The Ranchito Taqueria

Breakfast is awesome. Potatoes, marinated pork, eggs, bacon. I don’t go there for other meals as the day goes on, the place goes downhill. Breakfast however is the best in Waller.

This taqueria was across the street from my hotel, and they start serving breakfast at 5 or 5:30AM in the morning. The folks at the hotel (which serves its own breakfast) had recommended this as the place to go.
Décor is simple, nothing fancy, brightly colored. The tables have napkins at the table – that might seem like a silly thing to note, but everywhere else I ate in Texas I was given one single flimsy napkin and always had to ask for extras. I loved it that they had napkins on hand so I could use what I needed.
I was offered a choice of beverages and stuck with water – which came in a super tall glass. Again, it’s the little things, I’m from the West Coast, was on a 48 hour work trip to Texas and was very tired and for some reason, also dehydrated. I loved it that I had a massive tumbler of water to start my day.
I decided on the marinated pork with bacon and eggs. (For the record – everything on the menu is very low priced, and this meal was under $ 6.00.) I was asked if I wanted corn or flour tortillas – I’m half Mexican American and grew up in a corn tortilla household so I very much appreciated this.
My food came out very quickly, and the plate was substantial, They also brought out salsa, and there were additional hot sauces at the table. The bacon and eggs were great, but the real winner was the marinated pork! The potatoes were crispy, which is always nice, but with so much other substantial food and the corn tortillas, there was thankfully only a small quantity.
A word about the service – for my part I found the wait staff courteous and fast. They aren’t overly friendly, but it didn’t seem to be about me personally, it was 6AM and they were working. The breakfast was great, and extremely low priced (compared to where I am from). I suspect the waitstaff may warm up a bit more with their regulars, but they weren’t mean either. In that kind of environment I’m fine, I’m there to eat, and honestly, I don’t necessarily need an emotional connection with every server in the place to be able to give a high rating. The quick service and great breakfast spoke for itself.
If I’d had more days in Waller, I would have eaten here for breakfast every single day.

Food was cold. Tortillas cold. Fajitas were burnt. Tea tasted like water. Service was poor. Was never asked if I wanted a refill. Told manager and he said I should have stopped the waitress to ask for a refill. After me telling him that I shouldn’t have to do that he said they are not a restaurant but a taco stand that does not have waitress staff. He refused to take food off bill. Not friendly at all. Cared more about the money!

Walked in and had to ask if it’s seat yourself. They were quick to serve you chips and salsa. Had two servers try to take my order. Not so friendly! I ordered the chicken fajitas. While eating the chips I seen a waitress sneeze and wiped her mouth with her shirt and hand. Never washing her hands she grab more chips. I stopped eating them. The food is ok. Some flavor but somewhat bland.

My wife and I tried this place for the first, and last, time this evening. We always order cheese enchiladas the first time at any Tex Mex restaurant, because if they can’t get that right, there’s no use in trying anything else. I’m actually very disappointed. We moved to Houston a while back, and haven’t been able to find even a decent Tex Mex place, and we’ve tried a LOT of places. This is the only place we’ve tried that had their enchilada sauce made with chicken broth (gasp!) instead of tomatoes, and they used the correct cheese, Colby, instead of cheddar (like every other place we’ve tried in Houston). Unfortunately, no amount of correct ingredients can overcome scalding your refried beans and serving the rice and enchiladas cold. Seriously, the cheese on the inside of the tortilla was never melted, it was still separate grated pieces. I think they rolled up the grated cheese in a tortilla, cold, and just poured warm enchilada sauce over the top. So, like I said, I’m disappointed, because if they had cooked the food, I would’ve called this the best Tex Mex restaurant in the Houston area (which would’ve ranked it a 10 out of 10 on my Houston scale, and a 4 out of 10 on my Texas-​wide scale).

Worst drive through experience ever anywhere on Friday, 10÷10÷14. I’ve loved the pico and queso for over 15 years, so stopped to buy some to take out of town with me. Ordered large of queso, pico, and guacamole with extra chips and salsa. Took forever to get what is already made. Paid then waited longer. Then the guy brings me everything in small containers. When I reopened the window and asked them to fix it. He slammed the window. Then a lady wants to charge me more money because she didn’t take the time to let me tell her the problem. Left without my order corrected because no one wanted to take a moment to help get it corrected. The older guy in the kitchen should not be servicing the drive thru. He took the order, took forever, filled it wrong slammed the window on me and then did not try to make the order right. Rude, horrible experience.

Good tex-​mex restaurant for breakfast and lunch. If you want great Mexican food for dinner might as well go to cielito down the road. Quick service, decent flavors, and cheap cheap.

I use to come here a lot during high school. I loved this place, always fast, cheap, and fresh.
I always get the burritos which are huge and delicious. The salsa is great, you cant really find any better salsa, IMO.

Went out a date to grab a bite. It was late and they were closing in an hour so maybe an excuse could be made, but the service was terrible despite there being twice as many servers as customers. The food was mediocre at best — what I’d expect from a Mexican place outside of Texas.

Great authentic taqueria food and fantastic menudo. Yes this Werro eats it.

love this place for lunch. best shrimp soup! reasonably priced.

Had a huge breakfast plate for less than $ 5. Was pretty tasty and was enough food for two. My pork was good, but I found a couple bones it in. No biggie, it happens.