El Chico

Amazing place!
The people that come here keep coming back all the time.
The service is great and the prices are outstanding!
Only 1.25 for bud light, coors light, Miller light, and a few more.
*** Monday only .99 gets you a small beer!!!

What you go to a restaurant like this you expect chips and salsa. We got chips and red colored water. Worst thing ever. I should have left but we stayed hoping for the best. I told two servers the salsa was awful. One just admitted it was watered down and walked away. Our server at least pretended to be concerned but I know they all knew that salsa should not be served. The food was ok. Not amazing. There are many others restaurants like this. I won’t be back and I recommend you spend your money on another location too.

This place is old and nasty. Didn’t even have a margarita worth finishing. Service was horrible.

Average

The service was good, but I’m sorry to say, the food was just nasty. I love Mexican food and Tex-​Mex and eat both often. This place does not qualify as either. It is more in line with food out of a can or frozen from a box. The restaurant overall seemed a bit run down as well. Unless they make some big improvements I will not be returning.

we switched to this location due to the one on Collins has bad service, the food is good service is better

Awesome location with awesome service! Eddie is always a great server! Without fail… if i want a quick lunch but great meal I go to Chico’s and request Eddie!!!

Keep heading west in Arlington and you’ll end up in some warped dimension of empty shopping mall lots, antique stores, and El Chico. I wound up here because this is one of Pat Baby’s childhood wonders. This area is the decaying foot of Arlington. You’ll realize something is a bit off in your surroundings as you drive around and approach this place.
The inside isn’t too cheesy or campy, but they’re definitely going for some small Mexican town vibe. I took a look at the menu and already felt my food baby start to grow. Everything here will probably kill you in some way or the other. El Chico is like the standalone restaurant for random Old El Paso food products thrown together on a plate.
Here’s the setup. You’re hungry and making poor decisions, so you pick one of the monstrous meals out of the many combo platters. You can have a burrito, taco, chalupa, chimichanga all in one plate! The first few bites are amazing but soon you realize you’re going to hurl in no time. Or, you take the other route and eat the whole thing because you’re over 500 pounds anyway and this is just a snack!
This is probably one of the last places I ever want to get Mexican food at. You know, it’s like another On the Border kind of thing. I’ll eat it though of course if someone drives me down here again. If in some life I do live here with a bunch of kids, I’ll probably only visit to get one huge entrée and a bunch of free tortillas to feed them for cheap.

I needed a quick lunch and decided to stop in at El Chico since it was close by. My enchilada plate was served quickly and hot to my table. The enchiladas was your typical Tex-​Mex variety but were good. The refried beans seemed to be overly seasoned with too much cumin in my opinion. Service was very quick since it was after the main lunch hour.

This used to be a very good El Chico to go to. It has totally gone down hill. The service is awful but the food is still o.k. The waitress waited until our food came out to see if we needed anything else. I guess she was trying to get rid of us. They were not busy at all. It does not make since, wouldn’t you want to make a good tip? I had to walk my bill up to the front because we were tired of waiting. Then the waitress started to be friendly right before we left a tip. Ridiculous, I won’t be back.

Had Eddie as a server. He was excellent. The food is good but not the absolute best. Prices are affordable and this one in particular has some good in house deals. They allow smoking in certain areas so if you’re like me and you want to sit down to a smoke and a margarita then this is your place.

I don’t understand why there are so many reviews that don’t like El Chico. I might be an odd breed though, because I grew up going to El Chico, and with my recent move back to the area, it was a trip down culinary memory lane.
Our server was friendly and attentive. I had the chicken enchiladas with the sour cream sauce. Always a wise choice.
The chips and salsa were great as well. I like this place!

El Chico used to be my favorite. But when I went in there on 3÷11÷2012 the food was nasty nasty. I don’t know what they changed (except jacking up the prices $ 2 a plate) but the encillada’s with white cream were gross. My days eating at El Chico’s are over. I wish this area had a Rosa’s Café.

True to my rating I HAVE experienced better. That said, the food wasn’t terrible. But it wasn’t the best either. The re-​fried beans and spanish rice were actually pretty good. When I visit a Mexican restaurant, I always order the plain ol’ cheese enchiladas. I am a pretty easy going, straight forward gal, and I feel like my food choices reflects a part of me. Cheese Enchiladas just seems to get the job done!
The service was lacking. I don’t know if the waitress was having an off night but it took about 10 minutes or so to even get any water to our table. Meh. I got the trio deal which allowed a small appetizer and a dessert in addition to the entrée. I wasn’t really into any of the options so my party ate the queso and they dubbed it «Better than El Fenix». For dessert, I chose to get Fried Ice Cream. This was subpar and it tasted like they rolled the ice cream in some batter and then put it back in the freezer where it sat for months until it was served to me. My husband concurred and stated he felt the dessert tasted almost freezer burned. Fried Ice Cream? Not fresh. Not interested.
I didn’t have high expectations for this restaurants and the food was slightly better than I was thinking it would be so that is a win in my book, but not going on the must visit again list anytime soon.

Food here is always good and the service is always top notch. The entier staff, from management to bus boys is well trained and eager to make your dining experience a good one. The atmosphere sets this El Chicos apart from others. It’s fun, clean, and tasty. What more could you ask for?

Had dinner at the El Chico Mexican Restaurant in Pantego last Thursday evening. They have a new «Fajita Bowl» for under $ 7. I used to be a fan of Chipole’s Burrito Bowls, but after eating El Chico’s, I will get by Burrito Bowl fix at EL CHICO! Our server, Nicki, did a great job! Took care of us without being in our faces. Thumbs up for the El Chico in Pantego!