El Rancho Grande

No, this place cannot compare with my favorite NYC or European Italian restaurants. But let’s remember that we’re in a small town in the middle of Ohio, okay?
The service is good, the staff is friendly, they make their own pasta, and they’re decently priced. Their sauces need salt, and I don’t like their house salad dressing, but they aren’t using iceberg lettuce. Plus their garlic bread is delicious and they’ll give you as much of it as you can eat for free with your meal. It’s a good deal, especially for a college student on a budget. I’ve been here twice and I’ll definitely be back.

Honestly?
I decided to bring my family for an after church lunch, and was incredibly disappointed, had the bread, salad & the spaghetti w/​meatball.
The spaghetti was not homemade, the meatball was nothing but a joke. Tasted awful. Seemed like a boyardee rip-​off!!!
Place was empty (no wonder why).
But oh, the salad was great… Since my 6-​yr old can make it as well.
I will never set a foot in this place, even if they offer me a free pass. No way

I see there are a lot of bad reviews on El Rancho Grande so I’d like to clear up a few things since I’m a HUGE fan. And I’m not even originally from Wooster.
I live downtown and enjoy walking to all of the downtown restaurants and living the life. I eat at ALL of the places downtown and honestly, El Rancho Grande is in the top 3 of the best places to eat.
I agree, when you walk in, you’re not going to be greeted with what American’s think of as an Italiano Restaurante, but it’s also not the Olive Garden. Also, when you see the name, most people think Mexican Cuisine but it’s really because people who don’t speak Italian don’t know that it’s pronounced Grandeeeeee. Not Grande’.
What’s really important is the food. I don’t know of anywhere else that still has their 85 year old Italian mother come in everyday to make fresh Gnocci and Ravioli from scratch. Their pasta is FRESH, made daily. Unless the menu states otherwise, you are getting authentic Italian pasta. The Ravioli is to DIE FOR. I order the Cheese Ravioli with Red Mushroom Sauce. The mushrooms are soaked in Red Wine and Tossed in the best Red Sauce ever and slathered over the Ravioli. For $ 13 you also get a salad, with made-​to-​order House Dressing (this stuff isn’t premade sitting in a bottle in the back… it’s tossed fresh, with each individual salad), and HOMEMADE garlic bread. Yes, they also bake their own bread to make their garlic bread with. You can even ask for more! They will also bring you out a cheese shaker with FRESH Pecarino Romano Cheese. It’s not Kraft, folks… This is imported cheese from Italy that comes in big cheese circles and is sent to them where they grate it on site and spoon it into the little cheese shakers.
The pizza you ask? It’s not like anything I’ve ever had before. Wooster is kind of known for their «different» pizzas and this one is Oh My Gosh delicious! The cheese falls off because they are using WHOLE SLICES of Provolone Cheese on there. Not the processed shredded stuff we are used to. Cut the pizza with your knife, then take a slice. It works much better. Also, a great idea is to let it cool off a little… you really get the flavor of the salty cheese and FRESH MADE tomato sauce if you can wait a second and just let it cool down. About the toppings, I agree when you order artichokes it seems like they are being «cheap» but if you know anything about Italian Cuisine you would know that they love to cook seasonally. Artichokes are NEVER in season in Wooster, Ohio and they are expensive. Give them a break and order mushrooms next time.
Also, I’d like to state that I’m a vegetarian and writer of Vegetarians Eat, too blog:
They will specialize meals for me and if you read my Marjoram Post you will also see why I’m a HUGE fan of their food.
Thanks,
Jessica

My family, a friend and I dined together at El Rancho Grande in Wooster, Ohio. It was very delicious and reasonably priced! Our service was first class with a warm smile! We ordered the Baccala special for the traditional days before Christmas meal, vegetable lasagna, and homemade fettucine pasta with 4 cheese sauce which all literally melted in our mouths! The wine we choose was superbly smooth, the antipasto was all very authentic. The salad was excellent!
I have made 15 trips to Italy in the past 35 years and I can honestly say that I have never eaten Italian food in the states as close to the real thing as I have eaten at this restaurant. The staff were very nice and helpful to my family and guests.

El Rancho Grande … Italian? The lunchtime service was awful: I was the third person in the restaurant, sat in the diner area and waited and waited. And waited. Two people came in after me, sat at the tables and were given menus and served before me. The antipasto salad plate was really good (what saved this review from 1 star) as was the biscotti for dessert. Would I go back? Only if I have two hours to kill for lunch, bring a book and am not terribly hungry.

2.5 stars
Honestly, I’m amazed by the place. 2.5 stars is 1.5 stars higher than I was expecting.. . I mean really the sign, outside says «El Rancho Grande Authentic Italian cuisine»
Seriously? El Rancho Grande is an Italian place?
Alright, here’s a brief rundown of the space:
Originally It was a bagel place called Woogles (Wooster + bagel = Woogles.. . get it? HA!) the owner, Dave, knew what was up and when he gutted the area he left exposed brick walls and beams and really created a great vibe.) Great.. no AMAZING bagels, by the way.
Then one day Dave became a dad and he decided to sell his wildly successful business to the Woo-​town ice cream company.. . or something similarly silly. From day one, they made it their mission to piss off the strong customers base and destroy their brand with idiotic policies (and I can say that with a great deal of certainty, as I was one of the first customers the first day it became Woo-​ville ice cream).
After Woo-​woo ice cream crashed and burned, it became The Filler up café. now, I liked the filler up. It had this whole hot rod vibe, and a projection screen TV, good sandwiches, solid tea selections, good staff. But sadly, I feel that the cloud hanging over that space left by Woo-i’m out of pithy second syllables ice cream, and it closed
Enter El Rancho Grande. The walls are still exposed brick, the paint job is still attractive, but the tables and chairs are typical of a pizzeria. cheap and. .. well cheap. So this restaurant looks out of place within itself. The menu is also somewhere between what you’d expect at a walk-​in sub shop and a sit down restaurant, but to keep it concise it lacked selection on both fronts. So we went with a pizza.
We were greeted promptly, our orders were taken, and the pizza came out fairly quickly. However, the front ¼ of the seating might as well be located in the south pole. I SWEAR I felt A/​C on my neck when it was 30 degrees outside! Also, while our drinks were served promptly, refills were not. In fact the waitress came by our table several times without even noticing our empty glasses.
As for the pizza, It was a little below OK. The dough was more like bread dough. Very crunchy on the bottom with no softness or give. The sauce was tasty, but the cheese was water and fell off each piece as it was picked up. The artichokes and garlic we ordered were few and far between, compared to what I’m used to, but over all it’s not the worst pizza I’ve ever had.
Now, with all of this being said, you’d think I hate the place. Not quite true. I won’t go out of my way to go back, but it wasn’t terrible. I didn’t get sick, or mad, or insulted. It was just sort of *shrug*
All in all, It was kind of a funny little place, actually. It really didn’t seem like it felt at home in its own skin. I really hope that they do something about the interior and expand the menu a bit. There’s some potential here, It just needs to be refined.