El Rancho Mexican Restaurant

Portions very small. Nachos at Worlds Of Fun arebigger, less expensive and better. Girl friend said Don chilitos was better (see my review for there, its not pretty.) I will stop there because I heard today this place has closed.

My mouth thought it was pretty good, but my digestive system protested quite seriously later.

A good choice for anyone who wants a cheap and quick Mexican fix. Don’t go in expecting huitlacoche and you should enjoy the Tex Mex staples. Guacamole is surprisingly good and not too heavy on cheap filler. Tamales are heavy on the masa and light on filling.
I second the salty vote from Sofi.
Check it out if you don’t have time to go to KCK or the Ave.

This is a darn good little restaurant tucked in the strip mall across the street from Gold’s Gym. There are a lot of the usual staples in the menu with a few little wrinkles.
I ordered what ended up being a very healthy sized chicken chimichanga, which came out tender and with good flavor. The refried beans and mexican rice nicely complimented the main dish. I mixed some of the hot sauce with the queso cheese as a topping. The price? A little over $ 6. More than reasonable.
El Rancho has plenty of parking and judging by its hours it looks to be a good option for those who may be staying out late. If you’re looking to eat something quick and for a great price, this is a good place to start.

Why do restaurant owners keep on putting «Authentic» Mexican food in their menus, when it’s not?! To lure in someone in hopes of getting the real thing. Just say you have AUTHENTIC TEX-​MEX, nothing wrong about that. But it IS a different kind of food from Mexican.
Salty salsas. Salty «Spanish» rice. Salty shrimp. Salty clerk, curling up her lip when I asked her, «what do you llike to eat here?»… Should have walked out the door when she said «I don’t eat here.» Should have walked out the door when I saw the «most popular» item were chimichangas and nachos.
But I was really hungry, so I ordered the milanesa. I got four slices of ROAST BEEF, breaded, salted (of course), and dripping in fat. That’s when I walked out the door. Save yourself the trouble and go get something utterly superior from any other place ’round. El Rauncho’s best point is for it to be open until 2 a.m., when drunks bordering barfing don’t care what they scarf in hopes to taint the breathalyzer when the cop stops them. That is the clientele that probably loves El Rancho’s food.

Wow! If you want the best fresh authentic mexican food in the world (or at least KC) then this is your place. The steak quesadillas with white queso are to die for. I’m not sure what they put in there white queso but it’s addictive. I think I could eat the cheese alone. The is best before and after bar food in Westport. I sometimes dream about this place and never get to eat there in my dream so I just have to go. This is a must try before you die establishment if you like mexican food! Go today if you can! Happy eating and remember to breathe as you endeavor this greatness!

Ordered the pastor taco’s and they just ok, have had better. I just thought the meat was over seasoned because the seasoning was all I could taste, I did like that they used 2 tortillas, that gave it the support it need to hold in the filling. I thought the sauces they had were just ok, that’s my biggest judge on a Mexican restaurant, if they take the time to put out good sauces they prob take the time to put out good food. So sauces just ok and the food was just ok. Will go back to try something else.

I came here early this past Saturday morning. I was caught in the crazy down pour which created a flood around the restaurant, but it didn’t change my opinion of the place.
I was with a friend who lives in the area and he was told about this place, so we decided to check it out. When we first walked up, I noticed the hours and they stay open until 4am! We got there about 2am. I guess in Westport, you need places like this after a night out.
When we walked in, the place was actually bright and clean. I was expecting it to be a hole-​in-​wall considering the hours, but it was nice. There were plenty of tables to sit at.
Since I was incredibly hungry, I got 3 enchiladas with rice and beans. I thought the menu was straight forward, but I must have misread it. When I got my food and the lady rang my order up it was about $ 8. Not too happy about it, but I was starving so I paid and went on. They have a self serve salsa area which I passed on, but I least they give you choices.
The food was surprisingly good! I would like to go back and try their other menu items.
Overall, this was a good place to go. I usually go to another Mexican restaurant for Taco Tuesdays, but this was a nice little change up. If your looking for a late night meal that doesn’t include pizza, I would recommend this place to anyone.

The missing star is because sometimes they overcharge for sodas. Now, never had a meal here that was less than great. Ignore the confusing menu board and use the descriptive paper menu instead. Delicious Mexican food… I recommend the shredded beef chimichanga or fajitas platters, but they have everything. Clean and bright too. A personal favorite.

Meh. It was neither good nor fast. I kept it basic, opting for shredded beef tacos and nachos. I couldn’t finish either of them — total lack of flavor. And they seemed to have some serious issues (at least on this particular day) keeping everyone’s orders straight — lots of confusion. There are definitely better places for «fast» Mexican in KC.

I was in the general area and felt the horrors of my blood sugar dropping. Thankfully I found El Rancho. And they were cheap, fast, and good. I like fast, cheap and good.
I ordered from the lunch specials, which was only $ 5.25. It was called the Enchilada Ranchero, and had 2 cheese enchiladas, covered with sauce and pork, with guacamole on the side. Not just a teensy spoonful of guac, but a whole serving spoon full of guac over lettuce. (It was called, «Guacomole salad» on the menu, which turned me off a bit, cause I will not eat salad.) But, infact, I used the guacomole for even more enchilada topping, and the lettuce, the same.
It was served in a large tinfoil pan, and had been baked. the sauce wasn’t too spicy, and the pork (I hardly ever order pork, but when my blood sugar goes down, meat protein brings it right up.) wasn’t gross, or stringy, but had good flavor. There wasn’t too much cheese to make it a sticky enchilada. Heck, it was a deal for only $ 5.25.
if I lived in this area, I’d be a Unilocal Regular here. I love the decorations, bright, and cheery, and it’s a clean place. Great lunch specials. Worth checking out.

Fast, fresh, cheap, and large portion sizes. If you like any of the above, you’ll love El Rancho. I stopped here for lunch one day with a friend. There is actually a decent sized vegetarian section on their menu. I opted for the vegetarian burrito, a side of rice, and chips and salsa, figuring I’d probably be able to take some leftovers with me that night for work.
The chips and salsa were average, as was the rice. However, the portion size of the rice literally filled an entire plate. I loaded it up with the extra hot sauce offered on the condiment bar, which vastly improved the flavor. There are four different types of sauces offered, including mild, pico de gallo, hot, and extra hot. The burrito consisted of sauteed green peppers, onion, beans, sour cream, cheese, and guacamole, all rolled into a flour tortilla. I’m not kidding when I say that this thing probably weighed about 2 pounds! It was MASSIVE. I definitely had enough food for 2 – 3 meals.
This place is quick and good for lunch or to grab something before work. It’s not a kind of place I’d take someone out to dinner, but it’s definitely worth a trip if you’re hungry!

There comes a time, on late nights you spend out with friends consuming adult beverages, you decide that you want some tacos, and you don’t really care how greasy they are. This is where El Rancho comes into the picture.
For more than a month now, I have been stumbling into El Rancho around 2 in the morning on Friday or Saturday nights. That is, after convincing the police officers who have Mill Street blocked off between Westport Road and SW Trafficway to actually let me pass. Pro tip: tell them you are going to Sun Fresh (and don’t drive if you are drinking).
This place has everything you need when the time is right. Hard shell tacos filled with tasty shredded chicken (or beef, yuck), with lettuce, tomato and cheese piled high on top. I usually get my order to go, the whole process taking no more than three minutes on a slow night, but if you decide to stay and dine-​in you are bound to see some characters come stumbling in. If you are there on the right night, one of those characters may be me.

«Mexican food» and «the Midwest» are two phrases, when, used in conjunction with one another, strike a blind feral panic in the heart of this Latina Texan. Images of bland, flavorless food and cheese sauce from a can comes to mind. We have taquerias and Tex-​Mex out the wazoo in Houston, so it’s easy to be very, very picky, considering the cuisine is just about everywhere you turn. And not everyone is lucky enough to be able to turn to their grandmother’s kitchen for their fix if they so choose.
So is El Rancho authentic? I hate this stupid, pretentious word because people use it so liberally that it seems like nothing is good enough unless it was prepared by a bent-​over centenarian and delivered to them via mule-​back from a remote village on the Yucatan peninsula. Instead of answering with a yes or no, I’ll focus on the fact that I was able to order in Spanish from an actual Spanish speaker from behind the counter, I drank a strawberry Jarritos with my meal, and the enchiladas tasted homey and familiar.
Maybe it was the drunchies (that’s «drunk munchies» for those of y’all who aren’t in the know) that did it, but I thought El Rancho was pretty much on par with any of the average hole-​in-​the-​wall Tex-​Mex restaurants in Houston. Not scandalously cheap like our taquerias, but close enough, and for late night eats in a city that’s hurting for them, I can confidently pronounce El Rancho pretty decent. It was a little taste of home during my visit.

Holy wow… This is what I’ve been missing here in Kansas City.
Now don’t get me wrong, there are much better places to go get Mexican food with your date here in town, especially if it’s only 7pm when your date is getting hungry.
But what about us midnight-​munchies, liquor-​addled or general late-​nighters that decide, «I need Mexican– real, fresh Mexican– and I need it NOW»
Well welcome to El Rancho…
Andrew and I checked this place out for the first time last night. He was home from work about 3 hours past the prime for a date night, so we spent over 30 minutes calling restaurants, just to find that most were closed already.
Then we ran across this place online. It’s said it open «late night», so we decided to chance it! As we rolled slowly past the front door, I asked Andrew, «Can you see the closing time?».
*4am folks*… that’s right. On Friday and Saturday, they are open until 4am! Perfect!
The menu is your normal Mexican fare, they even have a vegetarian menu for me.
Andrew picked out the steak burrito with a side of cheese dip, I chose the vegetarian chimichanga, plus a side of chips and salsa.
First of all– they give you three types on salsa, I thought that was a nice touch. Each with totally different flavors and varying heats.
My chimichanga was stuffed with lightly sauteed peppers and onions and served with frijoles and rice. I could tell how fresh the veggies were and I loved that they hadn’t been cooked to an oily mush on the flat top. Andrew’s steak burrito was big, and he didn’t talk to me the for the first 5 minutes of our meal (he couldn’t stop shoveling the thing in his mouth!!).
On top of all this– the place was clean, brightly lit, fast, the staff was courteous and the horchata had free refills.
And, this was all AFTER MIDNIGHT.
Like I said… I’ve been missing this in Kansas City.

I love this place, but only for the soft corn pork tacos. I can’t really recommend anything else, but the tacos are the best around– double tortilla on each, slow simmered pork, fresh cut limes, fresh cilantro and onions, and to top it off, a cold glass of horchata– this is one of the meals I crave. Sorry, but Cancun Fiesta Fresh doesn’t hold a candle to this place.

So this place has pretty good Mexican food AND it feels clean for some of the super-​casual Mexican joints I’ve eaten at… They had a vegetarian menu which I appreciated. It makes it easier to search for something to eat. Unfortunately, my intern at work had to ruin it for me with the whole «you know their rice isn’t vegetarian, right?». UH. She knows too much. I’m one of those don’t-ask-don’t-tell kind of vegetarians often enough, if the food looks promising. Anyhow, the food was good. It was a solid Mexican burrito. It was HUGE and I couldn’t finish it, but I certainly tried. My friend liked his fish tacos too. The horchata wasn’t bad either. I would have been back because it’s near my house and definitely was a Mexican quick fix, but now I’m going to be plagued with the whole non-​vegetarian rice issue. Ignorance is bliss, but not for me at El Rancho anymore!

I have been a LONG TIME fan of El Rancho. Fast. Cheap. Easy. My dad once had a beer muggie that said, «if you are what you eat, I’m fast, cheap and easy!» And to think that he had never even been to El rancho!
But, I am only giving it four stars because I ventured there at about 1 this morning after a show to find out that all of my old time favorite workers, were no longer there. I guess thats not a bad thing, or maybe they had the night off… but they used to know my order when i walked in the door, and especially after my Mexican boyfriend started ordering for me in Spanish i feel like they really hooked us up. haha.

I still can’t remember how I happened upon this little gem, but this place is hard to beat for a quick bite of cheap Mexican food in Westport. The prices are more than reasonable given the quantity and quality of food you receive. The veggies are always fresh and their taco seasoning is downright bold and delicious. I usually opt for the beef hard shell tacos (3) and load them up with their mild salsa. It is a little on the greasy side, so it makes for a messy eat (so don’t go here on a first date you cheap bastard), but it is delectable nonetheless. Their guacamole is worthy of mention, but then again, good guacamole is an oxymoron.

Loved them in Columbia, MO; love them here in KC… we even occasionally see some of the old staff from COMO. Open late here and there (popular place for after club food in COMO).
They provide quick, good Mexican food at decent prices. You can even watch them prepare it if you want or take a seat while you wait. The staff primarily speaks Spanish with the girls or more experienced cooks speaking English and relaying orders, etc in Spanish… which I think is cool… nothing wrong with that… maybe I will actually learn to pronounce stuff correctly.
I love the steak chimichanga, or steak tacos, or steak nachos… I guess I love just about all the dishes with the steak though getting the other meat options are good. Love the beans and rice, esp if I get to mix in some of the cheese sauce or extra steak pieces. They have veggie options or shrimp options for when it is Lent.