Cocina Del Charro

Enrique G! You sound like a disgruntled employee who just got fired! I have Benin going to Cocina Del charro since 1992 at their multiple locations and never have had what you have described. I have had minor issues in which the owner has come and corrected such minor issues beyond my satisfaction. I highly recommend this establishment for authentic meals!!!

BEWARE !!! BEWARE !! BEWARE !!
Most of the food isnt fresh ! it is pre made and then they use a microwave to heat up the food. The food here is way overpriced !!
This food is Not real Mexican food !!
The owner Fernando Monforte aka Luis is a lousy general manager! he can be that cause mom and daddy own this restaurant! He is useless! no customer service skills!
He is a worth less General manager ! Jose the owner is a cheap old man ! He is stingy !
They give Escondido police 50% off discount their food bill cause they are expecting for the EPD to respond to Cocina Del Charro as soon as possible.
Loni is a crappy and very unprofessional manager! Look at many other reviews about her!
she wears the same clothes most of the time!
their house margarita isnt anything special… regular size vs. grande is a rip off. BEWARE!
you too can make that same margarita at home.
12 bottles of sunkist sweet and sour mix.
3 bottles of triple sec.
3 bottles of silver margaritaville silver tequila.
3 bottles of gold margaritaville gold tequila…
there you have the recipe of their house margarita.
they have employees that dont have their food handlers card working and serving food.
Not having your food handlers card is a San Diego health code violation…
Anejo in Escondido is a way better restaurant with real Fresh mexican food and better management !!!
Tony’s Jacal in Solana Beach has been around for over 60 years and is family owned!!!
or Norte in Carlsbad formerly known as Fidel’s is way better than Cocina Del Charro.

I see this restaurant everyday on my way home from work. And when I first moved to Escondido, I thought this place looked like it would have been a great place to try. However, my experience there was not the greatest. After my husband and I were seated and our drinks ordered, it took what seemed like 15 minutes for the server to come back to us to order our food, and it wasn’t even busy! There was maybe 4 or 5 other tables with guests in our section. The menu looks great, and I ordered the carne asade plate. But much to my dismay, the carne asada was way under-​cooked. When I cut into it, it was basically bleeding and I had ordered it well done.

We are regulars! Staff is always cheerful and friendly. I’ve held two parties here and you can’t beat the price for groups of 20+ or more. Kudos to Lonnie who is the Manager there, she is truly an expert on customer service. She’s a working manager and will go around to the guest tables to see how things are going. I love her! What personable service! Our favorite is the chicken soup especially for the winter months although we do have it during the summer. The ceviche is delicious! I also order to go and it’s great to see that they think of everything you need for «to-​go» service. No wonder this place is always crowded, they have the best service and the food is delicious. Great for family, great for parties (I held my son’s Graduation party here in the banquet rooms, also his 21^st birthday party in the patio. My guests were impressed!) Thanks Cocina Del Charro for your many years in business and fantastic service.
Oh, I can’t forget to mention the catering for events. I’ve not had to do that but I’ve been at many Escondido Community events and they have Cocina Del Charro cater, way to go CDC!

Good service and even better food!!. The inside is nice and authentic. We will definetly come back again soon.

Went here for the first time with my wife tonight.
The service was pretty good, but the food was simply a bit generic. I got chicken fajitas and while they were fine, the met has little flavor and the standard beans/​rice/​iceberg lettuce with some salsa fresca is pretty generic fare. Tortillas were tiny.
Wife got the enchiladas suizas. She can’t really handle spicy food and even she said he had very little flavor. Granted, we didn’t ask for spicy food in particular, but it all seemed pretty generic and bland. Not bad per-​se, just nothing out of the ordinary and probably a bit overpriced for food that generic.
To be fair there were some more different sounding items on the menu that might have proved to be more interesting, but I like to try the old favorites when I go to a new Mexican food place to see how they compare. And as the 3 stars states. It was just OK.

I think the real test for Mexican is if they can get the beans and meat right, since they’re the basis for almost all the dishes. This place absolutely nails it. The shredded beef is perfectly seasoned, and the refried beans are the «good» kind – nothing I could make myself in a million years. I have a bunch of Mexican restaurants near me, but I drive across town for Cocina Del Charro.

Just wonderful! Went there to celebrate a special occasion and the margaritas are great! The staff is nice and friendly and our waiter was so professional not fake at all. The service was amazing for a busy Saturday night.

Great lunch! We were in a hurry, and they were packed, so we were a little concerned, but they seated us immediately and our service was very prompt. The food, as always, was excellent. Best chips and salsa. Very fresh iced tea. Delicious rice and beans. Perfect enchiladas. Our server, Enrique, was fast and friendly, getting us out the door quickly and efficiently. Thanks!

Sunday brunch is the best in Escondido. Adults for $ 16.95 and kids $ 8.95, you really can’t beat that. They also serve $ 3 all you can drink mimosas. The kids can’t seem to get enough of their fruit bar and desserts. I love their omelet station which has tons of toppings to choose from. Spinach, bacon, ham, several different types of peppers, mushrooms and more.
They always have killer rice and beans, enchiladas, tamales, chile verde, chile Colorado, and ice cream at the end.

We used this restaurant as an event. We had Hector as our server, AV, and busboy. H was absolutly amazing. I was worried about him doing the event for all of us, but he was so efficient that no one else was needed! We got there early and they had a dual projector system for our presentation, which was very cool. The meeting rooms were in the back and they were quiet and well set up. The food was great as a buffet and very delicious. I had to interface with the manager to find a place to do some work in a back part of the restaurant and they were very accommodating. An amazing, quiet, great food, friendly place. I wish we had one closer to Orange County. Very professional and family friendly. A little older décor, but it sort of adds to the charm.

I see some lower ratings here, mostly about service. I have only used the catering out of this branch, and the food is spot on.
We have used this restaurant to cater our 2015 New Years Eve Party, and liked it so much, we used them again to cater this year’s Halloween Bash! Some guests (and even myself) couldn’t wait to have this food again.
I ordered through
(see my review on them) so I don’t have to go pick all that food up. Everything was on time– perfectly delicious, and almost every bit of food was eaten except two large bags of chips (they were very generous with the chips), and one container of salsa, which made for a great snack in the lunchroom at work the next day, btw.
Both times I ordered their Large Football Party pack. It comes with your choice of meats but I asked them, both times, to give us half and half carnitas and carne asada, and both flour and corn tortillas. They accommodate with no questions. The carnitas are amazing, the mini chimis are so darn tasty, and the bavarian crème filled churros are the icing on the cake! I like their chips and salsa as well, and though I don’t eat guac, it was gone fast so I can only assume it was good too.
I was very busy before our event with party planning. I had made my order a week ahead of time, but I wanted to call and confirm later with a person since I had made all arrangements online. Before I could call them the day before, they were calling me, letting me know everything would be ready on time, and that they were sending utensils, plates, etc. and to call them back if I needed anything else. I didn’t need to call them. The food came, and again, it was every bit as good as on New Years! I highly recommend having your party catered through this restaurant because they know what they are doing in the kitchen! We’ll be ordering again!

We came in dragging ass from last night’s hangover and although my meal wasn’t what I had hoped (you don’t order a steak at a Mexican resturant), the old man mowed his and loved it (chimichangas).
The bar is beautiful. The bartender was absolutely perfect. Not pushy or fake, you could see he was busy but he handled it. Always was attentive but gave us our space, he worked that bar smoothly with a smile. I think his name was Donny.
We will definitely come back, it has a great feel to it

I love their shrimp mini chimis. And flautas. good happy hour too. Also try their special tequila it’s worth it trust me

We’ve always had amazing service from our server Gerry! He’s always so friendly and on point! He takes care of us every time we go.
They have a good happy hour with cheap tacos and mini chimis. The restaurant is always clean and decorated nice.
Our favorite meal is the chicken picato or shrimp rancheros!

We didn’t do the buffet, so much food! But it’s only $ 17 which is a good price. We had chicken chilequiles, steak Ranchero, & pancakes & eggs for breakfast. Pancakes for my girls were huge! So in the future I will be getting 1 order, but they were good! If I wasnt stuffed from my chilequiles I would have eaten them up! Service is great! Everyone is so nice & welcoming. Our after mass location for breakfast!!!

My boyfriend and friends went to eat here while I was getting my hair done across the street and I came to meet them after. They have the slowest slowest slowest service. Actually I would say non-​existent service. Also their food is bland af… With authentic Mexican food all over San Diego county, I really don’t understand why anyone would ever eat here.

Never really ate there, but from what I had it was alright. I just really love their piña colodas haha

1.5 stars out of 5?
From the top down, this place does not impress. We’ve had brunch at this location twice now, the second time just to be sure it was as poor as the first time.
In a nutshell, the limited buffet food items were downright cold to barely lukewarm. We tried a couple of items, even after they were immediately refreshed with a new pan, but the result was the same.
We waved down someone from the staff and explained our issue. She said «would you like me to tell them or would you like to speak to a manager?» No apologies or empathy. Obviously we we elected to speak with a manager. He, unfortunately, was rather curt when we told him we would like to opt out of the brunch and would like to order off of the menu. He said he would «take care of it» and left
The enchilada plate that we ordered via the kitchen was much much better, but unfortunately not comped. The manager took off the difference between the brunch price and our entrée (16.99 to 10.99) and still charged us for the champagne which at the time, we had been poured one glass.
Twice we heard staff exclaiming that they didn’t have enough silverware and or things were not being handled correctly. You know it’s not good when the staff aren’t happy with each other.
Poor food and even poorer customer service leaves a lot to be desired. If one has any inclination to try this place themselves, make an effort to go to the San Marcos location. Much greater selection and generally very good service.

Not bad. Not bad at all. 3.49 Stars.
Located in a beautiful Escondido strip mall, Cocino Del Charro is one of those chain restaurants that are a dime a dozen in Southern California. The difference is that it actually serves up authentic looking and tasting Mexican food. I was pretty impressed.
Service:
Friendly but a bit slow for a pretty empty Monday morning, and by slow I dont mean the server. I juts dont think it should take over 15 minutes to fry & scramble and egg and plop some beans on a plate. Again it was a Monday and I know how it goes sometimes. Our server was a pro and made the experience great.
Food:
Pretty good amount of grub for less than $ 8. I had the Huevos Rancheros. I gotta be honest… though they were tasty they weren’t OMFG outta this world. But I can see them being a hit to others. I grew up with the salsa being more on the charred tomato side with a stronger bite of chile in it. This salsa was a bit too watery and safe. Just my opinion. My wife’s Huevo Con Chorizo however was bomb! I helped my self to her plate cause… yeah.
Misc:
Parking is ample and Im told CDC has an amazing Sunday brunch with endless mimosa’s so you can nurse your alcohol & juice craving after church and enjoy some tasty food in the process. I want to go to there someday.
Overall:
I would absolutely like to come back and try other menu items. There is a good selection of dishes to choose from and now I’m thinking about their Sunday brunch as I write this review. Its got me thinking all kinds of crazy.
Ay los watcho.