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El Rancho Spanish Restaurant
Categories: Restaurants Spanish Restaurants Mexican Restaurants Latin American Spanish, Mexican, Latin American [Edit]
11810 87 St NWEdmonton, AB T5B 3M9
(780) 471-4930
- Hours:
Tue-Thu, Sun 11 am - 8 pm
Fri-Sat 11 am - 9 pm
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Parking:
- Street
- Attire:
- Casual
- Price Range:
-
$$
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
- Takes Reservations:
- Yes
- Take Away:
- Yes
- Waiter Service:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- No
- Wi-Fi:
- No
- Good For:
- Dinner
- Alcohol:
- Beer & Wine Only
- Noise Level:
- Average
- Ambience:
- Casual
- Has TV:
- No
- Caters:
- No
14 reviews for El Rancho Spanish Restaurant
14 reviews in English
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Review from Kent M.
3/14/2012 ROTD 4/2/2012
I went to El Rancho with a friend of mine who loves Latin cuisine. I'd never had a pupusa before, and had heard such good things, I thought it imperative that I try the place!
There is essentially no atmosphere at El Rancho; when the server informed me that the restaurant had been recently renovated, I was kind of surprised, and thought they really needn't have bothered.
The food, however, was absolutely delicious! My friend and I shared 3 pupusas (tortillas stuffed with cheese and pork), which came with fresh-tasting tomato sauce and delicious, spicy pickled cabbage. I was a bit nervous, as I'm not a fan of pork, but these were SO delicious. Next time, i think I will order a bunch of these for myself, instead of having some as an appetizer.
For a main, I ordered the enchiladas; they were stuffed with chicken and topped with a flavourful mole sauce. They were delicious, as was the salad (what is in the dressing?!) but after the revelation that was the pupusas, the enchiladas couldn't compete.
Dessert consisted of fried ice cream, which was served with whipped cream. Delicious, in the once-a-year kind of way. Next time I'd like to try the flan.
We waited a long time for our receipt, as there was some confusion between the two servers that had taken care of us, but the wait was only around 5 minutes.My friend and I had a couple of beers to accompany the meal, and because of this wait, our server comp'd our drinks. I thought that was really nice, and it certainly solidified my stance that this is now my favourite Latin restaurant in the city. Go and try the pupusas! -
Review from Linda N.
2/25/2012
Love Mexican food, but haven't known where to get my Mexican food fix in Edmonton. Found this place on Yelp and decided to give it a try.
The best and most important part first: the food was excellent! I started out with flautas and chose enchilada with mole as my main dish, and I was very pleased with everything. My friends got some El Salvadoran meat dishes and were also very happy with their food. I'm pretty sure many others share our opinion about the food. The fact is, this place has absolutely no ambiance, the room was too bright, and it was a little chilly in there (wonder why they wouldn't just dim the lights a bit and put up a few things on the walls...?). In addition, they didn't have several of the items on the menu. In other words, I don't see any reason why people would go to this place other than for the food. And the food has to be pretty great given how busy they were on a regular Wednesday night...! -
Review from Tess R.
2/18/2012 1 Check-in Here
A delightful surprise! Packed in with several large groups the night we first tried this homey spot, the waitresses literally ran all night long. Be patient, the food is worth it!
The tortilla soup is wonderful, small pieces of avocado, chicken and taco pieces that somehow retained a lovely crunch right to the last spoonful?
I'd give the tamales a miss - a bit too watery and bland for this tamale lover.
The enchiladas are simply amazing! I look forward to having these again. -
Review from Brittany K.
Edmonton, AB
1/8/2012 1 Check-in Here
I'm so bummed out, you guys. I had the highest of hopes for El Rancho. It's a Mexican restaurant (star!) in a neighbourhood I don't get to explore as often as I would like (star!) that's highly reviewed by my fellow yelpers (star!) - what would there be to dislike?
It's fairly ambient-less - the only decor up was leftover Christmas decorations. But listen, it's not a trendy area of town, so I get it. When you come to a place like El Rancho, you're not here for mood lighting and soft jazz. You're here for real authentic Mexican eats.
I felt bad for the waitress since she was the only server - and this was noon on a Saturday. I know she was running around like crazy, so the slow service wasn't her fault at all, but they should have had someone else working.
Everyone at the table picked out a different dish - I love when that happens! The food took quite a while to arrive at our table, and mine came about 5 minutes after everyone else's. Not a great start.
My tacos were incredible delicious, full of flavour, not too spicy (although I wouldn't have minded a bit more spice), and filled with perfectly tender beef. For $8.50 it was a pretty decent amount of food. I didn't realize how hungry I was and now I wish I had ordered more food, but by that point, I didn't have another 20-30 minutes to spare.
I think the taste of the tacos alone might have made this review four stars, but they forgot my guac (bummer), and then the debit machine wasn't working - cash only! (They didn't tell me this until I went up to pay.) Minor inconveniences, nothing worth really complaining about, but enough to dock a star for sure.
Don't let this review put you off. The food here is stellar, and it would be worth it to come by on a quieter day or at a quieter time. Just make sure you order lots of food - it would be great for leftovers if you can't finish it all! -
Review from Matthew L.
Edmonton, AB
1/8/2012
Like the various Chicago Deep Dish Pizza locations throughout the city, El Rancho Spanish Restaurant is also a misnomer, You won't find paella on this menu.
The comida here is actually Salvadorean, plus a few Mexican favourites (flautas, enchiladas, burritos).
This means that El Rancho is one of the few places in town where you'll find pupusas.
And all of their pupusas were well flavored - I especially enjoyed my fried pork (chicharron) one.
And when I ordered a couple of pupusas to go, the restaurant very kindly included small portions of pickled cabbage and salsa to go as well.
I look forward to trying more of the menu and should also note that this isn't the kind of restaurant you want to go to in a hurry. There was only one server when we were there, plus a couple of people in the kitchen. You get the feeling this is a family-run establishment.
The restaurant has a rather plain appearance, but the chairs are thankfully very comfortable. -
Review from Aditya R.
Alberta Avenue is slowly becoming my favorite part of town to explore! We explored El Rancho the other day and I must say the food I ate was... mmm, really good! I just ordered two appetizers and as a general rule I should probably order a main before reviewing, but I was pretty impressed, so here we are!
I ordered Flautas and pupusas. Given all the pupuseria love I've received in LA, my senses are honed towards identifying good quality pupusas. These were pretty decent. They weren't too filling either, which was a great thing. At $2.75 a pupusa it is a decent accompaniment to go for. El Rancho might be the only place in town to have Flautas. They're delicious, yet simple. Basically tortillas wrapped with meat and deep friend. The salad on the side was delicious too and oh my, what was that salad dressing they used!?? Intensely flavored with a burnty, smokey taste and also a sour, mouthwatering taste. mmm, mmm, mmm.
The restaurant itself was spacious yet divey and with Christmas decorations still on it had the feeling of a very slow place! The food took a really long time to come! I wish they'd improve upon that. Perhaps a quieter time of the week is a better time to show up?
Many tables were occupied and it was certainly the strangest crowd. There were a couple of Latino families (good sign!), a few couples, some old... and all of a sudden a huge table of hipsters with a very non-hipster baby too. It all felt like randomness out of an episode of Community.
Come in and stay long. Get served with good food. I really hope their service improves!Listed in: Hidden Gems, Alberta Avenue
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Review from Jamie T.
Honestly, I expected more from this spot, based on the preceding reviews.
Don't get me wrong, the food was tasty, and the portions were fairly generous, at least for the meal I ordered. The service, however, was a little lacking. I showed up about 20 minutes before the rest of my party, and it took about 15 minutes for the sole server to stop by the table (I was the only one in the whole place at that time) to ask if I wanted anything to drink.
After the rest of the group showed up, it took another 15 to 20 minutes for her to come by to take our order, and it seemed to take an unreasonably long time for the order to arrive at the table. Granted, by that time, the restaurant had started to fill up, and as best I could tell, there were only two people working in the kitchen.
Still, did not enjoy the wait. While the overall atmosphere was friendly, I doubt that I'll ever go back, unless I happen to be in the area for another reason; it's just too far to go for such an unimpressive experience. -
Review from Mike W.
9/21/2011 ROTD 12/5/2011
Excellent selections on this Spanish menu. The appetizers are appealing to the palette and the beef burrito I ordered was like no other I have tried in Edmonton. It was so good and filling. They do not apply much heat to the meals but they do provide hot sauce on the table to spice up your meal up a bit. The fried ice cream for dessert was a real treat.
The restaurant has a cozy and clean atmosphere with friendly service. It was busy here for a Tuesday night and possibly another waitress is essential to speed up service. Overall we enjoyed our time at El Rancho and will return some day.
I do recommend this Spanish restaurant . -
Review from Rachel F.
6/4/2011
I'm a native Texan, transplanted to Edmonton three years ago. Since arriving here, I had pretty much become resigned to the fact that if I wanted decent Mexican/Latin American cuisine, that I needed to make it myself. That is, until now.
I had read Maria Sa Sano's review of this place in the Journal back in May, and knew I had to give it a try. Last night, I went with three other vegetarians to try it out.
The restaurant is very clean, with sterile lighting, and the overall feel is of a waiting area in a dentist office. Not too much ambiance.
The service was a little slow. Our "official" server often forgot things (like silverware, glasses, water refills), even after being asked, but the other server in the restaurant was on top of things and would always get us what we needed right away
The menu contained a wide variety of food, with numerous vegetarian options. I am used to veg. options in Mexican restaurants in the States, but not so much here in Edmonton. I was impressed. One aspect of the menu that I found discouraging was the lack of chips and salsa or guacamole. You can order a side of guac (a couple of tablespoons), but not chips. Also, the waiter indicated that while they will willingly substitute tofu for meats, they won't make many other substitutions (not rice for beans, or red sauce for mole sauce). But these are small things.
We ordered both the bean and cheese and zucchini and cheese papusas. Sadly, they were out of vegetarian tamales, but we ended up with so much food, that was fine. Both papusas were excellent, reminiscent of the ones I have had in Central America. I preferred the bean and cheese, but my partner favoured the zucchini.
For main courses, two of us ordered the Enchiladas Mexicanas, enchiladas in mole sauce with tofu. The tofu was cooked exceptionally well, and the mole sauce was rich and satisfying. The dish came with rice (delicious) and salad, which had a fabulous dressing (was it their Rancho sauce? I want the recipe!).
My partner ordered the burrito entree with tofu. Again, the tofu was delicious, and one could taste it better in the burrito since the flavour was not overpowered by the mole sauce. The burrito was drizzled with the same sauce/dressing as was on the salad. Yum! Overall, I think the burrito was my favourite dish. It, too, came with rice and salad.
My friend, John, ordered the appetizer platter which came with two each of the flautas, tacos, and Salvadoran enchiladas, again with tofu. It arrived on a lovely wooded platter, and John says that the dish was excellent. I tried the flautas, which may have been my second favourite item on the menu.
We had saved room for dessert. Sadly, the flan was not available, but we were able to get the Tres Leches and the fried ice cream. Both were really good, and it was a wonderful way top top off the meal.
I am so pleased that El Rancho exists. I can get my Latin American fix without having to make the food myself. I do wish they offered different sauces for their enchiladas (a red sauce would be ideal). The mole was great, but it is very rich and can be a bit overpowering. And it would be nice if they offered chips and salsa on the menu.
We have decided that next time we go (and there definitely will be a next time!), we'll meet at our house for chips and salsa and margaritas (also not on the menu), and then head out to El Rancho. -
Review from Gord L.
I'm a bit shocked that no one has reviewed El Rancho before. This is a restaurant that has been talked about a bunch online, and in newspapers; I was first introduced to it by one of Scott McKeen's excellent articles in the Journal.
There are many restaurants in the city that claim to be "authentic" but I often wonder how authentic they really are. "El Rancho" isn't one I wonder about; the family-owned business was started by immigrants from El Salvador. The first time we went to the restaurant I overheard Spanish, lots and lots of Spanish, both from the staff, and the patrons. Honestly, I felt as though I was in LA, not Edmonton.
El Rancho is called a "Spanish Restaurant," and they serve Mexican and El Salvadoran food. We usually get various appetizers, and maybe a main course. Here are some highlights of the menu:
Pupusas: corn tortillas stuffed with mozzarella cheese, fried beans, and seasoned pork for $2.50 each - or you can make your own, choosing from 5 different fillings (two per pupusas) for $3.
Tamales: corn-flavoured dough with chicken, potatoes and garbanzo beans. Two of them for $4.25.
Flautas: fried tortillas with chicken or tofu, carrots, and onions. They top them with lettuce, sour cream, and a bit of tomato sauce. 3 of them for $6.95. My wife loooves these.
They also have quesadilla's, tacos, enchiladas, hot wings with grilled chorizo sausage, and a sampling plate for two which includes 2 flautas, 2 tacos, and two enchiladas.
Main courses include salads, fish dishes, steak, burritos, enchiladas, tacos, and a few chicken dishes. If you're still hungry, or save space, there are three desserts as well; flan, tres leches (three milk cake), and Mexican fried ice cream. The restaurant is licensed, so you can get a beer, or a red or white house wine.
I've uploaded some photos of a few dishes we had, so you can get an idea of what the food looks like, and what they come with (many dishes come with salads, or other garnishes, for example).
The restaurant recently went through a renovation, but it's still sparsely decorated, and I found the chairs to be slightly uncomfortable (though that's probably more to do with my long legs than the actual chair - "normal" people should be fine).
The restaurant isn't very large; there are two seating areas, the main area which holds 46 people (10 tables of 4, and 1 table of 6), and the smaller bar area with 3 tables of 4 people. They can arrange the tables to fit larger groups (there was a table of 8 the night we went).
If you come here, please be aware that the service lacks a little bit. It's never been horrible, and the servers are very pleasant, it's just that sometimes it takes a long time to get something you've asked for, and other times they don't come at all. When we went the other day I asked for some extra sauce, which they sell for $0.50, to go with my tamales, but it never came. That ended up being fine as we ordered too much food, and we took it to go (warning, tamales are NOT good reheated the next day - if you order them, eat them there). We've had some other problems with not getting certain things in the past; it's something we just accept when we go there, so it doesn't bother us that much, but this is what's keeping the restaurant from earning top marks.
We've enjoyed our meal every time we've been to "El Rancho," and I recommend you check it out for some good, authentic El Salvadoran food. Expect great food, just not excellent service. -
Review from Karlie M.
After reading Gord's review of El Rancho, I knew I had to check it out, especially since it is not too far from my place. I finally made it over to the restaurant for my birthday dinner a couple of weeks ago.
The decor was quite sparse and there wasn't much ambiance to speak of, but this place is clean. I was with my Nonna, and she even mentioned how clean it was, and you should SEE her house.
Our waitress wasn't very chatty, but she was really pleasant and smiley throughout the evening. Considering she was the only server working, and I think there was only one person working in the kitchen, wait time for drinks and then food was reasonable. She was efficient and still checked on us at appropriate times.
Since I'm not too familiar with this cuisine and there were so many choices on the menu (and I was kinda tired that day), I just ordered a beef burrito, which comes with salad and rice, for my main, and this amazing spicy shrimp appetizer. Seriously, that shrimp was in the top three shrimps I've ever had in my life. Wow. The burrito was pretty good. My dad got the same thing and kind of didn't like how the sour cream came right in it, so if that type of thing bothers you, maybe ask for it on the side. There was a couple at the table beside us who seemed to be ordering a lot of amazing looking things off of the menu and loving it, so I would definitely like to go back here someday with the intention of staying a while, trying a few appetizers, maybe sharing a couple of mains and trying a dessert.Listed in: Eating along 118 Ave.
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Review from Jamie F.
Edmonton, AB
7/21/2011
On one hand, I'd like to give this place a one star review - that would keep it secret and ensure that I get a table when I go.
On the other, this is without a doubt the best Mexican restaurant in town.
The food is authentic, the atmosphere inviting and the staff friendly.
The only problem is the neighbourhood it is located in - it's not the greatest.
Still, if you want great Mexican food in Edmonton - this is the only place to go to. -
Review from John D.
Edmonton, AB
6/4/2011
I don't have to review this since Rachel F. pretty much covered it all. But I just wanted to note that anyone in Edmonton that would like to try good Latin American food (that can also be had vegetarian) should go here. Really, there is no comparison between this and the (horrible) Julio's Barrio. I recommend everyone have the food here. Delicious.
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Review from Jammie S.
Sherwood Park, AB
6/12/2011
The real gem of this restaurant is the pupusas. Dont leave this place without trying them. They keep well for take out and are so good.
