El Chico

It has been years since I visited an El Chico. We stopped in for lunch and it was as good as I recall. We ordered the top shelf quest and it was excellent! The Tex-​mex burrito was very tasty. The enchiladas were average. Service was good and the atmosphere enjoyable.

It’s pretty good, wait staff some only speak back Mexican to you and Tuesday is fajita specials so that is a good price but the food in general is just ok. Not usually a wait and if u take a church bulletin and show them on Sunday’s your get some off your check.

Average Mexican food… not the greatest and not the worst. Service is a 1 star. Waited on the food, limes, and salt. Waiter was out of it. Only good thing was lunch portions are better than the dinner.

Let me tell you what’s up. Rockwall has lots of chain restaurants. Yes, I made the choice to move to the ‘burbs. Buuuuuuut… this El Chico is LEGIT.
It’s been newly renovated. The inside is actually cool, with a little bit of modern colors (white and light green, clean looking). And FINALLY, the lighting was decent– I have no clue why half the restaurants in Rockwall are so fuckin’ bright you gotta wear shades but this joint gets it right. Ambiance, they haz it.
The food is El Chico. Don’t come in with huge expectations and they will meet them. My two margaritas made me chatty and I had a great time. Chips were yum, salsa great, queso tasted cheesy, and our beef fajitas were no Uncle Julios but they were yum. A single order (add shrimp) was plenty for two!
My new favorite chain tex-​mex joint in Rockwall. Suck it, OTB.

Good Tex-​Mex and below average prices.
El Chico is a North Texas tradition like El Fenix. The Rockwall location is recently renovated, clean and spacious. I have never had to wait for a table here. I think the location actually hurts it a little, as passers-​by would only see it once they had passed the exit, meaning only locals would really know how to get to it.
The chips and salsa here are great, service is quick, tea is good and does not melt the ice and the menu is deep. Most offerings are below $ 10 which works out for people on a bit of a budget. The tortillas are very fresh and made in house. You can taste the difference.
It’s not the best, and it’s not a place I would take a tourist, but its solid tex-​mex at a fair price without a wait to get a seat. Sometimes thats just what the doctor ordered.

I guve the service 4 stars. Manager wants you to be happy with your experience and I appreciate that. Food was delish. Had the tableside quac and enchiladas

I am very unpleased by how long I had to wait just to sit and get drinks; a couple walked in 30 minutes after we finally got our drinks and they got served in under one minute and they ordered their food way before us. Half of my wait was waiting on a waiter and the El Chico wasn’t even packed there was probably 10 couples in there with their food already. I am so furious with my wait and won’t be coming back!!!

Very good food at a fair price, pretty nice time with friends. My first time here, split fajitas. I only drank one beer for a change. At $ 4.50 each… It was good, I would recommend and we will be back. Thanks, guys!
DR

Great place to come! Good food, not pricey. Love the ambience.

Updated to 3 stars because the manager is a real sweetheart and reached out to us, it’s not how ya screw up, but how you handle it.

This is the place you go to if you can’t decide whither to go. It ‘s like the default choice for cheap, not– too-​terrible Tex Mex.
The service is acceptable, if not stellar. Really nothing here is «stellar», but it’s all straightforward & workmanlike.
The menu ticks off the necessary boxes. Fried ice cream? Check. Chili con queso? Check. Uninspired Combo platters? Check.
I rather like their enchiladas, which I prefer not to be too fancy anyway. Tacos are very simple, with ground meat, grated unmelted cheese, iceberg lettuce, etc. Usually I have to add some sauce from my enchiladas or some of my refritos to make the tacos palatable. Tamales are good for what are really «industrial» tamales.
The salsa with their chips is inoffensive but adds enough spice I find it worth stirring into the queso.
My wife hates El Chico so I don’t make it here often. There us always somewhere better anyway. Still I find it comforting to think that El Chico’s level of not-​quite-​suckiness will probably always be here. At least it’s cheap!

Arrived to find the young looking brunette hostess thoroughly looking miserable to be at her job. She took great lengths not to make eye contact. She wiped menus clean, looking down, never smiled, and left her station constantly. Everyone who came in after us came to an empty kiosk area looking around and had to wait for her to return. She didn’t smile, say a greeting, or anything more then asking name and party size. She didn’t offer any waiting time, every single person had to ask. She then immediately left before they engaged her in more *gasp* conversation. We were seated by a very harried-​looking blonde who was running around and more concerned about — I don’t know, whatever was going around her — and again, we barely got a «hi» or greeting, she did NOT ask if we preferred a booth or table (I always prefer booth — and of course, she walked us by a nice inviting empty booth to seat us at a table). And then almost threw the napkin/​flatware and menus at us and left. No «your server will be with your shortly, enjoy your meal» no offer to take our drink orders — simply left to grab the next group and seat them as fast as she could. (I must note — the restaurant was not that busy!)
Ok, so then our server shows up. A nice young man whom I eventually found out was named Oscar. Because he did not introduce himself nor was he wearing a name tag. About 10 minutes into our service, I had to ask his name myself. He took our drink orders, took our food orders all ok. But nothing extraordinary about the service. Nothing terrible. He did the minimum of what was needed to get our food to us. This guy did manage to smile once or twice, but never came by in the middle of the meal to ask us how we were doing (thank heavens there really wasn’t any issue with the food).
Ok, the food. Really tasty. The chips and salsa were yummy, I’m a big fan of sweeter-​leaning salsa and cilantro so I was pleased to find both in the salsa. My husband ordered the enchiladas (one chicken, one cheese, one spinach) and he loved them. The beans were tasty too. I got an appetizer as an entrée, the Loreto Sampler, and it could have fed 4 people! That’s ok, that is what to-​go boxes are for, right? The beef quesadillas, spicy chicken jalapeño poppers were the stars of that plate.
So, 4 stars for the food, minus one star for the terrible service.

Lunch was good,
Loved this place haven’t been here since at least since 2002 to this locations
Will update upon more visits

I was sad when they closed the one off of I-​35 near Carrollton. I went to a few others and they were not as good. So decided to try the one in Rockwall. The food was delicious and service was great!

Love the atmosphere and service here. Food is good and great on the wallet. Super tentative managers, and my kiddos love it here also. :)

Had a really good lunch today. Had the Mamma’s enchiladas, one beef and one spinach. Really good. I did ask for a side of guacamole that I never got but never got charged for it either. It would have been nice to have had it.
A good chain to whip into for «fast» served food. But we would come back.

Ate here in the eve a month ago. had the best fajita and table side guacamole… Ate here at lunch today and very disappointed .come on kitchen. wait staff. please get the order right… New manager… Was polite and attentive…

I had not been to El Chico in probably 12 years, I saw they had remodeled so my husband and I thought we would give it a try. We love Mexican food and margaritas, so it’s always nice to have an extra place to go.
The service is ok, not amazing, but not bad. I think a lot of the servers are still learning. The food is good, I like the fajitas and the fajita enchiladas. They have great drink specials, Mondays are margarita days and the house margarita is $ 2.99 and it’s a big drink.
It might become our Monday night favorite.

on the remodel: the waterfall wall is all dried up, and that makes me kindof sad. otherwise, the place looks great! they packed the tables in tight, and it was pretty busy the other night.
we had a coupon, alright? BOGO enchiladas, so the bf & i ate for about $ 20. price was good, but it wouldn’t have been worth it without the coupon.
i ordered the 5 mini enchiladas, each one different than the last. bf had chili reinos enchiladas. i looked over the drinks and desserts (fairly priced) but decided against them because i was too full.
the GOOD: chicken, for some reason the cheese, and surprisingly the beef. quick on refills, and bf was able to watch the game from our table. service was polite– and the bartender was friendly.
the not so good: chips and salsa weren’t great, and the floors were really sticky.
give us your coupons and we’d go back.

It’s between one and two stars for me. I haven’t been in a long while and noticed that they have been remodeling.
It’s not completed yet but right now it looks very strange. It was warm and cozy feeling prior to the remodeling and so far with the new interior it feels very open and cold. Almost cafeteria like.
The middle section has always been a bit crowded but their layout now is ridiculous. There is absolutely no space between tables for the people in the chairs no less for the wait staff. Our table had one chair completely against a brick pillar (my chair that I couldn’t pull out, I had to push the table away, sit down, and then pull the table back to me so my husband could sit in his chair). The seat where our highchair was placed was actually in the main walk way for the restaurant. My husband’s chair was poking out and got kicked and bumped everytime someone passed and our last unoccupied chair was luckily so, because I couldn’t have fit into it with a baby sling from the other table against it. My husband and son had cleaning supplies, dirty dishes, and food carried over their heads at least 15 times while we were there.
On to the food. I use to LOVE this place. My husband has never been a fan and so we started to venture out and have since found much better places for the same price. I don’t know entirely if they’ve always been sub-​par or if they’ve gone down hill but their food is not at all how I remember.
My tex-​mex burrito was swimming in grease. Their chips are nothing special, their salsa is alright but again nothing special, kind of bland. Their tortillas are amazing though. The rice and beans are pretty bland as well. If it were a bit cheaper I wouldn’t be so hard on them, but Posados is the same price and taste like restaurant quality. El Chico is a step about Poncho’s for me.
I was pretty sad about our experience. I know for a fact that the tex-​mex burrito was worse than I’ve had, but as far as the overall taste I might have just found greener pastures in other tex-​mex restaurants. Either way, there are far better places to eat for the same price.