual Mexican café décor and they had some $ 2 beer specials during my visit. Given a movie at IMAX that evening, we were hoping for lickety-​split service which La Rancherita delivers on. I ordered up some shrimp-​chorizo tacos in flour tortillas and they were good, a bit of cream sauce on top. The usual acoutrements (beans and seasoned rice) were find but the usual.
I can’t say that I’d go out of my way to eat here again but La Rancherita fits nicely in the middle if you’re looking for inexpensive quick-​serve Mexican. Not too hot, not too cold but just right and A-​OK!

Out of all the Mexican restaurants in the area, this is definitely the best one. I’ve been here several times since it took over from Chile Bomba a few months ago and it has never disappointed. The fajita quesadilla and the enchiladas supremes are my favorites, along with the queso. Everything isn’t just thrown together and put on a plate like most Mexican restaurants around NC State so it’s a nice change. Every item in the menu is unique and they are all good!
La Rancherita is definitely a little pricier than most Mexican places around but it’s still just around $ 10-​$ 12 for an entrée. I definitely think it’s worth the extra couple bucks though for the quality. They have some decent beer and margarita daily specials too.
I’ve lived in the area for about 7 years now and this is now my go-​to Mexican restaurant!

Ever since I’ve been to Mexico I just crave tamales! So I was really excited to see it on the menu. The salsa and chips were great but my meal not so much. It looks beautiful and was presented well but if the flavor is not there it’s just not worth eating. The sauce that came with the tamales was very bitter and took away any hope of me liking this meal. Then it was mainly breading and barely any chicken inside. The rice was alright but I was really disappointed with my meal and I don’t see any reason to come back.

Hellllloooooo to one of my new favorite casual Mexican restaurants! I ventured here this past weekend and I’m so glad I did. It used to be Chile Bomba, which was yuck– but it’s done a complete 180º with new décor, new management, new chef… it’s all new, and it’s all good. It was an overcast/​rainy Friday night, but it wasn’t busy at all (probably because it’s summertime on campus).
The host sat us at a booth & we were quickly greeted by our server. She grabbed our drink order and magically a basket of chips and the most amazingly fresh salsa arrived! Chock full of fresh onions, cilantro, & tomatoes, their fresh chips & salsa were a great indicator of how the food would be. They didn’t have many beers on tap, but they do have excellent specials every night of the week– which I thought was really cool.
The menu was quite extensive, but each dish is prepared uniquely– it’s not just like combinations #1−98. I ordered the enchiladas carnitas, which were corn tortillas filled slow roasted pork and topped with a house-​made green sauce. It was served with a side of beans, which were sooo good. Sara ordered this huge burrito that had 3 fajita meats in it (big enough to take ½ for lunch tomorrow!) along with a side salad with chipotle dressing. Yum! All of this deliciousness came at a great price of $ 30 (2 entrees, iced tea, and beer).
La Rancherita has great service and even better food… I’m glad they’ve cozied up on Hillsborough Street, as I plan to venture over here again soon!

La Rancherita is solid for your lower price Mexican fare. Living downtown this has become our go to for casual Mexican. It is a step up from El D’s or Rodeo. Their corn tortillas are homemade and delicious. We have tried different things on each visit and haven’t been disappointed. Fajitas, enchiladas, tacos… all have been good enough for repeat ordering. Dinner for the 2 of us is usually around $ 20 before tip.
We haven’t tried drinks yet but they do offer specials!